Reverse Osmosis Filter

The ingredients in tap water should be H2O and trace minerals or electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium. In some areas, the mineral content includes calcium and magnesium. In others, elements like lithium and manganese are present.

Those are all naturally occurring substances, as is the heavy metal lead and poisonous metal arsenic. Lead is found in surface and groundwater, because it is present in the earth and stones. Arsenic is found in some well-water, because, it too is present in the ground.

When the ingredients in tap water are things like lead, arsenic and even lithium, they are referred to as contaminants. Standards for purity vary, of course, and some people think that only de-mineralized waters are "pure".

But, most health experts agree that a trace mineral-content is best, since that is what the human body was naturally designed to drink. There is no naturally occurring water on the planet that does not have at least a slight trace of minerals.

So, my standard of purity is H2O with a trace mineral content that is free of chemical contaminants and the heavy metal lead. Also, I prefer not to drink cysts (parasites that cause gastrointestinal illnesses ranging from minor to fatal).

Regretfully, nearly every publicly treated supply, including the one that supplies my home, has numerous chemical contaminants, as well as traces of lead and from time to time cysts are present, although the "count" is typically not high. So, those would be the ingredients in tap water in my home, if I had not installed effective purifiers.

At one time, it was believed that exposure to small amounts of lead was "safe". Now, doctors have seen that lead stays in the body for many years. It builds up in the organs and can be measured in the blood stream. In people who have traces of lead in their blood, various health and behavioral problems are seen.

In teenagers, they have seen aggressive and anti-social behaviors, as well as learning problems. In adults, they have seen high blood pressure and heart disease. They believe that there may be a link to Alzheimer's, as well.

At one time, it was believed that exposure to small amounts of chemical contaminants, in the parts per billion, was "safe". Now, researchers have shown that those chemicals also build up in our bodies over time. Many of the chemical ingredients in tap water are cancer-causing and exposure to them increases the individual's lifetime risk of cancer.

You don't need an expensive reverse osmosis system to purify your home's water. You need a device with a submicron filter to remove cysts, an ion exchange step to remove lead and a dual stage carbon and multi-media block to remove chemical contaminants.

Ion exchange also helps to balance the mineral content and improve the taste, as well as the pH level. You don't have to worry about the ingredients in tap water, if you have an effective home filtration system like mine. You can drink till your heart's content, with no worries.

Since the advent of cellphones in the 1990s, communication has become a lot easier and portable. In fact it has become impossible to imagine a world without them. Business transactions have increased exponentially in decision-making now takes place in a much quicker pace. In Africa, cellular technology has become the primary means of communication as telephone companies no longer have to spend billions of dollars building up telecommunication infrastructure.

Radio frequencies and magnetic fields have been controversial topics since the 1960s and 70s, and with the introduction of cellular phones, the controversy has exacerbated. As in every debate, there are two schools of thought surrounding the impact of radio waves and the danger they pose. On the one side, there are those who believe that radio frequencies have little effect on consumers and the environment at large. On the other side, there are those who believe that we are in serious danger from radio waves and the telecommunication companies that dupe us into believing that we are safe.

Radio frequencies or radio waves, as they are more commonly known, are emitted by wireless and other electronic devices. They are not a new occurrence in the modern world. In fact, apart from natural occurrences, radio waves have been around since radio and television. Basically anything that has an antenna or a transmitter emits radio waves. The rate at which the body absorbs radio waves is measured as the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR).

Controversy surrounding cell phone radiation is focused on whether radio frequencies emitted from cellphones are safe for humans and the environment, or whether we are all put at risk by the continuing omission of these waves as well as electromagnetic fields. When radio frequencies are high enough, they can break down the tissue in the human body and can interfere with the DNA. However, it is claimed that emissions from cellphones are so small that they pose no danger. This has been the mantra of the FCC for many years. There has been much confusion and concern recently as the same organization now claims that further research is needed to determine the effects of radio frequencies, as well as whether they are dangerous to humans.

Complaints have surfaced in the United States and other countries like South Africa where base stations are located in urban areas and even built in gardens where agreement is reached between cellphone networks and home owners. People living in close proximity to base stations have complained of headaches and other health problems. Home owner associations and health researchers have claimed that living too close to base stations or heavy use of cellphones may instigate brain tumors and cancers.

With no official conclusions drawn on the dangers of cellphones, and with more people complaining about the effects, one has to ask the following questions; how dangerous is radio frequencies and what are the risks to human health and the environment? Can constant exposure to radio waves cause free radicals to occur and if so, is there any way to protect ourselves? Are we slowly killing ourselves with the pollution of modern technology? Makes you think, doesn't it?

There are basically two ways to remove chlorine from water. One is a better alternative than the other. But, if you are concerned about removing chlorine from water, you should know that any time a chemical is used for disinfection, hazardous byproducts are released. So, in addition to learning how to remove chlorine from water, you also need to learn how to remove those hazardous byproducts.

Chlorination is the method of choice to kill bacteria and keep the pipes clear of algae for treatment centers around the world and even for some well-owners. There are many drawbacks to chemical disinfection.

The chemicals cause stomach upset and digestive disorders. Depending on the levels, the chemicals can cause anemia in children. Inhaling the fumes aggravates respiratory ailments and triggers asthma attacks.

Showering in chlorinated water aggravates skin conditions such as eczema. It also causes itching and excessive dryness in people with otherwise normal skin. It dries out the hair. It can cause rashes and many people are simply allergic to the chemical.

So, it is important to remove chlorine from water, but there are other important steps to take. The byproducts of chlorination increase our lifetime risk for cancer of the bladder and the colon.

The more we are exposed to the byproducts, the greater our risk becomes. When you were a child, your parents may have been concerned about removing chlorine from water. But, the health risks of exposure to the by products was unknown.

It was not until the Freedom of Information Act that Americans began to learn more about what exactly is in the public supplies around the country. Although some scientists and physicians tried to publish papers concern the risks of chlorination, respected journals would not publish the results.

Some researchers published their own books, in order to get the word out. But, the books were largely ignored. It has only been within the last five years that we knew, for a certainty that disinfection by-products cause cancer.

We know how to remove chlorine from water. All it takes is carbon. The two methods that I mentioned at the beginning of this article are granulated active carbon or GAC and carbon blocks.

GAC cannot remove THMs, which are the primary chlorination by products. Carbon blocks can be constructed to remove THMs. They can also remove volatile organic compounds, which are present in many water supplies, but facilities don't test for them, since there is no requirement to do so.

If properly constructed, a carbon block can remove chlorine from water, along with THMs and microscopic cysts. The EPA has warned that cysts may be present in any public or private supply at any time. Without constant testing, there is no way to determine whether or not you are at risk.

If consumed, cysts cause illnesses similar to food poisoning, but the infection can be lethal. A carbon block with a submicron porous structure can remove cysts, while removing chlorine from water and reducing your risk of cancer. That's the system you should look for.

The value of reverse osmosis water filter systems for home use has been overstated by manufacturers and marketers. Large facilities typically use reverse osmosis treatment during the initial or secondary stages, but it is a long way from being clean enough to pass government standards for public drinking water. And, as you probably know, those standards are not that high.

There are over 2000 different cancer causing chemicals in tap water. Reverse osmosis water filter systems can block very few of them. They work by forcing water under high pressure through a porous membrane. The size of the pores determines what substances are blocked.

Most chemicals dissolve in water and their molecular size is smaller than that of water. So, when the water passes through, the chemicals go right along with it. Reverse osmosis treatment was never designed to do what most of us need an in-home system to do.

People who can see dirt in their water may be wise to invest in reverse osmosis water filter systems, but additional filters are still needed to make the water "drinkable". Armies use portable units when they are traveling in areas with dirty water, but they also use disinfectants, because the system does not kill or trap bacteria.

Companies that need de-mineralized water often invest in reverse osmosis treatment, because it can reduce the mineral content to practically nothing. People should not drink de-mineralized or distilled water. It's bad for the digestion and can lead to mineral deficiencies.

The compounds that come through the tap are too small to see with the naked eye. Sometimes, you can smell them or taste them, but they are mostly microscopic. That's one reason they are so dangerous. We don't know that they are there.

Several years ago in Milwaukee, over a hundred people died as a result of drinking tap water. The water supply had been infected with a microscopic parasite that may only cause a stomach ache, but can cause serious illness. Water experts commonly refer to the microscopic organisms as cysts.

Reverse osmosis water filter systems can not block cysts. The cysts are resistant to chlorine, which kills most living things in the water and can cause health problems in humans. So, even though the treatment facility in Milwaukee had done everything they were required by law to do, they were unable to protect the public.

Environmental groups would like for the government to do more to protect us. But, they may be doing as much as they can. Years of dumping pollutants on the ground, where it seeps into the water supply and directly into the water, either purposefully or because of run-off can not be corrected over night. It's up to us to protect ourselves.

Reverse osmosis treatment cannot protect us, but there are excellent water filters that can. You should learn more about those and forget about the reverse osmosis water filter systems, at least for now.

Doesn't "GE Reverse Osmosis Water Filters"-sound like a good thing? If GE puts their name on a water filter, it ought to be good, right?

First some background:

You already know there's a problem with our water, or you wouldn't have been looking for information on water filters. One issue is the increasing contamination of our water supplies with pharmaceuticals. Prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs are increasingly being found. We consume, then excrete (or discard without consuming) these substances, and they wind up in our rivers and ground water.

Since our water treatment plants, for the most part at least, weren't designed to filter out these chemicals, they end up in our tap water. Everything from antibiotics to pain killers like ibuprofen and codeine to hormones to sun screen to cancer chemotherapy drugs to anti-depressants-- and anything else you can think of can be found in our water.

Pharmaceuticals are only part of the problem. Studies have found that approximately 2100 chemicals can be found in our water as a result of the 80,000 or so chemicals used by industry, agriculture, and in our homes.

Many of these chemicals we know to be dangerous. Many of them we don't know about, and we especially don't know about the effects of drinking the combinations of chemicals.

So far, most of the pharmaceuticals have been found at very low level, perhaps too low to cause a problem... but we don't know for sure what the long term effects might be, especially on infants and children. Scientists differ, but many are very concerned. For example, what if a strain of bacteria becomes immune to the effect of a particular antibiotic?

OK, so we know there's a problem. How do we solve it?

The best answer is a home filtration unit, of which the GE reverse osmosis water filter is an example. Reverse osmosis filters are one of the two primary types sold in the U.S.

The GE reverse osmosis water filter is probably among the better ones of its type. One problem, though, with all reverse osmosis systems, is that they waste water. For each gallon of filtered water produced, some three to ten gallons is wasted and sent on down the drain, depending on the system, because of the need to wash the trapped chemicals and sediment off the membrane.

Because forcing the raw water through the very fine pores of the membrane used in these systems is a very slow process, reverse osmosis systems require storage tank, typically 2-5 gallons, which takes up a lot of room under the sink.

Even though the membrane has very small holes, most of the pharmaceuticals and other organic chemicals such as pesticides and weed killers in our water are smaller than those holes, so they flow right on through the membrane. To catch them, a carbon filter is used.

So why complicate things? Why not just use a carbon filtration system in the first place?

Reverse osmosis systems also cost more to operate. They typically produce drinking water at a cost of $.25 per gallon or more. By comparison, the best-selling carbon filtration system, the one I installed in my home, does it at a little less than $.10 per gallon.

It should also be noted that any filtration system is much better for the environment than buying bottled water. Sixty million bottles water bottles a day are manufactured in the U.S., and most of them end up in landfills. That's a lot of plastic in the landfills, and a lot of petroleum used to manufacture the bottles in the first place, not to mention the transporting of all those bottles. Huge environmental impact-do your part to not participate!

For my money, the carbon filtration, or "Carbon Block" filter unit is the best answer to contaminated water. They're the least expensive type to operate, don't waste water, and do a better job of filtering out the bad stuff.

If you are looking for a drinking water filtration system there are two main types to consider... a countertop water filter or an undersink water filter system. There are a couple of good ones on the market and the Crystal Clear Reverse Osmosis undersink water filter system is one of the more well known and effective units.

Before you choose your water filter it is important to know what method of filtration the unit uses as well as what pollutants it will remove and the pros and cons of the unit. Below I will go through exactly what you need to know to find out if Crystal Clear is the right filtration system for you.

Method of Filtration

This 5 stage Crystal Clear water filter uses reverse osmosis as a filtration method. There is good and bad to using reverse osmosis to filter your water.

The good:

Reverse osmosis is known to be extremely effective in cleaning out pretty much all contaminants from the water. It works fast and it works very well.

The bad:

Reverse osmosis is also known to strip the water of not only the bad contaminants but also of the important trace minerals that are essential for our health. If you use a reverse osmosis system it is extremely important that you purchase some trace minerals from a health food store to replace in your water every time you drink.

Pollutants Removed...

The Crystal Clear undersink water filter system is for small quantities of water such as for drinking and for cooking. It will clean up to 100 gallons of water per day which is decent but not as good as say the Aquasana system that filters up to 30 gallons per hour.

This unit will remove:

Chlorine
Heavy metals
Barium
Cadmium
Chromium
Lead
Mercury
Sulfate

Important Facts and Features:

The Crystal Clear drinking water filter has some great features which help with its popularity. It has an auto shut-off, a ¼" tank ball valve, easy install pack with feed water adapter, drain saddle, NSF listed storage tank, chrome, long-reach and lead-free faucet spout, high quality filters as well as good installation instructions and a diagram.

The unit dimensions are:

Main Unit: 18"H x 16"W x 6"D
Storage Tank: 11"D X 15"H

This unit comes with a one year warranty on components, excluding the membrane and pre and post filters.

Final Thoughts...

The reason the Crystal Clear water filtration system works so well is because of its five stages of treatment. The water is put through five different filtration stages and the end result is crystal clear water that is clean and healthy.

Pros & Cons

Pro Crystal Clear Reverse Osmosis Undersink Water Filter

Affordable
Cleans water efficiently
Filters quite fast
Auto shut-off helps reduce waste
Compact size
Nice faucet

Against Crystal Clear Reverse Osmosis Undersink Water Filter

The reverse osmosis will strip the water of all the good minerals as well - they will need to be replaced.
Only filters 100 gallons of water per day where as other systems such as Aquasana filter 30 gallons per hour.
The installation instructions have been noted as being poor and hard to understand.

I like this unit but to be honest it wouldn't be my choice. I have used reverse osmosis in the past and have found it to be a little bit tiresome to always have to be adding back in the trace minerals. It is not that big of a deal but given the choice I would choose a unit that uses different a different filtration method. However the Crystal Clear water filtration system is a very good price and is very appealing for many people.

What's the best kitchen faucet filter? Do you want a kitchen faucet with filter attached, a completely enclosed screw on design or a countertop model that uses your own tap? Here's how to choose.

Basically, the difference between a countertop system and an under the counter model that includes a kitchen faucet with filter has to do with the "flow rate". An under the counter model with it's own separate faucet filters the same contaminants, but can produce as much as 30 gallons per hour with a flow rate of pressure similar to what you normally have in your home.

A fully enclosed kitchen faucet filter that screws on does not have effective contaminant removal and contains only granular activated carbon. The systems are prone to leak. They have a short lifespan and replacement cartridges cost as much as the units themselves.

They only remove chemicals such as chlorine, but do not stop the flow of THMs, which are cancer causing chlorine byproducts. They are always present whenever chlorination is performed to kill bacteria. They reduce your flow rate and can "leak" carbon granules into your glass.

A kitchen faucet with filter system can be installed in several ways. The most convenient is to replace your sprayer with the separate faucet. Generally speaking, a plumbers help is needed. The "do-it-yourselfer" may be able to complete the installation, but it can be quite frustrating. Improper installation can void your warranty.

A countertop kitchen faucet filter, on the other hand, can be easily installed without the help of a plumber, but the flow rate is quite a bit slower than you would normally get from your tap. As you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages to each design.

The price you pay for a kitchen faucet with filter depends largely on the number of filtration steps that are included. The most expensive types include a reverse osmosis step and cost nearly $600, direct from the manufacturer.

A kitchen faucet filter that includes submicron filtration, instead of reverse osmosis, costs less than $200 for either below or above counter designs. Systems that include a reverse osmosis step must be installed under the counter and will require a plumber's assistance, primarily for drainage.

With submicron filtration, no wastewater is created, so a separate drain is unnecessary. Reverse osmosis discharges any waters that become too thick to pass through the semi-permeable membrane, so a tube for draining must be attached to your pipes. Often a plumber can tap into the drainage line for your dishwasher.

Most people do not need the reverse osmosis step, since cysts are removed through submicron filtration. Well owners may need the step, but if you have a well, testing should be conducted before you buy any kitchen faucet with filter attachments.

You may need a system that cannot be installed under the sink. You could even need a disinfection step, depending on the depth of your well.

The most economical and most effective kitchen faucet filter, as well as the easiest to install is an above counter design. The rest is a matter of personal need and choice.