Environmental issues affecting our drinking water are constantly in the news. Centralized water treatment cannot meet all the challenges of ensuring contaminant-free water.
A filtration system for the water used in drinking, cooking, food preparation, ice, and beverages is now required to safeguard your family, students, employees, and customers from these known 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 in water can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
A better and less expensive alternative is testing your water for common contaminants. For contaminants 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.
Testing your water may be the only way to know what health-related contaminants are present. Local health departments only test for a limited range of contaminants, like bacteria, to approve the well for potable water.
They serve more than 3/4 of the population in America and have already been tested, following state and federal guidelines. They are available to ask your water supply company/utility. These guidelines do not cover every known contaminant affecting your water source. Violations of 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.
Treating all the water coming into your home to “Life Support Quality Water” is not economical nor required in most cases. Filtering as close as possible 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. Offices and businesses provide their employees and customers with drinking fountains and break room sinks.
*Consult the Performance Data Sheet for the specific model you wish to install to verify its specific performance level.
Potable Water – defined as safe for human consumption. Depending on your source of potable water, the treatment process varies considerably. Surface groundwater sources classified as Public Water (systems with at least 15 service connections or regularly serving at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year) are regulated differently. The US EPA and most states do not regulate private water supplies.
Public Water Supplies – Over 80% of the population is served by public water utilities ranging from small unmanned systems to very large fully manned systems. The majority of these systems are classified as small systems.
The Central Treatment Concept faces many challenges in delivering potable water from the plant to homes, offices, and businesses. Sewage overflows, environmental runoff, industrial and transportation spillage, cross connections, leaking, and broken pipes, to mention just a few, all impact water quality.
The USEPA primarily regulates this industry through the Safe Drinking Water Act. If a utility does not comply with these laws, it must notify its customers. During water main breaks/repairs, a boil water alert may be issued, 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 and a residual at the customer’s location. Chlorination is deficient in controlling some enteric viruses, ineffective at killing protozoan cysts, and can produce disinfection byproducts that have proven to be cancer-causing.
Private Water Supplies – The other 20% of the population, i.e., homes and businesses that do not meet the “Public Water Supply” definition, are responsible for treating their potable water. Education of treatment techniques is a real issue for these locations. Many do not understand the technologies and believe it’s enough if the water tastes good, looks good, and does not cause staining or scaling issues.
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.