Water Treatment?

At 74, and a life-long tap water drinker, I am just amazed at the people who think they are going to somehow be contaminated from our water -- even to the point of worrying about bathing their babies! My parents drank tap water all their lives and lived to 94. My grandmother lived to 100, my great grandmother 94. Same with all my aunts and uncles, and my husband's parents. (He's 81 and you would probably think he was 70.)

I know there are areas with contaminated ground water. My son is an environmental scientist who works for a water district -- right now in Florida, but one time in Orange County and Los Angeles. I'm not trying to put down real problems because of course there are some. However, much of our water is safe. Unless you live in an area with contaminated water, you certainly shouldn't be afraid to shower and bathe in it, even if you don't like the taste for drinking! In Irvine, we have the Irvine Ranch Water District -- one of the best.

There have even been taste tests where people were offered various bottled waters, including expensive brands, along with city water, and the city water won, when people did not know which was which.

Since several of my adult children are convinced they need filtered water, I do have a Brita filter on my kitchen sink faucet. Bottled water is an environmental nightmare! No one who cares about the environment should be purchasing bottled water for regular drinking. Get a good container and put your filtered water in it when you go out.

Believe me, there are plenty of people out there who are taking advantage of the fact that we appear to have become frightened of so many things. We are spending money we often don't have trying to wrap ourselves in cotton! As a matter of fact, look at the current issue of Time Magazine for an interesting article on this topic.

I don't have that type of system specifically but I do have a Kinetico system. (Same sort of situation where they came out and tested our water after knocking on our door) We spent about 5k on our whole house system as well as a reverse osmosis and I LOVE them both. The whole house system, softens our very hard water...we use less soap in the washer/dishwasher. I used to drink nothing but bottled water and the RO system has saved us a ton of money plus I am not wasting the plastic water bottles. I say if you can swing it financially then its worth it! Hope that helps! :-)

We can't stand the taste of the water where we live so we ended up buying bottles of water to drink. Then we decided that seemed to be a waste so we purchased a water filtration system from Home Depot for about $300. My husband installed it in the kitchen sink and it made the water drinkable. It was worth it. It doesn't do the whole house, though.

Well in fact it was a sales pitch, however our drinking water is most often not from a fresh mountain spring. However, our water systems don't just pipe the dirty water right into our water spigots. There are most often a whole team of chemists who check the water for various different pollutants. Your best to search your local water system and learn more about the water you drink.

Any reverse osmosis or even a filtered water pitcher should do just fine. If it is too expensive go to the hardware store and see what is available. If you have a plumber that you use, ask how much to install the system. It doesn't have to be through a company who knocked on your door and offered a pitch.

Best of luck.

we have one, from Eco. love it. the water district people dont like it because of the salt that gets into the ground or somthing. cant be any worse than toxins (that ur water wouldnt have) and sewer. only draw back would be the plants and outdoor gardening and grass will not get the minerals that they thrive on with dirty water, thus ferilizer/plant food. you can ask if they can leave the outside water hose pipe dirty for the outdoors. ours is 10 yrs old and cost $5k. they say the value of your house goes up since ur water pipes will not be eaten away and need replacing.

we did a similar thing a few years ago (offering it at home depot, sent someone to the house) It sounded great. They said that if we moved we could take it with us. We just dont have the money. I think it was like 5 or 6 grand or something. If money were no object I would probably do it. Someone mentioned to make sure it is a reverse osmosis system. very importanat. The filters like in the fridge on or the tap are usually aided with chemicals. you don't want this for your whole house. good luck.

go to home depo and buy a nice water treatment system, about $250.00 and install it and it'll be the best thing you ever did. san diego water is yucky!

Hi J., I wonder how much water people drink from the tap? But there is alot of stuff in the water that comes up in the testing. Are those minerals, chemicals something that could cause the woes people have? We want answers to problems and want to "fix" them or prevent them from happening. If you have an issue, check further and see...could you see or feel a change in your body with the water system in 30 days? Try it out. or is it prevention oriented? Then of course it would take longer to know...
ask the seller to give you filtered water for a month and use it exclusively see if there is a difference for your family. good luck Deb

I make it a habit to never purchase a product from someone who has knocked on my door. There are just too many scams out there, and it is too tempting to fall for a high pressure sales pitch. They try to get your commitment before you have time to think of any hard questions or do any research on other products. Consumer Reports actually rates water filters, so you should at least check out the results of their tests before you make a purchase. Their highest rated model was a $60 filter from Sears. We have it, and it is awesome. The water tastes great, tests great, and has a very good flow rate. And the filters are very reasonably priced and only have to be replaced twice a year. This is a much more affordable option for someone who wants clean drinking water on a budget. I think they really overplay their hand with the whole shower thing. I mean, you're only in the shower for 10 minutes a day, and what does hit your skin runs right off or is dried off afterward. I doubt that much could actually be absorbed into your body, especially at a cellular level. But most people are DRINKING at least a half gallon of water every day in some shape or form, so it makes sense to me to improve the drinking water before anything else. My sister got a whole house system, and loves the water quality. However, the water softeners ruined her pipes and made for a very pricey plumbers bill. You should do plenty of research before you spend that kind of money.

My pediatrician recommends a whole-house reverse osmosis water filtration system, because our skin absorbs water when we bathe. However, the cost has been daunting & my baby is now 2 and we still haven't had one installed. I shudder to think of all the toxins her body has absorbed from so much exposure to tainted water. If you can afford the system, definitely, definitely do it.

If its in your budget to get an in home water filtration system do it. I don't know this brand. Just make sure its reverse osmosis.

Save you money. If you don't like the taste then join the many people who buy water. Remember that tap water in the US and the rest of the western world is continually tested and is save. If it wasn't there would be mass epidemics etc. Think about it. Write to your local water department and get their literature on exactly what is in the water.
B. v. O.