877-780-8260

What Are Your Water Resolutions?

The new year is a great opportunity to improve your home. And setting water resolutions is a perfect place to start!
Posted in Bottle-Free Coolers, Culligan Nation, Culligan Solutions, Drinking Water, Drinking Water System, Reverse Osmosis, Sustainability, Water Filtration System, Water Softener
New Years Hat with Resolutions Inside
Get a jump start on your new year's water resolutions! Schedule your free water test from your local Culligan water expert today.
FREE WATER TEST
Whether you want to drink more water, exercise more frequently or provide your family with softer, cleaner water, Culligan water has solutions to help you meet all of your water resolutions.
So how can you determine what your water resolutions should be? Scheduling your home's water test is a great place to start.

Get Your Water Tested

Whether your water comes from a well or a municipal supply, it's important to get it tested every year. Because the more you know about your home's water quality, the better and more informed choices you can make!

Why should we monitor water quality?

Monitoring drinking water is necessary for our health and safety. The quality of your home's water impacts taste, cleanliness and even softness. The United States has one of the safest water supplies in the world. But drinking water can still contain a variety of contaminants.
Drinking water standards are set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And these standards apply to more than 90 contaminants commonly found in drinking water. Such as lead, nitrates, bacteria and iron.
While there are 90 different contaminants, there are two specific categories. A contaminant category is based on the type of health effects it may cause.
Monitoring the quality of drinking water reduces the risk of exposure to contaminants causing acute or chronic effects.

Municipal Water Quality Monitoring

The EPA sets quality standards for municipal drinking water supplies. Which includes regulations for contaminant limits, water-testing schedules and treatment methods for water systems to follow. This helps the EPA ensure public water supplies are safe in the United States.
The federal government oversees the EPA, but each state has power over its drinking water as well. Because of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). In 1974, Congress passed this law giving states the authority to set and enforce their own drinking water standards. As long as those standards abide by the federal EPA requirements.
Each local water supplier runs a test for the SDWA once a year. And every community water supplier is required to provide those annual results in a report to its consumers.

Private Well Monitoring

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 15 million United States homes rely on private wells for drinking water. But unlike public (municipal) water supplies, the SDWA does not regulate these wells.
Because of this, owners are not required in most jurisdictions to test their water. But that does not mean private wells should go unchecked. In fact, your private well should be tested annually. Both at the tap and the source.
And if your well is shallow, it requires more frequent testing. Because shallow wells are more susceptible to contamination.
Local health departments can assist in selecting the right tests to check your drinking water quality.
Your local Culligan expert is also equipped to test well water if you have concerns.

Water Resolution #1: Improve Your Drinking Water Quality

If one of your water resolutions is to improve your home's drinking water quality in 2021, a Culligan Reverse Osmosis System is a great place to start!

Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water

Harmful contaminants can present themselves in well water or municipal water. So no matter where your water comes from, filtration may be necessary. What type of filtration significantly reduces contaminants? Reverse osmosis.
So, let's learn more. How does it really work?
In order to understand reverse osmosis, it's important to first understand the process of osmosis.

What is osmosis?

Osmosis is the passage of a solvent, like water, from a low-concentration solution to a high-concentration solution. The two solutions are separated by a semipermeable membrane. This membrane allows solvent from the less concentrated solution to pass through to the more concentrated one. Thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane.
When both solutions become equal in concentration, the flow finally stops. This process is classified as passive transport. As it does not need energy in order to be applied.

So what is reverse osmosis?

Unlike osmosis, reverse osmosis requires an external force to complete the transport. Which means that pressure is a key part of the reverse osmosis process.
As the name implies, reverse osmosis is the opposite process of osmosis. And instead of balancing the two solutions out, external forces of pressure reverse the natural flow.
Because contaminant molecules are larger than water molecules, only water passes through. Therefore, trapping contaminants in the semipermeable membrane.
So the more pressure applied to contaminated water, the more effective the reverse osmosis process becomes.
To give you an idea of the membrane's filtration power, the diameter of one human hair is about 100 microns wide. But in a Culligan reverse osmosis system, the spaces in the membrane are approximately one micron wide.

What are the steps of reverse osmosis filtration?

In thinking about the reverse osmosis treatment process, we can break it down into four different steps.
Although brands may vary slightly, most reverse osmosis systems perform this way. The four steps include pre-filtration, reverse osmosis, drainage and storage.
First, pressurized water moves through a particle filter. This reduces impurities like salt, sand and sediment.
Next, the water passes through an activated carbon filter. Which reduces and traps minerals and contaminants. Like chlorine, mercury, copper and pesticides. These first two phases are called pre-filtration.
Following pre-filtration, pressurized water is forced through the semipermeable membrane. Here the smallest impurities become trapped. And only water passes through. This is the reverse osmosis stage.
Finally, in the discharge stage, the removed contaminants are flushed away. And the treated water moves into a storage tank.
Before the treated water reaches a faucet, it undergoes one final activated-carbon filtration to improve taste and quality for household use.

How does reverse osmosis filtration compare to other methods?

Since we now understand the reverse osmosis process, let's compare it to other filtration methods.
Many different filtration methods are available to homeowners. Some popular options include refrigerator filters, faucet filters and pitcher filters. While all of these can help with the taste and smell of water, few will reduce the hardest to detect, and most dangerous, contaminants.
But, a reverse osmosis filtration system reduces contaminants that others may miss. With its advanced technology, it also requires little maintenance.
To conclude, if one of your water resolutions is to improve drinking water quality in your home, you can't go wrong with a reverse osmosis system - especially one from Culligan water.

Water Resolution #2: Provide Your Family With Softer Water

If reducing the hardness of your home's water is on your water resolutions list, a Culligan water Softener will provide your family with soft water all year long!

Water Softener

The best way to treat and eliminate hard water problems is with a water softener. And Culligan offers many home water softening systems.
But what does a water softener do and how does it improve your home's water?
To answer that question we need to learn more about soft water.

What is Soft Water?

Soft water contains few or no dissolved minerals. Such as calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese. However simple that definition may be, the technology behind it is a bit more technical.
Water softening involves a process called ion exchange. Which reduces dissolved minerals that a filter won't catch. Basically, hard ions like calcium and magnesium exchange with sodium or potassium (salt) ions.
Water softeners use a resin tank where water runs through a bed of beads covered with sodium or potassium ions. As the water flows through the beads, the hard ions trade places with the softer ones, eliminating impurities in the water.
As water continues to undergo softening, the resin beads become exhausted over time. Therefore requiring regeneration. To regenerate or recharge the resin beads, you need to add salt to the softener's brine tank.

Benefits of Soft Water

Regardless of which water softener you choose, the benefits of soft water are numerous. By reducing the hardness of your home's water, you can:
  • Use less soap when bathing, laundering and cleaning, since soft water increases soap lather.
  • Reduce sticky soap residue and film on skin, hair, clothes and dishes.
  • Significantly decrease scale buildup in plumbing and appliances, ensuring efficient operation and increasing their lifespans.
  • Lower energy consumption and costs by improving water flow in your pipes and reducing scale buildup in water heaters.
  • Eliminate mineral-derived odors in your home.
  • Make household cleaning and maintenance easier and more cost-effective.
Now that we understand how to combat hard water problems, we're sure you will be able to cross this off your water resolutions list.

Water Resolution #3: Make More Sustainable Water Choices

Another water resolution is finding more sustainable drinking water and conditioning options for your home.
Let's start by exploring a more eco-friendly drinking water solution.

Culligan Bottleless Water Coolers

Culligan bottleless water coolers attach to your existing water supply. And run the water through advanced filters, reducing impurities and contaminants.
The filtered water is then stored in an internal storage tank. So you'll have plenty of great-tasting drinking water on hand whenever you need it.
Culligan water coolers offer a variety of temperature options, giving you cold, warm or hot water with just the push of a button.
Additionally, bottleless coolers are easy to use and maintain, because there aren't any water bottles to store or replace.
With bottleless water coolers, you'll never have to make space for extra bottles or worry about running out of water again. The virtually unlimited supply from a bottleless water cooler rids your home or workplace of plastic bottle waste. Which means fewer bottles in our landfills and oceans.
Now that we've covered a more sustainable drinking water option, are there other solutions to condition your home's water while saving salt and energy?
That's where the Culligan Salt-Free Conditioner comes in.

Culligan Salt-Free Water Conditioner

A salt-free water conditioner is an alternative technology to traditional ion-exchange water softeners. Which means unlike water softeners, salt-free conditioners will not remove hardness minerals from the water.
Because it doesn't use salt like traditional water softeners, it can be a great alternative to traditional water softening if you live in a brine-restricted area, or want to explore different treatment solutions.
Instead, a salt-free conditioner transforms the magnesium and calcium chemically, so that they do not cling to surfaces.
Because the hard water minerals are not actually captured by a salt-free water system, there is no need for salt or a regeneration cycle to purge the minerals.
Ultimately, salt-free water conditioners are not actually softening water. Rather, they are conditioning it.
Now that we have a better understanding of how salt-free water conditioning works. Let's talk about the benefits a salt-free water conditioner how it will help complete your water resolution.

Benefits of a Salt-Free Water Conditioner

The Culligan Salt-Free Water Conditioner can improve your home's water in a variety of ways. With a salt-free water conditioner you can:
  • Enjoy cost-savings on hot water bills and repairs. With this low-maintenance system, you will also eliminate the need to purchase salt, schedule repairs or use additional electricity.
  • Use less electricity and water. By neutralizing contaminants, rather than removing them, you won't have any wastewater. Therefore, it reduces your carbon footprint.
  • Reduce limescale to help your water-using appliances run more efficiently. It additionally makes for more effortless cleaning.
  • When combined with a carbon filter, give better-tasting drinking water to your whole family by reducing unpleasant odors and tastes associated with excess chlorine.

Conclusion

At Culligan water, we want 2021 to be the year you focus on achieving your new year's water resolutions. So whether you've decided to improve your home's drinking water quality, provide your family with softer water, or invest in more sustainable water solutions, your local water expert can help!