Water Filtration

Nationwide, drinking water systems have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build drinking water treatment and distribution systems. From 1995 to 2000, more than $50 billion was spent on capital investments to fund water quality improvements.

 With the aging of the nation’s infrastructure, the clean water and drinking industries face a significant challenge to sustain and advance their achievements in protecting public health. EPA’s Clean Water and Drinking Infrastructure Gap Analysis has found that if present levels of spending do not increase, there will be a significant funding gap by the year 2019.

Unfortunately, over the past 8 years funding has not only increased very slightly but in some areas of the country it has actually been reduced. If you are in an area that has seen little or no improvement in its water quality, or if a recent test of your water has shown unacceptable levels of contaminants, it is advisable that you use a residential water filtration system to ensure that your water is as pure and contaminant-free as possible. There are many, many water filters on the market today to choose from, so it is really just a matter of finding the one that is the most efficient as well as cost-effective for your particular situation. A few of the brand names that are rated the highest by various consumer studies are Crystal Quest, Bota and Living Waters.

Using the new information that is now available about drinking water, citizens can both be aware of the challenges of keeping drinking water safe and take an active role in protecting drinking water. There are lots of ways that individuals can get involved. Some people will help clean up the watershed that is the source of their community’s water. Other people might get involved in wellhead protection activities to prevent the contamination of the ground water source that provides water to their community. These people will be able to make use of the information that states and water systems are gathering as they assess their sources of water.

Other people will want to attend public meetings to ensure that the community’s need for safe drinking water is considered in making decisions about land use. You may wish to participate as your state and water system make funding decisions. And all consumers can do their part to conserve water and to dispose properly of household chemicals.

On an individual basis, each homeowner or business owner can take additional steps to protect their own drinking water by investing in any number of water purifiers or water filters available on the market today. After having the water tested, a few Google searches can invariably provide the information necessary to make an informed decision on how best to deal with each particular circumstance.

Q: Who is responsible for ensuring that our tap water is safe?

A: A combination of federal, state and local government agencies, along with the water utility company that delivers your tap water.

Q: If tap water is unsafe for drinking, why does the government allow it?

A: Because it would cost a lot of money to make it safer; because many elected and appointed officials support industries that pollute water; and because many water utility companies resist their responsibility to make tap water safer.

Q: Isn’t the purpose of water utilities to provide safe water?

A: Yes, but many of them, particularly the small systems, are oriented toward eliminating immediate health threats from the water (such as harmful micro-organisms), and it is expensive to remove even trace amounts of pollutants that affect long-term health.

Q: I’ve heard that industry, agriculture and the military are still polluting water. Why doesn’t the government force them to stop discharging pollutants into water supplies?

A: It would cost a great deal of money for these sectors to stop discharging all pollutants and, rather than finding solutions to the problem, special interests pressure the government to allow the polluters to continue.

Q: So, in spite of the taxes I pay, it sounds like I have to be responsible for the safety of my drinking water?

A: The various levels of government are responsible for safe drinking water, and they have done much, but not enough, to improve it. Because of this, you are, by default, ultimately responsible for ensuring that you and your family have safe drinking water. The most economical and environmentally-friendly way to do this is to install a water filtration system in your home whether it’s a basic in-line water filter that attaches to your faucet or a more advanced unit like one of many reverse osmosis systems available. Even businesses are now able to install  botteless water coolers that filter the water on-site either through an ultrafiltration process or reverse osmosis treatment.

Q: What are my options?

A: The first thing to do is stop drinking chlorinated tap water as soon as possible. Then you have 3 basic choices: buy bottled water, buy water from a vending machine, or install a water filtration system.

Q: Which is the best quality drinking water: bottled water, water from a vending machine or water treated with a filtration system?

A: It depends on the particular kind you choose. If you buy the right kind of bottled water, its quality will be relatively high; however a few  bottled waters are worse than tap water. Most water from vending machines is of slighlty higher quality, but it is important to pick the right machines. Water fitration systems vary from extremely good to very bad; in fact some purifiers actually add toxic substances to the water. The effectiveness of a purifier/filtration system often depends on correctly matching it to your particular water conditions. In general, the best water filtration system will give you the purest water.

Q: But don’t natural springs have the purest water?

A: Not necessarily. Water from natural sources sometimes contains naturally occurring toxic pollutants.

Q: What should I know before buying a water purifier or filtration system?

A: That’s a rather complicated question. Your best bet is to buy from a well-established company with an excellent track record in purifying water that is similar to your water. In short, do your home work.

Q: How can I find out what is actually in my tap water?

A: If your water is from a water utility company, you should be able to get a free copy of test reports that show whether or not certain toxic substances are in the water. While these reports are helpful,they don’t include a large number of other toxic substances that may be in the water.

Q: If I want to get a more comprehensive test of my water, will my city or county health agency, or other health agency pay for it?

A: In general, no unless someone in your family has become sick and your doctor suspects water is the cause.

Q: How do I get a comprehensive test of my water?

A: You will have to pay for testing by a private laboratory. While most tests labs charge very high prices, there are several automated labs that offer low-cost, comprehensive testing.

Q: So should I have my tap water tested?

A: It is often possible to infer a great deal about your water from information already on hand, but to be on the safe side, if you have legitimate concerns, testing is advisable. Once you have those test results, you should get a purifier or a water filtration system that will remove any specific pollutants that you now know are in (or have been in) your tap water, and one that will also remove the most of all the many kinds of pollutants that may be in your water.

There are two ways of evaluating how much purifier you need, and you should consider both ways. The first way is comparing your Tap Water Profile which is based on the following factors:

• The test report from your public water utility (or on your own test results if you have a well or other private system)
• Whether your public utility is in a city or large town as opposed to a small town
• Whether your public utility get its water from underground or surface water (or whether your private source is a well or surface water)
• The region where you live

Your Tap Water Profile helps you keep track of what you know about your tap water. That leaves what is unknown. The second way of looking at how much purifier you need is to realize that of the estimated eighty thousand chemicals in commercial use today, many of which have been found in water supplies, only a hundred or so are regularly tested for.

From this perspective, the safest course is to get a purifier, or water filtration system,  that will remove any specific pollutants that you know are in (or have been in) your tap water, and that will also remove the most of all the many kinds of pollutants that may be in your water.

Surface Water is just what the name implies; it is water found in a river, lake or other surface impoundments. This water is usually not very high in mineral content, and many times is called “soft water” even though it usually is not. Surface water is exposed to many different contaminants, such as animal wastes, pesticides, insecticides, industrial wastes, algae and many other organic materials. Even surface water found in a pristine mountain stream possibly contains Giardia or Coliform Bacteria from the feces of wild animals, and should be boiled or disinfected by some means prior to drinking.

Ground Water is that which is trapped beneath the ground. Rain that soaks into the ground, rivers that disappear beneath the earth, melting snow are but a few of the sources that recharge the supply of underground water. Because of the many sources of recharge, ground water may contain any or all of the contaminants found in surface water as well as the dissolved minerals it picks up during it’s long stay underground. Waters that contains dissolved minerals, such as calcium and magnesium above certain levels are considered “hard water” Because water is considered a “solvent”, ie, over time it can break down the ionic bonds that hold most substances together, it tends to dissolve and ‘gather up’ small amounts of whatever it comes in contact with. For instance, in areas of the world where rock such as limestone, gypsum, fluorspar, magnetite, pyrite and magnesite are common, well water is usually very high in calcium content, and therefore considered “hard”.

Due to the different characteristics of these two types of water, it is important that you know the source of your water — Surface or Ground. Of the 326 million cubic miles of water on earth, only about 3% of it is fresh water; and 3/4 of that is frozen. Only 1/2 of 1% of all water is underground; about 1/50th of 1% of all water is found in lakes and streams. The average human is about 70% water. You can only survive 5 or less days without water.