If you are dealing with salty water, then “yes,” either one of the residential reverse osmosis systems, or a distillation system, is needed. But, if like most of us, you get your water from a chlorinated system with no salt problems, you have simpler and far less expensive options. We will cover one these options in this article called selective filtration.

The increase of chemical toxins in our environment has led to a lot of discussion about our “body burden”, the term for the total amount of these toxins in our bodies at any given time.

Toxic contaminants in the water we drinks and bathe in has long been a concern to us all, and we should be concerned, but more and more the guys in the white coats are telling us the air quality in our homes is imposing even greater burdens on our bodies. The worst toxic contaminants in the air come from chlorine byproducts such as chloroform.

“Every home in America has an elevated level of chloroform gas due to the vaporization of chlorine…from the tap and shower water,” according to the EPA. (It’s true, the shower is the largest producer but the dishwasher and the washing machine aren’t far behind).

By removing the chemical toxins at the point of entry into our homes, using whole house purification units, we significantly improve both the quality of the water and the quality of the air.

The main reason to look at RO and SF systems before you buy is the difference between their initial costs and operating costs, especially in whole house systems.

In today’s world, cost differences might determine whether or not we can even buy a whole house unit. Very good residential selective filtration systems will run about $800. Comparable residential reverse osmosis systems are in the $10,000 range.

How do you explain the price differences?

Reverse osmosis and distillation systems were developed years ago to remove salt from brackish water and, at that time, water and electricity were very cheap. But, in today’s world this technology has become very expensive.

RO systems use the home’s water pressure to force water through a membrane having pores so small only molecules the size of water molecules, or smaller, can pass through, leaving contaminants with larger molecules behind.

Chemicals having a molecular size smaller than water’s, such as chlorine and its byproducts, will pass right through the membrane. For that reason, and in order to protect the membrane, RO systems must add a carbon filter to the system.

The RO systems are faster than distillation, but the smaller units will only produce a gallon of filter water every two or three house. The larger whole house units are good for about 80 gallons an hour. Either system, large or small, uses pressurized storage tanks for delivering larger quantities of water quickly.

To operate efficiently the home’s water pressure must be a minimum of 40 psi (pounds per square inch) for the smaller units. Booster pumps that increase the water pressure are usually included in whole house units and are sometimes required for smaller units as well.

These systems waste a large quantity of water that will not go through the membrane even with sufficient pressure applied. This water is often thrown out with the collected contaminants. The typical system wastes two to five gallons of water for each gallon that is filtered.

This waste water is recycled in some systems, however, the need for electricity, recycling, storage tanks and (maybe) booster pumps are the cause of the increased up front costs and they add to the higher cost to operate as well. And, all the extra equipment means it is more likely there are going to be additional maintenance costs too.

A good option to reverse osmosis, especially if you are on a chlorinated water system (which most of us are), is selective filtration.

Selective filtration on the whole house level uses an innovative multistage filtration process consisting of mechanical filtration, redox and adsorptive filtration to rapidly process the water.

Toxic metals dissolved in the water, such as lead or mercury, are removed by a chemical exchange process using a redox filter in a simple filtration technique. Until the recent development of redox filters, only RO or distillation could remove dissolved lead and other toxic metals from water.

Over 99 percent of the chlorine, chlorine byproducts and other organic chemicals are removed by the adsorptive power of the activated charcoal. The overall process of selective filtration removes bad tastes, odors and sediment from the water and acts somewhat like a water softener, but there is no unhealthy sodium added to the water.

These systems produce filtered water rapidly (over seven gallons per minute), without electricity, storage tanks, or booster pumps. Their simplicity also makes for simpler installations.

For anyone looking to install a whole house water filter to improve the quality of the air in water in their home, selective filtration systems have a lot to offer.

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