But did you know that our water is contaminated? (yes) Whether you are drinking well water or city water, you are also drinking heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticide run-off, petroleum by-products, and heaven knows what else! Contaminants even include things put in our water to "help" us like Flouride and Chlorine.... Thanks very much but no thanks!
A few weeks ago I wrote about finding a water treatment system in my basement. It is now up and functional. A wonderful man from Rainsoft came and connected and checked the soft water treatment system, the reverse osmosis system, and then installed a chlorine removal system. Just this last few days Mike finished the last installation portion of it and connected our refrigerator drinking water and ice machine to the reverse osmosis.
So what has changed? For one thing I now have piece of mind when it comes to the quality of the water we use and drink! Let me explain what these do and what we have seen since cleaning our water. I am not an expert but I just figure that you may not know what it is either and at this point I know something about what is happening in that basement. Let me share.
Soft water: Salt is added to a tank and it treats the water. Somehow it removes a lot of the minerals that cause hard water! Hard water is tough on your appliances and pipes and it is hard on your skin and hair. Since having soft water, I have noticed my skin is softer (too much time in the kitchen was making my hands really dry and rough). My hair is cleaner feeling and easier to comb out after the shower and my shampoo lathers really well, even the "healthy" kind that normally does not lather much. The dishes in the dishwasher appear cleaner, as there is less spotting.
There is some salt that seeps into the water that comes out. Not enough to cause most folks a problem with salt intake in their diet but if you were on a special salt free diet, you would want to understand that a little more. The soft water is great inside the house but the garden would suffer over time if watered with that water that contained sodium. It would eventually strip the nutrients from the soil and plants would not thrive. There is a valve downstairs that I will have to use to "turn off" the soft water next spring and summer when I am using the hose outside... it will bypass the water softener then. LOVE the soft water!!
Reverse Osmosis: My dream come true. It is a separate set of 3 tanks that only go to a faucet at the kitchen sink and one for the refrigerator/freezer. This filters every impurity out of the water at least 99%. No more flouride, chlorine, sediments, or even that soft water salt. It will filter lots of the other contaminants too! I now feel safer than I did drinking city water. The water coming out of those 2 faucets is delicious! No after taste.
The one amazing thing I recently notice is the ice cubes coming out of the freezer now that the water is purified by the reverse osmosis. The ice cubes are clear as pure crystals. I never even gave a thought to the look of the ice cubes before until I saw these. They sparkle in my glass of water like clean glass. It is rather obvious that there was some sediment in the water before, now that I see this water. I also get to cook and soak my grains and seeds in this purified water. I am so grateful and it is AMAZING! Love it!
Chlorine removal tank: This is an additional tank that filters the water after it is softened not the drinking water.. the reverse osmosis filter takes care of it). This tank has a carbon filter system that removes over 99% of the chlorine from all the water in my house. Why? Because one day I interrupted Journey in her steamy morning shower for something. When she opened the bathroom door to talk to me, the smell of chlorine was so strong coming out of there that it smelled like a public swimming pool!
The skin is the largest organ in the body and it is designed to absorb. So it absorbs all that chlorine when taking a long shower or bath. That worried me. Do we really know what that is doing to our health over the long term? I doubt it. Now we are all safer! The plants will also like that better, I am sure! There is a way to divert that that tank too, but I see no reason to do that at this time. Love that there is no chlorine in my water!
What if you are a bottled water drinker? Does that make your water safe? I hate to burst your bubble but I do not think so. There are issues with most bottled water. One: It only has to meet the same standards of purity as city water does. You do not know the source or what contaminants are potentially in that water. Two: It is stored in plastic bottles. It has recently been shown that a substance in these plastic bottles can leach into whatever is stored in them, thus adding another contaminant. Three: The pH of water is important. Normal pH is about 7 on a scale of 0 - 14. Below 7 means it is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. The body needs to stay in an alkaline state to prevent disease and contribute to overall immune function and health. Most bottled waters I tested came out in the acidic range, yet my tap water from the city tests alkaline. As a result of these things I have not been a bottled water fan.
So I love my water system! I hope you may have learned something you did not know and may consider some sort of filtration system for your house. You can get a reverse osmosis system for under your kitchen sink pretty reasonably, even if you cannot afford an entire house filtration system. We have been saving 2 years for this and I am so glad we finally have it!
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