There is growing distrust in drinking water and public water supplies around the world. Many consumers are reluctant to drink water straight from the tap because they don't trust it to be pure. If possible, of course it is better to use good, clean water - spring or well water.
Not all people have access to safe drinking water. According to a 2021 United Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO) report, 2.1 billion people do not have access to safe and reliable drinking water at home. Eighty-eight percent of the four billion annual cases of diarrhea reported worldwide are due to a lack of sanitary drinking water. Every year, about 525,000 children under five die from diarrhea, the second leading cause of death, and 1.7 million develop diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water combined with inadequate sanitation.
According to the European Commission, only 55 percent of Europeans drink water straight from the tap. Additionally, bottled water use has increased by more than ten percent per year over the past decade. As a consequence, there has been a significant increase in CO₂ emissions and plastic waste.
You can't drink tap water - everyone knows that. How to purify tap water at home without buying expensive filters? Let's look together at the best and proven ways to purify drinking water.
Boiling as a cleaning method
This is the most reliable way to purify water. In this method, clean water needs to be brought to a boil and left for 1-3 minutes. People living in high altitude areas are advised to boil water longer than water boiled at lower altitudes. This is because water boils at lower temperatures at higher altitudes. Cover the boiled water and let it cool before drinking. For water taken from wells, leave it to precipitate compounds before using it. Boiling gets rid of microorganisms, but does not remove many harmful impurities.
During boiling, oxygen evaporates from water, hardness salts settle (in the form of scale) and, in general, the concentration of other inorganic substances increases. If there was chlorine in the water, then under the influence of temperature it will turn into chloroform, which is a carcinogen and causes cancer. Such water loses its taste properties; some even call such water “dead”, like distilled.
Let's move on to testing
If in appearance all the devices look almost the same, then how can you understand which is really good and purifies water in the best way? How do you understand that you spent 500-1,000 rubles on a jug (and every 1-2 months you spend another 200-300 rubles on replacement filter cartridges) that will not actually pour incompletely purified water into your kettle?
You can order a water examination. You can use special devices to measure water quality. You can read a review on the Internet - but there are practically none there. What to do then?
There are several simple and absolutely “homemade” methods that allow you to clearly see the capabilities of the same filter jugs. We will describe a couple of such tests that you can quickly do at home. The experiment involves filter jugs from three of the most popular brands in our country.
Test for filtering water from methylene blue, which is similar in structure to pesticides and toxins
The first test is the simplest. It will require a Methylene Blue solution, which costs a maximum of 50 rubles and is sold at any pet store. Typically, fish lovers use it to disinfect aquariums. Methylene blue is very similar in structure to some pesticides and toxins - only it has a distinct blue color.
And if the water that passes through the filter is blue or cyan, it is clear that such a jug does not completely remove those same pesticides and toxins from the water, or removes them only weakly.
Such a simple “blue” test of water in jugs shows: only “Aquaphor”, ONE OF THREE jugs, fully copes with the task of purifying water from pesticides and toxins - in its case the water is colorless. The other two show a radical blue color. It is not difficult to draw conclusions: in fact, water from two “blue” filters may not be healthy at all.
The second test is a little more complicated, because it will require making a solution with 300 times the maximum permissible concentration of iron in water. Purpose of the test: to see how jugs can pass or not pass rusty water. Accordingly, the more yellow the water we get at the output, the less faith in the effectiveness of a particular jug. And no amount of cheerful advertising will save you.
Rust water filtration test
The results, again, are obvious: the cleaning of the same Aquaphor jug, which showed better results with methylene blue, is also obvious here in comparison with its competitor. Of course, ordinary tap water still does not contain 300 times the iron content norm. But it is difficult to dispute the fact that Aquaphor cleanses better.
By the way, these and other simple and uncomplicated experiments that allow you to evaluate the quality of home filters can be read in great detail at this link. Thanks to the enthusiastic chemist who decided to test all the filters for their real capabilities, and posted his experiments and methods for carrying them out online. In principle, this is the first comprehensive review of water filters on the RuNet - certainly no worse than any detailed review of a smartphone.
Sedimentation of contaminated water
Tap water contains chlorine and therefore has an unpleasant taste and odor. Chlorination is used to neutralize microorganisms present in water. The use of chlorinated water is not recommended, because Chlorine is considered harmful to the body; in addition, boiling creates even more dangerous chemical compounds with this substance. To neutralize the effect of chlorine, the water is settled. To do this, pour chlorinated water into a suitable container and leave it open for 7-8 hours. Chlorine, as well as some other impurities, will evaporate during this period of time. Use ¾ of the settled water for drinking and food, discard the rest.
Settlement is the least costly method from a financial point of view. Use a larger container, preferably one with a larger surface area. In a few hours (preferably half a day), heavy metals and mechanical impurities will settle to the bottom, and gaseous formations such as chlorine will “dissipate” and significantly reduce their concentration. By carefully draining the water from the surface, you can obtain a clear liquid.
If you thought that this is the ideal method in terms of price/quality, then you were mistaken. If there is organic matter in the water, wait for it to multiply, but nitrates or excessive salts will not go away.
Opting for pre-cleaning instead of settling
Leading manufacturers of water treatment equipment, including BWT, offer effective water treatment systems involving modern multi-stage treatment.
- Initial filtration of tap water allows you to remove mechanical impurities from it and thereby protect the equipment in the house, plumbing equipment and shut-off elements on pipelines.
- The second stage of water treatment ensures dosing and prevents massive lime deposits on the heating elements of home appliances and heaters.
- The third stage is a fine purification of tap water, turning it into drinking water of the highest quality.
Only the consistent use of all types of filters makes it possible to obtain the amount of completely safe drinking water necessary for a comfortable life.
Freezing (melt water purified from harmful substances)
Even sea ice is fresh, and the surface of a muddy puddle forms a transparent crust when it freezes.
This method may only be suitable for those who have a spacious freezer. We pour tap water into plastic bottles and place them in the freezer, waiting until it is about halfway frozen. Pour out the unfrozen water. We defrost the ice and use it for consumption. This method of water purification is that first the pure water freezes, but harmful impurities remain. Use only water that has made clear ice for drinking. If the pieces of ice look cloudy, then the water contains many harmful substances. Therefore, defrost and drink only water from clear, clean ice. Melt water is used to wipe and wash the skin; it has rejuvenating and tightening effects.
This approach can hardly be considered as a permanent method of obtaining clean water, because it is, at a minimum, time-consuming - you need to know and monitor the freezing process. If you miss the moment, virtually all freezers are capable of freezing water with all its impurities completely.
Total: what do we have in the bottom line?
So, any adequate person understands that in the current municipal conditions it is necessary to purify or additionally purify water. After studying the issue, it became quite obvious that advertising of filters does not in any way affect their real ability to purify water. And you can buy an expensive filter from a famous brand, which will actually poison you because it will not completely protect you from rust and toxins.
Or you can choose a Russian filter, which is guaranteed to turn dirty water into clean water. And in the case of the coolest reverse osmosis system "Aquaphor", in addition to top-quality water purification, it will be compact, economical and productive. And most importantly: there is no secret, and the water does not need to be “charged with Chumak from the TV.”
Enough pure science from Aquaphor.
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