Extra nitrogen in our water is only a health concern in the form of nitrate. Nitrates restrict oxygen transport in our bloodstream. This restriction in oxygen can be very problematic for the elderly or for children under the age of four and especially infants. If you are an older American or if you have small children around, you should try to remove extra nitrates from your drinking water.
Nitrates are difficult to remove from water. You can use reverse osmosis for distillation. You can also use ion exchange resin. The water filters in our water ionizers have ion exchange resin to remove these nitrates.
Sodium chloride is also difficult to remove from water. Traditional filtration media like carbon is not enough. You also need reverse osmosis, distillation, or ion exchange resin to remove it.
Reverse osmosis is a water purification system that uses four or five filters, a tank, and a really small membrane. Intense pressure pushes the water through the filters and leaves it stripped of virtually everything that was once inside of it, including contaminants, oxygen, and minerals. The problem is water that has been stripped of everything becomes empty and acidic and is not good to drink long term.
A water distiller works by evaporating your tap water and recondensing it. The recondensed water is pure but has the same problem as the reverse osmosis water. It is empty, stagnant, and acidic. You don’t want to drink it long-term because it will break down your cells.
Ion exchange resin is the best approach because it removes difficult contaminants without also removing beneficial qualities of the water like minerals and oxygen. It also maintains the water’s natural pH.
Does winter weather affect drinking water quality? Yes! It increases sodium chloride and nitrates. Because of this, it is a good idea to get an at-home water testing kit to check for both nitrates and sodium chloride in the wintertime. If the levels are high, then you should consider getting an ion exchange filter like what you find in our water ionizers.
