by Susan Trost

 

In the Water Part 1 article, we learned that adequate hydration will improve your health. It is also important to filter your water so your body doesn't have to act as the filter. Filtering your own water keeps you in control of regular filter changes, saves you lots money over bottled water and also saves the environment.

Questions to ask to find the best water filtration or optimization system for you:

1. What are you trying to remove? Look online or call your local water bureau for their annual water report. Got to http://www.safe-drinking-water.org/pdf/makesense.pdf to learn how to make sense of the report. If you have a particular concern, make sure the filter you are considering effectively removes it. You can also have your water tested by a certified water consultant.

2. Is it certified by a secondary party? Any company can say their product is great, but make sure you have independent certification that a system is removing the organic materials, inorganic materials and pollutants. National Science Foundation (NSF), Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the Water Quality Association all independently certify water filtration systems. It is important that the filter is actually certified versus just tested to standards.

3. Which standards is it certified in? Look for a system that is certified to the ANSI Standard 53 for health effects (variety of chemicals, cysts, volatile organic compounds and substances) and ANSI Standard 42 for aesthetic effects (chlorine taste and odor reduction).

4. What type of filtration does it use? Does it have a multi-stage filtration system? Does it address what you are trying to remove from your water?

The following filtration info was pulled from http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/gfilters.asp.

Activated Carbon Filter

How it works: Positively charged and highly absorbent carbon in the filter attracts and traps many impurities.

Gets rid of: Bad tastes and odors, including chlorine. Standard 53-certified filters also can substantially reduce many hazardous contaminants, including heavy metals such as copper, lead and mercury; disinfection byproducts; parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium; pesticides; radon; and volatile organic chemicals such as methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), dichlorobenzene and trichloroethylene (TCE).

Cation Exchange Softener

How it works: "Softens" hard water by trading strong positively-charged minerals for ones with less of a charge.

Gets rid of: Calcium and magnesium, which form mineral deposits in plumbing and fixtures, as well as barium and some other ions that can create health hazards.

Distiller

How it works: Boils water and recondenses the purified steam.

Gets rid of: Heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and mercury, as well as arsenic, barium, fluoride, selenium and sodium.

Reverse Osmosis

How it works: A semi-permeable membrane separates impurities from water. (Note: This filtration technique wastes a substantial amount of water during the treatment process.)

Gets rid of: Most contaminants, including certain parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia; heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead and mercury; and other pollutants, including arsenic, barium, nitrate/nitrite, perchlorate and selenium.

Ultraviolet Disinfection

How it works: Ultraviolet light kills bacteria and other microorganisms.

Gets rid of: Bacteria and parasites. Class A systems protect against harmful bacteria and viruses, including Cryptosporidium and Giardia, while class B systems are designed to make non-disease-causing bacteria inactive.

5. Does it leave minerals in the water that the body needs? Does it add trace minerals? Remember, reverse osmosis takes away important minerals along with the bad stuff. It also takes 3 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of reverse osmosis water, which is not environmentally friendly.

6. Does it leave the water acidic or alkaline? Disease cannot thrive in an alkaline and oxygenated environment (Nobel prize from 1930). Some filtered waters are more acidic and your body needs to pull buffers from your body to make it more alkaline. Make sure the filtered water is not acidic.

7. Is it cost effective? Filter systems vary a great deal in price and quality ranging from about $30 to thousands. Even the less expensive units can quickly become costly if you are constantly changing the filters. Find out the cost and frequency of replacement filters. More importantly, use your filtered water for everything - cooking and cleaning veggies. Many bottled water users use tap water for these functions, which defeats the purpose.

8. Is it bioavailable? Kick your water quality up a notch with technology. How much your body is able to absorb is critical to good health. Do you feel like the water you drink just sits in your stomach? Do you run to the bathroom every few minutes? If so, your water is likely not being absorbed and utilized by your body as much as it could be. Does the filtration system structure the water so it is more absorbable and useable by your cells? These systems take good quality filtered water a step further to create great water. One patented system "optimizes" the water by using strong complex-field magnetics, pi and cyclone oxygenation which adjusts the pH, reduces clustering, enhances mineral composition, adds ions and adds pi (life). Another patented system creates "intelligent" water which transforms the water's molecular structure to hydrate cells faster along with numerous other benefits. If you are going to drink more water, why not drink the best water available?

9. Get a shower system. Your skin is your largest organ. Your pores open up in the warm water and your body absorbs the chlorine and other contaminants. A five minute shower is equal to drinking several glasses of unfiltered tap water.

For more information and resource links to helpful water websites, visit www.livinghealthiernow.com.