6 Ways to Improve Your Drinking Water Quality
Ray’s Complete Plumbing, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and water professionals across North America are kicking off Drinking Water Week today with the theme:
“Your Water – To Know It Is To Love It”.
We’re celebrating by recognizing the vital role water plays in our daily lives. We’ll focus on ways in which water consumers, which includes all of us, can take personal responsibility in caring for our tap water and water infrastructure at home and in the community.
Let’s look at 6 ways you can improve the condition of your drinking water, starting in your own home.
1. Get the Lead Out.
Lead presents health concerns for people of all ages, particularly pregnant women, infants and young children. In children, low exposure levels have been linked to learning disabilities, behavioral problems and other issues.
Water leaving treatment plants and traveling through water mains is almost always lead-free. However, lead is sometimes present in pipes connecting older homes to the water system or in fixtures and home plumbing. As a licensed plumbing company, Ray’s can help you identify lead service lines and other materials such as lead fittings and solder. We can get rid of the lead in your plumbing system by installing PEX piping by Uponor, a lead-free, safe and reliable system.
2. Have Your Water Tested.
You can find out more about your water quality by having it tested by a certified laboratory. Regular water testing is especially important if you have a private well system. Water testing can reveal the presence of harmful pollutants like bacteria and chemicals in your water. Plus, a water test can diagnose other common issues like hardness, foul odors and bad tasting water.
3. Check for and Fix Leaks Inside and Outside Your Home.
We encourage you to quickly and efficiently fix leaks in and around your home to prevent water waste.
Here’s an easy way to test for leaks inside: shut off everything connected to water and inspect the home’s flow indicator on the water meter. If the indicator continues to move, even with everything off, there’s a leak somewhere in your home.
To check for a leaky toilet, place a few drops of food coloring in the holding tank and wait 15-20 minutes without flushing. There’s a leak if coloring appears in the bowl.
Also, be sure to check all faucets and under the sinks for dripping.
To check for leaks outside, inspect the lawn for wet spots or pools of water around spray heads. Brown or muddy spots would also indicate there is a leak in the irrigation system.
At Ray’s Complete Plumbing, we offer expert leak detection and repair services. Top-of-the-line ultrasonic leak detection technology helps our technicians pinpoint the leak’s location, making the repair process as non-intrusive (and cost effective) as possible. If you suspect that you have a leak, call us right away at (941) 203-2133.
4. Care for Your Pipes.
Many things can unnecessarily clog a home’s plumbing system. Specifically, “flushable” wipes, facial tissue, paper towels and medications should be thrown away in the trash and should not be flushed down the toilet. Also, you shouldn’t dump fats, oil and grease down the drain. Instead, throw them away in the trash.
Each year, these things clog pipes, back up systems and harm the environment when they aren’t disposed of properly.
5. Invest in a Drinking Water Filtration System.
When it comes to your drinking water, you don’t want to compromise on quality. Although the city water in in your area may meet all the guidelines of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the water coming out of your faucet may not. You may be exposed to harmful by-products produced during the chlorination water treatment process. Or, if you have well water, you may be exposed to harmful bacteria from farm animals, nitrates from fertilizers, pesticides, run-off from septic systems and contaminated water from manufacturing facilities, even if they’re located miles away.
You can have pure drinking water right at home with a Reverse Osmosis system. Enjoy all the health benefits of high quality water, along with tremendous savings (as well as environmental benefits) over bottled water.
6. Advocate for Investment in the Repair and Replacement of Local Water Infrastructure.
It’s critical that water infrastructure is maintained properly given that public health, economic vitality, fire protection and quality of life rely on it. However, much of the water infrastructure in North America needs to be repaired and replaced because of the length of time water pipes have been underground. Some pipes been buried for 75 to 100 years. The potential costs of infrastructure replacement surpass what many water utilities can pay, which means utilities must work together with rate-payers, government officials and other stakeholders to invest in water systems.
About Ray’s Complete Plumbing
Giving back and staying connected to the community is important to all of us at Ray’s Complete Plumbing. It is also crucial to us that we strive to be good citizens in our local communities. This commitment is fostered by our company’s leadership and promoted at all levels of our firm.
Since 1957, we offer residential and commercial plumbing services in Sarasota and Charlotte County. Our service area includes the cities of Punta Gorda, Englewood, Venice and the surrounding areas. In addition to 24/7 emergency plumbing service, we offer products and services like water heaters, repiping, leak detection and more.
About Drinking Water Week
For more than 35 years, AWWA and its members have celebrated Drinking Water Week, a unique opportunity for both water professionals and the communities they serve to join together in recognizing the vital role water plays in daily lives. Additional information about Drinking Water Week, including free materials for download and celebration ideas, is available on the Drinking Water Week webpage.
Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the world’s most important resource. With approximately 50,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.
