What Types of Water Filtration and Purification are There?

Drinking unpurified and unfiltered water can result in a number of negative side effects, including diarrhea, nausea, and many more. To make sure that your water is clean enough for regular consumption, it needs to be filtrated and purified.

There are many different forms of water filtration and purification, each of which carries its own benefits and drawbacks. If you’re new to the idea of water purification, or if you haven’t been paying attention to advances in technology, you’re probably not aware of what’s out there.

So, what types of water filtration and purification are there? Let’s discuss.

Fiber Filtering

Fiber filtering is a filtering process which makes use of a device called a fiber filter. These filters are often designed as such that you can fix them directly to your faucets. They’re typically very inexpensive, and are great to use in a pinch.

Fiber filters, however, are not perfect. While they do a great job of filtering out mud and sediment, they fail to filter out small minerals such as chlorine and lead. Having these minerals in your water can lead to clothes staining and foul odors. In some cases, lead in water can even cause brain damage.

Fiber filtering will work over short periods of time, but is not recommended as a long-term solution.

Carbon Filtering

Carbon filtering is a process in which a carbon filter filters out minerals from your water. It’s very similar to fiber filtering, but is typically more effective overall. Whereas fiber filters typically have pore sizes of around 1, carbon fibers typically have pore sizes of around 0.5. In essence, they prevent smaller minerals from leaking through.

However, this doesn’t mean that carbon filters remove everything from your water. While they generally eliminate lead and arsenic, they still tend to have troubles with filtering asbestos, mercury, and sulfate.

So, in essence, while carbon filters do a fairly good job of filtering water, they still leave some potentially hazardous minerals in your water.

Hydrogen Peroxide Injection

Hydrogen peroxide injection systems are much more intricate purification and filtration systems when compared with carbon and fiber filtering. In fact, these systems make use of carbon filters in tandem with a variety of other components.

When placed together, these components can successfully eliminate everything from iron, to bacteria, to hydrogen sulfide, and more.

Carbon filters alone are not capable of filtering out all types of bacteria. This is why hydrogen peroxide injection systems are valuable. They clear your water of anything potentially harmful virus or mineral.

Chlorine Injection

Chlorine injection systems are very similar to hydrogen peroxide injection systems, with just a few differences. Whereas both systems can remove all potentially harmful minerals and viruses, only the chlorine injection system can shut off on command.

Because it can shut off on command, it can save you a great deal of money in energy costs. For instance, you might not care to purify your water when you’re taking a shower or washing the dishes.

In this case, you can just turn your injection system off for the time being, and then turn it back on when you’re ready for pure water again.

Reverse Osmosis

The last water filtration and purification method we’ll cover is reverse osmosis. This method has quite a few benefits. Because it requires absolutely no electricity to operate, it is completely free after it has been installed.

In addition, it does a terrific job of filtering out all viruses and minerals.

The only problem is that it can sometimes filter out minerals which are actually beneficial to a human being’s health. So, while it can produce some of the cleanest drinking water known to man, it can also cause mineral deficiencies.

In Search of Professional Water Filtration and Purification?

If you’re looking for water filtration services in Chicago or its surrounding areas, we here at Johnson Water Conditioning are just who you’re looking for.

We manufacture and install water purification systems of all kinds, from reverse osmosis systems, to chlorine injection systems, and more.