Do you drink straight from the tap, filter first or filter then boil your water? Meera Murugesan wonders if tap water is safe
REMEMBER the days when we drank straight from the tap? If you were thirsty, you just turned on the tap and filled up a glass.
Water filters were unheard of and kitchens didn’t contain anything more complicated than an aluminum kettle. Today, there’s probably a water filter in most homes. Many even have two — outdoor and indoor.
Drinking from the tap is a habit that will now raise eyebrows as many people assume our water quality is not up to mark. This has led to an increasing number of consumers to invest in water filtration systems, some costing thousands of ringgit.
Our drinking water is treated at water treatment plants so it is safe for consumption says Gary Lai, division manager at 3M Purification of 3M Malaysia, a company with over 50 years of experience in filtration technology.
However, he says that in the process of being transported from the source to our taps, contamination can occur and this is why water filters are necessary.
Contamination can happen if the pipes bringing our water are old, broken or corroded. The condition of the internal piping in a home and its water storage tank can also affect water quality.
Contaminants range from large particles like sand, mud and rust to those not visible to the eye, like chemical contaminants and bacteria.
COLOURED WATER
In some homes, brown or yellow water is the norm during certain times of the day. As a result, consumers often allow their taps to run awhile for the water to turn clear before proceeding with activities like cooking, cleaning and washing.
“It is for this reason that many people instal outdoor filters or also known as pre-filters. Otherwise even the white clothes from the washing machine come out brown,” says Lai.
FILTERING THE FILTERS
When it comes to drinking water, consumers are even more cautious. But before investing in an indoor filter, there are certain things to consider, says Jean Lee, advanced technical service engineer at 3M Purification Division.
She says consumers should first clearly understand the effectiveness and capability of any filtration system such as the kind of contaminants it can remove how much can it remove and is there third party certification for the claims the brand makes about its product.
Expensive does not necessarily mean effective and just because a system looks complicated, that doesn’t mean it is better in terms of performance.
Consumers should also look for a water filter from a reliable brand with a good track record to ensure that five or six years down the line they can still obtain the filter cartridges that need to be changed regularly.
Another issue to consider is the fact that some water filters in the market not only remove contaminants but also the beneficial minerals in water.
Consumers should decide whether such a stringent method of filtration is what they want, given that they will be losing out on essential minerals from their daily drinking water.
She says: ”Naturally, you would also want a system that’s easy to use and maintain, and serves the specific needs of your family because each family has different needs where water consumption is concerned.”
BOILING VS FILTERING
While some people believe boiling tap water is sufficient to make it clean and safe, boiling does not result in the removal of chemical contaminants.
Boiling will kill bacteria but chemical contaminants and things like rust remain in the water.
“That’s why we must know the possible contaminants in water and the correct way to deal with them. If the only contaminant is bacteria, then boiling is sufficient. If it’s more than that, we should have other methods to deal with it.”
It is also common in some homes for people to first filter and then boil their drinking water.
Lee says this comes down to the comfort level of the individual consumer. Some may feel that their filtration system is good enough and drink directly from it, while others may believe that filtering alone is insufficient and boiling is necessary for clean water.
For best results, Lee advises installing both an outdoor and indoor filter. This means by the time water comes indoors, large contaminants like sand, rust and mud would have been removed by the outdoor unit.
The indoor filter can then get to work on those pollutants not visible to the eye to ensure that water is at the cleanest level possible.
Types of contaminants
TURBIDITY: A major source of turbidity in drinking water is soil runoff but other sources include rust, sand and sediment.
LEAD: Typically, lead enters the water supply after it leaves the local treatment plant.
Lead plumbing is common in homes built before 1986 and can contribute to the contamination of water in a home.
SEDIMENT: Water passing through a series of pipes to reach your home may contain sediment.
CRYPTOSPORIDIUM AND GIARDIA: Cryptosporidium is a single-celled protozoan parasite commonly found in lakes and rivers, especially when the water is contaminated with sewage and animal waste.
CHLORINE TASTE AND ODOUR: Chlorine taste and odour is caused by compounds containing chlorine added to local water supplies.
These help ensure that water is free of potentially harmful bacteria but can cause odours and tastes that many people find objectionable.
VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS: Volatile Organic Compounds are a group of over 40 chemical contaminants, including chemicals like benzene, toluene, and styrene which have been found to have negative effects on human health.
Source: 3M Malaysia
Drinking quality
IN its website, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) states that the country’s drinking water quality conforms to the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality (Second Version, January 2004) issued by the Engineering Services Division of the Ministry of Health. This is adopted from the World Health Organisation guidelines for drinking water quality.
The quality of water supplied is safe for consumption direct from the tap as the water quality is constantly monitored to ensure that it is always within the Quality Assurance Programme and the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality, under the Ministry of Health and within the requirements of the Mandatory Level of Service, under the Concession Agreement.
However, consumers must periodically check their home’s internal plumbing and clean the water tank, if necessary. The presence of galvanised iron pipes in the home plumbing system and metal storage tanks can cause water to be yellow or brown.
Syabas does not encourage consumers to instal water filters outside their homes because the filters will remove some of the minerals and chlorine from water and reduce the pressure of the water flowing into the houses. However, those who have already done so must carry out proper maintenance (backwashing) periodically as recommended by the manufacturer to ensure the safety and quality of water. If consumers insist on installing water filters, it is best to instal them at the kitchen sink.
High performance filter
THE DWS2500T-CN water filter by 3M Malaysia is a high performance unit that does its job effectively while staying hidden under the sink, so it doesn’t affect the aesthetics in your beautiful kitchen.
With a modern compact design and user friendly system, it helps provide cleaner, clearer water on demand for drinking, coffee making, cooking and cleaning by reducing up to 99.99 per cent of undesirable and harmful contaminants in water.
The NSF International certified filter is able to effectively reduce contaminants such as sediment, turbidity, chlorine taste and odour that may be present in tap water.
It can also reduce lead, mercury, volatile organic chemicals, protozoan cysts and bacteria that may enter the water stream from piping or other sources, for cleaner and better tasting water.
Its replaceable cartridge can easily be changed by the homeowner. A LED light indicator at the filter’s faucet turns red to indicate when it’s time for that change so one doesn’t have to worry about overusing the cartridge.