With more than 30 years’ experience in the residential and commercial water treatment space, Mark Nelson is a Class 1 Drinking-Water Operator and a CBWA (Canadian Bottled Water Association) Certified Plant Operator. As founder and president of Nelson Water in Ottawa, Mark focuses on dealing with challenging water treatment system designs for problem water. He also heads the largest water bottling plant in the city of Ottawa with a delivery network throughout the Valley.

There are many different options when you’re looking for the best water filtration system for your home. There are pitchers, under-sink filters, whole house systems, and refrigerator dispensers to name just a few! When they consider a water filtration system, most people are looking for a way to purify their drinking and cooking water. Some people simply use a refillable pitcher because they are affordable, but they don’t filter to a high standard. For this reason, many people investigate refrigerator filters and under-sink filtration systems that supply purified water to a single faucet. In this article, we will take a look at these two popular and cost effective options in more detail.

Do You Need a Water Filtration System?

The short answer is yes. Although our public water is cleaned to a basic standard, it is still possible to find contaminants in your water supply. Around 80 common waterborne contaminants can be present in various concentrations, including arsenic, copper, chlorine, lead, bacteria, viruses, cysts, and even uranium. Public water is usually treated with chlorine or chloramine (chlorine and ammonia) which disinfects any microorganisms which may be present. This is an effective approach and it has been used to clean public drinking water for many decades. But, there is a problem, recent research seems to indicate that drinking water that contains chlorine byproducts can cause some chronic health issues. Aside from this danger, many people find the “swimming pool” odor of chlorine treated water to be unpalatable for drinking and cooking. Other contaminants can enter our water supply through breaks in our water delivery infrastructure. For these reasons, it makes good sense to install a filtration system in our homes to ensure that our water is clean and healthy.

Refrigerator Water Filters

Many modern refrigerators have a built-in carbon filtration system that can remove chlorine and chloramine. But, the byproducts related to them are not removed and neither are a host of other contaminants, including bacteria, toxins, heavy metals, and more. In fact, a refrigerator water filter is basically a larger version of a filter pitcher.

According to health experts, a refrigerator water filter may reduce the concentration of certain contaminants, but it will not remove them 100% from the water. It is true that no filtration system is infallible, but you need to find a system that meets most of your needs.

Another key aspect of refrigerator filter systems is that the filter lifespan can vary a great deal. Some systems require a filter system replacement every six months or so and others are based on the volume of water filtered. This can be an expensive proposition if you have a number of people living in your home and your water consumption is high.

Many people living in smaller condos or studio apartments may not have enough space for a refrigerator with a built-in water filter. This type of system is also not a great option if you want to use the cleaner water in your cooking because it’s hard to access the tap with a pan. This is equally true if you want to wash your fruit and veggies in the cleaned water to avoid contamination.

In summary, a refrigerator water filter can clean your drinking water to a basic standard. But, it can be hard to use the water for cooking and cleaning your food to make it safer to eat. Some people may not have enough room for this type of refrigerator at all and the filters can be expensive.

The Under Sink Water Filter

This is a water filter located under the sink and it supplies clean water to a single faucet. This is usually the kitchen faucet because you may want to use the filtered water to clean produce, make beverages, and more. This type of system is known as a point-of-use or POU filtration system by water treatment specialists. It’s a cost effective alternative to a larger (and more expensive) whole-house filtration system that supplies cleaned water to every faucet and fixture in the home.

There are a number of filtration systems that can be installed under your sink but the best one is a reverse osmosis or RO system. This type of system forces the water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. The pores of the membrane are tiny and designed to only allow water molecules to pass through. No chemicals are used during this filtration process and it removes 99% of waterborne contaminants, including chlorine, mercury, nitrates, barium, aluminum, bacteria, pesticides, arsenic, THM’s, PCB’s, volatile chemicals, and more.

The RO filtration process takes a little while so the cleaned and filtered water is stored in a tank under the sink. The contaminants are left on the surface of the membrane and are periodically rinsed away into the drain. Water filtered in this way has a 1:1 ratio which means that every liter cleaned produces a liter of wasted water. This may seem excessive, but remember that this is water cleaned to a high standard for drinking, cooking, and cleaning produce.

Most RO system membrane filters have a lifespan of around a year. A replacement membrane is easy to install and these types of systems don’t require much maintenance. RO filtered water is clean and fresh and the lack of contaminants means that the water makes great ice cubes.

The Ultimate Solution

If you have the budget, a whole house filtration system is the ultimate solution to poor quality water. Adding one or more systems to clean and purify the water and remove hardness can make a dramatic improvement to your home life. Many people are surprised at the quality of their water for bathing, cooking, cleaning, running appliances, and more.

In Conclusion

A refrigerator filter doesn’t remove many contaminants and it isn’t very useful when it comes to basic kitchen tasks. A faucet based RO system makes more sense, it cleans the water to a high standard and it can be installed under virtually any sink. If you want to learn more about RO water filtration systems for your home, contact your local water treatment specialist today.