In the 21 years that I have been involved in the design and manufacture of water filtration products, I have been fortunate enough to have sold over 9 million products; 4 million drinking water systems and over 5 million shower filters! I have heard literally thousands of emotional stories from people who experienced very positive changes in their health due to enhanced water intake and quality. Many people with asthma and other respiratory ailments, skin rashes and disorders, eye irritations and scalp conditions experienced dramatic improvements and often an end to these discomforting ailments, simply by using a shower filtration system.

I got involved in this industry after being amazed how my six-month-old son's "chronic respiratory condition" turned out to be nothing more than a sensitivity to chlorine vapors.

Noah, who is now 22 and extremely healthy, was severely ill as a child. He had problems breathing, constant congestion and a never-ending cough. At six months old he was unable to sleep through the night, had dark circles under his eyes, wasn't eating properly and never stopped coughing. We had taken him to a series of specialists who each told us of a different sensitivity to something in his environment. We were told that he was allergic to dairy products, orange juice, ragweed and even our cats and dogs. And each time we were told of a different cause, we would eliminate that element from his environment, and nothing changed. While each doctor had a different explanation for his sickness, they all agreed that he would benefit if we would take him in the shower and hold him while he breathed the steam; again they were wrong... he continued to get worse. By now Noah was losing weight and vomiting a lot. We were terrified and desperate.

Finally we were introduced by a friend to a nutrition doctor who explained to us that in order to determine the problem we needed to go through a long process of elimination. We should one by one change different aspects of his environment, but that we should start with his water. This doctor explained to us that more than two-thirds of the human body is water, and that many times people, especially small children, have sensitivities to chemicals and metals found in our water. He explained to us that letting our son breathe steam would help, but that the steam should be chlorine-free.

Later we learned that when chlorine vaporizes it combines with other organic compounds in the air and forms chloroform gas, a toxic compound that causes respiratory irritation and fatigue. We also learned that because we lived in a warm summer climate, and our water system used lake water, they have to substantially increase the levels of chlorine in the summer months to kill excess algae, causing increased levels of harmful vapors in the shower and throughout the house.

We went out and bought a water filter for our kitchen sink, and a commercial charcoal filter, which we adapted to our shower pipe. And the result absolutely shocked us! Within one week our son's coughing stopped, he began sleeping through the night, started eating better and was well on his way to being a healthy baby. Two months later I sold my business, became obsessed and infatuated with the water treatment industry and have been passionately involved in it ever since.

Someone once told me that the key to success was to find your "why" and the "how" would work itself out. Twenty-one years ago I found my "why."

- Charles Strand, President, Sun Water Systems, Inc.