With frightening news coming out of Flint, MI recently of lead contaminated drinking water, the the purity of our drinking water is on everyone’s minds. In Calgary, we are lucky to have clean, uncontaminated drinking water on tap, but the fact is our water, whether it’s from a well or from the municipal supply, can always be improved upon.
What Happened In Flint?
The short version is that in April 2014, Flint switched its source of tap water to the Flint River, while it had previously come from the city of Detroit. Because the river water was more corrosive than the water from Detroit, the water leached more lead from city pipes than the Detroit water had and before long, high levels of lead were detected in blood samples from the city’s children. (See this Yahoo! News story for more information.)
Though it’s unlikely that this would happen in a major Canadian city, thanks to preventive actions being taken, it’s not out of the question.
Filters and Water Softeners
The great news is that with the filtration options that exist for in the home, any question of consistently safe drinking water can be put to rest. We stress the importance of drinking purified water, as well as why drinking demineralized water is not a concern.
Our favourite option is a reverse osmosis system, which, for less than $1000, will give you 99.9% pure drinking water. By pushing your water through a semi-permeable membrane, these systems remove calcium and all other minerals, bacteria and viruses. To compare reverse osmosis water to other options, municipally treated water has a level of 140-160 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), most bottled waters around 60 TDS, while reverse osmosis has just 8-10 TDS.
If you’d like to remove the chlorine from your water, a carbon filter will do so. This can be used in conjunction with a reverse osmosis system or with our last option, a water softener.
Water softeners also remove calcium and other minerals, offering multiple benefits for both the people and the pets in a home, as well as any appliance in the home that uses water.
Over time, a good water purification system will pay for itself in your cost savings on bottled water, the health benefits and, in the case of a water softener, the prolonged life of appliances in the home.
Water is at the core of a home and of family life. We drink it, bathe in it, cook with it, and use it for countless home chores throughout each day. If you’d like to find out more about ensuring clean, pure water for yourself and your family, give us a call and we would be happy to walk you through the options!
