Green Home, Green Water Filter

For all those interested in a more green home, I thought to do a follow-up to the absurd amount of PET plastic water bottles that are being carted off to last up to 1,000 years wasting away and polluting the landfills, and offer up some tips to purchasing a water filter. While some people may reside in a place where there is both safe and tasty water streaming right out of the taps, that is not the case everywhere. It is generally up to the state or local legislatures to keep a check on the purity of the water coming out of our faucets but they sometimes let that duty slip through the cracks. This then leads to the 60 million PET bottles that head to the dumps each and every day in just the US alone; however a great way to combat buying one of those is to outfit yourself with a water filter.

There are a few top pollutants that could be in your water system that green home or not you want to steer clear of with one being lead which has been linked to brain damage as well as having negative repercussions for blood pressure, red blood cells and kidneys. There is arsenic that has be proven to be a carcinogen, trihalomethanes (THMs) are also shown to cause cancer as well as birth defects and miscarriages and this usually is supplied to the water from chlorine treatments, nitrates are basically from the wastes of animals that seep into the water system, and there are other pesticides such as atrazine. Then there are pathogens that can cause intestinal problems and infections that could be lethal from E. coli, giardia, and cryptosporidium; which anyone who has had any of these ailments can attest to are no fun. Should you be leery of the safety of your local water supply you can always have it tested to be sure.

When it the comes to water filters for your green home, there are a few varieties that will target specific water toxins. First there are those that are mounted onto your tap and others that come in the style of a pitcher that will be filled and then housed in your fridge. Many of these are carbon filters and they are going to be sufficient at eliminating most bacteria like giardia and cryptosporidium, THMs, pesticides, MTBE, lead, radon, parasites, and PCBs by absorbing these elements with a carbon filter. There are also reverse osmosis water filters, that are sometimes used together with a carbon filter, but these are not going to eradicate as many contaminates and they further waste much of the water that runs through them; out of each one gallon of clean water get they will waste somewhere between four and nine gallons. Ultraviolet disinfectors will aim to eliminate mainly microorganisms including bacteria and other parasites. They usually have a carbon filter as well and will then be placed under your sink or on top of your counter; they will run your anywhere from $100 to $700. There are also distillers; however they will then be energy consumers as they heat up the water and boil it to remove fluoride, lead, mercury, and other metals. You could then do this same process yourself by simply boiling your own water.

When you do opt for a water filter, make sure it is working at its best by adhering to any manufacture guidelines such as changing out any filters or screens as they get dirty. If you're running your water through a dirty screen you're not really doing much in the way of keeping those nasties out! Finally, when that water filter does poop out, you want to recycle it before you buy a new one. So, if you have either unsafe drinking water flowing through your pipes or can't stand the taste of it, you can still be an ethical consumer and abstain from buying PET plastic water bottles. All you need to do is outfit your green home with a water filter and let the sweet water get a flowing through your pipes!