Reverse Osmosis
How is your water tasting these days? Have young children and buying bottled water to protect them? Let’s face it, it seems like we here daily about more water contamination somewhere in the country. A few years ago it was Perchlorate (rocket fuel component) and more recently it is pharmaceutical drugs making the headlines. It should be noted though your water utility is doing everything they can to provide you with safe drinking water but sometimes the technology comes up short and let’s face it they are not responsible for supplying us with bottled quality water.
What About Bottled Water?
Bottled water is not the answer either but is a good short term panacea. Long term though it is
NOT THE ANSWER. Bottled water is 1,900 times more expensive than tap water, the bottles contain a carcinogen known as BPA (Bisphenol-A) and then there is the environmental impact of production, transportation, packaging and disposal. It is estimated that out of all the bottles purchased 86% go into a landfill. Oh, and let’s not forget the bottles are a petroleum product!
What Can I Do to Assure Safe Drinking Water for My Family?
Still today the best most efficient technology for producing affordable high quality drinking water is Reverse Osmosis (RO), bar none. Today’s RO systems are much more efficient and there are helper components that can be added to your existing RO system to make them even more efficient. Reverse Osmosis combined with it’s supporting pre-filtration technology will produce a water product that is free of most chemicals, bugs, parasites, pathogens and dangerous metals, in fact RO is one of the more common technologies used by your favorite bottled water company.
YES THAT’S RIGHT. Bottlers use the same technology to produce the vary product that costs you $ 1.50 or more.
What Do I Look For in a RO System?
The most important thing you should look for in an RO system is whether or not it has been tested and validated by a recognized third party. This is vital to confirming two things: component quality and contaminant removal capability. Component quality is vital these days as many parts come from NON-USA manufacturer’s in China. We all know too well the stories about lead paint on children toys that are made in China. The Third Party testing policy assures the manufacturer is producing a product that uses safe components and will perform as advertised. The two validations to look for either alone or in combination are WQA Gold Seal Certified, and National Sanitation Foundation. Lastly you want to be certain of the company that you are considering as a supplier. Based on the fact that drinking water systems do malfunction and can leak you should look for a company that has been in business for at least 10 to 12 years at the minimum. Check their insurance, how will they handle a leak should one occur, do they have 24 hour service 365 days a year. Do they employ certified staff through the Water Quality Association? Do they have a valid water treatment contracting license? Oh, and make sure they install the faucet with the air gap, it is required by law. Just seems silly to have all these concerns about water quality then to go ahead with the wrong faucet and make everyone in your home sick. Yes, it will make noise, just think of it as insurance against illness.
What should I Expect to Pay for a Certified RO System?
You will find that RO systems have become commoditized and you can buy one just about anywhere, including the local swap meet. A top quality certified 5 stage residential RO system can be had for under $600.00, if you pay more you won’t get more. As with any technology they are all finite. Adding more stages of filtration won’t yield anything more than wasn’t already removed in the 5 previous stages.
Contact High Peaks Water
For water treatment and purification at its best, contact High Peaks Water Services at
602-277-7208 or submit your Phoenix water treatment inquiry on our
Contact Us page.
