How to Filter Water Today

You know you need to remove impurities such as chlorine, lead, volatile organic compounds (familiarly known as VOCs), and so on from your water. But do you know how to water filter?

Water filters use a variety of different “media” to reduce contaminants from water. They can only do it 99%, by the way. No system can remove 100% of all impurities, but the 1% that remains is so minuscule that you can feel safe consuming that!

Charcoal is a common media. Water passes over the charcoal (which is in a granulated form) and the granules trap large water contaminants. (Large is a relative term, of course.) Some contaminants can’t be sifted out this way, so the filters also have a chemical component. This chemical component attracts contaminants (by using a process of positive and negative charges, similar to the way magnets work). This is how chlorine is removed from the water, for example.

However, today these filters come in small, attractive looking components, which are easy to install behind your faucets (in an over the counter or under the counter configuration) and on your shower heads as well. And of course, you can get a filter for the faucet if you’re a bath taker, as well, or get granulated bath salts that will remove the chlorine in the water. (Studies have shown that there’s almost as much chlorine in bath water as there is in swimming pool water!)

And of course, it helps to read the directions on these water filters. The Everpure SPA-400 claims to be for spa, bath and bathroom sink, but in the small print, is for use with cold water only! How’s that supposed to work if you want a nice, hot bath? Still, that’s only one brand. There’s no need to feel nervous about installing one of these water filter systems even if you don’t know how to water filter at all! Many of them can be installed without special tools – they are that easy. Under-sink systems are a bit more complex than the counter top versions, but these days, you can find videos online (at the website of the appropriate brand of water filter) to show you how to do it, if you can’t make sense of the picto-diagrams that substitute for manuals these days!