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.
Many people use the water directly from their faucets without a care in the world. Others may understand that the water quality could be better, so they use a filter jug that they keep in their fridge. But, until they encounter a problem, most people probably don’t think too much about this issue too deeply, and they even wonder how important is home water treatment anyway? In this article, we will examine this issue in more detail and offer some solutions to the problem.
Is Public Water Safe to Use?
If you receive your water from a municipal water treatment facility, you may wonder how safe it is. These water treatment plants do clean water to a basic standard and disinfect it with chlorine or chloramine, which is chlorine mixed with ammonia. Historically chlorine based water treatments have been effective at removing certain viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. But, there are some problems with public water that you should be aware of before you use water directly from the tap.
The main problem isn’t the water treatment but the actual water delivery network. Under every village, town, and city, you will find an extensive network of pipes carrying water. This system is in use 24/7 for 365 days of the year, and it has a hard life. At any time, there are likely to breaks in the pipe network, the larger ones are detected quickly, and this often leads to a “boil notice” issued by the water treatment plant. But, the smaller cracks can go undetected for some time, and this allows contaminants to enter the water that left the plant cleaned to a basic level.
The next problem is the type of contaminants that the water plant actually removes. Most water treatment facilities do filter out some material, but there are a lot of contaminants that they simply do not remove. Also, it’s important to understand that there are possible health risks related to the use of chlorine and chloramine. More research is required to confirm these fears, but many people hate the “swimming pool” taste and odor associated with chlorine anyway.
What Contaminants Can a Home Water System Remove?
There are many types of home water filtration systems designed to remove contaminants from your water. Generally speaking, there are two broad types of systems. They are point of use and whole house. A point of use system is installed at a single tap, which is usually located at the kitchen sink. This gives the user cleaner water at that tap only for drinking water, food prep, and other kitchen tasks. A whole house system cleans all of the water coming into the home for showering, bathing, cleaning, and other tasks. The main reason to choose a point of use system is because it is cheaper than a whole house system.
There are a number of different methods to remove contaminants but choosing one can be tricky. It’s a great idea to get a water test to determine the exact contaminants that you’re dealing with in your area. There are store bought tests that are fairly accurate, but if you want very accurate results, you need a laboratory water test. The results will be revealing, and they can be helpful when choosing a home water treatment system that suits your needs. Let’s take a look at three of the most common and best performing water treatment systems in use today.
- Reverse Osmosis (RO)
This system forces the water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. This is available as a point of use or whole house system, and the membrane only allows water through. The contaminants are left on the surface of the membrane until they are flushed away into the drain. The water can then be conditioned to an even higher standard using activated charcoal filtration. An RO system can remove many contaminants, including lead, nitrates, sulfates, chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, pesticides, detergents, and pharmaceuticals.
- Water Softeners
These systems remove the minerals that cause water to be hard. The magnesium, calcium, and even iron mineral ions are exchanged for benign sodium ions. The result is soft and silky water that won’t dry out your skin and hair, and your washing results will improve at lower temperatures. This is also a great way to get rid of water spots and scale in your plumbing and water using appliances for good. Many water softeners now have built-in iron filters for those suffering from stained laundry and plumbing fixtures.
- Ultraviolet Light
Ultraviolet light can be used to treat water passing through it, and this will disinfect the water. UV light actually damages the DNA of the bacteria and other pathogens, which prevents them from replicating. This is the method that pathogens and viruses use to make us ill after we have ingested them. UV light treatment is great because it’s cheap to install and run and extremely effective. But, this treatment has no effect on heavy metals, chemicals, and other contaminants, unlike RO.
How Harmful is Contaminated Water?
Let’s face it; contamination is a very broad and general term that sets people on edge when they see it. If you think about it, pretty much anything that you find in water that isn’t a water molecule is technically a contaminant. Some materials found in water, such as minerals, can even be beneficial for health in trace quantities. But, there are harmful contaminants that we need to be aware of, and they can find their way into our water supplies.
Some of the worst diseases in the world are waterborne, and they use water as a vector to enter our bodies. When the cleanliness of water is compromised, it’s typically followed by a bout of Salmonella or E.coli or some other outbreak. There are other concerns too, such as the addition of fluoride and chlorine, which can make people ill. Chlorinates have been tentatively linked with asthma, skin aging, and other health issues.
If you want to learn more about home water treatment options, contact your local specialist today.