Supplying your household with a municipal water system without in-house water Purification systems may mean you’re exposing your family to a number of cleansing chemicals and additives, and if your house is on a wall or a rural system, the water quality may not be regulated at all.

In any of these situations, water purification is an issue you should consider for the well-being of your family, as well as for the quality of the drinking water you can enjoy straight from the tap.

Options in Water Purification Systems

Available water purification systems come in many functional varieties, from countertop to whole home systems.
These basic types are among the options available:

• Countertop physical filters–Utilizing a charcoal filter or its equivalent, these countertop units require nothing more after installation beyond an occasional filter change.

• Countertop water ionizers–These electronic water purification systems use a charged filter to remove impurities from the water, and can be adjusted to the acidity or alkalinity of your water supply.

• Under-Counter water filter systems–Preferable in cases when counter space is limited, the under-counter models of water filtration systems filter water before it reaches the tap, making the filtration itself functionally invisible as part of the plumbing.

• Shower filters–Although you may be less concerned about your showers than about your drinking water, the chemicals used to lean a water supply can cause irritation for children with sensitive skin, as well as adding mineral and chemical build-up to both the bathtub and the people bathing there.

• Whole House water purification systems–For a family whose water supply is an unregulated well, the whole house water filter acts on the entire household water supply at its source, during transport from the well to the home.

Advantages of Water Filtration Systems for the Whole Home

Installing water purification systems (or a single whole-home system for the entire household) results in a number of benefits, both in terms of health and practicality.

A whole-house system ensures that any tap at any source in the home will be providing potable water.  Particularly if you have young children, you probably don’t want to differentiate which household water is safe to drink–because you know they’re likely to drink a mouthful in the tub now and again.

Filtering water before it enters the pipes also means that chlorine and other gaseous chemicals are removed entirely before entering the household environment.  Chlorine in laundry water and dish water reduces the effectiveness of cleaning machines, and in drinking water is considered a carcinogen.

In combination with water softener systems, filtration reduces the hard minerals which cause build-up in plumbing, bathtubs and appliances, and even the family’s hair.  In short, water purification systems installed in a home will reduce health risks as well as cleaning challenges for members of the household.