Price Comparison - General Water Treatment Alternatives
There are two major factors involved when comparing
prices among the three modes of water purification. First, one
must consider the energy needed to clean and filter water. Reverse
osmosis, with its dependence upon high pressure to subvert the
normal flow of water, requires an energy source and is fairly
costly. Distillation, with its dependence upon heat to vaporize
ground and surface water, also requires an energy source. Though
solar power remains an option for the required heat of distillation,
it is still fairly inefficient and impractical. Carbon and multimedia
water filters, whether installed at the point of waters entry
in a house or at a tap, do not require any added energy source.
Water flows just as it normally would; it is merely diverted
through the filter. The higher electricity costs of reverse
osmosis and distillation systems double the total cost of the
purified water product which carbon and multimedia
filters produce.
The second consideration one must take into account is the wastewater-to-purified
water ratio. Both reverse osmosis and distillation systems are
extremely wasteful and inefficient. They use large quantities
of water to create a very small amount of purified water. Typically
with these systems, 75-80% of the water is discarded with the
contaminants. In a time when fresh water is scarce throughout
the planet, these statistics are simply unacceptable. Carbon
water filters waste very little of the water that flows through
their systems. Due to the unique chemical
and physical processes of the filtration method, only the
contaminants are left behind on the filter cartridge.
When electricity use, wasted water, and replacement costs are
factored into the equation, water filters generally cost about
$100 less per year than reverse osmosis and distillation to
generate the same amount of purified drinking water.
Previous Page
Next page |
|
 |
|