Friday, August 8, 2008

Comparing Water Treatment Systems Before Buying

By Thomas Manso


The latest news articles and facts that are showing up and shading some light on what's in our tap water are transforming the water treatment systems in an item of major interest, and people are actively seeking after them. Not all systems are the same, and you should compare these systems by two important factors; the cost, and how safe and pure is the water that they provide. In this article, we will give you a small condensed version of the pros and cons of each system.

The pitcher system is the most popular. You can find filtered pitchers at most grocery, drug, and department stores. Indeed, they seem to be the cheapest ones, but when the filter cost is factored in, in reality this is the most expensive method of obtaining filtered water. Besides that, these kind of filters only remove large particles such as sediment and lead, and leave in large quantities of chemicals and bacteria. They are far better than tap water, but these systems are not the most effective or cost-efficient.

If you want to compare water systems that work effectively, the two you need to look most closely at are reverse osmosis and multi-stage systems. Both of these systems provide far healthier water than either tap or filtered water. In the next few paragraphs we will examine the cost and effectiveness of each of these types of units.

Reverse osmosis water treatment systems work by passing water through a semi-permeable membrane that filters out anything larger than a water molecule. Because bacteria and chemicals are smaller than water molecules, these filters must also be used in conjunction with a carbon block filter.

Reverse osmosis systems do remove the majority of contaminants and impurities from water, but they also remove trace minerals like potassium and magnesium which are needed by the human body to maintain health. A factor to consider is that these systems waste about two gallons of water for every gallon that is purified. The price of these systems is in the range of 200 to 1,500 dollars going from just a kitchen unit to a whole house system. It cost about twenty-five cents per gallon of purified water.

Multi-stage water treatment systems use a number of different patented filters to pass the water through in order to obtain drinkable or purified water. The multi-stage systems remove practically all impurities, but the valuable minerals that are necessary to the body are left in. Consequently, impurities like lead, rust, all sorts of chemicals and even the chlorine that is added to all tap water are removed in this process.

Multi-stage systems are not expensive if you consider that you can buy a counter unit for as low as 150 dollars or a whole house system for about 1,000 dollars; and that includes the total cost including filter replacement, which is only done every three years. If you consider that, you'll realize that you pay only about ten cents per gallon of water. Something else to consider is the fact that they use less water and produce less waste than reverse osmosis systems.

When comparing water treatment systems, it is also important to highlight the difference between kitchen and whole house systems. While kitchen systems are very important and clean the water that everyone in your house drinks, whole house systems purify water in the one place in your home where the most water toxins are taken in; the bathroom.

While taking a shower or hot bath you the toxins from your water into your blood through your pores, and also you inhale them in the water vapor you breathe. Practically every chemical in your water is dispersed into the air in the form of water vapor. Because of these facts it is extremely important and strongly encouraged the use of a whole house water filtration system.

We can truthfully say that water treatment systems are highly valuable. Whether you use the recommended whole house system or simply a kitchen unit, what's important is that you take a step and start protecting yours and your family's health. Health and treating your water is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family. Because tap water contains so many pollutants, carcinogens, and toxins, the best decision we can take is purify our water in order to help ourselves stay healthy.

About the Author:

No comments: