Pure water products vary greatly in quality, although the advertisements make them all seem great. In order for the average consumer to compare the quality of filtration systems and other important items, they need to understand the basics of purification. Those basics are covered here in this article.

Contaminants present in freshwater supplies around the world include illness-causing pathogens, metallic particles, some of which are heavy metals and toxic chemicals. The risks of exposure to each and the purification steps necessary to remove the risks are outlined below.

Pathogens
Private well owners may need to include a disinfection step to address the issue of bacteria and/or viruses. People serviced by public treatment facilities need only worry about pathogens described as cysts. Cysts are not destroyed by normal disinfection methods. They can only be filtered out through the use of a submicron filtration step.

Metallic Particles
Copper and the heavy metal lead are the most common contaminating metals, although private wells may contain a variety of metals and minerals, due to the rock formations in the area.

A well owner can check with the local government agency to find out which metals or minerals to be concerned about and then have his or her well tested for those particles.

For most homeowners, pure water products containing an ion exchange step will perform the magic of removing dangerous metals and balancing mineral content.

Toxic Chemicals
There are literally thousands of chemicals in our freshwater supplies due to growing populations and industrial activity. Luckily, granular carbon and solid carbon blocks are effective for removing the vast majority of those chemicals.

The best filtration systems include two steps; both granular carbon and the solid carbon block.

In order to determine which chemicals are removed by pure water products, consumers can ask to see the company's product performance data. The performance of the product should be evaluated by an independent agency, such as Underwriter's.

The information is often posted on manufacturer's websites, although not all companies make the information readily available. If it seems too hard to find the product performance data, the best advice is to choose another brand.

For many years, reverse osmosis systems came highly recommended, but they actually do nothing to remove chemical contaminants. They are effective primarily on cysts, metals and minerals.

Hopefully, the information above will help you choose the best pure water products. Your family's health and safety is important to us.