There are good reasons why you need to be concerned about the impact your drinking water can have on your health. How you protect your family depends on your level of concern and your budget. Products are available on the market that filter all the water coming into the home (a whole home system) right down to the point of use (kitchen faucet water filter) and many options in between. In addition to the point of filtration, there are also choices to be made regarding the type of filtration.

Water Treatment Summary

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Particulate/mechanical filter contains simple screens that only block large particles. They are often used as the initial filter for larger, multiple-stage water systems.

Adsorption/Activated Carbon is a process where particles in water are removed through a process where the particles stick to a carbon filter, which is usually made of carbon or granular activated carbon (GAC). This type of filter reduces the most common, harmful particles in drinking water which includes volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), chlorine, and its byproducts.

Softeners/ion exchange units uses a process where hard water passes through an ionic exchange which reduces hard materials such as lead, and replaces them with softer sodium ions. This results in a “softer” type of water.

Ultraviolet (UV) Treatment uses UV light to dispose of germs present in the drinking water. It is the only water treatment system certified by NSFI to reduce bacteria.

Reverse Osmosis is a process where water is forced through a membrane, trapping particles that are physically larger than the water molecules. Although R.O. is a great process for reducing healthy minerals in the water, it is not effective in reducing chlorine and VOCs. R.O. systems waste three gallons for every gallon that they filter.

Water Distillers uses a lot of energy because it converts water into steam, and then back into water. This type of water treatment system is effective in reducing healthy minerals in the water, but is useless in getting rid of chlorine and VOCs.

Kinetic Degradation Fluxion (KDF) is a high-purity copper-zinc formulation that uses a basic chemical process known as redox (oxidation/reduction) to remove chlorine, lead, mercury, iron, and hydrogen sulfide from water supplies. The process also has a mild anti-bacterial, algaecitic, and fungicitic, effect and may reduce the accumulation of lime scale.

Sediment water filter designs are meant to remove certain contaminants from potable water as it flows into a home or business.

Magnetic Water Softeners and electronic descaling devices being sold for home use are still relatively new technology. These devices do not remove anything from the water. The manufacturers claim they stop scale from forming by imparting an electrical charge on the hard water ions as they pass through a magnetic or electronic field.