How to Fix Your Water Quality

How to Fix Your Water Quality

You know your water is “off” somehow, but you’re not quite sure where to start? Follow these three simple steps to learn how to fix your water quality issues in your home.

Step 1: Discover What’s In Your Water

Not all homes have the same water.

Where you live determines where your water comes from and how it’s treated. Your house or dwelling unit resides in a specific municipal district and every municipal district gets their water from somewhere – a reservoir, ground water, lakes, rivers, etc. Or maybe you own your own land and your well water gets sourced straight from the ground your home is on. In either case, just knowing the source of where your water comes from isn’t enough. There are other factors that also impact your water.

  • Pollution greatly impacts water and the levels of pollution are different all across the country, by state, county, city, and town. So if pollution isn't the same in every city, the water has to be treated different based upon what’s in the environment locally.
  • Infrastructure also impacts your water – we’re talking about the pumbling of your city. How old are the pipes? What are they made of? How do they wear over time? What does the water pass through to get to your house? Answers to these questions will determine how many contaminants are in the water and need to be treated.
  • Pharmaceuticals & personal care products are in the water too, so higher densly populated areas will have more prescription and over-the-counter drugs, along with soaps, shampoos, makeup, etc. in the water that need to be filtered out when cities recycle water. A good phrase to keep in mind - what goes down the drain comes back through the faucet.

How do you find out what's in your water?

Sometimes your local city will post a public report of what's in your water, but some aren't up to date. The EPA regulates what's in your drinking water, but those are standards that are nationwide and do not take into account your local water and how it might need to be specifically treated.

How do you know what you need to treat your water?

First, you need to perform a basic water assessment for the water in your home. You can do an in-home water test by a water treatment specialist to test for common contaminants in your water or you can also have one of our specialists come test your water for free. Once you know the results, then you know what types of filtration you need to remove the specific contaminants brought up in your water test.

Curious on what a technician looks for in a water assessment? You can read more about that here.

Step 2: Determine How Much Water You Use 

Another important factor to consider to ensure you find the best product for your home is around water usage. Take time to think about how much water is used inside your home (appliances, personal care, sinks, showers etc.)

Here are a few more questions to help you think about your water usage:

    1. How many people are in your home?
    2. How many appliances do you have that use water (refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, etc.)?
    3. How many bathrooms and kitchen(s) do you have?

How you answer the questions above will help determine how much water your home uses. The EPA says that the average American uses 70 gallons of water per day. Use this volume consumption multiplied by the number of people in your household, along with the test results from your water assessment to help guide you on the size of product you need to treat the water in your home. 

Step 3: Decide Which Issues You Want to Address

So you know what's in your water, now what?

You need to decide what problems you want to fix. Issues you might be seeing:

  • Bleach stains on your fence line
  • Dry skin after you shower or wash your hands
  • Dry or brittle hair
  • Clothes are fading quickly after you wash them several times
  • Scale build up (the white spots on your shower doors and fixtures)
  • Iron and rust build up (if you see orange in your tubs or showers, that's what this is)
  • Smells (does your water smell like rotten eggs or metals?)
  • Water heater has to be replaced sooner than you thought it should (this is due to scale build up/sediment residue)

Depending on the severity of your issues and the results of your water test, you can work with your water treatment specialist to identify the proper system(s) for your home. There are Whole Home Systems vs. Under the Sink for you to consider. You can learn more about the differences here.

Have additional questions or want to find out what’s in your water? You can schedule a water assessment here.