Everyone knows that water is essential for life. But it should be purified and free of contaminants for you to drink it without causing a host of problems in your body. For households, the common method of water treatment is the use of a water filtration system. However, you can choose a number of filtration levels when choosing a water filter and people get confused on how many filtration stages they need to get safe-to-drink water. Let’s clear this confusion.

Key Water Filtration Stages

When it comes to water filtration and purification, the number of filtration stages is really important. There is a lot of information about it wherever you go. Some people say that 3 stages are the best for water filtration, some suggest 5, while some think that 10 stages are crucial for water filtration.

Well, the right number of water filtration stages depends on the water quality. If your water is already quite clean and it doesn’t need any external filtration, then a 1 or 2-stage filtration all you need. If the tap water or well water is not that clean, then you might need more, along with other treatment methods to make it potable and usable around the house.

So, here are some of the key water filtration stages that you do need.

Sediment Filtration

The first step of water filtration and an important one is sediment filtration. Whenever you screw open your tap or faucet, the water can have a lot of sediments in it, which doesn’t only make it murky, but almost impossible to drink. If that’s the issue which is common in well water but can also be in city water, then this might be a problem for you in the long run. So, you want to employ sediment filtration.

This is done by introducing a filter with your tap and securing it. The water coming through the taps will go through the filter and it will remove all kinds of sediments, suspended particles, and everything your water doesn’t need. This is crucial to make water potable and you only need to change the filter every so often, because it’s not going to work forever and for proper filtration, you need to change the filter cartridge regularly.

Large Filtration

Next is also a part of sediment filtration, but it is mostly the process of removing larger chunks of sediments in the water. This is either done before sediment filtration or simultaneously. The point is, that small particles aren’t the only things you need to look out for, you also need to take care of the larger bits in your water.

These can include algae, leaves, and other things that may be in the water and it is necessary to get them out before you drink it. So, there are also filters to remove them from the water although it can be done for you by the municipal water supply company. The only time when you’ll need to take care of this bit by yourself is when you have a water well or your independent water supply.

Things can fall into a well or the water reservoir, so it’s up to you to take care of this and get rid of the large particles and unwanted things in the water before you pass it through a sediment filter. It will only make everything go smoothly and it will ensure that you don’t run into any unwanted problems.

Reverse Osmosis Filtration

Next comes the reverse osmosis filtration and this is where the real magic happens. There are a lot of things in water that can’t be removed physically, so you need to employ other methods to ensure that the water doesn’t have any unwanted metals and other inorganic contaminants along with microbes like viruses and bacteria. This is where reverse osmosis comes in.

Since there aren’t any direct reverse osmosis filters available yet, you need to have a separate reverse osmosis plant to ensure that the water is 99.99% safe to drink. In the heart of an RO plant, a semipermeable membrane is used and it lets water pass through by filtering out contaminants. It leaves behind any microscopic impurities like metals, unknown and unwanted ions, and even dangerous toxins that can do a great deal of damage to your body.

So, you will get almost 100% pure water with this. The only thing that you need to look out for is to ensure that the water coming into the RO plant is sediment-free. You don’t want to feed unfiltered water into the RO plant otherwise that can cause a lot of problems. It can cause clogging and malfunctions in the reverse osmosis plant and that’s not what you want to deal with at all.

Post-RO Filtration

This step is optional, but it enhances the taste of water if you want to take it to the next level. Post-RO water filtration involves different processes to make the color and taste of water as clear and pronounced as possible.

This makes the water taste better and it is also a last check on the mineral and impurity count, just to ensure that everything is done perfectly and you’re ready to chug down the water. This is a crucial stage in a lot of water filtration processes.

Advanced Water Filtration Stages

Now that you know the key stages of water filtration, these next ones are optional but are necessary for those who don’t have the best quality of tap water in their houses and they need more steps of water filtration to ensure that the water is potable.

UV Light Filtration

UV light filtration is a process that is done to ensure that the water you’re going to drink is free from all kinds of bacteria and live organisms. There is a small light probe that is dipped into water or there are huge lights to which the water is exposed for a while and it gets rid of all kinds of bacteria and other microbes.

It makes the water safe for drinking and it is done to ensure that there aren’t any problems with the water that can cause diseases and disorders in the long run.

You may ask that if a reverse osmosis system also removes microbes, then why would we need UV light filtration? RO systems do remove microbes but they are not considered as good at this as UV light filters are.

Low-Pressure RO

Low-pressure reverse osmosis is the same as typical reverse osmosis, but it is more gentle and slower to ensure that the impurities are removed and the pressure isn’t too high to let the impurities flow in together with water or damage the semi-permeable membrane. It is done to remove those long-chain organic and inorganic volatile compounds that do a great deal of damage to the body if infested water is consumed.

Deionization

This is probably not something most people need in their household water filtration systems but it is a good stage nonetheless. When the water passes through all of these stages, there might still be trace quantities of total dissolved solids (TDS) in it.

To remove them, a deionization process is employed. It gets rid of the unwanted total dissolved solids and makes the water 100% safe and potable. This is employed mostly in industries and laboratories, to ensure water purity.

Conclusion

Water filtration sounds pretty easy, but it can be a bit confusing when you want to choose the perfect system for your home or facility. For choosing the right whole house water filtration Erie system, get your tap water or well water tested and then pick a water filtration system with the right number of filtration stages based on the report.