Most people rely on clean, fresh, and great-tasting water for drinking, cooking, and other household tasks. For this reason, there has been a significant increase in the number of homes that have invested in a water filtration or softening system. If you want to improve the quality of your water it can be confusing, which type of system do you need? In this article, we will take a closer look at these systems to help you make an informed decision.
The Importance of Water Testing
The first thing to understand is that there isn’t really a one-size-fits-all water treatment solution. Some water filtration systems can remove a wide spectrum of contaminants, but they won’t soften water or deal with specific issues. The only way to choose the right water treatment system for your home is to test your incoming water supply. Sending water samples to an accredited water testing laboratory will give you accurate data about the makeup of your water. There are inexpensive home water testing kits, but these are not sufficiently accurate to make major decisions.
Dealing with Hard Water Problems
Hard water contains elevated concentrations of dissolved minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, and iron. Water is an effective solvent, after it falls as rain it passes over and through layers of sand, rock, and soil which contain these mineral deposits. These minerals are added to the makeup of the water which makes it hard and difficult to use. There are no health threats associated with drinking hard water and it isn’t removed at the water treatment plant. But, hard water will create scale, which narrows and damages plumbing pipes and causes damage to water using appliances.
The dissolved minerals left on the skin after the water evaporates will trigger or exacerbate skin, hair, and nail problems. Hard water fades fabrics and wears them out faster and it inhibits the performance of soap, shampoo, and other cleaning agents.
The only reliable way to remove hard water is an ion-exchange water softener. The incoming water is attracted to charged resin beads coated with salt (sodium or potassium). An ion exchange takes place, the mineral ions are left on the resin media, and the salt ions are added to the water. This makes the water softer and easier to use in your home.
Dealing with Water Contamination Problems
Private well and municipal water can contain a wide variety of contaminants, such as arsenic, lead, iron, copper, cadmium, heavy metals, chromium, microorganisms, pharmaceutical byproducts, and more. Even commonly used disinfectant agents such as chlorine and chloramine have byproducts that recent studies have highlighted as a potential health threat.
There are a number of water filtration systems that can be used in isolation or in series to remove contaminants that are specific to your water supply. Some of the most effective systems include granular activated carbon (GAC), reverse osmosis (RO), ultraviolet purification (UV-C,) and many more.
If you want to improve the quality of your water, contact your local water treatment specialist.
By EcoWater Systems.
EcoWater Systems of Nebraska is the largest water treatment company in the state and is a member of Water Quality Association.