Water is essential for human life, and yet many people take the quality of their water for granted. It’s not until something goes wrong – a water main break, a boil water advisory – that people start to think about how to make water safe for drinking at home. Here are the hows and whys of making your home’s water supply safe and clean.
The Different Water Sources
Before getting into how to purify your water, it helps to understand the source of the water that comes into your home. The main sources include municipal water – this is what you’ll drink if you live in a city and is typically chlorinated and treated with fluoride. It’s safe for humans, but can contain chlorine by-products and lead.
If you have well water, there’s no need to worry about fluoride or chlorine by-products. However, you’ll need to make the well water drinkable because many contaminants may be present such as nitrates (which can cause blue baby syndrome), arsenic (linked to skin lesions and cancer), radon (which increases the risk of lung cancer), and coliform bacteria (which can indicate contamination from sewage). Because of this, many people choose to install well-water treatment systems in their basements.
Bottled Water
The benefit of bottled water is that it’s generally free of fluoride, chlorine by-products, and lead. However, there may be pesticides in the water, especially if you’re using well water (the FDA doesn’t regulate pesticide levels in bottled water). Just like any source of water, making sure the purification system removes or kills harmful contaminants will make your home’s water safe to drink.
Choosing Your System
Now that you know what contaminants are in your city or well water, you can decide on how to purify them. There are numerous ways to filter tap water, but some systems are more efficient than others at removing specific contaminants. Carbon filters are popular because they do a great job of removing chlorine by-products, but aren’t very effective at removing fluoride. Reverse osmosis filters are great at removing nitrates, arsenic, and lead – they’re 88% to 99% effective against lead. If you want a system that removes both chlorine by-products and fluoride, Distillation is the way to go. It’s also helpful for removing nitrates if your home’s water has high levels of these contaminants. You can buy iron filters for well water that remove sulfur, manganese, chlorine, dirt, and more.
The Home Filtration Process
Although some people buy expensive water treatment systems in their basements or bathrooms, there are great inexpensive options available for installing filtration in your kitchen faucet so everyone in the family can easily access safe drinking water. Filters do wear out over time and may need to be replaced – check your family’s water supply and buy a new filter if necessary. A kitchen faucet water filter system is easy to install and doesn’t need anything but a small wrench or screwdriver depending on the model. Once it’s installed, you’ll always have safe drinking water at your fingertips!
Why Water Filtration Is Necessary
People often take their home’s water for granted. They don’t think too much about how it passes from the treatment plant to their kitchen faucet, and may not even know where their home’s water comes from. Once they realize what contaminants are in tap water, the first step is to remove them with a filtration system. After that’s done, then people start thinking about how to make sure their systems continue working effectively so the family has access to clean drinking water for years.
Another reason is that you can save up to $1,000 a year by installing alternative water filtration. This is possible because bottled water costs about $0.89 per gallon and the average American family of four spends over $400 on this product each year. Also, remember that carbon filters will generally not remove fluoride from drinking water, but if your tap provides you with fluoridated municipal water then distillation or reverse osmosis systems are excellent options for removing this neurotoxin from your home’s supply. Make sure to read the label of any filter you buy so you know exactly what contaminants it removes.
Water treatment systems are worth the investment, even if you’re on a tight budget. You’ll save money in the long run by not having to buy bottled water every other week or avoiding trips to your local urgent care clinic when you get sick from drinking contaminated water. The best part is that there are quick and easy ways to make safe drinking water available no matter where you are in your home – including bathroom sinks, showerheads, fish tanks, and pet bowls!
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