With more than 30 years’ experience in the residential and commercial water treatment industry, 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.
Many Canadians know the importance of drinking filtered water, but fail to realize that a plain, consumer filter pitcher may not cut it when it comes to protecting them or delivering the volume of water they need for every day consumption. Regardless of the delivery method, here are the TOP 3 reasons why you should have filtered water in your kitchen.
You are What you EAT. Cleaner, Better Tasting Fruits and Vegetables
Most people know that washing fruits and vegetables is important to remove dirt, pesticides and other potential toxins. But using chlorinated tap water can actually contaminate your fruits and vegetables with chlorine or chloramine byproducts. In some cases even bacteria contained in your water supply can contaminate what you are actually cleaning. You may notice that if you have washed your salad ingredients with chlorinated tap water, it has an unpleasant “swimming pool water” aftertaste and has lost some of the natural sweetness delivered by nature. If you switch to washing your fruits and vegetables with filtered water, you should immediately notice an improved taste (the removal of the chlorine alone will be instantly sensed) and have the assurance that you are not contaminating your produce with bacteria that may be present in your tap water.
The Best Way to Start your Day: Improved Tasting Tea and Coffee
Whether you have hard water or your water supply has been chlorinated by municipal water treatment facilities, you may have noticed an odd taste in your tea and coffee at times. You may have dismissed this and perhaps even considered changing your preferred brand of caffeinated “wake-me-up” without great results. The good news is that changing to filtered water in your kettle will immediately improve the taste of your favorite brew. Filtering your water will remove water hardness particles and any chlorine disinfectant to ensure that all of your drinks have a better flavor. Regardless of whether you prefer to sit down with a relaxing cup of chamomile or enjoy a strong espresso to get you started in the morning, filtered water will allow you to savor your beverage of choice with incredible gusto.
Improved Pasta and Bread
If you are a keen baker, you may have noticed that your homemade breads and pasta are a little unexciting. This may be due to the presence of chlorine in your tap water. Contaminants in the water used to make your bread cannot only affect the taste, but can have a significant effect on the yeast. Bread yeast is particularly sensitive to temperature and chemical interference, i.e. your bread may not properly rise or may end up with a compromised texture. This is especially a problem in sourdough bread recipes. Additionally, pasta boiled in chlorinated tap water will have a less palatable taste compared to pasta cooked in filtered water. Whatever, you are cooking, baking or boiling in your kitchen, if you need water you are likely to find that using filtered water will improve the taste in everything.
Although a whole house or under countertop system may seem like a considerable investment for your home, in actual fact an R.O. (Reverse Osmosis) filter system in your kitchen, in the long run, can actually cost you less than store bought, bottled water. There are of course cheaper alternatives, such as the aforementioned pitchers, but the truth is that their filtering capabilities are quite limited and they may not be sufficient to meet your family’s drinking water and kitchen needs in terms of volume, let alone quality.
Most pitchers have a capacity of a liter or so, with large pitchers offering only 2 liters. Since it is recommended that adult women and men drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water each day, this is not really practical for family use with children. You may find it frustrating needing to keep refilling a pitcher over and over each day. Whole house and under counter systems will ensure that you have plenty of good quality water every time you need it on demand.