The New Age of Water Filters

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Water is the most important substance in the world. This simple chemical construction of hydrogen and oxygen atoms is the sustenance and life-blood of all life--no matter the type--on the planet. Unfortunately, this substance, so very essential to our survival as living beings, has become increasingly more contaminated and dangerous, as time has gone on. Pure water, the simple construction of hydrogen and oxygen, no longer exists on the earth today, and it is becoming increasingly rare to find a source of water that has been untouched by human activity and industry.

Scientists have long known about water's potential as a toxin as well as a life-giver. Water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid ravaged populations in both Europe and the United States for centuries before a method was obtained to sanitize public drinking water. It would take the discovery of the microscope and proper filtering techniques to combat this disease.

Now, in the age of chemical pesticides and industrial waste, water has become a carrier of increasingly more dangerous and toxic chemicals. Such water, with chemical and contaminant accompaniment, arrives in homes across the United States each day, under the auspices of municipally treated drinking water. Several of these chemicals are known carcinogens, and it is only a matter of time before consumers begin to connect the rising number of cases of cancer to the rising level of chemicals in "treated" drinking water. A water filter has never been more necessary, even essential, to our survival. If pure water is the most essential aspect of our continued existence as living beings, water filters have now become the key to that pure water.

So, what exactly is a water filter? What makes it so very essential? How has it become the newest panacea to the problem of contaminated water? In the following paragraphs, you can read about water filters, learn about how they work, and recognize why they have become so essential.

A water filter uses a combination of simple and complex procedures to systematically remove contaminants from water in order to provide clean and healthy drinking water. While the construction and media of water filters differ widely, the general techniques and methods are relatively similar to most filters.

Water filters generally use some type of granulated media (ranging from sand to carbon to zinc) to physically block the passage of contaminants when water passes over the media. This type of physical filtration is the oldest and simplest filtration method. Historical documents show that Hippocrates, the famed father of modern medicine, designed a simple filter using this technique. Ancient Egyptian drawings even document the use of physical filtration in Egyptian culture, thousands of years ago! The first municipal treatment plant, designed in 19th century Scotland, also used the technique of physical filtration with a granulated sand media.

While physical filtration is certainly an important part of the water filtration process, it is not always an entirely effective means of filtering water. Elusive contaminants like chlorine and microorganisms often cannot be controlled for in this process. However, recent innovations in water filtration have brought about the use of chemical filtration and redox reactions to remove such contaminants from water.

Such types of filtration use the science of positive and negative charges to either break the bond of contaminants with water or to chemically change dangerous contaminants into other, less harmful elements. In chemical filtration, a filter media is used not to physically block the passage of contaminants but to chemically attract those contaminants. In a redox reaction, a particular type of filter media is used to attract electrons from contaminants, thus transforming the chemical identity of these contaminants and changing them into less harmful elements. Because of these innovative methods of filtration, water filters are now able to remove more contaminants than any other treatment method.

You may ask, which method of filtration is better? Certainly, physical means of filtration have been used and valued for centuries while chemical filtration is just beginning its birth into the water treatment industry. The first manner of filtration has the support of time and considerable scientific experimentation while the other method has the support of the newest scientific innovations of the 21st century. The fact is, neither one of these methods are perfect and ideal. Physical and chemical filtration are meant to work cooperatively, complementing one another so that benefits may be emphasized and drawbacks minimized. In this modern era, most filters generally use a combination of both physical and chemical filtration, employing multiple medias and methods.

It is certainly clear that water sources will not become magically clean and pure in such an era of industrial activity. While we can trust in governmental agencies to set regulations and spur more responsibility in water management, we cannot rely on these agencies to provide entirely pure, clean sources of water from which to draw. Also, municipal water treatment plants will likely never produce a truly healthy, treated water product. The problems of treating so much water for such a large population prohibit perfection in municipal treatment. Fortunately for water consumers, there is no longer a need to depend entirely upon the efforts of governmental agencies and municipal treatment plants. By using the simple purification techniques of a home water filter, you may begin to provide clean, healthy water for you and your family to drink. The importance of clean drinking water to our survival cannot be overstated. Take steps now to ensure your own survival by drinking pure, filtered water.

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