Across the nation, desire is high for quality water in the home, as evidenced by the popularity of bottled drinking water and after-market filtration products. According to the Water Quality Association’s 2004 Consumer Attitudes Survey, 64 percent of Americans are concerned about the quality of their drinking water, and 72 percent believe that bottled water is superior to tap water. “The need for water treatment is becoming more and more real. People aren’t willing to settle for just plain old tap water,” says Gary Battenberg, technical director for Hague Quality Water.
A variety of substances that can be commonly found in both municipal water supplies and individual wells have a variety of effects on the taste and performance of water in the home. Chlorine, for example, imparts a taste that many people find unpleasant. Hard water contains dissolved minerals that contribute to scale buildup in water-using appliances, which can decrease their efficiency. More harmful substances, such as giardia and cryptosporidium cysts and lead, can occasionally occur even in municipal water supplies.
“[Residential] water treatment provides consistency, improves quality, and improves safety,” says Peter Gorr, Everpure’s marketing director. “Water is important to people, and most are motivated to do what they can to ensure it is of the highest quality.”
Many different technologies are available to treat residential water and remove the vast array of substances and contaminants that may be present. However, most consumers are unaware of how the technologies work, what substances they remove, and what substances they do not remove.
Water treatment for home use falls into two categories: filtration and softening. Both are available in point-of-entry and point-of-use systems.
Filtration systems most commonly use either activated carbon filters or reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Activated carbon filters make water look, taste, and smell better by removing substances like chlorine or hydrogen sulfide. Reverse osmosis systems solve taste and odor problems as well, but also reduce dissolved minerals and salts by forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane. Then the water moves through a series of secondary carbon filters before it is stored in a reservoir tank for use. Some RO systems are rated to remove cysts, bacteria, and viruses.
Point-of-use filtration products are installed where they will be used, such as at the kitchen sink for drinking water. Point-of-entry filtration systems typically are used to reduce sediments and turbidity; point-of-entry oxidation/filtration systems remove iron and manganese in an oxidation and filtering process.
Different from filtration, water softeners/conditioners reduce levels of hardness in water by exchanging sodium or potassium ions for the calcium and magnesium present in the water. Reducing water hardness reduces scale buildup and calcium deposits in plumbing pipes and fixtures as well as in water-using appliances. Most water softening systems are installed at point of entry, but some are available for point-of-use application.
“Point-of-use systems are best used for the reduction of chlorine taste and odor, lead, and volatile organic compounds,” says Kurt Kaiser, product development manager/marketing, Pentair/American Plumber. “Whole-house [point-of-entry] systems are generally used to soften the water, adjust pH, treat iron and manganese, and treat other more serious contaminants.”
Because all contaminants are not found in all water supplies, there is no one solution that solves all water quality problems. The first step to determining whether a home will require any kind of treatment system is to obtain a copy of the local utility’s Consumer Confidence Report or similar type of water quality report. If the home will use well water, water should be tested for hardness, bacteria, metals, chemicals, and other substances, manufacturers advise. A water treatment professional will be able to help interpret the report or test results. “The analysis will help determine whether filtration and/or softening is needed,” says Battenberg.
