Water Purification for Healthy Aging

Pure drinking water is important. Water purification is the best way to insure that you get the benefits of drinking pure water.

For a subject so simple, you can find lots of heated debate about different ways to make sure your water is pure. We'll talk about some of these options as well as why it's important.

What Have They Done To Our Water?

Two hundred years ago indoor plumbing was a novelty and people had to dig wells or gather water for their homes. You can imagine how difficult that was.

Even though now we don't usually have to deal with these problems, others have taken their place. Contamination of ground water by industrial by products and pollution, chemicals added to our municipal water to make it 'safe' and the fact that we are so mobile all create new problems.

Let's look at each of these in turn:

1. Contaminated Ground Water - The whole reason that we have water purification facilities in all of our cities boils down to the fact that we just can't trust that the water coming out of wells and rivers is safe. You might think that this means we needn't worry about the water from our taps, which leads us to...
2. Chemicals Added To Our Water Supply - Although chlorine kills most pathogens in water, it's not exactly the best thing to take into your body. In addition, many cities add fluoride in a misguided attempt to strengthen teeth. You may already know that fluoride is a toxic industrial waste. Add to that...
3. Our Increased Mobility - We get around lots more than our ancestors did even 50 years ago. This means that we are regularly in places that may not have pure water.

And, since water is crucial to health it pays to make sure you get the purest, best-tasting water possible.

Choices for Pure Water

The best way to make sure you're drinking pure water is to purify it yourself. There are a number of ways to do this:

Simple filters that fit on your faucets - good, but not great. the downside to these is that they are so small that you will need to be sure to replace the filters frequently.

Counter-top filters - usually better than the faucet ones since they are larger and don't have to be changed very often. Still, these are usually one or two-stage filtering processes that may not give you the purest water possible.

Under-the-counter filters - probably the best choice for most people because they are more convenient, more effective and last longer between filter changes.

Because under-the-counter systems are best, let's spend a moment or two reviewing various types of these water purification systems.

Good, Better, Best

Even with under-the-counter systems you find differences. For example, some of these systems are little more than counter-top systems that you just can't see. They don't have any more filtration capability. This is why you want to be clear about the number and type of filters in a system you plan on buying.

A good general rule is, the more filters (or 'stages'), the better. Using this rule, a 3-stage filter is better than a 1- or 2-stage filter and so on.

As far as types of filters, the same idea works well - the more types of filters in your water purification system, the cleaner your water will be.

For example, a typical 2 or 3-stage filtering system has a ceramic/charcoal/silver filter in all stages. This type of filter is great for filtering out debris, most chemicals (like chlorine) and improves the taste.

Even better is a 4 or 5-stage, reverse osmosis water purification system. A 5-stage system typically has a pre-filter for particulates, along with 2 ceramic filters, a reverse osmosis filter and a post-filter. That's a lot of filtering!

Sources for Water Purification