Is It Safer To Drink Water After Installing A Household Water Filter?

I was engaged in drinking water safety research for many years. And recently I found that the greetings used in the circle of relatives and friends are. “Do you want to install a water purifier? What brand of water purifier? How effective is the water purifier?…”. the people are changing from being “satisfied” to “to live well”. And there is a growing demand for a better life and healthy drinking water.

But, in the face of dazzling water purification products from various sources,

“Are you panicking?”

01.

Small Label Of Social Progress-Water Filter

Water is the source of life, about 70% of the human body, and even 80% in infants.

Water acts as an essential solvent. And it participates in various biochemical reactions in the human body.

A healthy person needs to drink about 2L of water per day on average. It will help maintain normal metabolism—known as “eight glasses of water” (Figure 1).

But, with environmental pollution, drinking water sources have been severely destroyed. The types and levels of pollutants have continued to increase. With a better life, even standard drinking water quality may not meet the requirements. People pay more attention to taste and antibiotic residues. Thus, household water filter has emerged as user-defined, terminal advanced processing equipment. And keep booming.

Figure 1. The proportion of water in the human body. And scientific drinking water (picture from the Internet)

02.

Know Yourself And The Enemy-The Types And Processes Of Household Water Filters

To understand the functions and effects of filters, let’s learn its process principles first.

At present, the popular household water filters on the market composed of

• PP cotton (1st filtration),
• activated carbon or other composite adsorption materials (2nd filtration),
• And membrane materials (core filtration) in series.

They are composite water filters ( Figure 2a).

Activated carbon has a very high specific surface area and developed internal pores. It can adsorb organic matter, odour, residual chlorine and other chemical substances.

Membrane are divided into

• microfiltration (0.05-5 μm),
• ultrafiltration (5-100 nm),
• nanofiltration (1-10 nm),
• and reverse osmosis (< 2 nm)

According to the membrane pore size (Figure 2b).

Generally speaking, ultrafiltration can trap pathogenic microorganisms.

And reverse osmosis only allows water molecules to pass through. Also very few ionic minerals.

Thus, the regular water filter with carbon & membrane can optimize drinking water quality. Including reducing colour/turbidity, removing organic matter, residual chlorine, and retaining microorganisms.

Other types of water filters include softening and functional water filters.

The former is the addition of the anion/cation exchange resin unit based on the regular water filter. Which can

• remove calcium and magnesium plasma in the water,
• reduce the water hardness
• And further, improve the taste of drinking water.

Functional water filters have built-in “special function” components, which are often more expensive. Such as mineralized/magnetized water filters and electrodialysis water filters. But I would recommend that everyone uphold the principle of water purification. Instead of not a health care product. Especially for “special function” materials. It may release harmful substances to the human body, should pay more attention to this.

Figure 2 water filter (a) and membrane pore size classification. And the substances removed (b) (picture from the Internet)

03.

The Invisible Murderer-Microbial Contamination Of Water Filters

People are usually sensitive to visible physical and chemical pollution (colour/turbidity, smell). And they often ignore invisible microbial pollution. Scientific research has shown that after filtered the total excess rate (>100 CFU/mL) of output water is 13.2-87.5%.

Recently, a team from the Institute of Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences do research. They found the microorganisms inside the filter can reach 102-106 CFU/g. (Figure 3). And the total amount of live bacteria is 103-105 copies /mL (PMA-qPCR detection).

Also, they also found

• Escherichia coli (100-106 copies/g) ,
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa (100-105 copies/g) ,
• and other water-borne pathogens (qPCR detection).

High-throughput sequencing further revealed

• Distribution characteristics of Escherichia coli (0-6.26%),
• Mycobacterium mucogenicum (0.01-3.46%),
• and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0-0.16%)

The activated carbon and membrane can absorb microorganisms, residual chlorine & other chemical substances. And improve the physical and chemical indicators and taste of drinking water. But, it only has a material effect on microorganisms and does not completely kill them.

As prolonging the service time microorganisms will reproduce inside the filter. Also, I found in the survey that many users have not replaced their membranes for years or decades. The filter is overloaded, and it has become a “rich paradise” for microorganisms. Once a leak occurs, it will seriously threaten public health. Thus, it’s important to provide the necessary replacement regularly.

Figure 3 Microbial contamination of the water filter (a) R2A plate culture (b) scanning electron microscopy

04.

My Final Personal Advice

Do you want to install a water filter? Yes, but not required. The water filter is the icing on the cake. And the water at the end of the pipe network is also safe. Because it meets your country’s “Sanitary Standards for Drinking Water.”

What brand of water filter should you buy? The activated carbon filter is not as many as possible, and the membrane pore size is not as small as possible. I recommend a combination water filter. Which should include activated carbon + ultra/nano or reverse osmosis membrane.

How effective is the water filter? The water filter is a water purification product. It’s not a health care product. Don’t blindly follow its “functionality”. Besides, it must be maintained.

If you haven’t use the filter for a long time, please empty it first, and backlash it several times.

Finally, change the filter membranes regularly! which is the most important thing you should remember!!!

Please click below to watch the production process of water filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eRWAel7VXE&list=PL2Jxij6gf8xQmNykIMZ5NyZX3sLG8mw2k

More details in https://ibottling.com/is-it-safer-to-drink-water-with-water-filter/