The importance of drinking enough water throughout the day has been emphasized over the years. Our bodies lose water when we breathe, digest, and perspire. We have to continuously hydrate our body to keep it functioning healthily. The benefits are too many to list, from protecting your tissues and joints and helping remove body waste to clearing up your complexion and giving you softer skin.
Staying hydrated is usually accompanied by the debate between drinking tap or bottled water. Bottled water has grown popular, partly because it’s more convenient and partly because some people just prefer the taste of bottled water vs tap water. But this comes with a price, literally, as it can be very costly in the long run if you make it a habit of drinking it.
Also, as we should know by now, the amount of plastic used to make bottled water isn’t doing the environment any favors. While people might claim a difference in taste, several blind tests conducted in different states proved that most people could not tell the difference; especially when the tap water was placed in a fancy bottle.
Below, we’ll give you an overview of the common culprits contaminating your tap water, and how you can test it to ensure that it is safe to drink.
Most common types of water contaminants
Since it’s more practical and cheaper to drink tap water rather than bottled water, it’s important to ensure that it’s safe. Most homes in the US get their tap water from lakes, rivers, and groundwater. The water goes to a treatment center from its source before it reaches your tap.
These treatment centers rid the water of a wide range of contaminants, including:
Bacteria
Not every type of bacteria is harmful, but some are disease-causing bacteria, such as E. coli.
Iron
Bacteria may release iron and sulfur into the water. Too much iron in the water can give it a bitter taste.
Lead
Old plumbing could be a reason for having lead in tap water. It needs to be immediately removed since it’s toxic.
Manganese
Manganese can make your water look a bit purplish. It too can cause bitter-tasting water.
Some of these contaminants can still get through to your water supply despite the efforts of the treatment centers. This is why everyone should test their tap water to make sure it’s safe to drink, here’s how you can do that.
Test kits
Perhaps the most practical way to test your water would be to do it yourself. You can do this by purchasing a kit either online or from a local home center store. These kits usually come with a bunch of strips that change color when contaminants in the water are detected. They could be used to test for lead, pesticides, chlorine and water hardness.
Mind you, some of these kits aren’t all that accurate. They might detect a problem, but won’t tell you how severe the issue is. To be on the safe side, you would want to filter the water, and reverse osmosis water filters are found to be the most effective. It’s always best to look at reviews and information from reliable sources online before making a decision. You should visit here for more comprehensive details on accessories and you’ll find that there are many that you can use with your filter to test your home’s water quality. Your reverse osmosis system can give you clean drinking water by removing heavy contaminants through a pressure system, and your filter accessories can help you test your water to ensure that the system is working properly.
Professional water testing
Water is not one-dimensional in terms of the several factors that contribute to clean water. Some of the contaminants need specific testing. If you don’t know what you’re testing for or what to look for, you could use the help of professional companies.
A simple online search will probably come up with several companies near you. The advantage of this is that a water testing company near you should already know all the facts concerning the tap water of your area. They should also know what kind of questions to ask you to help determine better the quality of the water and what needs to be done to make it cleaner.
Lab tests
You can find a way to test the water that is considered a middle ground between a test kit and a professional company. Some companies can send you the equipment and testing tools you need to use. All you have to do is take a sample of your water and send it to them. They, in turn, will send you back the results of your sent sample.
When you accurately test your tap water, you will know just how safe it is and consequently, you can take the right measures to make it safe to drink. To do that, you will have to install a water filtration system. This way, you can put your mind at ease about the quality of your tap water.
