Why More & More People Are Filtering Their Water
Elitia Barnes You may not think about it, but you use water all the time. You drink and cook with water every day. You use water to wash your skin and hair. Not to mention all the water you use for laundry and cleaning. Water is at the heart of your home. And it’s important to pay attention to your water quality. Every drop of water you put into your body impacts your health in the long run. Water is one of the most essential components for the well-being of your family. We all need water not merely to survive, but to thrive. Your brain, organs and immune system all depend on water to keep you at your best.
From your morning cup of coffee and shower, to every meal and load of laundry, having filtered water gives you peace of mind. The best way for your family to enjoy the full benefits of filtered water is with a salt-free whole house water system. A whole house water system ensures every drop of water in your home is filtered and tastes good.
Looking at a glass of water, you may not think there’s a lot going on, but there’s a more to each drop than meets the eye. By the time water reaches you home, it’s travelled miles from its original source. An intricate system brings water down from mountain tops or up from underground aquifers and into city water treatment plants. Around 98% of water treatment plants in the United States use chlorine and ammonia to disinfect water before it travels to your home. These chemicals bleach your water to kill off harmful bacteria and organisms that may be in the water. Chlorine mixed with ammonia creates the chemical chloramine.
Cities like chloramine because it lasts longer in water than chlorine, which means water stays disinfected for a longer period. That’s good news if you live further away from your water treatment facility. The bad news is that chlorine and especially chloramines remain in your water long after it reaches you home faucets. That’s why your tap water can taste “off” or like a swimming pool. Chlorine and chloramines also dry out your skin and strip your hair of natural oils.
Once water leaves your city’s water treatment plant, it still must travel through a maze of old pipes to get to your home. Along the way, water picks up residue, which can form disinfection byproducts (DBPs). DBPs occur when chlorine reacts with organic substances that may be present in water. Things like dirt, industrial run-off or even bugs that may be trapped in city pipes can all lead to DBPs. Some disinfection byproducts, like chloroform and bromoform are Trihalomethanes (THMs) and are known to be carcinogenic. The level of THMs in city water is regulated, but they’re potentially harmful long-term effects is another reason why many families have decided to filter water before it enters their home. Not only does filtered water taste better, it’s gentler on your skin, hair and even your clothes. With filtered water flowing through your entire home, you can rest easy knowing your water tastes great and feels amazing.
Filtering out chlorine, chloramines and dirt from your water not only gives you delicious drinking water from every tap, it also benefits your over-all health and even your beauty routine. Water impacts your body from the inside and out. Filtered water protects your skin from the damaging effects of chlorine and chloramines. Your skin is over 60% water and needs to be properly hydrated to maintain elasticity. That’s right, filtered water can help prevent wrinkles! The water you use to wash your body impacts your skin’s ability to retain moister. When water is full of chlorine and chloramines, these chemicals dry out your skin. This leaves your skin more vulnerable to sun and environmental damage.
The same goes for your hair. If you color or treat your hair, then you know how frustrating it can be when chlorinated tap water turns your hair brassy and flat. Rather than using more conditioner and hydration treatments, it’s easier (and more cost effective) to filter your water! Keep your hair healthy and nourished by filtering out damaging chemicals that counteract even the fiercest conditioners. With filtered water flowing from your bathroom sinks and showers, you’ll get the most out of all your skin and hair products.
If you’ve already looked into filtering your home water, then you’ve probably come across some confusing information regarding water softeners. To put it simply, water softeners do not filter your water. Water softeners are designed to “soften” (that slippery water feeling) water by replacing natural minerals like calcium and magnesium with salt. That’s why water softeners come with big salt tanks that need to be regularly refilled with salt pellets. In areas with extreme hard water, this prevents scale buildup in homes. The problem is that once you add salt to your water, that water is not drinkable.
This is why water softeners require you to also install a separate reverse osmosis system under your kitchen sink to filter your water. Not only is it super inconvenient to only be able drink water from one sink in the entire house, water softeners also cause pollution. Once salt is added to your home water, that salty water is re-introduced into our eco-system. Most city water treatment facilities are not equipped to filter out salt (desalination plants are rare and very expensive). This means that the water coming from homes with water softeners cannot be recycled or reused by the city for farming or irrigation. This puts a strain on water supplies and usage, which is why many cities and housing communities are banning the installation of water softeners.
The good news is if you live in an area with hard water, you can still solve your hard water problems without compromising the quality of your water. Modern innovations in water technology allow you to enjoy filtered water and reduce the effect of hard water without using salt. You can support the health of your family, protect the water supply and extend the lifetime of your home appliances and pipes, without relying on salt to “soften” your water. You can enjoy great tasting water from every tap and solve your hard water problems with a salt-free whole house water system.
There’s another eco-friendly benefit to installing a salt-free home water system. Families with filtered water flowing through their entire home don’t need to buy bottled water, countertop filters or replace refrigerator door filters. All water is filtered before it enters your home! This saves you the hassle of buying bottled water, reduces your use of single use plastic and cuts down on water waste. Did you know it takes more water to manufacture one plastic bottle than the amount of water that bottle can hold? In 2018 the United States spent 31 billion dollars on bottled water.
But only around 30% of single use plastics are recycled in the United States. Most plastic water bottles are piling up in landfills or polluting our oceans and eco-systems. It takes over 450 years for a single water bottle to fully degrade. In fact, plastic never truly goes away; it just gets smaller and smaller until it is microscopic. This has lead scientists around the world to warn against the unknown consequences of micro plastic. Micro plastic has already been found in fish. Installing a home water system cuts down waste and improves the well-being of your family.
Water is a precious resource and is vital for our everyday lives. Whether you’re mostly concerned about the taste, your hair, or health benefits, filtering your water improves each day. Taste and feel the difference with filtered water flowing through your entire home.