Is a water filtration system a necessity or a luxury item in your home?
Product Description
The following questionnaire is useful to help you determine if a water purifier or a reverse osmosis water filtration system is needed at your residence. You may need to test the water or carefully review available water quality data in your area of residence before you choose the best water filtration system to render the water safe for drinking.
What is the source of your water: surface water or groundwater? Does the water have the taste or smell of chlorine?
In surface water sources, which receive disinfection following water filtration in a treatment plant, disinfection byproducts such as trihalomethanes (THM) form as a result of reaction between organic material and chlorine. THM's are suspected to cause cancer and increase miscarriages. Chlorine in public water system might be necessary to eliminate bacteriological growth in the distribution system and make sure harmful microorganisms (Giardia and viruses) present in source water are inactivated. Under all circumstances you do not want to drink water with high chlorine. Why? You know that bacteria live in your intestines! What will happen to the useful bacteria when you drink water that has high levels of chlorine? It will be killed! Some people believe that residual amounts of chlorine entering your intestines will react with the organic material in your intestines and form THM in your body. THM's as well as chlorine in water supply can be removed at home by installing a water purifier (e.g., ERO-535). Chlorine itself can be removed by carbon filter only.
Do you get your water from a public or private source?
In most cases the answer does not matter. However, there are cases where people living on a well are also using septic tanks for waste disposal or have animals in close proximity to the well. If the distance between your source of supply and waste source is less than 100 feet, then you better have some kind of protection by having a water filtration system. Well water may be high in nitrates and organic chemicals.
Is your source of water (e.g., well) located near an agricultural farm, waste disposal site, or a leaking gasoline tank?
If the well that supplies your area of residence is located near a farm that uses fertilizers, then you will probably find nitrates in your water. Nitrate is used in fertilizer and is found in sewage and wastes from human and/or farm animals and generally gets into drinking water from those activities. Excessive levels of nitrate in drinking water have caused serious illness and sometimes death in infants under six months of age. Waste disposal sites will leach many chemicals such as mercury. This chemical has been shown to damage the kidney of laboratory animals such as rats when the animals are exposed to high levels over their lifetimes. Contamination of water with gasoline, MTBE and other petroleum products result from leaking underground gasoline and petroleum tanks and improper waste disposal. Nitrate, mercury and MTBE can be removed using a water purifier (e.g., ERO-535).
Does your water contain fluoride?
This is a controversial subject with many people. While fluoride is good to prevent tooth decay, too much of it will make the color of teeth brown and may cause other adverse health effects.
Is your home over 25 years old?
Most houses built 25 years or more ago have lead pipes unless they have been upgraded. Check you water pipes and if they have copper pipes or steel pipes, you probably have lead in them somewhere. All reverse osmosis water filtration systems will remove lead from water, if changing the water pipes is not a feasible option. Lead can cause a variety of adverse health effects in humans. At relatively low levels of exposure, these effects may include interference with red blood cell chemistry, delays in normal physical and mental development in babies and young children, slight deficits in the attention span, hearing, and learning abilities of children, and slight increases in the blood pressure of some adults.
What is the source of your water: surface water or groundwater? Does the water have the taste or smell of chlorine?
In surface water sources, which receive disinfection following water filtration in a treatment plant, disinfection byproducts such as trihalomethanes (THM) form as a result of reaction between organic material and chlorine. THM's are suspected to cause cancer and increase miscarriages. Chlorine in public water system might be necessary to eliminate bacteriological growth in the distribution system and make sure harmful microorganisms (Giardia and viruses) present in source water are inactivated. Under all circumstances you do not want to drink water with high chlorine. Why? You know that bacteria live in your intestines! What will happen to the useful bacteria when you drink water that has high levels of chlorine? It will be killed! Some people believe that residual amounts of chlorine entering your intestines will react with the organic material in your intestines and form THM in your body. THM's as well as chlorine in water supply can be removed at home by installing a water purifier (e.g., ERO-535). Chlorine itself can be removed by carbon filter only.
Do you get your water from a public or private source?
In most cases the answer does not matter. However, there are cases where people living on a well are also using septic tanks for waste disposal or have animals in close proximity to the well. If the distance between your source of supply and waste source is less than 100 feet, then you better have some kind of protection by having a water filtration system. Well water may be high in nitrates and organic chemicals.
Is your source of water (e.g., well) located near an agricultural farm, waste disposal site, or a leaking gasoline tank?
If the well that supplies your area of residence is located near a farm that uses fertilizers, then you will probably find nitrates in your water. Nitrate is used in fertilizer and is found in sewage and wastes from human and/or farm animals and generally gets into drinking water from those activities. Excessive levels of nitrate in drinking water have caused serious illness and sometimes death in infants under six months of age. Waste disposal sites will leach many chemicals such as mercury. This chemical has been shown to damage the kidney of laboratory animals such as rats when the animals are exposed to high levels over their lifetimes. Contamination of water with gasoline, MTBE and other petroleum products result from leaking underground gasoline and petroleum tanks and improper waste disposal. Nitrate, mercury and MTBE can be removed using a water purifier (e.g., ERO-535).
Does your water contain fluoride?
This is a controversial subject with many people. While fluoride is good to prevent tooth decay, too much of it will make the color of teeth brown and may cause other adverse health effects.
Is your home over 25 years old?
Most houses built 25 years or more ago have lead pipes unless they have been upgraded. Check you water pipes and if they have copper pipes or steel pipes, you probably have lead in them somewhere. All reverse osmosis water filtration systems will remove lead from water, if changing the water pipes is not a feasible option. Lead can cause a variety of adverse health effects in humans. At relatively low levels of exposure, these effects may include interference with red blood cell chemistry, delays in normal physical and mental development in babies and young children, slight deficits in the attention span, hearing, and learning abilities of children, and slight increases in the blood pressure of some adults.
