Buyer Beware! Water Filtration Systems Might Be Worse Than You Think!
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Most people who are planning to purchase a water filter system for their home are doing it for health and environmental concerns. But buyer beware, some of these high priced systems can be more harmful to your health than plain tap water.
Some common drinking water problems that filtration systems are suppose to remove include heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, rust, sediments, fluoride, nitrates and radon. That’s just a small list and already quite mortifying when you read it. There are also hundreds of harmful chemicals that are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. So how can buying a water filtration system, or even bottled water, be more harmful to your health than drinking regular tap water?
Let’s start with the popular choice of the reverse osmosis home water filter. It removes all the beneficial trace minerals that are naturally found in water. Drinking demineralized water for long periods of time has been shown to create multiple adverse health effects. For example, since demineralized water is more acidic than alkaline, minerals have to be pulled from your teeth and bones to produce bicarbonate to neutralize it. This can lead to major mineral deficiencies in your body. Cancer is also a concern when the body has a higher state of acidity. There have been many studies showing that cancer grows in acidic environments.
Now let’s talk about the money aspects of a water filtration system. The prices can range from $700 dollars up to $6000. In addition, most systems have to be changed out every 5 years, some as frequently as a year. If you’re just drinking the water and not using it for all purposes like showering, consider buying a disposable filtration system like a pitcher filter you can fill and put in the fridge. They’re price efficient and convenient.
Let’s consider bottled water. Is it any safer for your body than tap? Tests have shown that close to 70% of bottled water is completely exempt from the FDA bottled water standards. This includes no prohibition against E-coli or fecal Coliform bacteria which city tap waters are regulated against. In addition, bottled water companies are not required to filter and disinfect their water like the city does.
So you decide before you buy your next filtration system. Is it worth the buck or can you save that money and take any extra vacation to a natural mineral spa and just relax about it all.
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Sorry, but I am going to have to completely disagree with this post.
First, you only address a single type of water filtration system. If you are going to bring up only one type, please don’t generalize by saying “water filters” as a sweeping title. Perhaps the filtered water does come out slightly more acidic. More often than not, however, that depends more on the source of the water than the filtered output.
Also, pitcher filters use activated charcoal. This reduces some contaminants, but generally not those affected by countertop filtration systems, and thus the reason why people buy the larger/more expensive units in the first place.
You also do not address many of the concerns of normal tap water. It’s not just the metals or potential bacteria in the water people worry about. There’s fluoride (don’t get me started; just read Bryson’s “The Fluoride Deception”), possible contaminants from old/aging pipes, other metals/minerals that cause water to be ‘hard’ or ’soft’ and much more. Also, more studies are showing more-than-trace amounts of pharmaceutical byproducts in water.
Not something you want to consume, eh?
So please, if you’re going to take a stance on such a product, due diligence in research is highly suggested.
I have to also disagree with you. I use a faucet filter that uses about 4 or 5 cartridges a year (at $13 each) for all the drinking water my family uses. You can taste the difference and sometimes even see it.
The original post is right about reverse osmosis and bottled water. There are viable solutions however. But a small faucet filter or pitcher filter from Brita will make the water taste better, but they don’t even claim to remove most contaminants. A good filter that will effectively remove fluoride and chlorine and hundreds of other contaminants is available. Please visit http://www.friendsofwater.com, a family-run business for info and products to save and filter water.
I think you should not generalize as you do I distill my water from the tap and yes its concidered to be dead water but I get my vits and minerals from food. If you ever tried distilling water you would be glad to do so because of what you might find in the bottom of the distilation chamber after you distill a batch of water you might change your mind rather quickly after seeing that. What remains is yellowish to a brownish color, guess what that might be. What I was once told from one of the water quality people here where I live is that the small with particle’s floating in the tap water in your glass is the remains of toilet paper that they can’t filter out, you decide.
I really agree with this. You definately DO NOT want to drink tap water…but most of the filters on the market just don’t cut the mustard, if you will. I have been using a great filter for the last few years, but before that i just used the cheap pitcher filters, and thought it was doing a great job. It still tasted just like chlorine though, and I found out that since they put chlorine in all the water supplies to kill germs, its gonna be in the water you drink unless you have a very potent filtration system. Chlorine causes lots of problems like cancer too! UGH! So anyway, i had no idea there was such a range of prices as you mention from $700 to $5000 or more…thats crazy! In this time, we should be given FREE FRESH water to drink without charging us. It should just be one of those things our tax dollars give us….
oh well…But thanks for your post. I had no idea reverse osmosis caused problems like that…its what i keep hearing is the best option. So now I’m kinda at a loss again….clean water shouldn’t be this hard…does anyone agree!
Sheila
Sheila,
You are right that there are many filters on the market that just don’t do it. It sounds like you have a good filter yourself. Does it remove fluoride?
People can get a countertop or undercounter filter that will do a great job, and replace filters only once a year. You do not have to spend $700 – $5000. I believe those prices mentioned in the article were for a whole house system. $269 – $289 is the cost of a great kitchen filter that will do what is needed for most municipal water. You can get shower and bath and garden filters each for under $60. There is a new stainless steel filtering water bottle for $39.95. Please visit http://www.friendsofwater.com for lots of data. Cruise around, we’ve put a lot of water information on the site.
I am not a professional water tester and I can not say if water is safe to drink but I suggest testing your water first to find out what you need to remove to meet the secondary EPA standards then picking the right filter. I am in LA and we use a carbon block with RO and a few other filters. I post my tests here: http://www.gregoryhillman.org please let me know what you think.