4 Ways to Improve Your Drinking Water

The body is made up of up to 60% water, which is why it’s important to replenish that key component on a regular basis. In fact, the Mayo Clinic recommends that adult males should consume 3.7 litres of water per day and adult females are slightly less at 2.7 litres.

However, sometimes the idea of drinking that much water – especially if your source is direct from the tap in your kitchen – can be a little overwhelming.

Not only do people worry about the taste or the smell of their water, including those on municipal water systems as well as those on well-water.

For some, bottled water seems like the safest and easiest option to make sure that their drinking water meets their high standards for clarity, purity, and taste. However, bottled water can be expensive and is not very environmentally friendly.

Water pitchers, including those with a built-in filter, can be another way to help filter impurities from your water. And some experts recommend using a water pitcher instead of filling up individual glasses of water in order to save water from being wasted down the drain.

But there are some easy ways that you can improve the taste and smell of your home’s water without having to trek to the grocery store every few days to buy more bottles or constantly buying expensive pitcher water filters that only clean a fraction of your home’s drinking water.

Here are 4 of the best ways that you can ensure that your family has the best tasting, cleanest, purest water that you can provide.

REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEMS

If you’re looking for a way to have great-tasting water on tap, a Reverse Osmosis System is an excellent choice.

The filtration system works hard to remove contaminant from your water, which instantly improves the taste, color, and clarity of your water.  Today’s Reverse Osmosis Systems (or R/O systems) are easy to maintain with limited maintenance.

Video Transcript

Gary The Water Guy:

Do you have bacteria in your well or lake water? Maybe you want to make sure you never have bacteria in your family's water at your home, cottage or cabin. Maybe you've heard about ultraviolet disinfection system want to learn more about how they work, well this video is for you.

Gary The Water Guy:

Hi, I'm Gary The Water Guy, and I simplify water filtration to help you conquer crappy water for your family. Ultraviolet disinfection system's a great alternative to chlorinating your water because that chlorine, you got to get rid of that chlorine after it's gone through the disinfection process, that's the residual. With the ultraviolet disinfection system there's no disinfection residual, so you don't have to worry about that affecting your family, doing your laundry, things like that. So with an ultraviolet disinfection system, because it's light, the light is what's killing the bacteria. There are some pre-treatment requirements, you have to make sure the hardness is seven or less. You have to make sure the iron content is 0.3 parts per million or less. You have to make sure that there's no sand getting through, so you need a five micron pre filter and you need ultraviolet transmittance of 75% or greater. And that makes sure that the water isn't like a murky color or something like that because again, the light has to get through to kill that bacteria.

Gary The Water Guy:

So let's check out this Safe Water 10 ultraviolet disinfection system. This is a three-stage mini rack system, super easy to install, but let's talk about how it works. So water enters this side and it goes through the first filter, which is a sediment filter. So that's what's getting it down to five microns. This is what that sediment filter looks like, it's a polypropylene filter and the next stage is a carbon filter. So once we've removed the sediment from the water, the dirt basically, then we will want to go to a filter like this. So this is a carbon filter that removes chemicals from the water, herbicides, pesticides, that kind of thing. Now, if you want, you can even upgrade that to a different kind of carbon filter, one like this, that in addition to removing the chemicals from the water, it also removes VOCs which are volatile organic compounds. This one will actually remove lead and also sis like cryptosporidium and Giardia. And then from there, it goes through the ultraviolet light. As it passes by the ultraviolet light, it kills the bacteria and then it goes onto your home.

Gary The Water Guy:

So this is a continuous process as the water runs through it kills the bacteria in the process. So this is the sleeve that fits inside here, the bulb fits inside the sleeve. And so this is the sleeve that needs to be kept clean and as you can see, I'm handling it with the cloth. And this is the UV lamp itself, so again, that sits inside here. So none of the water actually touches the UV lamp, it all sits inside that quartz sleeve and it flows over. So when we're talking about the pre-treatment requirements, that's what that quartz sleeve needs to be perfectly needs to be kept clean and as the water flows over. That's why if you have high hardness or you have a lot of iron in your water, then that sleeve would need to be cleaned more often. Or like I say, if you adhere to those pre-treatment requirements then you don't worry about any of that. As the water passes through, disinfects the water for your family, no disinfection residual, there are great system.

Gary The Water Guy:

So the beauty of these three stage mini rack ultraviolet disinfection systems is they all come assembled the way you see them here. So the water flows in one side goes through the sediment filter, the carbon filter goes to the UV lamp, and then it goes onto the whole house. Super easy to install for the do it yourself-er for your local plumber. I always say there's two kinds of people that invest in ultraviolet disinfection system for their family, the kind that has bacteria in their water and they want to get rid of, and the kind that wants to make sure they never have bacteria in their water. Go here for my next video and ultraviolet disinfection, and I'll see you there.

Filters and membranes do need to be replaced over time to make sure that they continue to filter out the unwanted particles in your water. But these are easy to change, even for those who are not normally the DIY type.

IRON & SULPHUR REMOVAL SYSTEMS

Without the proper filtration, drinking water can contain a variety of minerals and contaminants that it picks up on its journey from nature to your home’s water tap.

For example, as the rainwater falls and travels through the groundwater systems, it has a natural ability to collect other elements along the way. This can include minerals such as iron, manganese, and sulphur, along with many other contaminants. Although some of these can be obvious based on a change in the color, taste, or smell of your water, other contaminants can be difficult to detect based purely on sight, smell, or taste.

One way that you can remove these elements from your water is Iron and Sulphur filters. The technology that drives these systems have changed lately, and today’s Iron and Sulphur filters do a great job of removing these contaminants from your home’s water. 

FOC and FOB Chemical Free Iron and Sulphur filters do not contain any filter cartridges to replace or chemicals or salt to add.  This method is the easiest and most inexpensive way to significantly reduce iron content from your family’s household water.

ULTRAVIOLET WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEMS

If you are concerned about the levels of bacteria in your drinking water, which is often the case when your water comes from a well or a direct feed from a lake or river, an Ultraviolet Treatment system is an excellent choice.

Ultraviolet Water Treatment Systems (otherwise known as UV systems) are one of the best ways to kill bacteria in your water to make sure it is safe for your family to drink! Even if your water comes from a municipal water source where the municipality is supposed to ensures that your water is safe to drink, you never know when you might need that extra layer of protection.

Heavy rains or system failures can cause a rush of bacteria to be released into the municipal water system. And even though you may end up receiving a “boil water advisory”, sometimes that warning is missed or comes a few days too late.

With a built-in water purification system, you can enjoy a consistent supply of purified water without worry. After you install the system, it will automatically remove contaminants & purify your tap water, leaving only clean, fresh, pure water for yourself and your family.

ADD SOME NATURAL FLAVOR BOOSTERS

The systems listed above help create a pure, refreshing base for your family’s drinking water. But sometimes water needs a bit of a boost to enjoy the amount of water each adult should drink in a day.

Although these little tricks won’t remove the natural and chemical contaminants in your drinking water, they can help to further enhance the taste of your drinking water, while boosting the nutritional & antioxidant value of your water.

Here are just a few things that you can add to your water to take it from awesome to amazing!

These natural additives will add additional nutrients to your drinking water, and many are known to be high in antioxidants. Infusing your clean and pure water with some of these fruits, teas, and vegetables can not only improve the taste of your water, but many have been proven to improve digestion, immune response, the appearance of your skin, your metabolism, and more.

Better Drinking Water = Better Health

When you know that your drinking water is fresh and pure, it’s far easier to enjoy every single glass of clean, cold, delish refreshment. Plus, of course, all the benefits that come along with consuming the minimum recommended glasses of water each day.