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0 There are many contaminants that can make the water unsafe for drinking like microorganisms, nitrate, chlorine, fluoride, and heavy metals. Here, we will discuss the dangers of heavy metals in water. If your water has heavy metals in it, you should consider the installation of a water filtration system.
What Are Heavy Metals?
Arsenic, mercury, cadmium, chromium, antimony, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, selenium, and others are called heavy metals. Our bodies require trace amounts of heavy metals like zinc, copper, iron, manganese, and chromium for normal functioning but higher levels of these metals are harmful.
If the soft tissues of a body absorb too much of these metals, it can lead to heavy metal poising which can cause serious health problems.
Harmful Effects Of Heavy Metals On The Human Body
The health impact of heavy metals on the human body is not quick when you’re drinking water with heavy metals in it. However, the low quantities of heavy metals keep amassing in your body leading to health issues like a reduction in mental and central nervous system functions.
Heavy metals can also cause damage to organs like the liver, lungs, and kidneys. Moreover, they can increase the risk of cancer in the body due to their carcinogenic properties.
Furthermore, the harmful impact of heavy metals is more noticeable in children because they are in their developing stage. They can cause learning difficulties, memory issues, and behavioral problems other than damage to the vital organs and central nervous system.
How To Detect Heavy Metals In Water?
There are no clear signs of the contamination of heavy metals in water. If you’re concerned that your tap water has heavy metals, get the water sample tested by a lab.
How To Remove Heavy Metals From Drinking Water?
There are many water filters and water filtration methods, but only a few of them can remove heavy metals from drinking water.
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters
A reverse osmosis system has, typically, three filters for purifying water. The three filters are sediment filter, carbon filter, and semipermeable membrane.
The sediment and carbon filters are the prefiltration part of the reverse osmosis system. When water enters the system, it goes through prefiltration. The mentioned two filters remove dust, dirt rust, chlorine, volatile organic compounds, and contaminants that make the water taste weird.
The prefilter of a reverse osmosis system performs better water filtration than the full capacity of some other water filters.
After the prefiltration process, the water goes through the reverse osmosis membrane or semipermeable membrane for filtration. This is the step where the system can remove heavy metals.
The RO membrane is a filter with pores so small that they filter water in the molecular level. So, it can remove metals and other contaminants even if they can’t be seen through an electron microscope.
After purification, water goes to a tank so it can be used. Once the tank is full, the filtration halts.
Reverse osmosis is the most effective method of removing heavy metals from water, but it can be expensive compared to some other methods.
Water Distillers
Distillation is the process of turning water into steam, then condensing it into another container to get pure water free of contaminants because the contaminants don’t evaporate with water and are left behind. This is a cheaper process compared to reverse osmosis and can remove heavy metals from water. However, the process is slower than an RO system.
In this process, you should keep in mind that the water should be heated till the boiling point of water so that only water evaporates without contaminants. If you heat it too much, some contaminants may evaporate with water as well.
If you do it yourself without a water distiller, the process will be time-consuming and inefficient, however, you can find different water distillers that can perform distillation. You only need to put water in it and switch it on.
Conclusion
Heavy metals in drinking water pose a threat to your health if consumed for a long time. As we drink water every day, if your water has heavy metals, they can soon show their harmful effects. Therefore, select from different whole house water filtration Warren systems and choose the best one for your home.
