Home Water Quality Problems Solved by Filtration and Treatment Systems

The water that is brought into your home will play an important role in your life and the lives of those you live with and care about. 60% of the human body is made of water and all of our most essential activities, like eating, bathing and cleaning our homes, involve the use of water, so considering the quality of the water provided to your home is an important step in improving your health and life.

Pour yourself a glass of water from your tap right now and take a moment or two to fully examine this fluid. Is it all you would want in the refreshing elixir in a sparkling mountain stream? Probably not. This is because the water supplied to your home from the city mains has seen an arduous journey through harsh chemical treatments and abysmal storage reservoirs before it arrived at your faucet.

The water that survives this trip will not only be dead and hard from the treatments, filtration and storage, but also contain a high content of chemical, mineral and even biological constituents.

Sure, these additional ingredients in your home’s water will not kill you, at least not right away. But, you do have to think that placing heavy metals, chlorine and other minerals in the body will make the body work all the harder to eliminate these substances. Some may linger and cause problems later on down the line.

Then, water with high mineral and chemical content completely changes the ways it can be used and the effects it has on the food, clothing, furniture, amenities and bodies being washed. In the following section we will take a much closer look at the water in your home and identify some of the most common problems found in domestic water supplies.

XXX of the Major Problems in Drinking Water Quality

The water coming from your home’s faucets may be more than just H2O and could have an impact on a variety of activities and applications. Following are some of the most common problems found in home water supplies and our recommendations on addressing these issues to improve the quality of your water.

1. Hard Water

Water that becomes “hard” is often groundwater that is rich in minerals collected in subterranean aquifers. The minerals are most often calcium and magnesium. This is one of the most common problems with a home water supply and can affect the flow of water through pipes and even appliances. You will find chalky mineral build up inside your coffee maker, tea kettle or any other appliance that uses water.

To solve the issue with hard water, you will need a special kind of treatment system called a water softener that effectively removes these minerals from your water supply.

Signs of Hard Water

- Hard water reduces the ability of soap to lather well

- Minerals combine with soap and create a scum that makes it difficult to rinse washed items properly.

- Specks of residue where water has dried

- White chalky scale left inside water containers and pipes.

Possible Solutions

- Use white vinegar to remove sediments and scale

- Mechanical water softener

- Choosing a different laundry detergent for hard water

- Reducing temperature of your boiler

- Chemical water softener

- Filtration Systems

- Magnetic water conditioner

2. High Iron Content

Another mineral that is commonly found in homes, especially those that are supplied with well water, is ferrous iron. The presence of this mineral is evident in rusty stains in bathtubs, sinks and pools.

Signs of High Iron Content

• Rusty stains in toilets, showers, and sinks
• Rusty Water
• Metallic flavor in drinking water can be especially unpleasant
• Rust stains on laundry

Possible Solutions

• Chemical water softeners that contain an oxidizing iron filter.
• Water filtration system we recommend the Raindance Iron Eater Series. I have personally tested this product on the worst iron content locations and found it performs especially well
• Removing rust stains from toilets, tubs, and sinks. This can be done by making a paste of baking soda and allowing this to sit on the stains overnight.

3. Hydrogen Sulfide

If you notice the potent smell of rotten eggs coming from your water, you can be sure that this is the presence of a highly corrosive gas called hydrogen sulfide. This is another issue that is effectively addressed by your top-of-the-line water softening system. But, not just any will do, you will need to find a product that is specifically designed to remove hydrogen sulfide.

Signs of Hydrogen Sulfide

- Potent Smell of rotten Eggs

- No more friends coming over to eat at your place

Possible Solutions

- Quality Water softener complete with chlorine treatment solutions

- Neutralizing filter

- Water purifier that uses an activated carbon filter. The positive charge in activated carbon pulls hydrogen sulfide from the water supply.

4. High Manganese Content

Manganese is another mineral that can be found in domestic water supplies and is especially common alongside ferrous iron. Like iron, manganese content can cause dark brown and reddish staining even if only present in concentrations as low as 0.05 parts per million. When this water is used to wash clothes, upholstery or other fabrics it typically leaves a dark staining or discoloration.

Signs of High Manganese Content

- Water that is unclear, murky or hazy looking

- Water from faucets may also leave a black sediment in tubs, barrels and containers

- Black stains may appear in toilets, showers stalls, tubs and sinks as well as counters and tile floors.

- Stained laundry

Possible Solutions

- Chemical water softener that includes an oxidizing iron filter

- Water filtration system which works for both iron and manganese. We recommend the [model] from [company] as I have used it personally and seen it works well to solve the manganese content issue.

5. High Sodium Content

Most water supplies have at least some sodium content and it usually isn’t anything to worry about. But, if the content of sodium becomes too high, it can give the home water supply a corrosive effect that can be damaging to appliances and other water conduits.

Signs of High Sodium Content

- A difference in the flavor of high sodium water can be detected in quantities as low as 500 parts per million.

- Dark or brackish water

Possible Solutions

- Reverse osmosis

- Demineralization

- Distillation

Choosing the Drinking Water Treatment Solutions for You

You will find different filtrations systems and water treatment solutions available on the market and each will have different specifications. Some will be better at improving the flavor of your drinking water while others work specifically to remove the chemicals and mineral content. To select the right solution for your home you will need to consider what type of contaminants you are facing.

Following are some types of treatment options to consider when choosing the right system for your drinking water supply:

Reverse Osmosis 

In a reverse osmosis system, water is passed through a semipermeable membrane to effectively remove even the smallest particles of contaminants in a water supply. Where regular filtration systems are only marginally effective at removing minerals and metals from water, the reverse osmosis system can remove copper, lead, radium, sodium and other aqueous salts from a water supply.

Water Softeners

These filtration units use ion exchange technology to turn highly mineralized hard water into demineralized soft water. Specific models and products can be bought to remove heavy metals like iron and manganese and even some radioactivity.

NSF Certification Labels – be sure to carefully check the NSF labels of the filtration products you would like to add to improving the quality of your drinking water. The NSF is an international organization that sets standards for these and other similar products. The NSF label will tell you exactly what the filtration unit will do.