All About Drinking Water and Water Filters

Drinking water has long been a topic of debate. What’s the safest? Where does it come from? What should I choose to drink? Water is a key part of survival and pivotal for the human race. More importantly, what should you do with your drinking water? Everyone has to drink water but there are ways to decide how and what you do with your water.

Tap water is certainly not the most reliable kind of drinking water. A study from the University of Washington discovered that the Puget sound was holding trace elements of food, traces that changed with the given season. Thanksgiving was thyme and sage while winter holidays surged with cinnamon, weekends were full of chocolate and vanilla and fourth of July was waffle cones and caramel corn. Now, food might sound harmless enough but all over the world trace amounts of rocket fuel, birth control, heroine and home spices are being found. Drinking water laced with heroine sounds a little more concerning.

How do things like heroine get into drinking water?

When someone who actively uses drugs uses the restroom active byproducts are released through their urine into wastewater. These byproducts are not removed from water that is treated. Even though these traces are tiny, if not properly removed they can cause harm.

Drinking enough water is important for a number of reasons, including kidney stones. In children, kidney stones are usually caused by too much salt and not enough water. Drinking water can help prevent salt build up that causes kidney stones, along with a series of other maladies. Water is the lifeblood to life and just because it comes out of your tap doesn’t mean it’s a healthy choice for what to drink! Everyone knows they need to drink water, what you might not know is how to filter your drinking water. There are multiple systems and we’ll briefly discuss two of ours that may fit your needs.

Sweetwater offers multiple water filtration systems including the Urban Defender and the Kitchen Defender. The Urban Defender is a whole house system that removes chlorine, volatile organic compounds, and pesticides. It can also help remove metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and aluminum.  The Urban Defender uses 55lbs of high-quality carbon and 3.5lbs of patented KDF technology to treat your water and leave it tasting great! The system can suit a family of four for five to seven years before needing maintenance, that’s roughly 560,000 gallons of water! The Kitchen defender is an under the sink filtration system that filters chlorine, carcinogenic byproducts, barium, several heavy metals as well as reducing fluoride. It’s one of the most effective systems on the market currently and can be done in residential or commercial models. This system uses three canisters mounted under the sink that uses KDF and a carbon filter. It removed 99%+ or chlorine and reduces bacteria growth up to 90%.

Drinking water is an often-underrated part of home owning. All homes give out tap water and tap water is potable, so it is deemed safe and healthy drinking water. Tap water is not the healthiest option for drinking, filtered is a significantly healthier option. There have even been cases of deadly brain amoebas in US tap water. In 2013 this amoeba killed two boys in a New Orleans area system. When the amoeba gets up the nose it can attach to the nerves that take signals to the brain and causes deadly swelling and infection. Although it is rare 130 cases since 1962 in the US. Tap water can also hold unsafe levels of chlorine and other contaminants you may not want to drink. With a filtration system the chances of any contaminant, rare of otherwise, is significantly lowered.

Distilled water is one of the safest options, but home filtration systems can fit your needs and give you the convince of filtered water out of the tap. Although the systems might be a little more expensive off the bat, they are more cost-effective long term. You really get what you pay for with filtration systems, cheaping out can cost you in maintenance. This isn’t to say buying the most expensive system is the best option, the best option is what fits you and your family’s needs the best. You deserve safe, healthy water and we’re here to make it happen.

How do you know if your tap water is safe? Or even how do you know what’s in your tap water?

It’s important to know these things to make an informed decision when deciding to buy a filter and what kind of filter to get. You can find out what’s in your tap water by checking city water reports and local maps to find water-treatment locations. If the sewer-system treatment plants are upstream, you should highly consider using some kind of filter. If the city water report has contaminants you don’t want in your drinking water, you should highly consider a filter. We’ll work with you to make sure the filter you choose fits your family and lifestyle.

Drinking water is an important and often overlooked factor of home ownership. You should know what’s in your water and what you’d rather keep out. Make sure to do research and ask questions before deciding on any particular option. Research is the most valuable tool when it comes to your drinking water.