Drinking water from the tap is common in Northern Europe. Compared to other countries, Northern Europe has clean drinking water. Nevertheless, we increasingly read that there is all kinds of contamination in our drinking water. Like medicine residues, pesticides, lead and microplastics. But how do you know if your drinking water is clean?
Dutch tap water meets high quality requirements. It is therefore safe to drink water from the tap. But whether the drinking water is also clean, that is another matter.
Water goes a long way before it comes out of our tap purified. Two thirds of the tap water in the Netherlands comes from the ground (groundwater), the rest is extracted from rivers and dunes (surface water). Water purification companies ensure that the water is purified and flows safely from the tap at your home. The groundwater and surface water come into contact with all kinds of (chemical) substances. After purification, small particles of these substances still remain in the water. Our water pipes can also cause pollution. Some pipes are made of lead (when built before 1960). These release harmful lead particles, which can affect our health.
Are you curious about how many dissolved solids there are in your tap water? Than make a TDS-measurement. TDS means Total Dissolved Solids, or the total amount of dissolved solids in the water. Using a TDS meter you measure this value, which can be contaminants as well as harmless substances such as lime and salts. The TDS value of tap water is different in every household. This depends on several factors. For example, where the water was extracted and what kind of water pipes you have in your house. Substances you can find in the water are, for example, lead, microplastics, chlorine, asbestos, fluoride and glyphosate.
It is important to filter the residual contamination from your water, so you can be sure that your drinking water is clean. ZeroWater can help you. The 5-stage filter purifies all dissolved substances from the water. The filter consists of:
The TDS measurement indicates a TDS of “000” when using the ZeroWater 5-stage filter. You do need to replace the filter after a while for optimal use. You will notice this automatically when the TDS value is at “006” when doing aTDS-measurement. It therefore depends on how much pollution is in the water how long you can filter with one ZeroWater filter. So regularly measure the TDS value of your water to always have clean drinking water.