Selecting the Right Water Purifier

In order to choose the right water purifier you have to realize that water is more than a colorless liquid, which quenches our thirst.

You’ve just finished working in the yard on a hot Saturday afternoon and someone has handed you a tall cool glass of water. You gulp it back greedily, savoring the immediate effects as it quench your thirst, cools and re-hydrates your body, without giving any thought as to what you are doing. All you are thinking about is quenching your thirst.

It's true that doctors suggest we drink approximately 8 glasses of water a day. Our bodies must have water to function properly. The average human requires approximately 2.7 liters of water for women and 3.7 liters of water for men a day in order to avoid dehydration. Each person’s ideal water consumption depends on how active that individual is, along with other factors such as temperature, humidity and health factors. However, if we drink water that contains impurities it can have a harmful effect on us.

Isn’t the water that comes from my facet pure? Not necessary, it could contain arsenic, bacteria, pesticides, and other pollutants. In fact, the EPA has set standards for about 90 contaminants, which are found in our drinking water. For a complete list of all the possible contaminants, you can view the EPA's standards, and the possible source of each contaminant along with its possible health effects, at: www.epa.gov/safewater/mcl.html.

For this reason many people have decided to install home water purifiers. In order to choose the right water purifier you have to realize that water is more than a colorless liquid, which quenches our thirst. It is a necessary part of life that without we wouldn’t be able to survive. Many individuals do not realize that water contains properties and elements such as minerals that allow us to live healthy lives. Below is a list of such properties that water should contain:

Water should contain essential nutrients and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and trace elements. American consumers spend approximately $6.5 Billion each year on vitamin and mineral supplements to ensure that they are getting the recommended daily amount when all they should have to do is drink the right kind of water.
Water should help keep your body’s pH in balance. The tissue in the human body produces waste, which is normally acidic. Too much or too little can lead to health problems. Because of the minerals that should be in water, most water is slightly alkaline, which helps to maintain the pH levels of our bodies by flushing out the acid waste accumulation.
Water should be free of harmful contaminants such as lead, arsenics, mercury, and pesticides.

Different water purification systems use different methods of removing contaminants from water, and every system has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance, carbon filters are convenient, improve the taste of water, but will not remove lead, antimony, arsenic, asbestos, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, fluoride, mercury, nickel, nitrates, nitrites, selenium, sulfate, thallium, certain radio nuclides, dissolved inorganic contaminants, metals, minerals, or salts like those that cause hard water or scale from the water. Reverse osmosis, will remove lead, however, it also removes essential minerals, and these filters require frequent maintenance and replacement.

Before believing any advertisement claims made about any system, or before you spending a fortune on bottled water, you need to compare your choices in home purification systems. When doing your research, don’t forget to investigate the convenience of the system and ask the following questions: Does a plumber have to install this particular model? How often does the filter need to be replaced?

Many sellers may hide these issues and costs, to make their products more appealing. How well a water filter performs can be verified by reading the product's performance data sheet. This will list all of the contaminants that filter or system is certified to remove from the water and at what percentage. In several states, it is the law that this information be included either as part of the promotional literature, or in the package itself.

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