Water filtration system recommendations [solved]
I'm trying to get my parents a good water filtration system for their home. They live in Mexico so the quality of the water might not be as good as in the US. They have to buy bottled water every week and so I would like to get at least the same quality.
There seems to be 3 types of water filtration processes (UV, reverse osmosis, carbon filter) and from what I've gathered the best is to use the 3 of them if one wants good quality. What systems would you recommend, when I search online I mainly get websites of companies advertising their products so I'm interested in knowing more of what you have to say about this. Ideally I would like to find the type of product(s) I want to get them and then start to look for them in Mexico or, if some of the parts are not too big, ship them to Mexico from here.
A 5-stage reverse osmosis / UV filter will likely give you the results you want. This will filter out heavy metals as well as viruses and bacteria.
Downsides:
- Cost (~$400, plus consumables)
- Maintenance (new filters every 3-6 months, new UV lamps / membranes periodically)
- Waste water (Every gallon of purified water produces at least 3 gallons of waste water)
After installing, I would definitely send a sample of the filtered water off to a lab to verify that it is potable.
The "best" system does not exist. It all depends on what is in the water, and what you need to remove from it.
For example, UV can kill bugs in the water. But it won't remove pesticide contaminants, nor will it remove hardness or iron. And I recall that iron in the water can make a UV system less effective. Iron will also potentially cause problems with a reverse osmosis system. So you arguably want to know what is in the water that must be removed in order for the system to work well.
All of this is why you may need several components in sequence to clean the water up.
Budget DIY Water Filter ~ Under $35 ~ Preparedness
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