Water Filter systems - which water for you?

As tap water is considered to contain contaminants that are not conducive to long term health, two other methods of attaining clean water come to mind; bottled water and filtered water. These methods are explored below, together with there advantages and disadvantages.

Bottled water is now readily available on the shelves of most supermarkets, and it's a clear indication of how seriously people are now taking the issue of their tap water quality. Unfortunately the quality and taste of bottled water is highly variable and it is generally expensive, at between 12p and £1.69 per litre. Just ask yourself these questions:

Which brand of bottled water will you choose? Is it the price? Is it the shape or colour of the bottle? Is it because you’ve just seen the latest advertising campaign? Where do you find the information that really matters about each brand of bottled water, such as the mineral content, the presence of contaminants or oestrogen-rich plasticisers from the plastic bottles?
Do you cook your vegetables in bottled water? Probably not, as it is works out very expensive. But do you realise that by cooking your vegetables in tap water, many of the contaminants will be absorbed and concentrated in your vegetables.

Given the sheer expense of bottled water, and given the uncertainty about the actual quality of the content, many people prefer to make use of Water Filters.

Water filters are devices that take ordinary tap water and, through various filtration processes, remove contaminants from the water, making it more suitable for human consumption.

The price and complexity of water filters varies, as does the quality of water they produce. Below are explored the common methods of water filtration.

Widely available from supermarkets and chemists in the UK, carbon filters improve the taste of tap water by removing the chlorine. They may also remove some pesticides.

Unfortunately they do not remove fluoride, hormones, toxic metal salts and other chemicals.

Distilled water systems usually boil water into steam and condense it back into water, collecting the water in a purer form. When water boils, it leaves impurities behind in the boiling chamber.

Whilst distillers remove almost all of the impurities from tap water, they are usually very slow. Distillers are most frequently used in commercial industry, but some household distillers are available to provide water for drinking and cookingsupplies. Unfortunately distilled water has a bland taste, because the dissolved minerals that give water a pleasing taste have been removed. As water is heated the impurities in the boiling chamber increase in concentration. The water left behind in the boiling chamber is discarded and the process is started over. There is also some concern about the effect of distilled water on the body.

Reverse Osmosis is a complicated process (see What is Reverse Osmosis) that typically removes at least 90% of Total Dissolved Solids from water. A plumbed-in reverse osmosis filtration system provides very high quality water for drinking and cooking. It can also be given to pets (click HERE to view Reverse Osmosis Electrolysis Demonstation).

Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration systems are widely acknowledged as the most effective filtration systems available. They are used by the medical profession to produce ‘pure water’ for dialysis and other purposes and are readily available for the domestic market.

Unfortunately RO systems usually remain expensive, costing upwards of £500 per system and may vary wildly in quality.