Why Purify your water?
Although most drinking water in the United Kingdom is considered safe, there is increasing concern about the quality of drinking water as more and more pollutants are found in groundwater supplies. Worry about the possible health problems resulting from these contaminants is causing consumers to wonder what they can do to ensure the quality of their own water supply. The most strongly recommended and best solutions to the problem of a contaminated water source are either ending the practices causing degradation of the water source, or changing water sources. These options may not always be practical or may take months or years for completion.
A study by the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1993 states that THMs (chlorine byproducts) are associated with more than 10,000 bladder and rectal cancers per year, which is about 30 cancers per day. About 63,000 chemical compounds are commonly used in America, and another 1,000 or so are being synthesized every day.
What contaminants are in our water and where do they come from?
Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa contaminate ground and surface water through animal feed lot runoff, human sewage, and septic tank overflow.
E.coli can reach tap water if municipal treatment is inadequate, as it did in New York City and Washington D.C. in 1995. Waterborne parasites like Cryptosporidium and Giardia are not killed by chlorine.
Pesticides - atrazine, a suspected carcinogen, as well as chlordane, xylene, and phenol can enter ground water through agricultural runoff.
Radon gas, from naturally decaying radium, can cause water to be radioactive. Trihalomethanes (chlorine byproducts) may cause birth defects and are associated with bladder, rectal, and pancreatic cancer.
Concrete water mains bringing water to your home may contain asbestos, which may leach into the water. Lead can leach out of service lines and the solder in the pipes in your home.
Rather be sure and install a water treatment system in your home.
10 Reasons to install a water purifier in your office or home
1. You & Your Family's Health
Our bodies area made up of 80% water and water is one of the few things that our bodies need to function in a healthy manner. Doctors and health professionals recommend that we drink 8 glasses of water per day or 1 glass per 10 kg of body weight. We would all have to agree that the quality of our drinking water is just as important as the quantity, wouldn’t we?
Drinking pure H2O is one of the most effective ways to ensure good health. If you’re not drinking enough water, you could be dehydrated. Dehydration is the root cause of major degenerative diseases. Your body has many different indicators when it runs short of water. It can manifest in various ‘signals’ like hunger pains, headaches, backaches and even allergies. Water is what your body needs and is constantly crying for.
Water is also one of the most inexpensive solutions to boosted performance and increased vitality. Your body uses water, along with food, as fuel to keep it in good running order. Water lubricates your joints and organs, maintains muscle tone, keeps your skin soft, regulates body temperature, filters out impurities and keeps your mind alert. It also carries important nutrients such as calcium, sodium and potassium to cells.
Although the body has a reserve of nutrients, it does not have a reserve of water. This is why it is important to “top up” with sufficient amounts of water during the day. Improve the taste, colour and odour of water. By removing the chlorine and other ‘nasties’ that could be lurking in your tap water, you are assured of water free from bad tastes, colours and odours. Once you start enjoying the fresh taste of purified H2O, you’ll find the benefits immeasurable.
2. The Greener Option
65% of plastic bottles purchased end up in land fill every year! Not to mention the carbon emissions used to transport the bottles. By drinking purified water from your water purification system you are helping the environment.
3. Reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s
Aluminium in drinking water has been directly linked to Alzheimer’s Disease. Research has shown that once ingested, aluminium is difficult to excrete and therefore can be stored in the brain.
4. Save Money
It is a known fact that most bottled water is far more expensive than petrol. Recent studies have shown that a large percentage of bottled water is in some cases no better than tap water. Why waste time and money lugging bottles of water back and forth from the grocery stores? Purified water saves money and is a healthy alternative.
5. Reduce the risk of Cancer, Miscarriage, Birth Defects & Heart Attack
Chlorine is added to our drinking water to combat bacteria, however it has been directly linked to many forms of cancer as well as birth defects, heart problems and asthma.
6. Old Pipes & Plumbing
In a lot of areas in the UK, once the tap water leaves the treatment plant it can travel through many kilometres of piping that are old, slimy and corroded. It is hard to believe we drink the water that comes straight out of pipes like these.
7. Fresher, healthier tea, coffee and food
Unlike bottled water, by purifying your water you will have access to an ongoing supply of fresh, contaminant free water that can be used for all your drinking water, but also for: cooking, washing vegetables, making tea and coffee, feeding your pets, watering your plants. The options are endless. You are no longer limited to the amount of purified water you use.
8. Tap has been treated with chemicals
Our councils do a great job treating our water so that we do not suffer from water born diseases. Our water is therefore 'safe' to drink. However chemicals like chlorine and aluminum sulphate are left in the water after treating it. Very necessary in the treatment process but harmful in the long term. Municipalities also don't remove pesticides and herbicides and other industrial pollutants.
9. Human Error
Unfortunately as humans, we all make mistakes. We can put all the faith we have in the treatment plant workers, but at the end of the day mistakes happen and at times chemical overdoses have been a regular occurrence in the papers. Why put your family's health in a strangers hands?
10. Bathe in soft, chemical free water
Water purification is not only about drinking water. In fact, 66% of your chlorine absorption occurs when you bath or shower. Our water purifiers remove 99% of the chlorine and our water conditions soften the water.
From AllaboutWater.org:
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The Environmental Protection Agency in the USA has stated that every household has elevated levels of chloroform in the air due to chlorine released from showering water.
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Tap water often contains at least as much, if not more, chlorine than is recommended for use in swimming pools.
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More chlorine enters the body through dermal absorption and inhalation while showering than through drinking tap water.
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The chlorine in showering water has harsh, drying effects on skin and hair.
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Skin pores widen while showering, making dermal absorption of chlorine and other chemicals possible.
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The chlorine in showering water can cause rashes and other skin irritations when absorbed by the skin.
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Chemicals in showering water vaporize at a much faster rate than the actual water. Thus, the steam in a shower contains a much higher concentration of chemicals than the water itself.
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Inhaled chemicals make their way into the bloodstream much more quickly than ingested chemicals, without the added filtration benefits of digestion.
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More water contaminants are released into the air of a home from the shower than from any other source.
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Chlorine is a suspected cause of breast cancer. Women suffering from breast cancer are all found to have 50-60 percent more chlorine in their breast tissue than healthy women.
10 Reasons to Use a Whole House Water Filter
From Allaboutwater.org
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Harmful chemicals constantly escape into the air in a home from the dishwasher, the toilet, and the shower.
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The release of water contaminants into the air results in poor air quality in a home. This poor air quality is a leading cause of asthma and bronchitis.
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The use of a countertop water filter and shower filter cannot entirely protect a home from harmful water contaminants.
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Shower filters, because they must filter water at extreme temperatures, are not 100% effective at removing all dangerous contaminants.
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Many skin rashes and other irritations are a result of chlorine and volatile organic chemicals that have become embedded in clothing washed in chlorinated water.
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The dishwasher releases more chlorine into the air than any other water source in the house, besides the shower.
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The use of a whole house water filter is the only way to ensure pure, filtered water from every water source in the house. -
A whole house water filter purifies water efficiently and cost-effectively, making it a viable solution to drinking water contamination for a majority of people.
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The 2100 known water contaminants can make their way into our bodies not just from drinking the actual water but also from inhalation and dermal absorption.
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Merely avoiding drinking tap water by indulging in bottled water is not an effective means of protection against dangerous water contaminants
Say no to bottled water
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Bottled water costs 500 times more than tap water (CC Water), the equivalent of paying £1,500 for a pint of beer or glass of wine.
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70% of people say the price of mineral water in restaurants is ‘too expensive’ and want to see free tap water readily available. (NCC 07)
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One in five people are ‘slightly nervous’ or ‘too scared to ask’ for tap water (NCC 07)
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The average Briton drinks 37.6 litres of bottled water each year (Bottled Water Information Office)
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2.7million tonnes of plastic are used to bottle water each year worldwide (EPI, 2006)
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A quarter of all bottled water is produced for export markets (EPI,2006)
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22million tonnes of bottled water are transferred each year from country to country (CIWEM)
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Three out of four plastic bottles are still not recycled (WRAP 2007)
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In 2006, 1.5million barrels of oil were used to make the 26billion litres of bottled water sold in the US. Enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year. (EPI, 2006)
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Globally, nearly a quarter of bottled water crosses national borders to meet consumers (EPI, 2006)
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Bottled water has a higher carbon footprint per litre than tap water - more than 300 times the CO2 emissions per litre in the case of some imported brands.
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One tonne of CO2 is equivalent in volume to 6 double decker buses.
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According to the Container Recycling Institute, 90 percent of PET bottles end up in landfills, at a rate of 30 million a day, where they take 450 years to break down.
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In 2006, the UK consumed 2275million litres of bottled water (Bottled Water Information)
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According to Dr. Gina Solomon, senior scientist at the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council), about 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) - a major greenhouse gas - are emitted during the transportation of bottled water from France, Italy, and Fiji to the U.S. (Quoted on http://www.greenerchoices.org/)
From the university of Nottingham
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Some good reasons for drinking tap water from a refillable sports bottle instead of buying bottled water! ....Britain consumes 3bn litres of bottled water per year
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Typically bottled water retails at up to 500 times more than the price of tap water
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The bottled water market is the fastest growing drinks market in the world
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Tap water in developed nations is transported from treatment works in underground pipes and requires much less embodied energy than the production, distribution and ‘disposal’ of bottled water
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The UK bottled water industry is worth ~£2bn per year
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The majority of bottled water is sold in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles
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For 2007 it is estimated that 13bn plastic bottles of water were sold in the UK of which only 3bn were recycled
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Most plastic bottles for bottled water are produced using a virgin petroleum feedstock
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162g of oil and seven litres of water are required to manufacture a single one litre volume disposable PET bottle and this amounts to the release of 100g of carbon dioxide (CO2) a major greenhouse gas (GHG)
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Some research has claimed that drinking ‘a bottle’ of water has the same impact on the environment as driving ‘a car’ for one kilometre
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The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) campaigns strongly that bottled water is not only environmentally unfriendly but also a waste of consumers money
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50% of bottled water contains added minerals and salts. This does not mean that it is more ‘healthy’
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Recycling rates though improving are still low in the UK as a whole. Hence the majority of used water bottles are disposed of to landfill, which is not sustainable. Fewer are incinerated with some energy being recovered. Many ’discarded’ bottles become environmental pollution and can be found in hedgerows, parks, streams and rivers. Via rivers they can be transported to the open seas.
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The Eastern Garbage Patch is an area 6 times the size of England, where plastic outweighs plankton by 6:1. It is the world's largest waste dump. ThePlastiki projectis helping to change attitudes towards the world's oceans, the whole idea of ‘waste' and the increasingly unacceptable reality of pollution.
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