By Sarah Evans 
Did you know that less than .5% of the Earth’s water is fresh and available for consumption? Water is used for a plethora of everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and most importantly: drinking. With water being a pillar of our lives, it is surprising that more than ⅕ of Americans have been exposed to contaminated drinking water in the past ten years. If water is so important to daily life, why is it being contaminated? What are the consequences to this contamination and what is the solution?
What are the Contaminants in Our Water?
Water can be contaminated by many different things. Some of these contaminants are things like heavy metals, which are transferred to the water via the pipes it moves through to come out of the tap. Other contaminants are things like oils and pesticides which are coming from plants and land that is being contaminated and the water is then ingested by humans. Even our changing climate is leading to the contamination of water with higher temperatures allowing for bacteria to grow faster.
Bacteria growing faster can lead to more diseases being transmitted through drinking water. Diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid are all spread through contaminated drinking water. Every year in the U.S. waterborne diseases create 7.15 million illnesses and over 6,000 deaths. These illnesses cause people to need medical care through medicine or hospital visits and the cost of that treatment totals over $3 billion yearly!
The easiest way to ensure that drinking water is clean is through the use of filtration systems. Water filtering systems are tested to remove 99.99% of pathogenic bacteria and viruses, and remove over 200 unsafe contaminates. Using a water filter can also reduce the amount of waste since the water is being stored in a container versus the tap running and some of that water going right down the drain. One filter can serve up to 150 people! Home filtration systems also come in a variety of sizes to fit all consumers’ needs.
In Conclusion
Since water is our most valuable resource, it is important that we are actively reducing waste and ensuring the quality of the water we are using in our homes. The most efficient way to do this is certainly through the use of water filtration systems. Learn more about at home water filtration systems in the infographic below:
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