Splicing mesh plumbing pipe
Do not cut the mesh on flexible water line connections. The mesh is there to protect the internal "rubber" hose and also should help to keep the hose from bursting under unexpected high pressure situations. If you need to make a junction for the water filtration system then you should be using two shorter mesh covered connection hoses and affix a T fitting in between them. The branch of the T goes off to the filter unit. Note that it sometimes takes a number of various adapter fittings to make up the compatible T assembly depending upon the parts available at your supplier.