If your family regularly relies on tap water as a source of drinking water, it's important to consider its composition. Some tap water can contain sediments and chemicals that are unsafe to drink. Fortunately, a home water filtration system can be a great way to protect your family from these unfortunate contaminants.

What Is a Water Filtration System?

A water filtration system is simply a filter that all the water coming into your home goes through to remove unwanted contaminants. This filtration system can be comprised of one or more components that are effective at treating different contaminants. Some of the most common filtration tools used include water filters, water purifiers, and water softeners.

Water Filters

There are different types of filters that water filtration systems can utilize, such as an activated carbon filter that will inhibit microscopic toxins from being present in your water. It's important to note that some water filter systems are designed to treat water at specific plumbing fixtures, such as your kitchen sink. A whole-home filter system is designed to treat all the water coming into your home. A water filter will need to receive regular filter changes to be effective. Most homeowners find that they need a filter replacement every three to six months.

Water Purifiers

Another type of water filtration device is a water purifier. These are designed to provide a shield of protection against bacteria, chlorine, heavy metals, and other contaminants. A water purifier can be a great device to install on top of a traditional water filter to help ensure that all the biological contaminants in your water are removed. Water purifiers work in one of two methods, including reverse osmosis and UV treatment. With a reverse osmosis system, water is forced through a small semi-permeable membrane. This membrane is responsible for filtering out all biological contaminants. Ultraviolet (UV) treatment is where water gets subjected to an ultraviolet light that is effective at killing living organisms like bacteria and viruses. It's important to note that water purifiers do not remove sediments from the water. Most reverse osmosis systems need membrane replacements every three to five years. UV water treatment systems need new UV lighting every two to three years.

Water Softeners

Another helpful tool for filtering the water in your home is a water softener. This is designed to specifically remove excess minerals brought in by hard water. It does this by using an ion exchange process that uses resin beads. All the resin beads are given a negative ion charge thanks to sodium that binds to the resin beads. As hard water gets forced through the resin beads, the positively charged minerals will attract to the negatively charged resin beads. This will cause minerals like calcium and magnesium to remain in the water softener tank while allowing the now soft water to enter your water supply line.

Getting a Water Quality Test

Before deciding on the appropriate water filtration system for your home, it can be helpful to get a water quality assessment from a professional plumbing service. This is where they will test the water coming into your home for known contaminants. Some of the most common household water contaminants include fluoride, magnesium, calcium, chromium, lead, copper, radium, silver, and nitrates. A water quality assessment will determine what contaminants are present in your water and in what quantities. This will give you better insight into the type of water filtration system that will be most effective at enhancing the quality of water in your home. For example, if it's determined that you have a high amount of magnesium and calcium in your drinking water, it means that you have hard water. The most effective treatment for hard water is going to be a water softener system. It's also important to note that you should follow up a few months after installing your new water filtration system to see how the new system has affected the quality of your drinking water.

Understanding the Effects of Waterborne Contaminants

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are over 80 contaminants that can occur in your drinking water. These contaminants are in the category of acute and chronic. Acute contaminants cause effects a couple of hours or even days from the time that you consume the water. These include contaminants like bacteria and viruses. In most cases of acute contaminants, people's bodies will naturally fight off the microbial contaminants without any permanent effects on their health. Chronic contaminants are those that can have a long-lasting effect on the body. These are things like chemicals, minerals, and radionuclides. Chronic contaminants have been linked to various health conditions, including reproductive difficulties, liver issues, kidney issues, and even cancer.

There Are Many Benefits to Home Water Filtration Systems

As a homeowner, there are many different ways that you can benefit from having a water filtration system. First and foremost, you can ensure that your tap water is free from unhealthy contaminants like heavy metals and pesticides. This goes a long way in providing you with peace of mind about the safety of your family while at home. There's no doubt that water filtration systems help to produce better-tasting water and will eliminate any nasty odors. Even better, a water filtration system can save you a bundle on having to go with the alternative of relying on bottled water. This will go a long way in helping to reduce your family's carbon footprint and allow you to be more eco-friendly in your day-to-day practices. Another lesser-known benefit of water filtration systems is that they can allow your water heater to operate more effectively. Excess sediments in your water can make it challenging to heat up and cause your water heater to run overtime to do so. Furthermore, hard water can increase the amount of cleaning solution necessary to clean your clothes and dishes. It can even cause sediment buildup inside of your water piping that can lead to premature deterioration as well as low water pressure issues. A simple water filtration system can help to effectively mitigate these problems. When you're able to remove the contaminants from your home's water supply, it can have a big effect on your body. Not only will the water be healthier to drink, but it will also have a positive effect on your skin and hair. After getting an effective water filtration system, many homeowners enjoy softer and smoother skin and hair. This is because your body isn't being dried out due to excess sediments and other contaminants in the water. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® offers reliable water filtration service to the entire San Marcos, TX, community. We'll be more than happy to assist with all your plumbing services. Simply call us today and schedule your water filtration system today!