Showing posts with label Drinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drinking. Show all posts

Monday, October 24, 2011

Drinking Water Containers - What Works Best?

If you've seen the new "BPA-free" drinking water containers, but have no idea what that means, you can read about it here. Those of us that care about our long-term health are listening to what the researchers have to say about our constant exposure to various chemical compounds and how they increase our risk of cancer. A BPA-free drinking water container is a step in the right direction.

BPA or Bisphenol-A is a component of the polymers used in the production of plastics, including unbreakable drinking water containers, baby bottles and training cups. Liquids stored in plastic bottles will "absorb" the chemicals used to make the bottle. You can actually "smell" it, when you first open a bottle.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

This is one reason that researchers are encouraging consumers to drink less bottled water and consider a home purifier for the kitchen sink. A study conducted by consumer reports found that 8 out of 10 bottles contained some level of BPA.

They recommend a BPA-free drinking water container, because the chemical is an endocrine disruptor. That means that it interferes with the body's natural production of hormones. Other endocrine disruptors are known to pre-dispose the body's cells to cancer. In other words, long-term exposure to small doses increases your risk of cancer.

Children have the greatest risks from exposure to endocrine disruptors. That's why you will see more BPA-free products for infants and children. Not only does the chemical increase their long-term risk of cancer, it interferes with the production of growth hormones, causes changes in the reproductive tract and may lead to feminization of baby boys.

For adults a BPA-free or glass drinking water container is simply a good idea. Water tastes better when it is stored in glass drinking water containers and since we are exposed to so many different probable carcinogens, we should probably avoid them whenever possible.

Travelling

For travelling, you should consider a drinking water container that includes a filter that will remove some of the carcinogens and health hazards that our found in our water supplies. Not only will you be improving the taste and quality of the water you consume when you're away from home, but you will save a lot of money. If you currently buy bottled, you are probably spending a thousand dollars per year or more. Expensive brands can cost several thousand dollars per year for a single individual.

If you want the best taste, buy a multi-stage selective filtration device for your kitchen sink. Bottle it in glass drinking water containers. Chill it in the fridge overnight and take it with you to the office in the morning.

If you want a little added flavor, slice some fresh oranges, limes, lemons or your favorite citrus fruit. Fill your glass drinking water container with filtered water, add some fruit slices. They'll float on top. Seal tightly and in the morning you'll have a great-tasting beverage that's good for you.

That's my advice about drinking water containers. Hopefully, you learned a little something.

Drinking Water Containers - What Works Best?

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Friday, October 14, 2011

How to Remove Iron From Drinking Water - Simple Facts

Iron is one of the numerous water contaminants that is not healthy on your part if its level of contamination in the water is quite high; that is why many individuals want to know how to remove iron from drinking water in order to make the water potable and safe for household consumption. Take note that you can easily detect if the water has excessive amounts of iron because its taste is somewhat metallic.

Cooking food using water with a high iron content will also make your food easily turn black; aside from making your food look bad. More importantly, there are several health risks involved in taking in too much iron through drinking. Hence, you must be all the more vigilant with regards to iron content in order to avoid acquiring various forms of health issues and problems as a result of too much iron intake.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Therefore, it is best to know how to remove iron from drinking water because this information is greatly beneficial in your end; considering the fact that water is one of the basics things for survival, and everyday we are drinking a couple of glasses in order to quench our thirsts.

Fortunately today, removal of iron is quite easy to do; thanks to the most recent advancements that make this process available for everyone to perform right in their own house. All you have to do is to get one of the filtration systems that also cover iron removal; thereby effectively transforming your contaminated tap water into potable drinking water that is very safe to drink.

Keep in mind that there are several types water filtration systems; one of the highly effective types that can also remove iron from drinking water is one that uses reverse osmosis. This process has been in use for quite some time now. In fact, the method is based on the same principle of desalinating salt water into drinking water. Similarly, this system is also effective in sorting out iron from water; hence, you can select this type of filtration if you want to resolve your problem on how to remove iron from drinking water. Another one is a run of the mill water softener that uses carbon filters and salt.

Nevertheless, you have utmost flexibility on your choices; considering that there are numerous types of water filtration systems. What is important is to select the right type that effectively removes iron as well as purifying your water.

How to Remove Iron From Drinking Water - Simple Facts

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Monday, October 3, 2011

What is a Good Drinking Water Filter System?

Any local water filtration dealer will always try to sell you on the most expensive and largest marked up priced drinking water filter; but you don't have to break the piggy bank to have safe great tasting drinking water. The problem with buying water purification systems is that you need to find out what is in the water in order to make the right purchase that suits you and your needs. Every water sources contains different contaminants - even your neighbor's water may show different results than your own.

The best solution is to do at least a basic water test for Iron, Nitrogen, Hardness, Copper, Nitrates, Hydrogen Sulfide, and Bacteria. These kinds of kits can be purchased for about -30 are very accurate and just as good as sending your water to labs which can cost 0 or more. Test kits like these are very easy to find online and could save you time and money. If you have any contaminants that are showing up positive and above the water quality recommended levels then it's best to consider home reverse osmosis water systems; otherwise a good carbon filter can do wonders. People who live in the city usually have very well regulated water so the harmful contaminants are at a level lower than the federal/state water quality requirements. In cases like this where harmful contaminants are better than the water quality requirements, a good carbon filter will be not only be cost effective but usually more than enough to give you great tasting water. Carbon filtration is capable of removing many different types of contaminants. The most common contaminant removed by carbon block filters is Chlorine, bad taste and bad odors. For more intense removal of contaminants or bottled quality water, you may want to consider a reverse osmosis system.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Reverse osmosis water treatment systems are capable of removing up to 99.9% of contaminants; although certain contaminants like high iron or hardness may require some special pre-treatment. Reverse osmosis systems have been used for decades and is a technology that was developed by the navy to filter sea water into high quality drinking water. A very good majority of bottled water companies like Nestle, Kirkland, Dasani and Aquafina use reverse osmosis as one of their stages of filtration. Home reverse osmosis water systems are now much more affordable and can easily fit under most kitchen sinks to readily give you great tasting drinking water straight from your tap. The actual cost of reverse osmosis systems could range anywhere from 9-0 depending on the accessories added and any certifications but entry level systems are actually extremely well priced for the quality of water produced.

In the long run, any kind of drinking water filter system that you choose will save you hundreds a year just from buying bottled water. So do yourself a favor, join the hundreds of thousands and get a drinking water filter to save yourself some money.

What is a Good Drinking Water Filter System?

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Who Needs a Drinking Water System?

Most people believe that when they turn on their taps, they are getting clean pure water. However, in most places, this is simply not true. It is important to understand what is in our drinking water, because we all need to be aware of what we are putting in your body. Once we understand what is in our drinking water, we'll also understand the importance of a drinking water system.

It's rare to get clean, pure water from the tap. No matter where you are, tap water will have some type of chemicals or other contaminants in it. Some countries have better tap water than others, and some have great regulations as far as what is allowed in the public water supply.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

However, no matter what the regulations state, it is not good enough. What is in our drinking water includes chemicals, prescription drugs, and natural elements which are all unhealthy for us. A drinking water system, which purifies or filters the water, is the best way for you to maintain your health and still be able to enjoy the freedom of the water that comes to your door.

Depending on where we live, what is in our drinking water may be a scary question. There might be lead, arsenic, or other cancer causing agents. There might also be a huge amount of prescription drugs, or other types of chemicals. A drinking water system is the only way we can be sure of what is in our drinking water, or rather what is not in it. A quality system will filter out chlorine, fluoride, lead and many other chemicals. There's no need to risk it.

Many places add fluoride to water in order to keep it clean and fresh - under the pretense that fluoride might be good for you. Fluoride is good for teeth - but not at all good for a person to drink. Therefore, even when water passes all of the regulations and rules, it is rarely pure and safe water for you and for your family to be drinking.

Tap water can be extremely harmful for you. However, by installing and using a drinking water system you can purify your own water. A drinking water system will filter out the chemicals, get rid of the prescription drugs, and clean the water before you use it. A good drinking water system will leave you with nothing except what you are intended to have - pure and clean water.

Who Needs a Drinking Water System?

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Do You Know If You Are Providing Your Family With Pure Drinking Water?

How important is pure drinking water to us? Well, H2O makes up about 60% of our bodies and studies show that it only takes about 3-4 days to die of thirst. Pure drinking mineral water keeps us alive and is the cleanest way for us to do so.

Our doctors regularly tell us that it's important to drink eight glasses a day. But a lot of people still get theirs straight from the tap. That means they are getting germs, possibly lead and other chemicals that seep in from the pipes and tanks at the local plant. Bottled pure drinking water is a much healthier choice than using the tap, unless you have an excellent home filtration system.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

What comes from your tap starts at your local plant. Then it flows through miles and miles of pipe before it even gets to your home. There are many opportunities for microscopic cysts and other contaminant to infect it, turning what could have been a glass of pure drinking mineral water into a pool of bacteria and chemicals.

This danger is increased even more when the local source is located near a factory. Sometimes accidental seepage or even malicious dumping can contaminate the supply. There have been many law suits involving towns suing local companies for destroying their pure drinking water supply.

An alternative that is sometimes promoted is the idea of using a tap filter containing activated carbon. You just mount the filter onto the faucet and anything that comes through will be stopped before it reaches your glass. This is nice in theory, but there's no possible way one simple filter will be able to provide you with pure drinking mineral water. In reality, a system must contain numerous filters, preferably multi-media and carbon blocks, with an ion exchange to balance mineral content and pH levels.

Buying bottled pure drinking water or investing in the right home purification system is the best way to ensure that what your family is using is safe and healthy. Bottling at home saves money and helps protect the environment from extra trash.

Pure drinking mineral water companies have a process that usually goes as follows: first the H2o is taken through a filter of some type. Then a softener or ion exchange system is used. Heating to a steam follows to removes impurities and minerals, so there is a re-mineralization step. UV light kills bacteria and oxygenation does the rest.

This multistage process is similar to what you will find in the best home systems, except that re-mineralization is not necessary, as ion exchange softens, but does not remove naturally occurring minerals. Pure drinking mineral water, such as Perrier, is bottled in glass at the source. Right after purification it goes into an airtight glass bottle, not dirty pipes. But, most companies use tap water, add some minerals and some carbonation, put it in a plastic bottle and ship it to the store.

During transportation, it absorbs chemicals from the plastic, so the quality is questionable. If you know what your home filtration system can do, then you know that you are providing your family with pure drinking water, without question.

Do You Know If You Are Providing Your Family With Pure Drinking Water?

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Is Drinking Reverse Osmosis Water Unhealthy?

Since when was drinking purified water unhealthy? Can water ever be too pure to drink? These are the types of questions you will probably come across when you consider purchasing a reverse osmosis filtration system. Reverse osmosis is a type of water filtration where it physically separates water and molecules based on the physical size of the molecules down to 1/10,000 of a micron which is extremely small.

Whenever you run try to research answers to this online, you will always come across two groups - people who say it is unhealthy versus people who say they can't live without it. The truth of the matter is purified water from reverse osmosis systems is perfectly safe and has been ever since its conception. Reverse osmosis (aka RO) has been developed by the navy to be able to convert sea water to drinking water during their long voyages. Now, many bottled water companies including Dasani, Aquafina, Kirkland and Nestle use reverse osmosis as one of their stages of filtration.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

One of the main complaints about RO is that it will remove all of the minerals in the water and will leech precious minerals from your body because it is too pure but what is the real truth? The truth is they are partially right. RO water will remove minerals like Calcium, Magnesium, Fluoride and a few other minerals that are good for your body but the purified water will not leech off your body. Even though RO water removes these minerals, the amount removed is very little when compared to the amount taken in by your normal food diet. Drinking only RO water will probably lower your daily mineral intake by 2% which can easily be replaced with a fruit, vegetable or some sort of food consumption.

Reverse osmosis water is considered to be "aggressive water" because of its tendency to "leech" or pull minerals from nearly anything it contacts including metals, plastic, and glass in order to neutralize itself. Question is, "will leeching occur in the body if you drink reverse osmosis water?" Even though the theory is sound reverse osmosis water will not leech on the body because of the amount taken in. Our normal daily intake of water does not reach the threshold point of where leeching could occur. The bodies' stomach contents will automatically neutralize the aggressive tendencies of RO water which means it's safe to drink. If you have ever consumed a bottle of water from Dasani, Aquafina, Kirkland, or Nestle than you've had reverse osmosis water through your body already without any adverse affects. In fact, you've consumed more reverse osmosis treated water than you probably know and probably liked the way it tasted. RO water is completely safe and consumed by millions on the daily basis.

So why do certain blogs try to scare you away from RO water filtration all of a sudden? The next time you visit a blog, pay attention to it and you'll see it's more of an advertisement to push another product that is not as good as RO. So if you're thinking of buying a drinking water filtration system, get a RO system know that you're going to be drinking healthy pure water.

Is Drinking Reverse Osmosis Water Unhealthy?

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

How to Find the Best Filters, Drinking Water Systems

What are the best filters, drinking water systems on the market? How do you find this out? Also, how do you determine what you need? Well, in this short article, I'll do my best to answer those questions and point you in the right direction.

If you're concerned about the quality of your drinking water (and you should be!), the first thing you need to understand is the nature of your enemy. In other words, you need to have at least some idea of what contaminants are probably in your water. You can do this in two ways.

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS

If you get your water from a public water treatment plant, then they have to have their water tested for various contaminants every few months. As a consumer of their water, you have a right to a copy of these test results. I would suggest you get copies of not only their most recent tests, but for tests over the course of the last year. (Some pollutants like pesticides might be seasonal.)

If on the other hand you get your water from a well, then you're going to have to have it tested independently. This can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred bucks to thousands. I would suggest you start with the couple of hundred--that will probably tell you all you need to know about the nature of the pollutants you're facing.

Once you determine which kinds of pollutants you have in your water, you need to investigate the best filters, drinking water systems, and purifiers that are on the market. You're actually in luck, here. There are some sophisticated water filtration systems for sale that are within everyone's budget.

To actually determine the best filters, drinking water systems, and/or purifiers for you, you'll have to match them up with the type of contaminants you have, and also with your purposes.

For instance, if you're only worried about living contaminants, bacteria, viruses, and microorganisms, then something like an ultraviolet light sterilizer might work well. Not always, but these usually come with a sediment type pre-filter so that you can filter out the big stuff so that all the water can get exposed to the UV radiation.

If you're filtering your water for purposes other than drinking, then a reverse osmosis filter might work well. They tend to take out those all important trace minerals like potassium, and they're very inefficient, but other than that, they work well.

Distillers work well for water that's not chlorinated or that you know does not have any other volatile organic contaminants (VOC's). While filters made with carbon and ceramic filtering technologies might be your best choice for filters, drinking water systems, and/or water purifiers.

How to Find the Best Filters, Drinking Water Systems

CONSUMER REPORTS WATER SOFTENERS