How to Improve Your Home’s Water Quality

Have you ever thought about where your clean water comes from? If you’ve lived most of your life in a developed nation, you probably take that clean water for granted. That’s why August is National Water Quality Month to raise awareness of just how important – and endangered – clean water is. While all municipal water is treated, and home water filtration devices go the extra mile, sometimes the water in your home might not be as clean as you would want.
How can you keep your home’s water quality high?

Let’s meet the usual suspects. Major water pollutants are typically divided into four categories:

Industrial effluents make their way into the water system when companies accidentally spill or improperly dispose of their chemicals.
When local water treatment infrastructure is ignored, untreated sewage can mingle with clean water and pollute groundwater, too.
Agricultural runoff, like fertilizer, can travel from local waterways to the ocean, contributing to harmful phenomena like algal blooms.
Common household products that contain harmful chemicals, like pesticides, can harm local watersheds and seep into groundwater

If you’re wondering what you can do, we have a few tips.
Use Cold Water
Hot water straight from the faucet is more likely to contain pollutants like lead and pathogens. If you need hot water to drink or cook with, boil it first. Hot water can also release any harmful chemicals in plumbing systems. Which brings us to our next tip…
Check Your Plumbing
Many old pipes were made with lead, which can have devastating effects on health and negatively impact the development of children. Make sure your home is checked out, and any hazardous materials are replaced with pipes that contain less than 0.25% lead.
Flush Your Pipes
Letting your taps run for about two minutes will decrease the likelihood of consuming contaminants. When water isn’t used in your home (like when you go on vacation), water can stagnate, and its quality can go down. Flushing will clear this unclean water out and allow fresh water into your system. If you’d rather not run the tap, you can also flush your pipes by running your dishwasher or washing machine.
Regularly Clean Your Equipment
If you have home water filtration systems, aerators or any other water cleaning devices, make sure that they are cleaned or replaced according to manufacturers’ guidelines. If not, they can release the contaminants that they were meant to contain. This goes for your water heater, too. It should be drained at least once a year to eliminate any built-up pathogens, heavy metals and sediment. This will improve your water quality and your water pressure.
Reduce the Pollutants You Put into the World
On an individual level, there are several actions you can take that will keep you from contributing to water pollution. When taking care of your lawn, make sure the products you use don’t have harmful pesticides or other pollutants. Clean up after your pets since animal waste contains pathogens and chemicals that seep into the water system. And when you’re disposing of household chemicals, like antifreeze, expired prescription drugs and used oil, do so at appropriate facilities like a recycling center or service station – don’t pour them down the drain or flush them.
Consider a King Water Filtration System
Of course, just because you’re doing the right thing doesn’t mean you can count on others to do the same. To protect yourself, your family and your peace of mind, you can buy a King Water Filtration system for your home. King Water has filtration systems that will protect your family from common pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, pharmaceutical residuals and many more. Our filtration systems range from under-the-sink units to bigger units that will filter water for all faucets.
Whether you use municipal systems or well water, we’ve got you covered. And with no filters to change, no materials to add and a 10-year limited warranty, it’s one less thing to worry about.

As another National Water Quality Month passes by, we hope that you can use some of the tips we’ve passed along to improve your home’s water quality. Clean, high-quality water is essential, and we at King Water Filtration want to support consumers in their pursuit of clean water for themselves and their families.