Water Treatment Guide

For residents of Metro Vancouver... don’t waste your money and your health on water treatment that doesn’t match Vancouver’s unique water conditions. Choose a water treatment system that effectively targets the contaminants coming out of your tap. Here is some background information that will help you make smart choices when buying water filtration equipment.

Eleven of the most frequently asked questions about tap water in Metro Vancouver.

Although garden hose filters can be very effective at removing
unwanted chemicals from tap water, most garden hoses are made
of vinyl which is NOT a material suitable for delivering potable water
for human consumption. Also, the brass fittings on garden hoses
are unlikely to be lead-free...

There are numerous methods for removing contaminants from water. Each method has strengths and limitations. So, it is best to know…
a.  what needs to be removed from the water coming out of your tap
b.  which method(s) will get that job done
c.  how frequently your filters will need to be replaced or.... 

Learn here how to sterilize shungite and prepare your first batch of shungite-infused water, how to use the shungite water and care for your shungite chips or pebbles.

As it became clear that we can no longer count on Berkey for reliable replacement elements, we started searching for new filters so that you, and our many existing Berkey customers, can continue to use your Berkey system, with confidence.

Like many of you, we have enjoyed using a Berkey for filtering our drinking water for many years. However, over the past year and a half, Watermatters™ has received increasingly frequent reports of Black Berkey replacement elements that produce relentlessly cloudy water...

PFAS are a group of persistent manmade chemicals that are gaining a lot of attention. They are virtually everywhere. Our lifestyles have been intertwined with the use of these chemicals since the 1940’s. They have been used for manufacturing everyday products such as household cleaning products, protective coatings for textiles, stain-resistant carpeting, firefighting foams, cosmetics, non-stick cookware, personal care products and even dental floss… to make it glide better....

Chlorine, chloramine (chlorine plus ammonia) and ozone are the most commonly used chemicals for disinfecting municipal tap water. These disinfectants are powerful oxidizing agents that react with organic material present in the water to which they have been applied. These reactions cause the formation of more than 700 new chemical compounds called disinfection byproducts (DBPs) many of which are know to be toxic. Only 9 of these are currently regulated. 

When chlorine is added to water it reacts with organic matter present in the water resulting in the formation of hundreds of chemical compounds called chlorination byproducts. Although these byproducts are not yet well understood, they are known to be toxic. Only 9 of them are regulated... 

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are a group of 4 chemical compounds that form in water disinfected with chlorine. They are known to be toxic but are not yet well understood by science. Of over 700 known chemicals that result from adding disinfectant to water, only 9 are currently regulated...