The quality of your water source is the first thing you should look into. If you are worried about chlorine, unpleasant color and odor and sediments then a decent under sink or counter top filter can fill your water filtration requirements.

However if you are in a sprawling metropolis with a vulnerable water source to industrial pollution you will have to install a whole house filter for two reasons: first, you need a very good system that can filter a whole lot of potent contaminants and second, you have to make sure that all the water in your house is filtered in a centralized manner before reaching the tip of every faucet. Heavy metals and pesticides can enter the body through skin pores. If you are drinking safe, filtered water but taking a bath in raw water, your preventive efforts are worth nothing. The water you drink, bath in and cook with must all be filtered and accessible to your bathroom, kitchen sink and even bath sink (for brushing teeth) all at the same time.

Because of this huge filtered water requirement, your whole house water filter must be able to have a capacity of up to 10 gallons per minute (gpm) to make sure you do not find yourself all soaped up but unable to rinse in time. Besides, it doesn’t make any sense if you are filtering your water centrally without the needed quantity all the time.

One very important thing to do before buying your very own whole house water filtration system is to look back and study your house’s blueprint. Remember that you do not want to end up with a system that will oblige you to do re plumbing for your whole house. Your whole house filter must complement your built in plumbing for you to have easy installation.

The best filtration system for you will depend on the quality of your tap water and the risks of contamination surrounding your local water supply. If you are near vast agricultural lands and mining projects you have a higher risk of having pesticide contaminants or heavy metal elements in your raw water.

Water filters can either be very affordable and sometimes, a considerable investment for a small household. There are many considerations like the one mentioned above – raw water quality. Another factor is the special need of your family. If you are inflicted with a health issues that concern your immune system a good, safe and reliable water is a requirement. Small children are also very susceptible to water pollutants, so if you have a number of kids in the house, it is better to purchase a system that answers to all your tap water impurities and contaminants.

There are under sink and counter top water filters that can get rid of chlorine in your raw water. These filters also work well in filtering sediments, eliminating odor and clearing the color of your drinking water. A whole house water filter however can answer to most of harmful and potent contaminants; especially if it has multi stages of filtration and purification. It also filters your water centrally before distributing it to all the faucets in the house.

Home water filtration system is something you want in your house not because you want to, but because you need to. Tap water these days does not just measure up anymore with the many things we have discovered about the importance of using clean and safe water daily for drinking, bathing and even washing our clothes.

If you will ask if you really need these water filters in your house, the answer to that will be YES all the time. The “safe” and “clean” tap water that we knew since childbirth is actually deadly to us. Chlorine has been used for a very long time to sanitize water and remove any contaminants in it. It could be a potent weapon against bacteria and other biological threats in the water. But it could never neutralize pesticides, heavy metals and other “new” pollutants being introduced to our water supply. Aside from that, chlorine itself can cause cancer and accelerate the process of aging. You are facing two challenges with the water you drink every day. One is chlorine, the other are the contaminants that chlorine cannot handle.

A water filter can screen out chlorine residues in your raw source and at the same time eradicate odor, sediments and undesirable color. There are many kinds of water filters for the home; each of them can fill a specific need and budget.

There is one major consideration in installing a household water filter – the quality of your tap water. If you are just worried about sediments, chlorine and unpleasant odor, a good quality under sink filter or countertop filter will do. But if you are near industrial plants and mining areas, it is best to have a whole house water filter (preferably multi stage) that can ensure good filtration of heavy metals and agricultural wastes. This filtration system also ensures filtered water to come out in every faucet of your house.

There are numerous purification systems that can suit to every need that you might have. The basis for deciding which one to buy depends first and foremost to the quality of your tap water. If you are worried about odor and color of your water and even chlorine, under sink filters and counter top filters can be enough. If you are worried about sediments, a faucet filter can also work well for that need.

There are cases of course that you are located in an area where mining activity is near. Since heavy metals and mining wastes can easily penetrate to water sources, a bigger and more complex water filter might be needed. Since water contaminated with industrial or agricultural wastes are not safe for drinking and bathing, it is ideal that you treat ALL your raw water in a centralized system and subject it to multiple stages of filtering and purification before distributing the water to all parts of the house. This kind of whole house water filter might be more expensive but definitely worth it in securing your water before your family consumes it.

Water purification filters are not just there to satisfy water safety paranoia but to address the reality of our water supply’s vulnerability to contamination. It is better to be two steps ahead of possible health issues. Having these water filters are preventive measures that will ensure clean and safe water all the time.

There are two very basic considerations before purchasing and installing a water filter in your house. Some of it are affordable, some are quite expensive but necessary nevertheless. The first factor is your water supply’s integrity and quality. If you are living in a town where your watershed is well protected and you are far off from commercial agriculture and various industries, then a counter top water filter might be good enough for you. But if you are living in a crowded metropolis with industrial plants all over the place even in the outskirts of the city (where water sources are usually located), then you might need a multi stage filtration system that is capable of filtering all raw water at once and distribute the already purified water to all water faucets in your house. The only water filtration system that can give you all these is the whole house water filter.

The second factor to look into is your own and your family’s vulnerability to contaminated water. You might have a good enough filter for the contaminants you wish to remove in your water but you also have a health condition that directly affects your immune system. In that case the quality of your raw water may not suffice the choice of the filter you installed. Since your immune system is compromised, you can move on to the next on the list which can do a better job at filtering your water. It may be more expensive but it can serve you best.

House water filtration systems are not paranoia induced purchases. It is a realistic preventive action for health problems.

Most of the time ceramic filters are used with these portable filtration systems which can filter 5,000 – 50,000 liters per cartridge. These filters can effectively clear the water with pathogens and other contaminants. The weakness of this system is that its filter cartridges can “spawn” pathogens when not maintained with care. Current technology like bonding silver nanoparticles to the filter can lessen this risk.

There are two common filters used in these portable filters. One is ceramic filters and the other is the activated charcoal. Activated charcoals are used as a secondary filtration option, enhancing the quality of the water after it has gone through a ceramic filter. It can also be used before having the water go through a ceramic filter. Either way it works great in ensuring that the water you drink sourced from a nearby stream is safe and properly sanitized.

There are also portable reverse osmosis systems generally used by the military. Instead of using a pressure pump or a pressurized supply line to pass water in the membrane, the portable RO system is equipped with a hand pump. This system has the ability to make drinkable water from seawater.

A portable water filter is not a standalone water treatment. It may include activated charcoal, ceramic filters and chemical sanitizers (such as chlorine and iodine) to make untreated and potentially deadly water safe enough for consumption.

Unfortunately the filter has a drastic compromise. Clean water without the minerals too. Sometimes a “soft” water is often called “dead” water with little, negligible or no minerals at all that the body needs in its hydration process. But this compromise, as negative as it sounds, is also very necessary in the deterioration of the quality of tap water and the supply reservoir where it came from. The contributory factor for this is the degradation of the environment where watersheds are situated.

A popular and effective water softener filter is the reverse osmosis system. It uses high pressur to push “hard” water against a very thin and fine membrane that screens out impurities, contaminants and other elements in the water that can affect its sanitation, odor, color and taste. People have long argued that water purified and filtered by an RO system tastes better and smoother, thus the term “soft”.

To further soften the water, an RO system is often partnered with a UV light system that finishes off any contaminants (and minerals) that was left from the RO filtration. When the whole process is done, you get very clean water sanitized to the fullest.

A water softener filter is one of the best filtration systems out today that guarantees pathogen free water. This is a priced commodity in poor, rural areas where surface water source are often contaminated with fecal matters. If that sounds too much, it happens very often. If a water softener can clear that kind of contamination, it can answer to your need in your home.

Though originally used as a chemical to sanitize drinking water, studies have also shown its harmful effects to the body. Chlorine can cause cancer and significantly degrades the health of our cells that it causes pre mature aging. Chlorine is not also that effective in sanitizing water, unable to address other water pollutants that are potentially more harmful than just random microorganisms. In a way chlorine is a two edged sword that not only is harmful to you but also not that good in cleaning the water for drinking.

There are many filter systems available in the market today that suits unique and individual needs for each home like the kind of tap or raw water these homes are receiving. Assuming that tap water is clean nowadays is a reckless thing to do.

If you want to filter tap water altogether in a centralized system then you must consider the whole house water filtration system. The good thing about this system is that it frees you of having to think about your faucets and other water outlets individually. By directly filtering all your raw water in one place, and distributing filtered water to all parts of the house, you are making sure that you only drink filtered water and you only take a bath in heavy metal-free water. Heavy metal is known to penetrate skin pores introducing its harmful effect to the body imdirectly.

Other home water filter systems like the under sink or the counter top variants are more portable and easier to install. The contaminants they filter are also limited. But these filters are very effective if you also did your homework in researching the kind of tap water that is supplied to you. Having a water filter is not just for the sake of installing one. It must be a careful decision of the right system for you. Without this caution, you can easily overspend or under spend for these.

The common contaminants in our tap water these days are sediments (though harmless at times, it can also cause discoloration and odor in the water) pesticides and other agricultural pollutants, heavy metals like mercury (from mining areas), and bacteria usually from untreated ground sources.

There is also this special contaminant that is causing subtle (but serious) problems in your body. And you drink it all the time to make you feel “secure” with the very water you are putting in your mouth. We are talking about chlorine. This chemical is the primary reason why we should install a drinking water filter in our sink faucet in this modern age. Chlorine can cause cancer through elongated exposure to it (all the more “intake” of it). It can also degenerate cells in the body and cause premature aging. Under sink filter and countertop filters can be enough in filtering this, ensuring your family is drinking chlorine free water.

A drinking water filter system comes in all shapes, sizes, and design that easily fit to your specific use. But it is not a do-all system. You might need to research the kind of tap water you are receiving in your locality. As you already know, though chlorine is already bad enough, there is still much worst pollutants in your drinking water. It pays to choose the right filter with the necessary features that fits your water filtration need.

There are of course many other kinds of water filters. But the counter top filter is more affordable, easier to install and very easy to maintain. There are two kinds of counter top filters. First are those that need regular cartridge replacement and the other needs no replacements at all for up to three years.

This counter top filter is effective in removing sediments, up to 99 % of chlorine, unpleasant odor and undesirable color. Some good quality counter top filters can also remove pesticides, Trihalomethanes, bacteria and heavy metals such as mercury, iron, barium and cadmium.

Chlorine is very easy to single out as one of the very substance in the water that must be rid off. Used as a cheap sanitizer of water, it can also cause the complication of existing allergies, accelerate the process of aging and can even cause cancer. This makes the counter top filter very handy and useful despite its limitations.

Counter top filters can also be used as an additional filter if you already have a whole house water filtration system. To further enhance the quality of water used for drinking and cooking, counter top filters are installed in the kitchen sink. With a significantly clean input, the water is subjected again to a series of filters included in the counter top system and refine the filtration process altogether.

A counter top water filter is ideal for homes that have a spacious sink space that can accommodate the bulk of this system. The next alternative for people who sees this as an eyesore is the under sink water filtration system that tucks the filters under the counter top and free much needed space.