Don’t you just love that squeaky clean feeling you have after a nice long shower? After washing your face? Your skin feels so gosh darn clean you can hardly stand it. Then somebody goes and changes the water filter and dang! You couldn’t wash all of the soap off if you tried. Suddenly you find yourself standing in the shower for hours trying so desperately to get ‘clean.’ They don’t call it ‘hard’ water for nothing. Hard water is full of minerals and deposits that react with soap to keep it from lathering. That squeaky clean feeling? It’s really just mineral build up on your skin. Yuck.
Water out of the tap may be better filtered than the water in your shower, but not much. The difference is all of that yucky stuff is going to your insides instead of sticking to your outsides. That’s why I suggest using aquasana water filters for your drinking water and shower.
There are other filter systems out ther, but the aquasana is a proven winner.
Posted on: September 2nd, 2008 > Read More »
Water quality for consumption is a very important consideration for every person. What chemicals, physical and biological characteristics make up the water that you consume from your tap? More and more, we hear that the quality of water is not good enough for normal consumption.
Water contamination can come from many sources. Chemicals from industrial waste, inappropriate disposal of household chemicals and pesticides, even chlorine or chloramines remain in treated water as a result of water treatment processes. Heavy metals from mining operations, industrial sources, lead solder in aging pipes, or naturally occurring mineral deposits are also potential sources of water contamination.
What about bacterial contamination? Even in today’s era of treated water systems and modern plumbing practices, we hear of fecal coliform bacteria outbreaks. These contaminations occur when water is exposed through minor breaks in supply pipes, inappropriate plumbing practices, or ground water contamination entering a private or public supply well.
While serious contamination of water systems is a rare occurrence due to monitoring of municipal water systems and modern water treatment practices, the quality of water for consumption can be improved through the use of filtration systems.
Some may consider the use of water filters to simply improve the taste of their tap water, others seek the improved health benefits of water scrubbed of organic and inorganic chemical contaminants as well as the removal of sediments and dissolved metals in their water.
Water filtration systems range from counter-top gravity drip systems to complicated reverse osmosis water processing systems installed at your sink. All systems work in a similar manner providing mechanical (pleated cloth or fiber filters that remove sediment, sand, soil, undissolved minerals, etc. from the water) or chemical filtration (activated carbon that scrubs the water of dissolved chemicals).
Which system is good enough for you? Start by contacting your local water provider (municipality or community water system) for a report on their water quality. Read the report and look for the kinds of contaminants found in your water. If you are on a private well, take samples of your water to the county or state for testing. Local water treatment companies can also provide valuable information and advice for water filtration solutions.
In most cases, the counter-top type filters that drip water through a small filter cartridge can provide a sufficient source of clean water. Tap mounted filters may be used as well and are easily installed. The taste of your water may still be a concern here.
Sediment and carbon filters, the big brother to the counter-top and tap mounted filters, may be installed on the incoming supply line to a house providing a whole house filtered water solution.
The ultimate water purification system for household use would be the under-sink reverse osmosis water filter. This system utilizes a mechanical “sediment” filter followed by an activated carbon filter to remove chemicals. The water then passes into the RO (reverse osmosis) membrane to further filter the water at a molecular level. In many higher-end RO filter systems, the water may pass through a final carbon stage to “polish” the RO water for improved taste. The resultant water can be 95 to 98% pure and from personal experience the water taste is amazing!
The human body is 90% water. The quality of the water that you put into your body can have a profound effect on the body’s health. Do yourself and your family a favor. Filter your water.
Posted on: August 12th, 2008 > Read More »
Filtered water has many advantages that are felt by human beings. Animals also become influenced by things impure. It might not be affect them in the same way as it would a human being. They might not respond or retort in the way that human beings do. At best or worst, they would adopt adapt to these changes, as per their natural traits. But those animals that become reared as pets, the consideration would be different.
Pets are animals that might not be having their natural trait when compared to their “wild” counterparts. Much of their immune system would have become weakened or unnatural by living in artificially made environs. Hence their susceptibility and vulnerability to changes in the environs become all the more important for consideration.
Chlorine in tap water damages the hair and affects the skin as it removes the oils them, thereby weakening the natural protection. Pets could be severely affected. With less hair and dry skin, irritation might be caused in them with their masters not knowing what to do. There could be lice, insects and ticks that might infect the pet and makes it a health hazard for other members of the household. Rashes, skin disorders would also arise. A visit to the skin specialist might end up in going for an infective and costly treatment.
The pet could be subjected to further inconvenience on account of the restriction imposed. Scabies might spread as infection; an attack from the pet might improve to be dear for the household. By giving filtered water, the pet would not only have an attractive and a cute appearance, it would be free from irritation and uneasiness as described above. Pets suffer from indigestion, gastric disorders, malfunctioning of vital organs and in ways similar to that suffered by a human being. Filtered water removes waste matter and other toxic substances from the pet’s system.
It would be healthy and fit. Pets cannot be forced to drink water the way human beings are done. Yet, if filtered water be given to them, much of their health related problems would get attended and addressed.
As tap water contains chlorine and other harmful chemicals, inhalation of the vapors would harm them in similar fashion as they would harm a human being. Love and care for pets cannot be expressed better than giving them the treatment that suits us. Filtered water is as much required by them as by us. After all, shouldn’t we show to our pets how much they mean to us?
Posted on: August 9th, 2007 > Read More »