Is the town water treatment process enough?
At home, you likely use water for cleaning, bathing, drinking, washing, watering your lawn, and so much more. However, before that water ever makes its way into your home, it must travel through the earth and be processed through a treatment facility – which cleanses the water so that you and your family may use it safely.
Town Treatment of Water
To help outline and explain the town’s water treatment facility process, we’ve reduced the system to four basic and easy to understand steps:
- Coagulation and Flocculation: Chemicals are added to neutralize dirt and dissolved particles that are present in the water. Once this process is complete, particles bind with the chemicals to form floc.
- Sedimentation: In this stage, floc settles due to its weight.
- Filtration: Once the floc has settled, the clear water that remains on top will pass through filters that remove sand, dirt, chemicals, and particles.
- Disinfection: Te water then is disinfected with chlorine or other chemicals, which kill any remaining bacteria.
However, although the water that enters your home maintains the standard for public drinking water, you may want to also consider installing a household water filtration system.
Why?
The town water system isn’t foolproof, and leftover chemicals, bacteria, and particles can harm and damage your skin, your hair, your internal organs, and your water-using appliances.
Household Water Filtration Systems
Household water filtration systems remove additional contaminants that are missed by the town’s treatment system. Water filters can also improve the taste, smell, “softness”, and look of your drinking water.
Types of Household Water Filtration
The two types of household water filtration include chemical and physical filtration. Under these types live the three most popular methods of filtration, including reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and UV filtration – all which provide unique and powerful benefits to homeowners:
- Reverse Osmosis Filters: Reverse osmosis purifies water by removing up to 99% of salt ions, detergents, lead, fluoride, molecules, bacteria, and other contaminants from water. This is accomplished through household water pressure that pushes tap water through a semipermeable membrane.
- Ion Exchange Filters: Ion exchange occurs when water passes through a tank filled with sodium beads that attract and trap magnesium and calcium in water – transforming water from hard to soft. For more information, please see our blog on the value of water softeners.
- UV Purification Filters: UV water purification destroys 99.99% of microorganisms that can live in your water. Reliable, chemical free, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly, UV purification can also help to remove sediment, odours, and a bad taste in water.
Knowing Your Need For Household Water Filtration
However, while its valuable to know the ‘why’ and ‘how’ when it comes to the necessity of household water filtration, you may be asking: “How will I know if my water needs additional processing?”
Household water requires further filtration if your:
- Water is smelly
- Water isn’t clear
- Water tastes poorly
- Water isn’t flowing properly
If you notice any of the above issues, the town’s water processing facility and plumbing systems are not serving you in the best, healthiest, nor most efficient way possible. These are all tell tale signs that water filtration within the home will drastically improve your water and quality of life.
Conducting A Water Safety Test
To address your water filtration concerns, it is always best to call a trusted plumber who can provide you will all of the knowledge you’ll need to make the best choice for your home and family. Your trusted plumber can also provide a safety test, which will examine the contaminants in your water – left over from the town’s treatment process or due to plumbing issues.
How Harris Plumbing Can Help
At Harris Plumbing, we offer the following water high-quality filters that will provide a back-up for safety and quality assurance of your household water. To learn more about the filtration systems available at Harris Plumbing, please visit our Water Filtration page or call us today. We’re here for you, and you deserve incredible water quality – 365 days a year, 24/7.
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