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| Description of water filter products | Price |
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| Iron test - part of R.O.P.E. test | $15.00 |
| Portable RO unit | $255.00 |
| Pre-filter for Portable RO unit - removes silt and prolongs the life of the RO membrane. If chloramine levels are elevated, a different pre-filter is recommended - e-mail us. | $75.00 |
| 3-month solid carbon post-filter for MTBE reduction - recommended | $19.50 |
| 3-month Filter for pre-filter - white - well water | $4.00 |
| 3-month Filter for pre-filter - black - chlorinated water, PA membrane | $5.00 |
| Auxiliary pump for low pressure - counter-top, optional 220V or 110V transformer | $205.00 |
| UV attachment - counter-top RO unit | $285.00 |
| Under-counter RO unit do-it-yourself maintenance | $390.00 |
| Under-counter RO unit pre-filter - if chloramine levels are elevated | e-mail us |
| UV attachment - whole house | $650.00 |
| Sprite Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter | $145.00 |
| Mail tap & filtered water samples for TDS measurement | $10.00 for 3 |
 | My choice of water treatment system for drinking water is reverse osmosis (RO) technology. RO works with a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane is similar to the membranes in the body's cells, which permit oxygen and other desirable substances to enter the cells and allow waste products to leave the cells. | ||||
| In the RO unit, water molecules are small enough to pass through the tiny pores in the membrane, but larger molecules cannot pass through. Instead they are carried off in the waste water - along with any parasites. | ||||
| There is a down side to RO technology, but that doesn't change the basic recommendation. | ||||
| The downside is that the amount of waste water produced to get a gallon of treated water is about two to three times the amount of filtered water. It takes
30-60 minutes to process a gallon of treated water with the Nature's Sunshine unit sold here. | ||||
| You can't recycle waste water with an under-the-counter unit, but we
understand that some people can't use the portable unit. They may not have
the strength to lift a gallon of water. Individuals may have living situations where they cannot use the waste water to flush a toilet or water the garden. Many people have so many responsibilities that they cannot take time to use a portable reverse osmosis unit. They need an under-counter unit, and then the water goes down the drain. There is no problem if the drain leads to a private septic system. Where does the municipal sewer water go, though? Some individuals do not have the physical strength to handle gallons of water collected from a portable RO unit. | ||||
| If you are in a water-poor area, what are your options?
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| A simple "marker" test is available to measure filtration efficiency. This "marker" test tells me an important piece of information without requiring laboratory water testing fees. If, with my simple test, I find that a filtration unit is not removing something that I consider essential, then I can eliminate that unit and look for a technology that does remove what I consider essential. I am concerned about the degree to which the water filtration unit removes dissolved solids. The marker test simply counts the particles in the water, before and after filtration. For this test, I use a Sprite TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter. |
| Here are some sample readings, such as what I would find on-site: Example #1 - This filter is not removing TDS. Tap water 335 ppm Filtered water 333 ppm Example #2 - This unit is effectively removing TDS. Tap water: 85 ppm Filtered water: 3 ppm Example #3: This is probably carbon filtration technology. The carbon may have gotten saturated and is now dumping particulates into the drinking water - either that, or particulates of carbon are washing out. Tap water: 275 ppm Filtered water: 298 ppm faqs |
| If a unit is not removing larger dissolved solids, then it isn't capable of removing small ones, such as dissolved
heavy metals like lead, mercury, aluminum, fluoride, and copper. | ||||||||||
| Where do these dissolved metals come from?
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| Don't be so sure. What many manufacturers who make this claim mean is that their filters remove 99% of lead BY WEIGHT. In other words, if a piece of lead solder breaks off, the filter will remove the piece. The weight of the solder accounts for 99% of the lead passing through. But the 1% it doesn't remove is the dissolved lead, the dangerous lead. If you swallowed a piece of lead solder, it would just pass through your body and be eliminated. But drink dissolved lead and your body can absorb it. You need a filtration process that will remove the "1%" of dissolved lead. faqs |
| The least expensive way is to assume that it is not, unless you are using reverse osmosis or distillation technology.
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| What are typical numbers that I should be looking for?
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| The minerals in water, such as calcium and magnesium, come from ground up rock and are not in a form that our bodies can absorb.
We get our minerals from plants, which convert the "ground rock
minerals" into something both they and we can use. |
| Reverse osmosis removes almost all particulates from water, both bad and
"good." Everything has to be removed to remove the bad. |
| To restore mineral content, I open a capsule of Twin Labs Cell Mins -
Magnesium and Phosphorus into the water. This is an inexpensive way to add "good" minerals to drinking water.
I am not a medical practitioner, so please check with your health care
professional before adding anything to your drinking water. faqs |
| Yes, against heavy metal contamination - such as strontium 90, assuming
the public water is still flowing so that you can use your RO unit. |
| The one exception is with tritium, radioactive water. No filtration system
can remove water from water. In a case where tritium is an issue, bottled
water is the only alternative. However, some scientists have more concern about radioactive heavy metals than tritium, because the latter is found in nature, whereas the former come from human-devised nuclear energy. |
| f you lived near a nuclear power plant and were nervous about any type of
radioactivity at all, then you'd have to import water in bottles. faqs |
| Enviro Health carries Nature's Sunshine RO (portable) and WaterFactory (under-the-counter)
units.
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| Check the iron content of your water. Either request a copy of the latest monitoring results from your local water authority or order an iron test kit. Iron will degrade the RO
membrane - see Water Testing section. If you have elevated iron in your water, you will need a filter to get rid of the iron before it goes to the RO unit. If your sink or bathtub is rust-colored, you probably have elevated levels of iron in your water. | ||||
| Check the pressure of your water at your kitchen sink faucet. The pressure should be at least 40 lbs/sq in. You can get a pressure gauge to test water at your local hardware store if you have a question. The average house has enough water pressure for an RO unit.
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| If you are concerned about bacteria, you can order a UV light attachment for your unit.
I'd recommend it. | ||||
| Finally, test for chloramines. Chloramines are formed from the chemical
reaction of chlorine and ammonia. Several thousand municipalities are now
adding ammonia to public water, because the carcinogenic by-products from
chlorine were exceeding federal standards. If chloramines are elevated in
your drinking water, a pre-filter to remove them is recommended. E-mail us
for information on a chloramine test. This test may be skipped if you have the whole house activated carbon dechlorination system which is sold at this site. faqs |
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© 2001 May E. Dooley -
Enviro Health Environmental Home Inspections |
