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What is the best water filter to use in Sydney?

 

This is a question that we get asked almost every day, we will try and answer this in the following article. If you do not want to read the technical stuff please contact us for honest expert advice.

 

What is in Sydney Tap Water?

Added by Sydney Water

Chlorine – always added in Gas, Liquid or Tablet form

Ammonia – sometimes added

Fluoride – always added

Ferric Chloride – sometimes added

Lime – sometimes added

Caustic Soda- sometimes added

Potassium Permanganate – sometimes added

Sodium Hydroxide – sometimes added

Sulphuric Acid – sometimes added

As water makes its way to your home it comes into contact with many different substances some concerning things lurking in the tap:

Lead

Disinfectant by Products

Pesticides

Trihalomethanes

Cysts

We have high Quality Water Filters Systems to provide you with pure water as close as your Tap!

If you want to remove fluoride from the water then that narrows your choice of the best water filter to either reverse osmosis filtration, distillation or absorption using activated alumina. We do not recommend or sell distillers the reasons are outlined in our blog post best water filter advice.

In our opinion the best choice of system is an under sink reverse osmosis water filtration system. If you are renting, we do supply high quality bench top reverse osmosis units also.

An under sink reverse osmosis water filter is one that fits under the bench and is installed by a plumber – it usually requires a separate water filter tap, or a specialised three way mixer tap. A bench top filter attaches to your existing tap and does not require a plumber for installation.

Why is reverse osmosis water filtration the best choice for me and my family?

All of our reverse osmosis systems come with NSF 58 certified membranes which ensure that you are removing the maximum amount of fluoride from the Sydney water supply – in most cases above 97% removal. For example the Dow Filmtec Membrane is in our opinion the best available. There is no other filter that will guarantee the same results as reverse osmosis.

A membrane is very simply a filter that will only allow pure water to flow through, anything that is not water is sent to drain. This is a slow process which is why a reverse osmosis holding tank is required to store the pure water.

Are there any downsides to using a reverse osmosis (RO) water filter, I heard that reverse osmosis will remove everything from the water including beneficial minerals?

Yes RO will remove everything from the water, leaving you with pure water.

You will read on the internet that drinking pure water will result in mineral deficiency or that drinking pure water will “rob” the body of minerals, if you choose to believe this we can add a mineralising or alkalising cartridge as an extra stage to ensure that this does not occur.

As we are not medical experts, (even they have widely different opinions on this subject) we will not be able to give a definitive answer on this subject however it is worth noting that any organic minerals that you eat or drink are immediately broken down and used by the cells of your body. It is not possible for pure water to remove those minerals from the cells as they are well on their way to building more healthy cells. However inorganic minerals (contained in water) you eat and drink cannot be broken down and used by the cells of your body. The best way to get organic minerals into your body and cells is to juice fruits and vegetables, they contain all the minerals, nutrients and trace elements the body needs.

Also more importantly the tap water in Sydney does not contain a lot of beneficial minerals, for example if you live in an area supplied from the North Richmond water filtration plant, the levels of calcium in the water is at the very best 12.4 mg/l or at the lower end only 6mg/l. According to the Australian Government Website NHMRC , the recommended intake of calcium for an adult male is 1000 mg/l. So if we take the best case scenario that someone living in Richmond NSW is receiving 12.4 mg/l in their tap water then they would have to drink 8 litres per day to even reach 10% of that total, also the calcium in the water is inorganic which makes it impossible to be used effectively by your body. If you want to know the breakdown of the tap water in your area in Sydney please feel free to contact us.

In our opinion there is no need to use a re-mineraliser as an extra stage, it is simply water in its purest form that you will be drinking.

I heard that reverse osmosis will make the water acidic?

Yes RO water is acidic.

The reason that RO water is acidic is that it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, due to the fact that it is pure water – it does not have buffering capacity.

What we mean by that is that water that comes from your tap contains hundreds of different substances, chlorine, lead, chloramines, calcium hardness etc. RO water is as close to H2O as you would want to be. If we add baking soda to a glass of tap water and add the same amount to a glass of RO water we will see that it takes much more baking soda to bring the tap water to a pH of say 8 than it does to bring the RO water to that same pH.

Incidentally once the RO water enters your mouth, your body is already easily altering the pH balance of the water.

I heard that reverse osmosis wastes a lot of water is that true?

Yes RO systems waste a lot of water, which is why we have developed low waste systems. Our systems all run at a ratio of 1:1, every litre of water produced will result in a litre of water being flushed to drain. Most other system will run at a much higher ration maybe 4-8 litres of water being flushed to drain for every 1 litre of pure water produced.

I am still not convinced is there any other way to remove fluoride from the water?

Yes you can use a cartridge that will absorb the fluoride, followed by a quality carbon filtration cartridge. A twin water filter with the cartridges mentioned, will supply high quality drinking water without altering the pH, without removing any minerals and without wasting any water.

Why is this not the best water filter for me then?

The cartridges are expensive and there is no guaranteed fluoride removal figure, however the manufacturer has tested the cartridge to remove up to 97% of the fluoride, it is very dependent on flow, pH and temperature of the water passing through the filter.

In our opinion this system is a great choice if you cannot be convinced that RO water is for you due to the reasons previously mentioned.

What is the best water filter to use in Sydney that will leave the fluoride and other minerals in the water?

The best water filter that we have seen is the Coldstream made in UK ceramic cartridge.

This cartridge is simply the most effective all-rounder that we have seen.

It will not remove fluoride or minerals.

It will remove the following to 99% or above:

Chloramines

VOC’s Volatile Organic Contaminants – Tested to NSF 53

Pesticides Tested to – NSF 53

Trihalomethanes

What is the best water filter to use in Sydney?

 

This is a question that we get asked almost every day, we will try and answer this in the following article. If you do not want to read the technical stuff please contact us for honest expert advice.

 

What is in Sydney Tap Water?

Added by Sydney Water

Chlorine – always added in Gas, Liquid or Tablet form

Ammonia – sometimes added

Fluoride – always added

Ferric Chloride – sometimes added

Lime – sometimes added

Caustic Soda- sometimes added

Potassium Permanganate – sometimes added

Sodium Hydroxide – sometimes added

Sulphuric Acid – sometimes added

As water makes its way to your home it comes into contact with many different substances some concerning things lurking in the tap:

Lead

Disinfectant by Products

Pesticides

Trihalomethanes

Cysts

We have high Quality Water Filters Systems to provide you with pure water as close as your Tap!

If you want to remove fluoride from the water then that narrows your choice of the best water filter to either reverse osmosis filtration, distillation or absorption using activated alumina. We do not recommend or sell distillers the reasons are outlined in our blog post best water filter advice.

In our opinion the best choice of system is an under sink reverse osmosis water filtration system. If you are renting, we do supply high quality bench top reverse osmosis units also.

An under sink reverse osmosis water filter is one that fits under the bench and is installed by a plumber – it usually requires a separate water filter tap, or a specialised three way mixer tap. A bench top filter attaches to your existing tap and does not require a plumber for installation.

Why is reverse osmosis water filtration the best choice for me and my family?

All of our reverse osmosis systems come with NSF 58 certified membranes which ensure that you are removing the maximum amount of fluoride from the Sydney water supply – in most cases above 97% removal. For example the Dow Filmtec Membrane is in our opinion the best available. There is no other filter that will guarantee the same results as reverse osmosis.

A membrane is very simply a filter that will only allow pure water to flow through, anything that is not water is sent to drain. This is a slow process which is why a reverse osmosis holding tank is required to store the pure water.

Are there any downsides to using a reverse osmosis (RO) water filter, I heard that reverse osmosis will remove everything from the water including beneficial minerals?

Yes RO will remove everything from the water, leaving you with pure water.

You will read on the internet that drinking pure water will result in mineral deficiency or that drinking pure water will “rob” the body of minerals, if you choose to believe this we can add a mineralising or alkalising cartridge as an extra stage to ensure that this does not occur.

As we are not medical experts, (even they have widely different opinions on this subject) we will not be able to give a definitive answer on this subject however it is worth noting that any organic minerals that you eat or drink are immediately broken down and used by the cells of your body. It is not possible for pure water to remove those minerals from the cells as they are well on their way to building more healthy cells. However inorganic minerals (contained in water) you eat and drink cannot be broken down and used by the cells of your body. The best way to get organic minerals into your body and cells is to juice fruits and vegetables, they contain all the minerals, nutrients and trace elements the body needs.

Also more importantly the tap water in Sydney does not contain a lot of beneficial minerals, for example if you live in an area supplied from the North Richmond water filtration plant, the levels of calcium in the water is at the very best 12.4 mg/l or at the lower end only 6mg/l. According to the Australian Government Website NHMRC, the recommended intake of calcium for an adult male is 1000 mg/l. So if we take the best case scenario that someone living in Richmond NSW is receiving 12.4 mg/l in their tap water then they would have to drink 8 litres per day to even reach 10% of that total, also the calcium in the water is inorganic which makes it impossible to be used effectively by your body. If you want to know the breakdown of the tap water in your area in Sydney please feel free to contact us.

In our opinion there is no need to use a re-mineraliser as an extra stage, it is simply water in its purest form that you will be drinking.

I heard that reverse osmosis will make the water acidic?

Yes RO water is acidic.

The reason that RO water is acidic is that it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, due to the fact that it is pure water – it does not have buffering capacity.

What we mean by that is that water that comes from your tap contains hundreds of different substances, chlorine, lead, chloramines, calcium hardness etc. RO water is as close to H2O as you would want to be. If we add baking soda to a glass of tap water and add the same amount to a glass of RO water we will see that it takes much more baking soda to bring the tap water to a pH of say 8 than it does to bring the RO water to that same pH.

Incidentally once the RO water enters your mouth, your body is already easily altering the pH balance of the water.

I heard that reverse osmosis wastes a lot of water is that true?

Yes RO systems waste a lot of water, which is why we have developed low waste systems. Our systems all run at a ratio of 1:1, every litre of water produced will result in a litre of water being flushed to drain. Most other system will run at a much higher ration maybe 4-8 litres of water being flushed to drain for every 1 litre of pure water produced.

I am still not convinced is there any other way to remove fluoride from the water?

Yes you can use a cartridge that will absorb the fluoride, followed by a quality carbon filtration cartridge. A twin water filter with the cartridges mentioned, will supply high quality drinking water without altering the pH, without removing any minerals and without wasting any water.

Why is this not the best water filter for me then?

The cartridges are expensive and there is no guaranteed fluoride removal figure, however the manufacturer has tested the cartridge to remove up to 97% of the fluoride, it is very dependent on flow, pH and temperature of the water passing through the filter.

In our opinion this system is a great choice if you cannot be convinced that RO water is for you due to the reasons previously mentioned.

What is the best water filter to use in Sydney that will leave the fluoride and other minerals in the water?

The best water filter that we have seen is the Coldstream made in UK ceramic cartridge.

This cartridge is simply the most effective all-rounder that we have seen.

It will not remove fluoride or minerals.

It will remove the following to 99% or above:

Chloramines

VOC’s Volatile Organic Contaminants – Tested to NSF 53

Pesticides Tested to – NSF 53

Trihalomethanes