If you have a house, you might be looking for a water treatment system. You want your family to have the healthiest, cleanest, and safest drinking water out there, not to mention that you probably want to keep your plumbing in good condition too.
You have probably heard of water filtration and alkaline water, but what are they, what are the benefits, and is alkaline water better than filtered water? Let’s find out.
What is Alkaline Water?
Alkaline water is simply highly alkaline water, or in other words, the opposite of acidic. Water acidity is measured with the pH scale, ranging from 1 to 14, with 14 being the most alkaline, 1 being the most acidic, and 7 being neutral.
Therefore, alkaline water is any water that has a pH level of over 7.0. Most alkaline water is going to be between pH 8 and 10. This means that the water contains many minerals with lots of health benefits; alkaline water is very beneficial to drink.
How Do You Make Water Alkaline?
So, if alkaline water is so healthy, how do you produce it? There are two main ways alkaline water can be produced. First, you can go with a simple alkaline water filter. This is something like a Britta filter that uses calcium carbonate (usually) to add minerals to the water.
Water flows through the calcium, absorbing some of it in the process. These filters are small, simple, and inexpensive.
The more advanced way of ionizing water, particularly for larger quantities, is with a water ionizer, which uses electricity to charge the mineral ions. This causes them to attract more mineral molecules from the water and raise the pH level.
The Pros and Cons of Alkaline Water
There are some pros and cons to consider when it comes to alkaline water.
Alkaline water is very healthy. There are many health benefits, which is a good thing, but the bottom line is that the minerals are very good for you, in more ways than one.
The downside to alkaline water is that it is technically hard water, so if you use it for washing (or if you have a whole home water alkalinizing system), it can cause hard water problems.
The other downside with alkaline water is that (in most cases) unwanted components and substances are not filtered out.
What is Filtered Water?
As the name implies, filtered water has gone through a filtration process to remove various particles and impurities.
How is Water Filtered?
Water can be filtered through a variety of means. We want to stress that if we are talking about alkaline water filters, even though the word filter is in the name, these do not remove impurities from the water. So, what are some of the best water filtration or purification methods?
One of the most common is the sediment filter which removes sand, dust, rust, dirt, and other fine sediment from the water. Another common and popular water filtration method is activated carbon, which is excellent for removing chlorine, colors, tastes, and other substances from the water.
Yet another method, perhaps the best of all, is reverse osmosis, which removes more impurities from the water than virtually any other method. An interesting thing to note about reverse osmosis filtration is that it actually removes minerals from the water.
The Pros and Cons of Filtered Water
Filtered water is clean and safe. Depending on how it is filtered, it should be free of most impurities. Not only is this healthier for you, but for your pipes as well.
If the water has been treated with reverse osmosis, it will be acidic and not overly healthy. Minerals are essential to have in your drinking water.
Filtered and Alkaline Water are NOT Mutually Exclusive!
Keep in mind that these two things are not mutually exclusive. For instance, you can use a reverse osmosis system to filter your water and remove virtually all impurities. Because the reverse osmosis system removes minerals from the water, it is best to then mineralize it.
Simply put, you can filter it first and then put it through an ionizer or alkaline filter to add more healthy minerals.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that both types of water treatment have their pros and cons. The best thing to do is to take a combination approach and use both methods.