The first major shock for me was the sheer quantity of US citizens who are dinking from a residential water supply that has been, and continues to be, contaminated by drugs. Take a guess? What kind of figure do you imagine it to be? 41,000? Maybe higher say 410,000? Try 41,000,000! That’s right; 41 MILLION people are affected by this problem in some of the most populated areas of the USA including San Francisco and Philadelphia.

The shocks do not end here though; the list of substances found is also astounding, including trace elements of medication used to treat hormone imbalance, angina, asthma, heart problems, high cholesterol, anxiety and epilepsy. Nobody can know for sure what the long term effects of inducting these kinds of medication can be.

Now for the hands down, big daddy of all shocks, are you ready for this? US Federal Regulations do not require the water supply to be tested for drugs, there are no guidelines or measures in place to regularly test the water supply for drug contamination, and there are no limits placed upon the quantities of drugs that can be found within the water supply. Basically nothing is checked and nothing is done to remove these potentially harmful substances.

Personally I am disgusted by this situation, there can be no doubt in my mind that the constant induction of even the most mild pharmaceutical drug for a period of years can be anything but damaging to a person’s health. I fully expect other nations to begin coming into the firing line soon, as the global public picks up this startling news and runs with it.

Over the last 5 months, Associated Press monitored the water supply in 24 metropolitan areas of the United States, and found a whole myriad of different drugs in the residential waters supply, consumers are understandably shocked by this.

How do drugs get into the water supply in the first place? Quite simply they find their way into waste water, as human being either consume or discard them. This waste water is obviously not filtered effectively, allowing traces of the drugs in question to re-enter the residential water supply.

Simple logic tells us that our residential water supplies are not being filtered and cleansed effectively, and that the water treatment plants themselves are now incapable of ensuring we have a clean, safe and healthy water supply piped into our homes. The problem lays in the fact that there is little standardisation of the actual filtration techniques used by individual water purification plants, often plants will use old and ineffective equipment, or will fail to upgrade to a newer, more effective technology once it becomes clear that their old equipment can no longer perform adequately.

It becomes increasingly clear that providing your own filtration system, to clean your own water supply is fast becoming a requirement instead of a luxury in major urban areas. Luckily there are plenty of cost effective filtration systems on the market, many of which are fully capable of supplying healthy water for the entire household.

If you are concerned over the purity of your residential water supply., you may like to consider getting it tested, you may well be shocked by the results!

Reverse Osmosis Filters

I have a friend who was a submariner for many years in the Dutch Navy; he has told me many stores about the way water was filtered on the subs he served on, all of which used a form of reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis works by drawing the water through an extremely fine membrane, this membrane acts as a filter, and can be used to remove salt and other impurities from a water supply. Interestingly enough, my friend tells me that no matter what, the water always tasted of diesel fuel, although I am sure this was due to the fact the filter was installed on a submarine with diesel engines! It should be noted that reverse osmosis will also remove many trace minerals from the water supply, many of which are deemed to be beneficial to a healthy life.

Catalytic Conversion Filters

A water filter which uses a process of catalytic conversion works in almost exactly the same way that the catalytic converter in a motor vehicle is used to control emissions. Certain substances such as chlorine and heavy metals are oxidised and broken down into their basic component form. The original design of these units can be traced back to Estonia, and some starling results have been achieved. A catalytic conversion filter can be used to turn a very bad water supply, such as a stagnant pool, and create safe, drinkable water which would pass WHO (World Health Organisation) safety checks. In addition to filtration, the catalytic converter will also change the PH value of the water and produce an alkaline supply. This is an incredible form of filtration which is just beginning to find its way into the mainstream domestic market; more on this in future posts for sure.

So there we have it, over the last few posts I have introduced plenty of information for people to read over, and familiarise themselves with filtration technology, before I dive into the deep end so to speak, and begin to discuss real world applications and situations.

The theory behind Electrolyzed Alkaline Water Filters was developed over 40 years ago in Russia, and is very simple indeed. By using magnetic plates and a ceramic filament, water can be separated into two distinct streams, one alkaline and one acidic. These two distinctly different types of water, produced from one input stream, have separate applications.

Alkaline based water is mainly used for consumption, far healthier to drink and cook with. Most well known chefs insist that their cooking supply is as Alkaline as possible, as they consider the taste to be more pleasing.

Acidic water is used for cleansing, either of the body or for general household cleaning. The acidic nature of the water means that it is in itself a natural antiseptic. Acidic water has been proven to be better for dermal application, causing healthier results that alkaline water.

Generally an Electrolyzed Alkaline Water Filter will be installed and used to feed separate rooms or areas of the house, enabling the owner to direct the correct type of water for each application. This can be somewhat expensive, as the best of these systems will feature duel plumbing, to allow both acidic and alkaline water to be supplied depending upon the application. Smaller units can be used to process the residential supply and collect the separate streams into a container, to be used as necessary.

It should be noted, that although we do classify this technique as a filtration method, it does not actually cleanse the water in any way, it simply allows the owner to split water by PH value.

Distillation Filters

For a very long time, people were firm in the belief that consuming the purest water possible, was also the most healthy option, and there can be no doubt that the process if distillation produces very pure water. More recently, people have begun to realise that the natural minerals found within water are important to the body, thus distillation removes these beneficial minerals alongside the less useful contaminations. Typically a distiller will also produce fairly acidic water as output.

Ultra Violet Filtration

If you have ever kept an aquarium, it is possible that you are already aware of UV filtration methods, as they are widely used to clean the water contained in the fish tank. UV filtrations use a very high frequency light, which irradiates the water through an element made of glass. As water passes over the element it is exposed to this light, which is quite capable of killing all known organism. UV based filtration systems are particularly well suited in third world situations, where the possibility of the water supply being contaminated by potentially harmful bacteria, is fairly high.
Ultra Violet filtration is a very effective way of sterilising a water supply, arguably the most effective solution of all. However, there are some drawbacks; there is no way to actually discern if the filtration unit is working effectively without the resulting output supply being tested in a laboratory environment. Many of the more complex and expensive UV filtration systems will incorporate a counter, which indicates how many hours the filter unit has been run for on the current element, when a particular hour count is reached, the element will need to be changed.

Infra Red Filtration

There have been a fair few filtrations systems introduced which use Infra Red energy. IR is a totally natural type of energy, which is emitted by certain minerals such as semi-precious gemstones. IV energy is capable of softening the water supply and to put it into a negative charge state. Furthermore, IR filtration will restructure the water molecules into much smaller cluster, allowing the body to induct them more efficiently and help with hydration. IR filtration units are a great choice for installation at any form of sporting club or facility; due to the fact the water supply produced by them is very quick to hydrate the body once it has been imbibed.

There are several types of charcoal water file; the best performing, yet lowest flow rate type of charcoal filter will use a solidified block of carbon, much like a honeycomb. Next we have Activated Silver Impregnated Charcoal, which is often known as Chlorgon. This type of filtration system brings chlorine exclusion and an anti-bacterial system to the table, making it a great choice for cleaning biological and chemical toxins from a water supply. Lastly, we have a loose carbon type filter, which is often the cheapest, yet least effective form of filtration.

It is important to note that charcoal based filtration systems only remove impurities from a water supply, they cannot be used to change the pH balance of the water, and so if you have a rather acidic water supply to start with, you will still have an acidic supply once it has been filtered.

Carbon filters can also be susceptible to a build up of mould within the filter unit, you need to remember that a filtration unit is basically removing all of the garbage from your water supply; this garbage builds up in the actual filter, which means it will require maintenance from time to time. Taste is a good indication of the state of your charcoal filter, when the water starts to taste anything but good, then it is time to change the filter. Carbon based filtration units also lose effectiveness over time, so it is important to change the filter regularly to maintain a continuous supply of healthy, clean water.

Overall, carbon based filtration systems work very well with a residential water supply, and are among the easiest and cheapest to maintain.

The clear benefits that a good water filtration system can provide, can be found in the fact that many of the best types of water filters can remove a high quantity of this contaminations, ultimately providing you with cleaner, purer and above all safer water.

Many people will tell you that they are aware of the issue regarding contaminants in residential water supplies, and that they only consume bottled water because of this. Quite frankly, this is not strictly any better than drinking straight from the tap, as in many states, bottled water is required to be no more pure than the standard residential supply.

If we consider the facts, it becomes increasingly apparent that water filtration is arguably the only cost effect means of ensuring that you and your family, are consuming the purest water possible. Filtration systems work in various way, in my next blog entry I will explore the different methods used by some of the best water filtration systems.

The purpose of this blog is to help the public to discover and discuss the major health issues faced by families who are drinking and cooking with the unfiltered water, direct from their residential supply. Many people not realise that there are over 2,000 toxins that have been found present in drinking water at some time or another, most of these can be removed by using a good quality, well designed filtration system, which will supply pure and uncontaminated water.

In the coming weeks I will introduce many new ideas, and hope to encourage discussion of this important subject, which should be considered by every health conscious individual. I will also attempt to expose many of the myths that surround the entire pure water industry, such as the fact that government standards do not require that bottled water be any more pure than the water straight from your tap. Yes you did read that right, you may as well take a plastic bottle and fill it yourself in your kitchen, there is very little difference in water quality.

For now, I would just like to welcome you to this new blog, and ask that you return again soon, to check for new content, which I aim to produce almost daily from now on.

And remember, there is no life without water, it makes sense to ensure you are drinking from the most healthy supply possible.