Environmental Issues affecting our drinking water is constantly in the news! Centralized water treatment cannot meet all of the challenges to ensure your water is free of contaminants.
Installation of a filtration system for the water used in drinking, cooking, food preparation, ice, and beverages is now a requirement to safeguard your family, students, employees and customers from these know and unknown water quality issues.
If your water has an aesthetic problem – one you can see, taste or smell – your senses are your most reliable resource. If you have read about or suspect volatile organic chemicals, chlorinated by-products or lead contamination you may want to have your water tested. But be careful…water testing can be expensive. A complete analysis of hundreds of contaminants that may be in water can cost hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.
A better … and less … expensive alternative is to have your water tested for common water contaminant’s. For contaminant’s you have read about or know are likely to be in your water. Additionally, they may not be as conclusive as you like. Contaminant levels can vary from day to day and week to week. Taking a specific sample at any given time may yield a falsely good (or bad) result.
Having your water tested may be your only way of knowing for sure what health related contaminant’s might be present. Local health departments only test for a limited range of contaminant’s like bacteria to approve the well for potable water.
They service more than 3/4 of the population in America and are already tested, following state and federal guidelines. They are available for the asking from your water supply company/utility. These guidelines do not cover every known contaminant affecting your water source. Violations to these guidelines and laws require notification to the customer but it is always after the fact and sometimes months before you discover the issues.
It is a better investment, both in terms of money and peace of mind, to invest in a quality drinking water system that solves a wide range of problems that you may or may not have or know about.
Whether your source of drinking water comes from a Public or a Private water supply the fact is you’re the one that must proactively address these water quality issues. Less than 1% of the water used in the home or business is used to support life! Since our body is >70% water the quality of the water impacts our health.
Treating all the water coming into your home to “Life Support Quality Water” is not economical nor required in most cases. Filtering as close to consumption/use of this Life Support Water is referred to as a “POINT OF USE” drinking water system. 80% of Life Support water is used at the Kitchen Sink in homes and at drinking fountains in schools and businesses. Office/business’s provide drinking fountains and break rooms sinks for their employees and customers.
*Consult the Performance Data Sheet for the specific model you wish to install to verify its specific performance level.
Potable Water: Definition – Safe for human consumption Depending on your source of potable water the treatment process varies considerably. Surface water & ground water sources classified as Public Water (systems that have at least 15 service connections, or regularly serve at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year) are regulated differently. Private Water supplies are not regulated by the US EPA or by most states.
Public Water Supplies: Over 80% of the population is served by public water utilities. Ranging from small unmanned systems to very large fully manned. The vast majority of these systems are classified as small systems.
The Central Treatment Concept faces many challenges delivering potable water from the plant to home, office and business. Sewage overflows, environmental run off, industrial and transportation spillage, cross connections, leaking and broken pipes to mention just a few all impact water quality.
This industry is primarily regulated by the USEPA through the Safe Drinking Water Act. If the utility is not in compliance with these laws they are required to notify their customers. During water main breaks/repairs they may issue a boil water alert. All of which occurs after the fact.
The predominant disinfection process in the USA is chlorination. It is treated at the central treatment plant to maintain a residual chlorine level throughout the distribution system with the goal of maintaining a residual at their customers location. Chlorination has been found to be deficient in controlling some of the enteric viruses, ineffective at killing protozoan cyst, and can produce disinfection byproducts that have proven to be cancer causing.
Private Water Supplies: For the other 20% the population ie. Homes and businesses that do not meet the definition of “Public Water Supply” have the total responsibility for any and all treatment of their potable water. Education of treatment techniques is a real issue for these locations. Many do not understand the technologies and believe that if the water tastes good, looks good and does not causes staining or scaling issues its enough.
Water Borne Illness: Estimated 25 Million Endemic cases of waterborne illness in the U.S. per year! *Source Article May 2012 Water Quality Products. “Final Barrier” Endemic means that its the norm and not a spike from other accidental or weather related issues.
Food Borne Illness: The latest FDA report states that in 2018 there were 49,000,000 cases in the USA. Fresh Fruits/Vegetables continue to be the highest risk since it is typically eaten raw!
Air Borne Pathogens: Legionella spp. a bacteria found almost everywhere in the environment continues to plague the water supplies! Legionella pneumophlia is the most common disease causing species within the Legionella group of bacteria’s. Infection causes Legionellosis and is associated with building water systems and cooling towers. Control measures are available for reducing the risk factor which should include filtration, pH control, temperature, and disinfectant residuals within facilities. Quarterly water testing should be performed as a control measure to validate the building water system is free of this hazard!
Lead, Chemicals and Microbial Issues: Lead service lines and plumbing products produced prior to 2014, are all sources of Lead. No amount of lead is safe, especially for children. Most chemicals can not be seen, tasted or smelled and are very difficult for field testing and constantly levels. There is no safe level of chemicals in our drinking water. Microbial issues result from Bio Film, water main breaks, cross connections, poorly designed wells and run off continue to cause illness. If the water supply is designed for disinfectant residual levels these issues often times consume the disinfectant leaving the water supply unprotected. Some organisms have developed a resistance to chlorines.