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Tuesday 22 October 2013

You May Not Be Holding a Glass of Filtered Water

Just because you see a water filter at your office, doesn't mean the glass of water you are about to have, is safe for consumption. It may not be. That's because most of the filters merely perform sediment filtration, removing dirt that usually gets mixed with water if it reaches your office through old pipes. However, that's not enough. Water has many more impurities that must be removed before you drink it. Take for example, metals. Sometimes, water may contain nickel, chromium and the like. These are of course, not good for health. Likewise, microorganisms, if any, must be controlled.

Not Filtered Water

Does the filter at your office do that? If that's a no, are you really drinking filtered water? To top it all, even if dirt, metals and other such impurities are removed, the water may still not be fit for consumption. This might happen if the water dispensed by the filter contains chemicals and gases. Even worse, if chlorine or chlorine by-products are present, you are at greater risk. One thing's clear: you need to ensure that the filter has a multi-stage filtration process so that you don't have to think twice before drinking that glass of water, which you may still be holding.

Don't drink it and rather ask the concerned person at your office to get a new filter, one that supports sediment filtration. While you are at it, you may also tell them to take activated carbon filtration into consideration. However, to get rid of metals, the system should also have some kind of purity redox media. Only when all these things are present, you can expect to get water that tastes great, doesn't lose its minerals and is free of impurities.