Acidity (pH Balance)
Source: Chemistry.about.comAlthough the pH of pure water is 7, drinking water and natural water exhibits a pH range because it contains dissolved minerals and gases. Surface waters typically range from pH 6.5 to 8.5 while groundwater ranges from pH 6 to 8.5. Water with a pH less than 6.5 is considered acidic. This water typically is corrosive and soft. It may contain metal ions, such as copper, iron, lead, manganese and zinc. The metal ions may be toxic, may produce a metallic taste, and can stain fixtures and fabrics. The low pH can damage metal pipes and fixtures.
Water with a pH higher than 8.5 is considered basic or alkaline. This water often is hard water, containing ions that can form scale deposits in pipes and contribute an alkali taste.
Products that Balance pH
Pentek Inline pH Stabilizers Well Water Acid Neutralizing Systems Corosex MediaArsenic
(Source: nsf.org)Arsenic can be found in water in two different forms:
- Pentavalent Arsenic (also known as Arsenic 5, Arsenic V, or Arsenate)
- Trivalent Arsenic (also known as Arsenic 3, Arsenic III, or Arsenite)
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Under Sink Water Filters Countertop Water Filters Whole House Water Filters Everpure Systems and Cartridges Carbon Block Cartridges Granular Activated Carbon Cartridges Aries Filter Works Arsenic Removal Cartridges
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units – Health Effects
Overview: Standard 53 addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 58: Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Treatment Systems
Overview: This standard was developed for point-of-use (POU) reverse osmosis (RO) treatment systems. These systems typically consist of a pre-filter, RO membrane, and post-filter. Standard 58 includes contaminant reduction claims commonly treated using RO, including fluoride, hexavalent and trivalent chromium, total dissolved solids, nitrates, etc. that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 62: Drinking Water Distillation Systems
Overview: Standard 62 covers distillation systems designed to reduce specific contaminants, including total arsenic, chromium, mercury, nitrate/nitrite, and microorganisms from public and private water supplies.
Bacteria & Viruses
Water suppliers use disinfectants, like chlorine, to destroy pathogens (disease-causing organisms) from drinking water. However some pathogens are highly resistant to standard disinfection methods (such as Cryptosporidium).
Filtration has a high effectiveness in removing Cryptosporidium when using an absolute less than or equal to 1 micron filter (NSF Standard 53 or 58 rated “cyst reduction / removal” filter).
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units
Overview: Standard 53 addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 58: Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Treatment Systems
Overview: This standard was developed for point-of-use (POU) reverse osmosis (RO) treatment systems. These systems typically consist of a pre-filter, RO membrane, and post-filter. Standard 58 includes contaminant reduction claims commonly treated using RO, including fluoride, hexavalent and trivalent chromium, total dissolved solids, nitrates, etc. that may be present in public or private drinking water.
Products that Remove or Kill Bacteria
Ultraviolet Purification Systems Doulton Ceramic Filters Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Under Sink Water Filters Countertop Water Filters Whole House Water Filters Everpure Systems and CartridgesChloramines
Systems and cartridges containing activated carbon are able to remove the odor and taste caused by chlorine and chloramines, due to it being extremely porous by having a large surface area. Chloramine removal cartridges provides greater chloramine performance capacities than granular activated carbon.
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 42: Drinking Water Treatment Units – Aesthetic Effects
Overview: This standard covers point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants (chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates) that may be present in public or private drinking water.
Products that Reduce or Remove Chloramines
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Chloramine Removal CartridgesChlorine
Systems and cartridges containing activated carbon are able to remove the odor and taste caused by chlorine and chloramines, due to it being extremely porous by having a large surface area. Carbon block cartridges, granular activated carbon cartridges, Aries Filter Works cartridges, countertop, Everpure, and whole house systems, shower head filters and some of our filtration medias & resins.
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 42: Drinking Water Treatment Units – Aesthetic Effects
Overview: This standard covers point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants (chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates) that may be present in public or private drinking water.
Products that Reduce or Remove Chlorine
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Under Sink Water Filters Countertop Water Filters Whole House Water Filters Shower Head Filters Everpure Systems and Cartridges Carbon Block Cartridges Granular Activated Carbon CartridgesFluoride
Most systems with carbon block cartridges, granular activated carbon cartridges, and thin film composite membranes will reduce fluoride levels in drinking water, like countertop, reverse osmosis, under sink, and most Everpure systems.
Aries Filter Works Fluoride reduction cartridges contain Resintech SIR-900, in which fluoride is removed by a chemical reaction with the media. The process is flow and pH sensitive. The best results are obtained when the flow is limited to about l GPM/cu.ft. and the pH is held at 5.5. Higher flows and higher or lower pH causes a significant loss of capacity. The best capacity obtainable is approximately 0.2 lbs. per cu.ft. Leakage of fluoride is generally less than 0.1 mg./L to breakthrough.
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units – Health Effects
Overview: Standard 53 addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 58: Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Treatment Systems
Overview: This standard was developed for point-of-use (POU) reverse osmosis (RO) treatment systems. These systems typically consist of a pre-filter, RO membrane, and post-filter. Standard 58 includes contaminant reduction claims commonly treated using RO, including fluoride, hexavalent and trivalent chromium, total dissolved solids, nitrates, etc. that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 62: Drinking Water Distillation Systems
Overview: Standard 62 covers distillation systems designed to reduce specific contaminants, including total arsenic, chromium, mercury, nitrate/nitrite, and microorganisms from public and private water supplies.
Products that Reduce or Remove Fluoride
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Under Sink Water Filters Countertop Water Filters Whole House Water Filters Everpure Systems and Cartridges Carbon Block Cartridges Granular Activated Carbon Cartridges Aries Filter Works Fluoride Reduction CartridgesIron
Iron poses no health hazards but can but can cause water to have an unaesthetic, reddish brown color and can cause staining. Well water systems using Filox and Polyphosphate cartridges can remove excess amounts of iron from water. Water softener systems can reduce iron (excluding dissolved organic-iron compounds) to low levels by ion exchange. Aries Filter Works also has cartridges specifically for the removal of heavy metals and also cartrides containing KDF85, which is used for the reomval of iron and sulfur from water.
Products that Reduce or Remove Iron
Filox Well Water Systems (Removal) Water Softeners (Reduction) Aries KDF85 / GAC Cartridges (Removal) Aries Heavy Metal Removal CartridgesLead
Lead has been mined and used by humans for thousands of years and was only recently discovered in the last few decades. Lead can accumulate in the body’s soft tissue and bones and cause poisoning, disrupt body processes, and is toxic to many internal organs. Symptoms of lead poisoning are irritability, confusion, headaches, abdominal pain and comas, seizures & even death in extreme cases.
“ There is no known safe level of exposure to lead.”
Infants and small children are at greater risk due to being constantly developing and higher absorption from a smaller body mass. Lead is particularly damaging to the nervous system, which can cause learning and behavior disorders. Pregnant mothers with high blood lead content may cause poisoning in infants, and are more likely to have a low birth weight or premature birth.
Products that Reduce or Remove Lead
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Everpure Systems and Cartridges Aries Filter Works Cartridges KDF FiltersMercury
Boiling your water will not remove mercury from it. Most systems with thin film composite membranes or filters containing KDF media will reduce mercury levels in drinking water, like reverse osmosis, under sink, and most Everpure systems. There is also specialty cartridges and filters made to complete remove mercury from drinking water, the types we carry are listed below.
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units – Health Effects
Overview: Standard 53 addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 58: Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Treatment Systems
Overview: This standard was developed for point-of-use (POU) reverse osmosis (RO) treatment systems. These systems typically consist of a pre-filter, RO membrane, and post-filter. Standard 58 includes contaminant reduction claims commonly treated using RO, including fluoride, hexavalent and trivalent chromium, total dissolved solids, nitrates, etc. that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 62: Drinking Water Distillation Systems
Overview: Standard 62 covers distillation systems designed to reduce specific contaminants, including total arsenic, chromium, mercury, nitrate/nitrite, and microorganisms from public and private water supplies.
Products that Remove Mercury
Reverse Osmosis Systems Everpure Systems and Cartridges Aries Filter Works Cartridges Inline Filters KDF FiltersNitrites
Reverse osmosis systems can remove nitrites from water with a thin-film membrane, a process known as ion exchange.
Reverse Osmosis Systems
From NSF.org
NSF/ANSI Standard 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units – Health Effects
Overview: Standard 53 addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 58: Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Treatment Systems
Overview: This standard was developed for point-of-use (POU) reverse osmosis (RO) treatment systems. These systems typically consist of a pre-filter, RO membrane, and post-filter. Standard 58 includes contaminant reduction claims commonly treated using RO, including fluoride, hexavalent and trivalent chromium, total dissolved solids, nitrates, etc. that may be present in public or private drinking water.
NSF/ANSI Standard 62: Drinking Water Distillation Systems
Overview: Standard 62 covers distillation systems designed to reduce specific contaminants, including total arsenic, chromium, mercury, nitrate/nitrite, and microorganisms from public and private water supplies.
Sand & Sediment
Sediment is the most common problem in water filtration, so almost all of the water filtration systems we offer has a filter or stage to deal with it. Sediment cartridges come in several types (pleated, melt blown, string wound and high temperature) and, like their name suggests, remove sediment from water.
Products that Remove Sediment
Reverse Osmosis Systems Under Sink Systems Countertop Systems Gravity Filter Systems Everpure Systems Whole House Systems Commercial Filtration SystemsOther Contaminants
There are many other types of contaminants that can be found in water supplies. Reverse osmosis systems remove a wide range of these contaminants in water and the cartridges in each stage can be changed to customize what it filters out.
Contact our office at 1-800-955-8561 for more information on removal of a specific contaminant.
Contaminants & Health Effects Contaminants Removed by Reverse Osmosis
A boil-water advisory or boil-water order is a public health advisory or directive given by government or health authorities to consumers when a community’s drinking water is, or could be, contaminated by pathogens.
Learn how to make an emergency water filter for disaster situations out of some common items.
This method does work and can keep you heathly if clean potable water or a manufactured water filter system are unobtainable.
The Hydrologic Cycle (also called the Water Cycle) is the continuous movement of water in the air, on the surface of and below the Earth.
This cycle is the exchange of energy which influences climate. When water condenses, it releases energy and warms the environment.
90% of the garbage floating in the Earth’s oceans is plastic and less than 5% of all plastic is recycled.
The patch mostly consists of pelagic plastics, formed from plastic bags, plastic water bottles, bottle caps and styrofoam.
Hydraulic fracturing (sometimes referred to as fracking or hydrofracking) is a relatively new form of natural gas extraction.
The fluids used in the fracking process flow back to the surface, often entering the water table or polluting the drilling area, and sometimes improper disposal of waste water from the wells.
As our technology advances, so do new forms of pollution and contaminants that effect our environment and our health.
Read more about drinking water contaminants and their health effects.
Chlorine has long been recognized as an oxidative agent, meaning that it not only kills the germs in the water supply; it will damage any living tissue with which it comes in contact. And your skin, like the rest of your organs, is living tissue. But that’s not the only problem.
Since the discovery of its health benefits in the mid-1940’s, fluoride is often added to the public water supplies of industrialized countries in order to reduce the populations tooth decay, which is especially effective in low income communities, where good dental hygiene may be too costly.
Chromium-6 was found in the drinking water supply of the southern California town of Hinkley and brought to national attention by Erin Brockovich.
The EPA is reviewing effects of Chromium-6 after a recent report brought to light dangerous levels in a number of major US cities.
Giardia is a flagellated protozoan parasite that colonizes and reproduces in the small intestines of humans and other animals, which can cause giardiasis.
Symptoms of Giardiasis usually show after 3 to 4 days, and include gastrointestinal and constitutional problems.
Cryptosporidiosis is a disease caused by the parasite Cryptosporidium parvum.
Since a outbreak in 1993 in Wisconson, new attention has been focused on determining and reducing the risk for Cryptosporidiosis from community and municipal water supplies.
What is reverse osmosis? What is a 4-Stage system? What are the components in a system? Visit our ‘How Reverse Osmosis Works‘ guide to find the answers.
Also see out list of contaminants RO removes and comparison chart for particle sizes to learn more about reverse osmosis.
What is ultraviolet light? Do I need to filter the water before the UV process? How exactly can light kill organisms?
Visit our ‘How Ultraviolet Purification Works‘ guide to find out how it works.
The typical water softener is a mechanical appliance that’s plumbed into your home’s water supply system. All water softeners use the same operating principle: They trade the minerals for something else, in most cases sodium. The process is called ion exchange. More…
Step by step instructions on installing replacement cartridges and sanitizing filter housings. It is highly recommended that you clean and sanitize your system once a year.
Need help installing your new RO system, how to perform maintenance, or how often to change your cartridges?
View our printable Reverse Osmosis Installation Guide to learn more.
Step by step instructions on making a connection with Quick-Connect fittings. Quick-connect fittings allow you to connect and disconnect tubing without the need of tools. For larger, plumbing size fittings read our using twist lock guide.
Step by step instructions on making a connection with Twist and Lock fittings. Twist-Lock fittings allow you to connect and disconnect tubing without the need of tools.
Step by step instructions on making a connection with SharkBite Push-To-Connect fittings. SharkBite fittings allow you to connect and disconnect pipes without the need of using PVC glue or welding copper.
Need to filter water but not sure about the differences between or applications of our systems?
Use our Water Filter Systems Guide to find out which system is best for your filtration needs.
Need to replace your system’s cartridges but not sure what type is best for your system?
View our Cartridge Replacement Guide or contact us to find out what you need.
View a chart comparing the specifications of all the reverse osmosis systems we sell on this site. All bladder tanks are NSF certified.
The size of your water softener depeneds on the total grain per day that need to be removed.
This is determined by the number of people in your household, grain per gallon (GPG) hardness and the amount of Iron present in the water.
A micron is a unit of measurement for how small of particles a filter will catch. The lower the micron size, the tinier the ‘holes’ in the filter cartridge are that allows water to pass through, ranging from 0.1 absolute to 150 microns.
Use our Pore Size Efficiency Guide to find out what micron size to use.
Pleated sediment cartridges remove dirt, rust and sediment from water while providing an increased surface area and longer life. Pleated filters down to 5 microns are washable and reusable.
Use our Pleated Sediment Cartridge Comparison to find the filter cartridge you need.
Aquariums need three types of filtration to maintain a healthy environment for freshwater, saltwater or amphibian aquariums (sediment filtration, carbon filtration, and removal of biological contaminants).
When traveling around the state or the country in a RV you might not always know where you will be getting the water from or what might be in it. Water that is stored in a RV holding tank will not stay potable for long and can become a breeding ground for algae and bacteria.
Chemicals added to public water supplies, like chlorine, can be harmful to the living cells of plants.
When brewing beer with tap or bottled water, chlorine and chloramine present in the water can combine with malt phenols in the wort to create a compound called chlorophenol, which can give the beer a medicinal taste.
View our Filtered Water for Home Beer Brewing guide.
Bottled water requires a lot of resources to manufacture and ship, and costs a lot more than reverse osmosis water.
Use our Bottled Water Cost Calculator to find out how much of an impact you have on the environment.
