Four Benefits of Filtered Tap Water

You may think that your tap water is just fine. Or, you may be okay with buying several cases of water each week. However, there is a better, easier, less costly and more environmentally friendly way to ensure that you and your family will have safe, healthy, good-tasting water whenever you need it. You can upgrade your kitchen with a filtered water faucet system..

Why Filtered Tap Water Is the Best Water

Being able to enjoy clean, clear, filtered water straight from the tap offers quite a few advantages over other water-sourcing alternatives.

1. Better Taste—Some tap water flat-out fails the taste test. Often, the problems are geographical, regional. Naturally occurring mineral content in an area’s soil often affects the flavor of the water. In some areas, water may taste slightly salty or even bitter thanks to minerals like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium or hydrogen sulfide, for example. Other taste culprits can be chloramines, disinfectants often added to public drinking water systems. While they prevent many waterborne illnesses, they can also make water smell and taste of chlorine. Even the age and composition of the plumbing systems that water flows through can alter its taste. Leached metals like copper, iron, zinc and manganese may give water a metallic taste. Filtration systems chemically bond with these kinds of compounds to eliminate them, improving water taste.
   
2. Reduced Exposure to Contaminants—The Safe Drinking Water Act defines contaminants as “any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.”
   • Physical contaminants typically affect water’s appearance or consistency—soil sediment, organic matter or algae, for example.
   • Chemical contaminants can take a range of forms—from elements to compounds, naturally occurring to manmade. According to the EPA, common causes of chemical contamination include “nitrogen, bleach, salts, pesticides, metals, toxins produced by bacteria, and human or animal drugs.”
   • Biological contaminants are organisms—microbes or microbiological contaminants—like “bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasites,” for example.
   • Radiological contaminants are chemical elements that can emit ionizing radiation. Examples include uranium, plutonium and cesium.

While the Safe Drinking Water Act and Environmental Protection Agency regulate some contaminants, determining acceptable levels, they do not regulate all. The SDWA does require that public water system suppliers provide annual reports to their consumers detailing water quality. Note, however, that private wells serving fewer than 25 people are not subject to SDWA oversight. Ensuring water quality is up to the well’s owner. On a similar note, bottled or packaged water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration—not the SDWA.

Having your own water filtration system with select filters ensures that your water is as clean and safe as you want it to be.

3. Lower Long-Term Financial Costs—Not all bottled water delivers safe, quality water. Many of the higher-quality waters use better processing methods and are more costly. Regardless, bottled or bulk, packaged water carries with it the costs of the plastic bottles or containers used for packaging, the production costs of bottling the water, and the transportation costs of distributing the water—which is bulky and heavy—to local retailers. Researchers at Optimum Water Solutions have calculated that when we buy one 20-ounce bottle of water, we pay 2,279 times what we would to fill that same bottle from the tap. Water-filtering faucets let you collect those savings while delivering premium-quality water on demand all year long.
   
4. More Environmentally Responsible—Being able to pour filtered water straight from the tap can eliminate all of those thin, crinkly plastic water bottles that are filling up landfills, taking hundreds of years to decompose and polluting the environment with microplastics as they slowly deteriorate. Likewise, filtering water pitchers take up a lot of space in the refrigerator, eventually break or wear out, and go through anywhere from two to six filters a year—more if your water is hard. One filter for a sink filtration system can last a year, giving you gallon after gallon of water that you know is clean and pure.

Delicious, Healthy Water—Elkay Avado Single-Hole 2-in-1 Kitchen Faucet

If you want all of the health and taste benefits of clean, filtered water but also want the convenience of tap water plus the shine and glamour of a stylish kitchen faucet, the Elkay Avado Single-Hole 2-in-1 Kitchen Faucet makes a perfect candidate. Its size and flair are sure to please, and its functionality has been thoughtfully streamlined.

• The faucet and its filter are an all-in-one system. Everything you need is included. All you need to do is switch out the quick-change filter annually.
• The filter canister sits neatly beneath the sink in its holder, and a warning light at the faucet’s base reminds you to make the yearly change.
• Filtration is “certified to NSF standards to reduce lead and other contaminants for healthier and great-tasting water.”
  • The faucet is certified for NSF 61, specifying that all materials in contact with drinking water are safe, and NSF 372, certifying that it’s a lead-free product.
  • The filter is certified for NSF 42 and NSF 53. NSF 42 addresses chlorine, chloramines, iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, pH and zinc. NSF 53 addresses specific contaminants like asbestos, bacteria, cryptosporidium oocysts, radon, lead, mercury and volatile organic compounds.
• The design is simple yet graceful—a belling arc that stands about 17 inches high with a single control handle placed to one side of the column to allow one-hole installation. The faucet swivels 90 degrees to either side.
• To preserve the beauty of the faucet’s sleek belling flare, concealed design cleverly tucks the easy-access pull-down spray head inside the faucet.
• The pull-down spray head offers three spray settings—standard kitchen stream, powerful spray and filtered drinking water.
• The faucet has ceramic disc valves and comes in three durable finishes—chrome, lustrous steel and matte black.

The Elkay Avado Single-Hole 2-in-1 Kitchen Faucet lets you say farewell to clunky faucet filtration attachments, eco-unfriendly plastic bottles and worries about what might be hiding in the water from your tap. Instead, you can enjoy the ease and convenience of a beautiful faucet that does it all.

Where To Buy a Filtered Water Faucet

Installing a filtered water faucet may be one of the very best things you can do for yourself and your family. If you’d like to know more about the Elkay Avado Single-Hole 2-in-1 Kitchen Faucet or explore other water-filtering faucets, make Coburn’s your go-to resource. Stop by your nearest Coburn’s Kitchen & Bath Showroom location and let us help you find something you can feel really good about adding to your home.