we change water is present everywhere in our body, in plants, no life is possible without water. In my opinion, this is the base of the base, what we should pay the most attention to, what we put in our body every day, day after day, must be as healthy as possible for full health. Should we drink the water before testing its quality at home?
I offer you a small synthesis of the elements that I have gleaned over the years and which have allowed me to form my opinion on the subject. And also to see how I set up a water filtration system at home. You have already asked me a lot of questions, especially about the fountain that can be seen in my videos. I will give you a summary of what I have learned on the subject.
To start with some benchmarks: know that we ingest on average each week the equivalent of a plastic credit card (i.e. 5 grams)! It’s not me who says it, but a study commissioned by the WWF at the University of Newcastle in Australia and published Tuesday, June 11, 2019. This article from NouvelObs provides you with a good summary.
This article also cites a Canadian study published on June 5, 2019, reporting that an adult ingests up to 52,000 micro-particles of plastic per year, to which are added an additional 90,000 if they only drink bottled water. (and 4,000 if he is content with tap water).
And despite the depollution efforts made on the city water distributed to comply with regulatory standards. 2.8 million people in France drink polluted tap water (source: this other article from NouvelObs). The water we consume may not be free of residues and pollutants such as pesticides, fungicides, drug residues, hormones… For this, filtered water will rid us of its harmful substances. But is that enough?
Let’s see the types of water we have at our disposal.
Drink the water before testing its quality : The quality of tap water at home
Yes, our tap water is drinkable, which is already “not so bad” and better than in other countries. But “potable” does not mean “good for your health”. Our tap water undergoes many tests to meet drinking standards, but there are many exemptions from France. And from year to year, drinking water standards continue to be raised, as the water degrades.
Exemptions are applied for pollutant thresholds exceeding the standard such as for Nitrates, Atrazine desethyl, Chlortoluron, Metolachlor, Bentazone, Chlortoluron, Fluorides, Glyphosate, Simazine hydroxy, Terbuthylazin, Mercury, Napropamide… Reassuring, isn’t it?
There are also various drugs in tap water: antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, beta-blockers, anticancer drugs, contraceptives, antidepressants, hormones, antiparasitics… Drugs intended for humans and animals are found in tap water and do not in no way prevent it from being drinkable.
Tap water also contains plastic particles, with a measured contamination rate of 72% globally. This is revealed by a scientific study carried out in ten countries (see the report in English published by Orbmedia). Dr Anne-Marie Mahon, of the Galway-Maho Institute of Technology, says this raises two concerns: the tiny plastic particles themselves, and the chemicals or pathogens these particles can carry.
why we should test the quality of water
And with the question of plastic waste, many of us wonder about the ability of tap water to effectively replace spring water in plastic bottles.
Our concerns are therefore both related to our health (eating better, and also drinking better!) and to our environment (less plastic waste).
should we test the quality of the water?
With the water analysis kits currently available on the market, it is possible to carry out very advanced tests, but not all of us are experts in water analysis and to start and not get confused, it is better to prefer simple tests on a strip, for example. I tell you about it below.
Here are the properties of water that can easily be tested and analyzed by taking a sample from the tap, at home: you may wish to analyze its potability of course, but also its Physico-chemical properties (e.g. hardness of water) or its pH. It is also possible to carry out microbiological tests
With the water analysis kits currently available on the market, it is possible to carry out very advanced tests, but not all of us are experts in water analysis and to start and not get confused, it is better to prefer simple tests on a strip, for example. I tell you about it below.
Here are the properties of water that can easily be tested and analyzed by taking a sample from the tap, at home: you may wish to analyze its potability of course, but also its Physico-chemical properties (e.g. hardness of water) or its pH. It is also possible to carry out microbiological tests
Know the quality of water without chemistry analyze
With the data of the test water, you could calculate the particles in the water. It is essential to check your device well (RO water system, pre-filter system ). Especially in the case of a reverse osmosis filtration system, it allows you to see when we change the membrane. At home in a very calcareous region, the lifespan of the membrane is 1 year below average.
A tea test, identify the water
A simple test to do at home as in the video is to infuse a tea bag in different waters. You will use spring water for example and your tap water. You will infuse at the same temperature, for the same time and you will visually notice the differences.
Most of the time with tap water we see very quickly deposits not very engaging on the surface of the tea. The tea color can also be different, the tea leaves will react with the pH of the water to a greater or lesser extent. We see very well in the video the greenish tea vs an amber tea.
In general, for a tea or an herbal tea, use the least hard water possible, distilled or weakly mineralized water is perfect for extracting the active ingredients of the plants.
This test will just give you a visual overview of the quality of your water. It will just tell you if you are more or less far from the mark.
It sounds silly but you can trust your taste, if naturally you like water, it is probably good for you. You will have to compare.
Test with TDS meter digital water tester
TDS Digital water test meter is widely used in all water quality tests. Digital TDS Meter simply provides reliable and quick measurements for most regular water solutions’ purity testing, such as drinking water, pool, aquarium, RO system, Spa, or hydroponics. Appropriate for a wide range of applications. The TDS water tester is a must-have item for the family to test tap water. It distilled water, well water, bottled water, and more.
Test Strips: simple and fast!
You could purchase some Test strips for testing your own water. The strips detect the presence of certain chemicals and work by changing color. You compare the strip to a chart that can help show the concentration of the specific chemical. We can ofter use these types of strips to determine the pH or chlorine amount in the water. Although the tests are easy to obtain and inexpensive, they’re not as accurate as other types of tests. Because they often have poor resolution. It can be difficult to determine what the results actually mean for your health and safety.
At last, if your want to reduce the pollutants, and sediment dust in your tap. You could use the whole house water filtration + Reverse Osmosis water system to make the water pure. Test water is a way to know the quality of home water. It can not improve the quality of water.
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