Aquafeel Maryland is on a mission to provide clean water through our state of the art water filtration systems in Maryland. A part of this is educating and understanding about the water supply and how various sanitation standards work. Some people just go straight into installing a high quality water filter in their home—this is a great home investment that will continue to pay for itself each day you have clean and healthy drinking water for you and your family.
However, others may question whether a home water filtration system is worth the investment and if its even necessary—after all, if the water in their locality meets the hygiene standards of that locality, shouldn’t that be good enough?
Don’t Rely on Water Filtration Standards
One of our prior posts tackled how Maryland’s drinking water was among some of the least safe, with the 12th most violations out of all US states. Despite the standards set forth by the safe water drinking act, contaminants still exist in drinking water supplies throughout the US. National secondary standards are also present and can be found here. Secondary standards are not requirements but guidelines about which contaminants shouldn’t be present beyond a certain concentration in the water.
- Aluminum
- Copper
- Chloride
- Arsenic
- Barium
- Bacteria and Viruses
- Mercury
- Radium
- Lead
And more can be potentially found in drinking water.
Notice how the emphasis on these guidelines isn’t removing these contaminants but making sure they aren’t present beyond a certain amount. It’s safe to say most people would be uncomfortable knowing that the water they were drinking did in fact have contaminants in it, but just in a small enough amount deemed by regulatory authorities to be “safe”. Odor is not a good indication of the safety and sanitation of water, though a foul odor is never a good thing.
These guidelines are not enforced nearly as much as homeowners would believe and this doesn’t even address the issues that occur at a local level. It isn’t that public water is intentionally neglected in most cases. Rather, providing truly clean water on a scale as large as the US is a herculean task. Most drinking water is relatively safe, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t risks of contaminants or that sometimes things happen at treatment plants that warrant a boil water advisory. Consider what that means, an issue is discovered A national example would be the Flint, Michigan water crisis where local officials dismissed claims that the water was contaminated and making people sick. The truth? There was a major lead contamination in the water which had wide ranging detrimental effects on the population.
Aquafeel Maryland’s Water Testing Kit
Our water testing kit—the Aquakit, will allow you to perform 3 stage water testing in the convenience of your home. After this, you’ll be able to get on a zoom call with a water analyst who can provide a consultation about your water supply and offer guidance.
Home water testing can be the eye-opener to show that while tap water is “drinkable” it may be less clean than you initially believed. Common water contaminants can be surprising; bacteria, nitrates, even arsenic! While the PPM (that’s parts per million) are low enough to perhaps not have any noticeable effects, who can say what are the longer term implications of having contaminants in that most fundamental source of vitality—water?
Ultimately, if you could invest money into your health, the first place you should start is your water supply. Contact Aquafeel Maryland to learn more about our Aquakit and our whole home water filtration systems.