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. 

If you’ve already considered a whole house water filter for your home, now is an ideal time to make your purchase. A water treatment system can offer many benefits throughout your home, but if you’re still not convinced, we’ll explore this topic a little further now, so you have the details you need to make an informed purchase decision.

What To Expect From Your Whole House System

While most water treatment plants aim to provide good quality water, this is not always what arrives at your home. Water needs to travel through miles of pipework, picking up contaminants along the way. Additionally, water treatment plants use a number of chemicals to ensure that the water supply is free of bacteria, viruses and other potentially harmful pathogens. Unfortunately, this can leave a chemical residue in your tap water that is at best unpalatable and at worst a threat to your health.

A  whole house water treatment system can remove the contaminants commonly found in your tap water. Your system can be tailored to remove:

  • Fluoride: This has been added to municipal water to provide oral health benefits, but in recent years, it has been suggested that fluoride can pose a health risk. Fluoride ingestion has been linked to accelerating aging and weakened immune system.
  • Chlorine: This chemical is often used as a disinfectant for municipal water supplies. Traces of chlorine remain in tap water, creating that swimming pool like smell. Although chlorine is considered safe in small amounts, it can cause skin and eye irritation during bathing. Traces of chlorine can also be an irritant to preexisting skin conditions such as eczema.
  • Aluminum: Unfiltered water may contain traces of aluminum. This has been linked to a number of health problems including skin problems, learning disabilities in children and an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Lead: Although your water is likely to leave your local water treatment plant free of lead, old pipes can allow this toxic metal to infiltrate into your water. Lead has been linked to delayed development and growth in children, blood pressure issues and kidney damage.
  • DBPs: Disinfection ByProducts have been in the headlines recently. DBPs are formed when chlorine and other disinfection products react with material in the water. These can create potentially harmful compounds including some which are known carcinogens.

The Benefits of a Whole House System

There are a number of benefits offered by a whole house water treatment system. While you may be aware that a whole house system can reduce water hardness and protect your fixtures, but it also offers some perks including:

  • Guest Friendly Showers: Whether you have family over for the holidays or simply have frequent overnight guests, it can be embarrassing when your guests are subjected to showering in hard or foul smelling water. Additionally, when you have a whole house system installed, there will be less soap scum and residue accumulating on your fixtures, so you don’t need to feel uncomfortable when your guests visit the bathroom.
  • Better Tasting Tea and Coffee: For many of us, a cup of coffee or tea is vital for chatting with friends when they visit. Filtered water makes for far better tasting water including the water used to prepare tea and coffee. Even if you have a fancy coffee maker and the best beans, you won’t get great results if you have poor water quality. You’ll be amazed at how improving your water quality will boost the flavour of your tea and coffee; you may even find friends want to visit you rather than meeting at the local coffee shop.
  • Eliminate Bottled Water: When you have a large family or frequent guests, the cost of bottled water can really start to impact your household budget. Additionally, you will have the hassle of needing to bring bottles and bottles back from the grocery store. A whole house water treatment system can eliminate the need for bottled water. As mentioned above, filtering your water will improve the taste of your tap water, making it far more pleasant to drink without needing to spend a fortune on bottled water.

Questions to Ask Before You Buy

Purchasing a new whole house water treatment system is an investment, which will last for many years. As with any major purchase, it is essential to do some research to find a system to meet your needs. In order to establish this, there are some questions you should ask before you buy.

What Contaminants Are in the Water?

The first step to ensure the right water treatment system is to determine what contaminants are affecting your water quality. The best way to accomplish this is to have your water tested to measure concentrations of contaminants common in your geographic area. A full water test will check for metals such as magnesium or lead, chemicals like fluoride or chlorine, bacteria including e.coli and turbidity. Once you know what contaminants are in your water, you will be able to determine the components needed for your new system.

What Size of System is Needed for Your Home?

There are whole house systems available for varying sizes of home. An experienced water treatment technician can guide you through the options to ensure that your new system is perfectly sized for your home to cope with the demands of your family.

Should the System Include a Water Softener?

One of the main causes of scaling is a high level of calcium and magnesium. A water test will determine your water hardness, and this can be factored into your treatment system. If hard water is the only issue, a water softener is likely to be sufficient, but if there are other issues, you may need a more sophisticated system.

If you are still unsure about installing a whole house water treatment system in your home, you should speak to water treatment specialist. An experienced technician can not only test your water, but also guide you through the treatment options best suited to your water quality and requirements.