The Importance of Water Purification

Most modern cities have advanced water filtration and purification systems that provide clean, safe water to their residents; however, even if the water coming into your house or apartment is perfectly clean and safe, it may pick up materials that can harm you along the way. Therefore, it is always wise to run your tap water through a home purifier that uses an activated charcoal filter to remove virtually everything harmful from your drinking water.

Removal of Bacteria and Viruses

• Coliform bacteria, such as E. coli, occur naturally and live in the digestive tracts of many animals (including humans), both wild and domesticated, as well as the soil. Rain leeches the bacteria out of the soil and can deposit it in aquifers that feed well water. Infected individuals occasionally excrete the hepatitis A virus outdoors, which can also leech into aquifers tapped by wells. Both Coliform bacteria and hepatitis A can cause severe illness and even death in extreme cases.

Remove Parasites

• Helminths, cryptosporidium and Giardia lamblia are all parasites that can infect drinking water. Usually spread through excreted urine or fecal matter near a stream, lake or well with a shallow aquifer, these protozoa can cause severe illness and even death if untreated. Because of their comparatively large size, several times larger than bacteria such as E. coli, they are reasonably easy to filter from drinking water.

Eliminate Heavy Metals

• Heavy metals such as mercury, lead and arsenic leech into many water sources and are difficult to detect, as they have no immediate effect on those who ingest them but can impair the development of the young and lead to long-term neurological impairment. While water treatment facilities generally remove all heavy metals from drinking water, old plumbing can infect water entering a house or apartment with lead and slowly poison the occupant.

Purge Toxic Chemicals

• Radionuclides occur naturally and can also leech into aquifers used for well water. They produce alpha radiation, which can lead to cancer with prolonged exposure. Most metropolitan water treatment plants add chlorine to tap water to kill bacteria such as E. coli and viral agents such as hepatitis A; they also add fluorine to promote stronger teeth, a practice that has come under fire as most toothpaste brands already contain fluoride and adding it to water has questionable benefits. Both fluorine and chlorine are caustic chemicals, and while diluted as they are in tap water they are not likely to cause problems in most people, those sensitive to the chemicals can develop skin or digestive tract irritation.

Improve Flavor and Appearance

• Although the clarity and flavor of drinking water is not essential to good health, virtually everyone would prefer a glass of odorless, tasteless, crystal clear water to one that is muddied with sediments such as harmless clay. This is a purely aesthetic reason to purify water, but an important issue for many.