Water is a vital part of our lives. It is used in every single aspect of living! However, it is well-known that earth’s freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers are drying up, accelerated by other environmental issues. This affects the quality of water one gets at home as well.
Water purifiers made our water more drinkable and safe. But every home must have the best water filter as water is highly vital for survival! Over 32% of Australian households depend on water purifying systems and filters for drinking water. When it comes to market sales of purifiers, New South Wales is shown to hold maximum sales.
With increasing waterborne diseases and risks from contamination of water, people are desperately shifting to filtered water systems to acquire safe drinking water. Due to this hike in consumer demand, the Australian water purification market will grow further from 2021 to 2025.
What is a water filtering system?
With an increasing number of pollutants in groundwater and other water bodies posing a grave risk for waterborne infections, there is an increased need for clean drinking water. By and large, industries use techniques like traditional desalination to use pure water in their processes. But for home and office settings, modern desalination techniques are employed.
To filter out all these unnecessary chemicals and pollutants, water filters are used. Almost every water purifying system in Australia follows the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) that highlights standards and recommendations for safe drinking water and how it should be acquired.
Types of water filtering systems
Since most water filtering systems are used either in homes or in workplace settings, they differ based on load capacity and speed of filtration. The primary choice of a water filter depends on the type of filter used. These are of 5 types:
- Mechanical: These mesh filters mechanically remove impurities and range from 0.5 – 5 microns.
- Absorption: This type of filtration occurs through the utilisation of carbon activated filters.
- Sequestration: Chemicals are isolated from a substance using food-grade polyphosphate.
- Ion Exchange: This process is actually used to soften hard water through the exchange of ions, like calcium with sodium, etc.
- Reverse Osmosis: RO processes involve forcing water through semipermeable membranes under pressure to remove inorganic minerals.
Ion Exchange and RO methods are the most popularly used water purification methods.
Products
There is an array of products that use different numbers of filters and installation techniques. Here’s a list of products that you should know of:
- Bench Top Filter: These are typically set up in kitchen countertops in homes. They are easy to install with no requirement of a plumber. They utilise a high-quality submicron cartridge that helps quickly filter water. It uses a carbon block filtration method. The filter is available in both steel and PVC.
- Twin Under Sink Filter: These filtration systems are used in both homes and offices. They are placed under the sinks and come with two filtration tanks. This multi-stage filtration is achieved by using pre-filter cartridges and hi-tech optimisers. These often come with a stand-alone water faucet that can be installed in your sink. Twin under sink filters help avoid cluttering on the countertop.
- Under Sink Filters with Remineraliser: These are specially used in large workplaces or professional settings. While the water filter is very similar to a twin under sink filter, the remineraliser is added. This system follows a 4-step RO technology wherein the final step, the water gets remineralised with healthy minerals and optimises the pH of the drinking water.
Pros of Water Filters
Using water filtration devices have many advantages:
- They remove harmful pathogens and contaminants and help avoid diseases.
- They provide odourless water.
- Many water purification systems add sweetness to the drinking water.
- They are sustainable, affordable and durable.