Water filter

Even though it’s best for you body to drink spring water, it is not always practical. Installation of a home water filter system is wise for drinking, cooking, washing vegetables, and even showering. One of your best bets for clean, pure water is to simply install a high quality water filter for your entire home. A whole house carbon filter will remove contaminants from steamy chemical-laden vapors you and your family inhale while showering and washing dishes. It’s wise to install a house filter because the body absorbs a substantial amount of toxins, including fluoride and chlorine, through the skin during showers and baths.

I’ve compiled a guide for you to figure out the best filtration system for your needs. For more information on why, how, and where to buy a filter, see EWG’s Water Filter Buying Guide. Great filters and live customer service to help you choose the right system for you can be found at APS Water. Follow these steps to find out the filtration system that’s right for you.

1. Consider the style of water filter that will best fit your needs. 

Household water filters generally fall into one of two categories: point-of-entry units, which treat water before it gets distributed throughout the house; and point-of-use units, which include countertop filters (e.g. filter pitchers or countertop water cooler ), faucet filters, and under-the-sink units.

2. Determine what contaminants you need to remove. You may already know what chemical pollutants you want to be sure your water filter removes. But if you don’t, a great place to start is to look at what kinds of contaminants are showing up in your community’s drinking water. Look up your water system on EWG’s tap water database. Can’t find your system? Call your local water utility and ask them to send you a copy of their Consumer Confidence Report, which contains information on its testing of your system’s water.

3. Choose the type of filter that best fits your needs. This list was reprinted from EWG’s site.

• Carbon/Activated Carbon: Activated carbon chemically bonds with and removes some contaminants in water filtered through it. Carbon filters vary greatly in effectiveness: some just remove chlorine and improve taste and odor, while others remove a wide range of contaminants including asbestos, lead, mercury and VOCs. However, activated carbon cannot effectively remove other common “inorganic” pollutants such as arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrate and perchlorate. These filters come in two forms, carbon block and granulated activated carbon.

1. Carbon Block: Carbon block filters contain pulverized activated carbon shaped into blocks under high pressure. They are typically more effective than granulated activated carbon filters because they have more surface area of activated carbon. Their effectiveness depends in part on how quickly water flows through. A proprietary form called “Fibredyne block” claims to have a higher sediment holding capacity relative to other carbon block filters.
2. Granulated Activated Carbon: These filters contain fine grains of activated carbon. They are typically less effective than carbon block filters because of their smaller surface area. Effectiveness also depends how quickly water flows through.

• Reverse Osmosis: This process relies on a semi-permeable membrane that retains particles larger than water molecules. Reverse osmosis can remove many contaminants not removed by carbon, including arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrates and perchlorate. Quality varies, both in terms of the membrane system itself and the carbon filter typically used with it. The filters use 3 times to 20 times more water than they produce, so they are usually used only for drinking and cooking water.
• Ceramic: Ceramic filters have with very small holes throughout the material that block solid contaminants such as cysts and sediments from passing through. They do not remove chemical contaminants.
• Deionization: An ion exchange process removes mineral salts and other electrically charged molecules from water. The process cannot remove non-ionic contaminants (including disinfection byproducts and other common volatile organic compounds) or microorganisms. This filtration method makes the water alkaline.
• Ion Exchange: This technology passes water over a resin that replaces undesirable ions (charged particles) with others that are more desirable. One common application is water softening, replacing calcium and magnesium with sodium. The resin must be periodically “recharged” with replacement ions. Ion exchange filters are occasionally combined with other types of filters and are used in water softeners, described below. This filtration method makes the water alkaline.
• Ozone: Ozone kills bacteria and other microorganisms and is often used in conjunction with other filtering technologies. It is not effective in reducing levels of chemical contaminants.
• UV (ultraviolet): These systems use ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. They cannot remove chemical contaminants.
• Water Softeners: These devices use ion exchange to lower levels of calcium and magnesium (which can build up in plumbing and fixtures) as well barium and certain forms of radium. They do not remove most other contaminants. Since water softeners usually replace calcium and magnesium with sodium, treated water typically has high sodium content. Some people may be advised by their physicians to avoid softened water. It is also not recommended for watering plants and gardens for the same reason.

No filter will give you good performance over the long-term unless it receives regular maintenance. As contaminants build up, a filter cannot only become less effective, but also make your water worse by releasing harmful bacteria or chemicals back into your filtered water.

The Water Filter I Recommend

In my research, I’ve come across many different products but it was the Ultra-UC Water Filter/Revitalizer made by PureEffect Advanced Filtration that truly stood out from all other water filters. I love that they have so many different models to meet everyone’s needs, including a whole house filter.

It caught my attention because the Ultra-UC Water Filter/Revitalizer made by PureEffect Advanced Filtration is the first filter I’ve seen that removes such a broad spectrum of pollutants, removes radiation, restores water’s natural pH, isn’t made in China, and is affordable for most households. And if you move, you can bring it with you.  It truly is a water filter for every household.

Water Pollutants Removed

To the best of my knowledge the Ultra-UC Water Filter/Revitalizer is the only All-In-One system of it’s kind that removes:

1. Radioisotopes that get into our water from Leaking Nuclear Plants, Fukushima Fallout, and Uranium/Plutonium Mining. This is the only filter I’ve ever seen that removes radioactive particles.

2. Drug Residues that are not required by law to be removed at water treatment plants. This is the only filter I’ve seen, aside from reverse osmosis, to remove drug residues.

3. Fluoride using an all-natural alumina-free activated carbon bonded with calcium, shown to be 20% more effective at removing fluoride than the commonly used activated alumina. Fluoride blocks thyroid function! You don’t want to drink this toxin added to most tap water sources in the US.

4. Disinfection Chemical Additives including both Chloramines and Chlorine.

5. Disinfection Chemical By-Products such as Trihalomethanes, one of which is Chloroform.

6. Heavy Metals including Lead, Aluminum, Mercury, Barium, Iron & Other Positively Charged metal ions.

7. VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) such as benzene, xylene and other solvents that are byproducts of the petroleum industry.

8. Agricultural Contaminants such as pesticides, herbicides and insecticides.

9. Microbial Cysts including Giardia & Cryptosporidum, which survive disinfection.

10. Sediment down to ultra-fine size of 0.5 Micron, approximately 50x smaller than a grain of beach sand.

Plastic, Glass, or Stainless Steel?

Plastic chemicals can leach out of plastic bottles and contaminate the water, like phthalates and bisphenol-A (BPA). Then there’s the issue with all that plastic trash being generated, which is wreaking havoc on our environment. Less then 30% of plastic bottles are recycled. Glass is the best option for your drinking water.

Chemicals used to make plastic bottles may leach into the contents, especially when the contents are heated (during transport, storage, or left in your car). One of the primary concerns is bisphenol-A or BPA, a hormone disruptor that mimics estrogen in your body. Research suggests that BPA exposure is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, estrogen dominance syndrome and a whole host of diseases. These plastics get in your body and gum up your metabolic pathways, inhibiting health and weight loss. Time Magazine reported, “BPA is particularly worrisome simply because it is so common. Nearly every American has some amount of BPA in his or her body, in part because plastics are so ubiquitous.”

While many plastic water bottles don’t contain BPA, bottles with resin codes 3 or 7 in the recycle triangle may. However, 95 percent of all plastic products in one study tested positive for estrogenic activity, meaning they can still disrupt your hormones even if they carry a BPA-free label. Even more disconcerting is the finding that BPA-free plastics can be even more harmful than BPA plastics. Rather than BPA, a more harmful plastic hardener, BPS, may be used. BPS is found to be almost 20 times more harmful that BPA, but there is very little research into this substance.

Consumers who switch from plastic water bottles to metal ones in hopes of avoiding the risk that bisphenol-A will leach into their beverages aren’t necessarily any better off, a new study finds. Some metal water bottles leach more BPA than do ones made from the now-pariah plastic due to an epoxy-resin lining based on BPA’s recipe. However, most stainless steel bottles do not have this liner. Stainless steel leaches metal into your water as well. I don’t know about you, but I took one drink and couldn’t stand the metallic taste of water from a stainless steel bottle.

Glass bottles, however, also leach chemicals, including aluminum, explains a study by Clemens Reimann of the Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse in Norway. Aluminum is sometimes added to soda-lime glass to make bottles more durable. Soda-lime glass is used for everyday items such as bottles for beverages, jars for food, and drinking glasses. However, it’s much safer than plastic. It’s the best and safest option for your drinking water. This is why I drink Mountain Valley Spring Water from Arkansas. It’s one of the only spring waters I have found bottled in glass.

Have you started drinking water yet? When I began writing this article, I started chugging water immediately and don’t plan to stop! Do your health a favor. Reduce your coffee, skip the sodas, drink the crappy water you have in your house and don’t ever buy it again, start drinking pure spring water by the gallon and invest in an Ultra-UC Water Filter/Revitalizer filter or whole house filter.

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