Home Water Filters - Do You Need One?

We all know it is important to keep well hydrated, as we are over 70% water ourselves and the human machine can suffer if water supplies run low. But what is the best kind of water to drink and bathe in?

Firstly water for cooking and drinking: In my home I use a water softener cartridge and an active carbon filter impregnated with colloidal silver. These two filters offer the level of clean up I am looking for on my domestic water supply. The filter is of the ten inch disposable cartridge type so filters particles out down to 5 microns, small enough to filter out particles like rust flakes from older water pipes.

The carbon element of water filters is designed to absorb chemical elements from the water supply such as chlorine. I also carbon filter the water supply to baths and showers as the chemicals from hot water can be particularly active in the steam. I don't think inhaling chlorine vapour is a great way to start the day! The size of the carbon filter must be matched to flow rate or chemicals will only be reduced and not eliminated to a healthy level. I find a ten inch filter is ideal for typical domestic tap flow rates.

The colloidal silver is only required when the water will be drunk as this is an anti bacterial measure. Water softening is a more general task that will extend the life of appliances such as dishwashers as well as improving the cleaning and lathering qualities of water. One physical side effect I always notice in hard water areas or with untreated water is the skin condition round my fingernails suffers. This is a sure sign that hard water and undesirable chemicals are on the attack...

If further water treatment is required then more complicated methods of filtration can be employed like reverse osmosis in which fluids are treated at a molecular level, fortunately in this method most contaminates are a larger molecule than H20 so can be relatively easily filtered out with a permeable membrane. This can also be backed up with a UV sterilizer using intense ultra violet light to kill bacteria in a water supply.

In summary I feel most domestic situations are benefited by a relatively cheap cartridge filter to fresh up and filter drinking water at the point of consumption.

Mark experiments a great deal with his juicer and blender in a quest to be as healthy as possible.