There is a growing concern, even in the so called civilized world, about Water distributed to citizens' homes by municipal services all over the world.

Scientists and Researchers alike advise that, because of increasing global population and accelerating Climate Changes, due to human activities disregardful of the environment, a major water supply crisis is to be expected.

Independent and authoritative confirmation of these assertions can be found online from several sources.

Besides that, Water Quality is at risk in many locations. A Google search of this term will produce a large number of alarming news and articles pointing to the dangers to health.

Many people turned to Bottled Water hoping to have solved the problem once and for all. Unfortunately this is far from true. It is now clear that, because of lack of accepted  standards, bottled water is often not better than tap water.

Its quality may be much worse if the plastic bottles are left to degrade in sunlight for a long time.

Furthermore the discarded empty plastic bottles pose a costly threat to the environment for the pollution they generate.

There is a whole industry thriving on the misconceptions that made possible the enormous waste connected with the consumption of this not needed but much requested commodity.

The promotional campaigns of that rich industry tend to perpetuate the dependence of innocent people on the bottled water illusion of better and safer supply.

Different technologies are proposed to improve tap water quality by performing at the point of use a purification treatment to the vital liquid flowing in the city piping.

One should know better the action of such purifiers because, while the removal of contaminants is performed with similar results by different techniques, the individual substances removed may be different, so that certain devices may deplete essential minerals from the final product.

Involved parties view often the quality produced as more or less acceptable for public health, depending on their vested interests.

Because of the contrasting opinions moving around, it would be advisable that inquisitive people who care for their family health, research independently the issues as far as possible, by looking into official and authoritative documents and reports.

It is recommended to look for a reliable and trusted supplier of water purification systems, by asking questions and by verifying testimonials and customer satisfaction.

Sooner or later, if we think seriously about the benefits of installing Home Water Purifiers we will have to compare actual offers. Of course we know that suitable devices are needed for protecting the health of our household as we read in selected official references.

We have to look at advertised commercial products and try to make up our minds as to which specific type is preferable.

It would help if we could follow a logic Guideline, an acceptable method capable of advising us how to see clearly into the important issues.

Here I would like to do just that: in this article you will find how to first establish the important items to compare and then how to do this in practice.

We should first agree that we are not talking here about grossly contaminated water supply like that we would find anywhere far from civilization. In that case we would need a sure method for purifying a minimum quantity of water for sustenance for a limited time.

No, we are talking about the quality of plenty of water supply from city distribution systems. We want to improve upon that by removing bad taste and harmful contaminants that we know or suspect are present at the tap.

Typical in this respect is the presence of chlorine, a chemical added on purpose to water systems for removing the dangers of attacks from microorganisms, microbial pathogens, biological agents, germs and bacteria that could infect human beings and spread illness.

It should be understood that the killed agents remain in the water reaching the tap, together with the chemicals and other contaminants that where not removed.

The treated water may then be suitable for human consumption and not dangerous in the short term to healthy adults, although its effects in the long term are deemed risky for young children, pregnant women and elderly people by many professional authorities

On three of the purification methods listed I would like to add my comment, why I think they are not quite useful for Home application.

Distillation, entailing water boiling and condensation, is an energy intensive procedure producing pure distilled water that lacks minerals and good taste.

Reverse Osmosis requires energy to operate. The worst result however is that the system wastes a lot of water as a byproduct to be discarded, because it now contains the excess contaminants removed from the purified fraction.

Ultra Violet Disinfection, kills bacteria and microorganisms, but has no effect on minerals, heavy metals and chemicals.

Therefore it seems to me that the acceptable Water Purifiers left are those based on multiple level filters that get the job done satisfactorily if the water is not unduly charged with dangerous microorganisms.

Having done the first selection, how can one now look at more specific terms of comparison? They remain essentially performance and additional cost per unit of volume of treated water.

The last important thing to check, is the trustworthiness of the suppliers. I believe that by comparing water purifiers offers with the above subjects in mind one has a good chance of homing on good products. I hope readers will agree and find the above guidelines useful.

First reason is for your Health, you owe this to yourself. The connection between water quality and health was demonstrated time and again by medical professionals and these conclusions can easily be found online.

The bad effects take time to build, but once the damage is done it is almost impossible to undo. We learnt elsewhere, from reliable official sources, how dangerous to Health the tap water flowing in our houses can be.

Second reason for the Health of your loved ones. You owe this to the young children and babies in your household. They are much more sensitive than healthy mature people to inferior water quality.

And they drink more water than adults, relative to their body weight, so that the risk to their health is larger. A similar reasoning applies to aging persons as well, if any are around.

Third for the other uses besides drinking, like cooking (soups, juice, coffee, tea etc.), bathing and showering that, if satisfied with bad water, also risk to worsen the well being of all affected.

Fourth for the bad taste. Why in the world should you agree to be sentenced to accept whatever bad taste water the municipality runs in their old and filthy pipe lines, when you can with a simple device upgrade many times over the taste, confidence and safety of one of the most essential factors of your life.

Fifth for saving all the useless cost of purchasing bottled water. That is
if you are caught in the trap that only bottled water is worth being drunk.
This opinion has been demonstrated to be questionable at least, in the majority of cases.

In a year time that needless expense sums up to quite a hefty amount. You could find more satisfying uses for that money, don't you?
Not to mention the environmental pollution generated by the mass of empty plastic bottles you will have to throw away.

Sixth for the comfort. Once your device is installed, you are free from all worries. You will have to change a filter once in a while, sure, not a big deal if you consider the advantage of profiting from the unlimited supply of all the water you may need, now pure and healthy.

Seventh for the convenience. It is reported that the additional cost of purifying home water amounts to less than ten cents a gallon. You may wish to check the estimates if you doubt their accuracy but that seems a reasonable figure. Not bad, if you think of the benefits you enjoy when you take your decision.

Depending on the specific home purifier water system you select there may be additional compelling reasons to convince you of the wisdom of your choice.

These are the money back guarantee the supplier may be ready to grant if you are not satisfied. Or the Warranty for Life, that some suppliers are ready to give, at certain conditions.

Or the customer support service, should you ever need help. Or a phone service to answer your questions and doubts, if you feel that only a specialist would satisfy your curiosity.

In short there are so many good reasons for seriously considering installing a Home Water Purifier that it would be a pity and a waste to hang on: do it now!

You may be willing to entertain a group of kids letting them happily mess around (in summer) with wet stuff in a scientific project aimed at showing them how to clarify a jar of dirty water, using a few household implements.

Another thing is making by yourself an appliance you can depend on for supplying to your home all the safe and healthy drinking water you may need. Even if you are a handy person who enjoys building useful things, you should refrain from engaging in such a demanding task.

One should admit that when Health is in cause nobody should be allowed to take risks by improvising something one cannot trust because it is not backed by scientific principles and suitable checks.

It is certainly possible to send the treated water to chemical analysis and to bacteriological control, but then the advantage of having built economically a reliable gadget is probably lost, and even in the best case there is no assurance as to the length of time it will last in serviceable condition.

If you think that it will be cheaper to buy on the market replacement filters and to make around them the economic system you dream of, then you may be in for some surprise. It simply makes no economic sense, as the cost of all the spares needed, for any assembled manufactured item, is always higher than that of the complete implement.

Even if you could put your hands on a good manual explaining step by step how to make the perfect home water purifier system, you would still miss a lot of knowledge and of practical experience that the most reliable suppliers have built in house along years of activity and testing.

Apart from all information you will be missing when you laboriously put together the elements you believe are needed for an effective water filter and purifier, you will still lack in the end two things that we generally take for granted. I mean Customer support and a long time warranty of good service.

Don't dismiss these as useless amenities, they are at the base of the trust we wish to acknowledge to our supplier, but in this case we cannot award it to ourselves.

You are encouraged to learn why and how good drinking water contributes to good health and well being. It is OK if you want to improve your expertise in the kinds of contaminants likely to be found in your tap water. You are welcome to get informed on the best provisions to remove each of them. You may wish to know how the analysis of good drinking water should look like.

But after all that, don't take it personally, you are reminded that building an effective Home Water Purifier System is beyond the capabilities of the average person.

With all the knowledge and expertise you gained in exploring the subject
you are now in the best position to look independently for the commercial devices from trusted suppliers that you believe will meet your needs at the most convenient conditions.

You will be praised for your wisdom if you take action promptly.

What do you think of Reverse Osmosis? Not much, probably, at least until somebody proposes you a reverse osmosis water filter for your home.

At that time we would like to step in, for a friendly warning that possibly it would not be in your best interest to accept all that hype as crystal clear truth.

It is proper to remind that among the different methods used for purifying water for drinking and personal consumption, reverse osmosis is mentioned as one of the available options.

It is a separation process that uses pressure to force a solution through a semi permeable membrane with a very fine pore structure, whose function is to retain the contaminants on one side and to allow the purified solvent, in this case water, to pass to the other side.

In fact, while it may be effective for some industrial processes that need  demineralized water, reverse osmosis is far from ideal for home water purification systems.

Although there is an ongoing debate over the healthfulness of demineralized water as compared to filtered water that includes healthy minerals, it seems safe to argue that naturally balanced drinking water provides all the needed ingredients for human well-being and is therefore healthier.

The size of the pores of the membranes used in reverse osmosis are such that permit removing contaminants based on their molecular size. Any synthetic chemicals like herbicides and pesticides molecularly smaller than water cannot be removed by reverse osmosis.

Therefore, to be effective, any reverse osmosis system must be followed by a carbon filter and possibly by an ultra-violet lamp for disinfection (killing) of any microbes that might escape the membrane barrier.

The portion of water enriched in contaminants (twice to three times the quantity of purified water obtained) has to be discarded at a non negligible expense.
Given the present and future global concerns for sufficient availability of freshwater supply, this may quickly become an unacceptable waste.

One thing is to return to the sea that portion of discarded water from a desalination onshore plant, another is to throw down the drain all the quantity of remaining water you pay for but is unsuitable for drinking (unless you collect it separately for toilet flushing, car washing and, within limits, for gardening).

Don't forget that, being the process slow, you need a tank to collect the purified product until usage time.

In addition to that, the substantial cost of energy used to pressurize the contaminated water and the necessary maintenance and replacement costs bring the estimates of such processing, per unit volume of treated water, to more than twice that needed for alternative filtering systems.

That is in brief why it is recommended to be ware of superlative praises for reverse osmosis water filters for home installation and to consider more suitable alternatives instead.