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It is important to know the quality of your tap water. We use water throughout the day for many different things. If we do not have pure, clean water, that could result in some serious consequences. Many people use their tap water without thinking about its quality. It is used for drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning.

How can we know the quality of our tap water? Community water systems are required by law to produce an annual water quality report for the people they serve. This report is called the Consumer Confidence Report or CCR. This report includes almost everything you need to know regarding your tap water, such as where the water is from, types of contaminants that are found in the water, levels of these contaminants found in the water, and how these factors could affect your health.

Not all public water systems are required to furnish this annual report. If your water provider is not a community water system, then they are exempt from this requirement. That does not mean that you cannot know more about the quality of your water. You can still call your non-community water system to find out more about your water. You have a right to know what is in the water you drink, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Sometimes, the CCR report is only available to those who receive the actual water bill. Because of this, many renters do not get to see this information. If you are in such a situation, you can still find this information. It is likely that the CCR is available in other forms, such as online or in a newspaper or posted in a public area like the cafeteria or the lunch room of a public facility. The water provider can also include you in the mailing list of CCRs by request. Apartment buildings, nursing homes, schools, and private businesses can receive CCRs in their main office. Because of this, you can get a copy of this report when it is sent to them. It is just a matter of knowing who to ask.

By knowing the water quality of your tap water, you have a thorough understanding of what you are taking into your body. You can carefully assess if you want to subject yourself to the level of contamination that is in the tap water of your community. Knowing more about your water can also help you decide what the best purification solution is for you.

No water purification system can deal with all the contaminants in our environment, so the best thing you can do is to choose a system that effectively deals with the specific contaminants found in your water. If your water has too much fluoride, then find a water purifying system that can combat fluoride. If it has too much pesticide residue, then find a system that deals with this specifically. There are also systems available that are great in dealing with the unpleasant tastes and smells in water.

After you read your CCR, take a look at the water filter systems provided by Aquasana. They have a wide range and variety of filters that can deal with different water quality issues. By trusting your water quality to Aquasana, you will have the best water possible at a price you can afford.

When you are expecting a baby, you can expect your life to change in many ways. Aside from the additional weight you will be carrying around, you will need to make changes in order to accommodate the health of the child growing inside you. Changes in lifestyle are necessary for your body to change along with your growing child. Remember that the child in you demands a lot from you and you must be ready to give it.

The body naturally needs water for all of its different bodily functions. By drinking the required 8 glasses of water a day, many illnesses, pregnancy symptoms, and discomforts can be avoided or minimized. The need for plenty of healthy water can easily be overlooked or forgotten, but once you are pregnant, you cannot afford to do any less. Pregnant women need to drink 8 glasses of water a day or more. These should be consumed throughout the day, in between meals, and not all in one sitting.  It is essential that pregnant women avoid becoming dehydrated.

You must remember that dehydration is not the same as being thirsty. Actually, dehydration happens long before you feel thirst, because once you are thirsty, it means that you have been dehydrated for a while already. While dehydration in an average person is unhealthy, dehydration in a pregnant woman is dangerous, both for the mom and the baby. Water is needed to transport nutrients through the blood from the mother to the baby. Pregnant women tend to store extra water in their body, so drinking more water helps flush that out. Urinary tract infections are common in expecting mothers, and water helps prevent that.

Dehydration during pregnancy is serious. In the third trimester, the mother’s blood volume increases. Thicker blood can lead to hypertension and other cardiovascular problems. Drinking more water than the required 8 glasses a day during the third trimester helps avoid these problems.

Also in the third trimester, dehydration can cause contractions and eventually premature labor, which is something mothers do not usually want for their child. Premature labor makes it harder for the child to survive, but drinking water can prevent premature labor from happening. Other benefits of proper hydration during pregnancy include better bowel movement, less acne, healthier skin, flushing away of excess sodium, less chance of miscarriage, and prevention of nausea or morning sickness.

Pregnant women must not only stay hydrated, but they should drink clean and healthy water during pregnancy. Below are just a few of the contaminants found in tap water and how they can affect the unborn baby you are carrying:

·        Chlorine – Miscarriages and other problems

·        Nitrates – Blue Baby Syndrome

·        Lead – Slows mental development

·        Pharmaceutical drugs – Effects growth and development

It is clear that it is important to be intentional about drinking the required amount of water for the health of the child and the mother. Also, the mother must have healthy drinking water during pregnancy that is free of dangerous water contamination. This is easily provided by using water filters by Aquasana. These filters ensure you that no contaminants will be allowed in your water. Your safety and the safety of your precious child is a top concern and Aquasana can be your partner in making sure the water that comes out of your tap is healthy for mom and baby alike.

Everyone needs water that is free from contamination. Many people keep their ears open to any news about water contamination. If you are paying attention to water contamination issues in your community, that is the right thing to do. It is important to stay informed regarding these things. You must be careful not to be swayed by myths lurking around. Here are some of the most commonly misunderstood myths that you should be aware of concerning water contamination:

Myth: Lead water contamination is caused by water treatment plants.

Truth: Lead usually does not come to you from water treatment plants, but from your own home plumbing. The pipes that carry your tap water to you may have lead in them and the lead in the pipes can easily be absorbed by the water going through them. If you want to know if you have lead in your water or how much lead you have, ask a professional laboratory to test your water for its lead content. If your lead content is more that 15 parts per billion (ppb), then you must take action. Lead is a very harmful chemical that can have an adverse impact on the health of young children and infants as well as pregnant and nursing mothers. Lead affects early childhood development and the result can be permanent health damage to their bodies.

Tip: Water that is left standing in lead-based plumbing can absorb lead even faster. Before using water, especially for cooking or for serving to your family, let the pipes flush by simply running the water until it becomes cold.

Myth: Once water goes down the drain, it is out of your life forever.

Truth: The water that you use today went down the drains of hundreds of other people before it reached your home. Actually, it might just be the water you flushed down the drain a few weeks or months ago. Some water might be used again the same week, while some water might remain unused for years. Water is not newly created every day. It is recycled and used again and again. It is another common myth that we have an endless supply of water. It is a limited and very precious resource.

Tip: Use water wisely and conserve water.

Myth: Water purifies itself.

Truth: Water goes through highly technical processes before it reaches your home. The community you live in processes water to catch some very basic forms of contamination. Public water processing, however, is in no way equipped to handle the thousands of forms of water pollution and contamination that enter the water supply every day. Every contaminant that we throw away, including chemicals, medicines, batteries, fertilizers, and industrial waste, finds its way back into our water.

Myth: Any home water purifying system will make your tap water healthier and safer.

Truth: Not all home water purifying systems will produce healthy and safe water. Some water filters will make your water’s taste, odor, and color better. That step of producing water that is clear and tastes good can give you an illusion that the water is healthy and clean. Just because your water is tasty, odorless, and clear doesn’t mean it is truly pure and safe to drink.

Tip: When buying a home water filter system, choose one that has been inspected and tested by industry professionals. This should be easy to identify on their labels and boxes. Aquasana has been tested and recommended by many industry professionals to provide you with pure and safe drinking water.

Check out this demonstration of how effective Aquasana water filters are at removing contaminants from your drinking water. Putting his own health on the line, our VP of Marketing shows you how confident we are that our water filter systems remove chlorine and sediment from municipal water supplies. No humans were harmed in the making of this video.

Showering seems like a harmless activity. After all, how can something which is designed to make you squeaky clean end up hurting your body? The people who have allergic reactions to chemicals found in unfiltered shower water can assure you that showers are not always fun and games. Chlorine, a chemical commonly found in shower water, can trigger allergic reactions for certain people. Exposure to high levels of chlorine has been linked to many serious conditions, but for some the allergies themselves are serious. That is why everyone should be concerned about shower water contamination particularly if you suffer with allergies or if someone in your home has that problem.

Aside from swimmers who regularly spend a large amount of time in heavily chlorinated swimming pools, the primary source of chlorine exposure for most people is due to shower water contamination. Chlorine is put into the shower water for the same reason it is poured into pools. It is in the water because your local water processing facility uses it to remove the harmful bacteria from the water. However, shower water tends to be hot enough to create steam. Chlorine has a lower evaporation point than water. When your shower water is steaming, you are creating chlorine gas. That chlorine gas represents a troublesome form of shower water contamination.

Shower water contamination in the form of chlorine gas has been proven to be harmful to humans. Studies have shown that it can cause allergies, asthma, or even cancer. When you develop allergies to chlorine, your shower suddenly transforms from a place to relax after a hard day to somewhere which could become hazardous. As with every allergy, the exact reactions to chlorine exposure vary widely based on the individual. Some people merely start coughing excessively while others have reactions so bad they must be sent immediately to the emergency room.

Filtering your shower water will drastically lower your exposure to chlorine shower water contamination. It is estimated that nearly two thirds of the typical person’s chlorine exposure is from chlorinated shower water. By purchasing a high-quality shower filter such as those made by Aquasana, you will be able to use your shower without worrying about its chlorine levels. These filters are the best way to drastically reduce your chlorine exposure for a low cost.

How clean do you think your drinking water is? It is easy to assume that your water can’t be too bad. It doesn’t smell like rotten eggs or taste bitter. It doesn’t look rusty. The contaminants that you should be worried about, however, do not make your water smell, taste, or look bad. Water contaminants can include anything from runoff from agriculture to pharmaceutical drugs used to treat just about anything.

An Associated Press article revealed the disturbing truth that pharmaceutical drugs are in the local drinking water of most communities. This study found pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water that supplies at least 41 million people. They surveyed 24 major metropolitan cities and found this form of water contamination in every one of them. Pharmaceutical drug drinking water contamination can have drugs like antibiotics, sex hormones, and anti-convulsants. These types of drugs were found in tap water even before the AP’s report in 2008. The report put a spotlight on this serious water contamination issue that should be of concern to all citizens and certainly to parents concerned about providing healthy drinking water to their children.

The AP report opened many people’s eyes to the dangers that could be in a family’s drinking water. The use of various kinds of water filters, including reverse osmosis filters, and turning to bottled water have become very popular ways to avoid the problems of drinking water contamination.

A monthly journal called Environmental Health Perspectives reported that around 100 pharmaceuticals have been discovered in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Water contamination does not just affect families in the United States but also in Europe. MSNBC reported on a study that found a wide variety of pharmaceutical drugs in Philadelphia’s drinking water. They reported 56 traces of not only human drugs but also drugs used in the veterinary field. The drugs found were made to treat pain, infections, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illnesses, and heart problems.

When pharmaceutical drugs are improperly disposed of through flushing them down the toilet, they eventually enter the public water supply. Most water treatment suppliers are not completely able to remove the drugs from the water supply. In other words, the tap water you and your children drink straight from the faucet could be contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs. Even if you throw the remaining pills out with the rest of the garbage, that garbage still finds its way into the soil. Over time, the drugs will seep into the soil and groundwater, making their way to the drinking water supply.

Trying to find the best system to remove these kinds of contaminants is not hard. It is important to note, however, that reverse osmosis devices are not effective systems when it comes to removing pharmaceutical drug drinking water contamination. Reverse osmosis water filters are designed to remove contaminants bigger than a molecule of water. When pharmaceutical drugs are dissolved in water, they weigh less than a molecule of water. The design of a reverse osmosis system will miss these drugs when filtering drinking water. You could be unintentionally giving your children water that has drugs in it even after investing in a water filter system if the design is not efficient at stopping the most common and troubling types of water contamination that might be in your water. Reverse osmosis uses pressure from water to remove contaminants from the drinking water. They are ineffective because they aren’t activated carbon filtration devices.

Aquasana uses activated carbon filtration devices to pick up different contaminants, including pharmaceutical drugs. Carbon filters are different from reverse osmosis devices because they are able to remove very small contaminants. Not only can carbon filters remove pharmaceutical drugs but also herbicides and pesticides that reverse osmosis systems cannot detect. Aquasana has every type of filter that you could need, from shower head to whole house water filters. That is why Aquasana is a reliable partner for you and your family in making sure the water you drink is safe, clean, healthy, and tastes good as well. By working with a reliable water filtration partner like Aquasana, you can sort out what is the best type of water filter system for your family.

Spring water and groundwater are generally considered to be fresh and pure. Once upon a time, no one thought twice about drinking tap water because we trusted Mother Nature. That was then and this is now.

Today, things have changed. Today, the level of tap water contamination that comes into your home is nothing short of alarming and dangerous. Municipal water treatment facilities leave contaminants in the water despite their best efforts. Some people believe that the answer is to switch to bottled water. Bottled water, however, is sometimes no more then well-marketed tap water in a plastic bottle.

Today, pesticides used in farming can get into the public water supply. Chemicals from personal products used in homes also end up in your water. Add to that the poor disposal of prescription drugs and batteries whose harmful chemicals get into our water and the result is a serious water contamination problem in our society.

The modernization of our society has brought with it increased contamination of our water. Local municipal treatment efforts are not taking care of the problem completely. While they may be removing sediments, there are still particles and chemicals left behind that could be harmful to our health. These hazards pose a particular health risk for babies, pregnant women, and nursing mothers.

Because your tap water is not as clean as it should be, water filters are now essential in every home. It is important that every family protects themselves by purchasing an efficient kitchen water filter system and only drink filtered water. Kitchen water filters are not just a fad. They are very much a necessity.

What kind of kitchen water filter should you purchase? There are several things you should look at and consider when buying a kitchen water filter. Listed below are some tips to help you find the best kitchen water filter for your needs.

• Buy water filters that have been proven to be effective in dealing with all kinds of impurities in your water. These include chemical and biological pollutants, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and soil particles. After you install your new kitchen water filter, the water should not have any taste or smell because unpleasant taste and smell are indicators of impurities. Also make sure that the kitchen water filter you buy handles chlorine in the water. Some water filters are not equipped to remove all kinds of pollutants. Do your research to make certain that the kitchen water filter you buy does a good job of providing to your family pure and healthy water every day.
• While the water filter you buy should be able to remove all kinds of pollutants, it should not strip the water of its natural minerals. It is good for trace minerals to remain in the water that you drink because your body needs them. Water should be clean but not demineralized. Some water filters overdo the purification process to the point that minerals like magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus are removed. Drinking water that has the minerals removed can be harmful to your body. This kind of water is a result of water that has undergone either a reverse osmosis or distillation process. If the water filter you are considering buying uses these methods, think twice about investing in it.
• Your water filter must be easy to install and maintain. If the cost of the filter is low but it still requires you to hire a professional to install and eventually maintain it, you will still spend a lot of money. Also, water filter systems require routine replacement of the filter and you should be able to do this yourself.

If you only want the best kind of kitchen water filter for your home, purchase yours from Aquasana. Their water filters are safe, easy to use, effective, and affordable. Aquasana is an expert in the process of water filtration, so they will give you only the best.

Your drinking water leaves the water treatment plant and makes its way to the pipes through town and then into the plumbing system under your house. When that water gets to your home’s main supply line, it doesn’t have to simply go through the pipes “as is.” If the water first enters an Aquasana whole-house water filter, you then have one more level of protection against a wide variety of water contamination. After the contaminants in your water that the treatment plant doesn’t catch are captured by your Aquasana water filtration system, clean, pure water flows from your faucet into your glass.

Let’s take a closer look into the filters that you’ve come to depend on. All filters have an area where the contaminants are claptured That area is called particulate water filtration. This part is probably the most important when dealing with water filtration because without it you we wouldn’t have particle-free water.

Particulate water filtration is a mechanical operation that works in filters to remove small amounts of different particles. This filtration step cleans particles ranging from sand to clay from drinkable water. Because most home filters aren’t made to hold a large amount of particles, particulate water filtrations either work with another filter or by itself.

There are a number of different types of particulate water filtration devices. Which one is best for you will depend on what you need for your home. Surface screen and depth filters are the two different categories of particulate water filtration systems. Surface or screen filters remove particials near the surface. Two types of surface screen filters are ceramic filters and resin-bonded filters. Ceramic filters are cleanable which means they are reusable. They are made from a ceramic cylinder. Resin-bonded filters look like they are ceramic but are bound by resin. Both ceramic and resin-bonded filters work to catch contaminants that could harm you or your family.

These particulate water filtration systems are meant to be used as part of a total water management program. They shouldn’t be left inactive for long periods of times to prevent things like bacterial growth, clogging, and release of collected bacteria when the particulate water filtration device is used again. By understanding the value of a particulate water filtration system and how to include this type of water filtering in your plan for making sure the water that comes to your home is safe and clean, you will be the one in charge of your water quality, not the city, state, or federal government. When you know it is you making the decisions about the quality of water your family gets, you know the job will get done right.

Boiling water has long been acknowledged as the best way of making sure that water is free of bacteria water contamination and fit for drinking. This notion has been handed down from generation to generation and is one of the common water purifying techniques that is still held as absolute truth in society today.

Unfortunately, there is as much myth as absolute truth about this common water purifying technique. Although boiling water is a common technique, it has numerous disadvantages. Those disadvantages ultimately make filtering your water a far better option if you want to drink the purest water possible.

The common water purifying technique of boiling literally involves bringing water to a boil in order to disinfect it. In short, this particular technique kills many of the microorganisms that live within the water and could potentially cause illness in the individuals that drink it before the bacteria and other organisms are killed. For example, Giardia lambilia and Cryptosporidium are both microorganisms that cause disease and that are also killed by boiling the water. The latter is resistant to disinfection and so it is absolutely necessary to kill it via boiling, although it is possible to remove it filtering as well.

However, although boiling water may purify water by removing bacteria, there are disadvantages with the technique. For example, water has to be boiled for at least one minute to be effective and even at that level, boiling does not necessarily kill all bacteria.

Furthermore, boiling can only remove solids and bacteria. This common water purifying technique will not remove other contaminants and in fact, boiling simply serves to concentrate lead rather than boiling it off. Chlorine is another substance that will not be removed via boiling water. This is because the boiling points for these substances are far higher than for boiling water.

Aquasana filters are far more effective a method for purifying water than the common water purifying technique of boiling water. For starters, the water that evaporates during boiling is automatically lost. There is no water lost at all with an effective and efficient Aquasana water filter.

Similarly, contaminated water vapor may also boil off and thus fill the atmosphere in your home. An Aquasana filter will prevent all contaminants from getting in your drinking water because they are filtered out. This includes chemicals like chlorine and metals like lead. It also includes parasites like Giardia and Crypto. As such, filtering water can remove far more foreign particles and potentially harmful substances than boiling can.

Boiling all of your water is not very practical for most families. By installing a reliable Aquasana filter, you get that little extra peace of mind that your drinking water is pure and safe without any additional effort by you. Aquasana water filters can be fitted to individual showers or faucets, or even the whole house should you so wish.

Filtering your water will remove the vast majority of contaminants and chemicals, improve the taste of your water and will also ensure that no substances that come into your home via water will be floating around your bathroom as contaminated water vapor and get into your lungs. Aquasana most definitely offers a better option for purifying water than relying on the common water purifying technique of boiling it, so it is worth looking at the filter options you have sooner rather than later.

Did you know that all drinking water, including tap and bottled water, has some sort of water contaminant in it? Few people do, thinking that only tap water has them. Well, you have to look out for all sorts of contaminants these days.

Water contaminants are facts of life, as most people that know even the basics about water will confirm. After all, the water cycle dictates that we use the same water time and time again, and so it has to be cleaned in order to make sure that it is perfectly safe when we use it. There are two broad types of water contaminants – organic and inorganic ones, with the latter being metals and non-carbon containing chemicals. As such, these are the contaminants that most people seem to be wary of, but there are organic water contaminants that are just as bad and you need to be equally wary of those.

Before we go any further, it is worth noting that having a certain level of contaminants in water is considered legal, if not completely safe. The EPA sets the standard for 90 different contaminants in tap water. However, there are more than 2100 contaminants known to be in US water supplies, and you should still know a little about them to make sure that you are drinking water that is safe.

When you are looking for organic contaminants, the first thing to take note of is the turbidity of the water. This is how cloudy it looks to you. The cloudier the water, the more likely you are to have organic contaminants in it and this is definitely not a good thing. For example, microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa are all waterborne and can cause serious illnesses even today. Gone are the days of cholera outbreaks in First World countries but illnesses like e. coli, gastrointestinal illnesses, and severe headaches can still all be caused by drinking water with organic contaminants in it. Nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, and other such symptoms are all common side effects and this is why disinfectants are added to water.

Organic water contaminants may also come in the form of chemicals. Vinyl chloride, PCB, and benzene are all examples of this type of contaminant and can cause even more harm than microorganisms can. For example, consuming water containing organic contaminants can increase the risk of immunodeficiency diseases, cancer, organ failure, nervous system damage, and even reproductive problems. They come from various sources, such as pesticides and fertilizers that have run off agricultural land when it rains, and others are byproducts of organic matter coming in contact with the chlorine that is added to disinfect water.

All of the above should have provided you with food for thought because the fact remains that you never know what you are drinking with your water. This also applies to bottled water. However, it matters much less what is in your water if you choose to filter your water before you drink it. Why allow your family to drink water that could make them ill when you have the filtration products like Aquasana at your disposal? Installing an Aquasana filtration system will definitely help you to reduce or even eliminate contaminants and make sure that you do not have to worry about potential side effects ever again.