The effects of a Kinetico Whole Home Water System can be witnessed in so many ways around your house. Appliances and fixtures last longer when they are not subject to the constant wear and tear caused by hard water. Conditioning your water will also eliminate soap scum, rust stains and other residue from sinks, tubs, and showers. You will save money by using less soaps and detergents and save energy (and money) heating hot water. Conditioned Kinetico Water makes a big difference in your laundry room too.
Bottled water, counter-top or faucet systems, full home water conditioning – water treatment options are many and varied. The quality of water that each method offers can vary significantly as well. And maintenance costs can outpace the savings initially offered by some systems. Choosing a water treatment solution can be confusing. However, with a water test, reality-check on your lifestyle, and a bit of research you can make a choice with confidence. Here's some information to get you started.
Bottled water while generally of good quality is hit and miss for the lack of standards and testing. That said, it will meet many people's water quality expectations. But there are other issues to consider. It's costly and inconvenient to purchase water in bottles. It's also environmentally questionable when you consider the unnecessary costs of plastic generation, product transportation, and empty bottle waste/recycling.
Further, recent studies suggest that there's serious danger in reusing plastic bottles – a common practice amongst consumers trying to stretch their water dollars. Reused bottles often hold bacteria due to improper cleaning and/or toxins due to chemicals leaching from the plastic. These concerns have prompted San Francisco to ban certain plastics in June 2006.
Counter-top and faucet systems are a second category of water treatment options to consider. While these systems will take care of taste, odour, and chlorine they will not remove other contaminants like lead, mercury and arsenic or industrial, pharmaceutical, or volatile organic compounds. They generally offer a false sense of security.
In these systems the filter cartridges must be changed regularly to be effective for their limited applications. Using a filter beyond its useful life can actually be more harmful than not using a filter at all because the contaminants become concentrated in the filter and then redistributed into your water. These products have a low upfront investment, however, the ongoing costs of replacement filters can be significant. They tend to be sold, not for the value of the product itself, but for the value of what you will buy after the fact.
Finally, you can consider whole home water conditioning systems that can be customized to your water and personal health needs. With a water test you will know exactly what you want your water treatment system to do and choose the appropriate one for the job. Now you can take care of more than chlorine. Virtually all other contaminants can be eliminated with the right system.
While a whole home system likely has the highest upfront cost the long-term costs can be quite reasonable considering the benefits. Operating expenses can be kept to a minimum. Your water conditioner should provide a continuous supply of treated water without timeouts for regeneration and without relying on electricity. Also check the salt and water consumption. These factors affect costs and environmental impact. A good system will be NSF certified for chlorine removal along with softening / conditioning your water. The drinking water component should have a solid warranty on everything, especially the filtration membrane, a safety shut off for when the cartridges are expired and performance certification to validate all performance claims.
A final note: look for independent analyses of the options you are considering – third party certification of performance. A drinking water standard of NSF 58 or P231 and softening standard of NSF 44 is most desirable. Visit www.NSF.org for details.