How to improve drinking water quality? 

Of course, a filter is important for clean water but what else can you do at home to improve the quality of your water? Let's start with the basics. The easiest way to improve your water at home is to filter it! Our cities and towns do their best to ensure that the water coming out of our faucets is safe to drink. Safe is somewhat of a loose term though, really they're just trying to ensure that no one is going to get sick from drinking their water at home. 

Of course, we know that our local water utilities are not always successful in ensuring our water is safe (The United States had 5,000 boil water alerts alone from the years 2015 to 2018). And even so, it doesn't account for all the other contaminants in our water that over time are linked to various health problems and symptoms. I think the saying, "If you want something done well, do it yourself" applies here. We like to play it safe at Epic, and that's why we opt into filtered water and out of the doubt and wonder. This way, regardless of what your town or city is doing with your water, you can still rest assured that you're getting the best filtered water out there.

What can you do to improve the quality of water you consume in your household?

3. Flush Your Water Line: It's a great idea to routinely run cold water taps for two minutes before using your tap water for drinking or cooking. Water that hasn't been used for several hours sits in your pipes at home and while it sits there, metals can leech into your water supply and harmful colonies of bacteria can build up in there. So before you fill up your water filter pitcher or bottle or after an extended time away from home, remember to run your cold water for about two minutes to ensure you bypass all that nastiness.  

4. Change Your Filters: Bacteria and metals can build up in filter cartridges. Be sure to follow the instructions on your filter because filtration declines over time as your filter gets clogged. So the strongest your filter will ever be is on the first day of use. Over time your filter will gradually degrade in performance until it is no longer working at all. This is true for all filters no matter the manufacturer. 

5. Cook With Filtered Water: Cooking with filtered water is an easy way to improve the taste of your food and the health of your family. Anything cooked in hot water gets exposed to whatever contaminants are in that water. So now you're eating and drinking those contaminants! When water boils, contaminants like chlorine can become airborne and contribute to lower air quality. So just fill up from your pitcher or filtered tap water before cooking up some delicious eats. 

6. Whole Home Water Filters: Whole home water filters aren't the best at removing things like lead, fluoride, or TTHMs. This is because there isn't quite enough contact time between water and the filter. However, they can still be a great part of a home filtration regiment, and can be one step along your water's way to your mouth. 

If you have any questions, or want some more tips, feel free to reach out and say hi! We know water quality is as important to you as it is to us, so we hope we've been able to offer some more insight into that department ;)