While we generally have a very high standard of water quality here in Australia, it does have some shortcomings and it’s not hard to see that owning a personal water filtration system is a strong if not essential need to help make our water a bit safer and a whole lot tastier. Our municipal water systems can and do face regular challenges including heavy metal contamination and pathogen outbreaks, particularly during droughts, bushfires and floods. Safe drinking water from our taps is rarely in question even during these times, but a personal water filtration system provides extra peace of mind as well as improving the taste, particularly when it comes to chlorine.

One advantage we have when it comes to filtering water is that water molecules are very small, made up of just 3 atoms: two hydrogen and one oxygen, which is smaller than viruses and much smaller than bacteria and most contaminants. That means we can send the water through screens to catch larger particles and microorganisms. However, if we just sent all of our water straight into a very fine grade of filter, it would quickly clog up and become useless. So instead we start out with a larger grade of filter and slowly reduce it down until we’re as close as possible to only allowing water molecules to pass through. If we also make our screens out of different materials, we can also take advantage of ion charges and other chemical reactions to cause undesirable particles to stick to them and get left behind.

In the case of the EZEK systems, in the first stage, tap water goes through a Polypropylene (PP) filter to remove any larger particles like dirt and rust. The second stage is a finer grade granular activated carbon (GAC) filter which is constructed by heating coconut shells to turn them to carbon and then crushing them into granules. These target chlorine and other chemicals including heavy metals and volatile organic compounds. The final stage is a very fine grade of filter called EM-Medium which targets microorganisms, which includes potential pathogens. EM-Medium is a technology developed for recycling water in space programs.

Some of the advantages of an EZEK system include:

  • Easy to install. The EZ-AQUA 250B 3-stage benchtop system can be installed by almost anyone in just a few minutes. The EZ-AQUA 250BU 3-stage undersink version is a little more complex but can be done by most people handy with a few tools.
  • Removes heavy metals, chemicals, VOCs and microorganisms while retaining beneficial minerals.
  • Doesn’t require power to operate.
  • Doesn’t produce waste water.

In comparison to a 5 stage reverse osmosis system like our Alya and Clean Pure RO systems we find a similar progression. The first and second stages are also PP and granular activated carbon filter cartridges. Then in the third stage the water passes through a second carbon filter which ensures that any chemicals and volatile organic compounds that escaped the second stage are stopped to further remove odour and bad taste. In the fourth stage, the reverse osmosis membrane further filters out dissolved particles, microscopic organisms, bacteria and viruses before storing the water in a holding tank. The reason for that holding tank is because the reverse osmosis membrane is a very fine grade of filter and it takes time to push the water through it, so to reduce waiting at the tap when filtered water is required, the process goes on in the background and stores the filtered water at the ready in the tank. In the final stage, the water from the tank travels through a post-RO carbon filter as an extra level of protection before reaching the tap. Demineralised water can taste a bit flat to some people so this filter is sometimes called a polisher because it tends to add a little crispness back into the taste.

One decision we need to make when choosing a home water filtration system is how pure do we actually want our water? When we filter out the bad stuff we also filter out the good. Do we compromise by filtering out most of it so that we still retain most of those healthy minerals and while still getting the less healthy stuff down to a minimum? 3 stage filter systems like the EZ-AQUA 250B and 250BU fall into this category, and they do very good jobs at filtering out most contaminants including microorganisms. Or, do we go with a reverse osmosis which will get rid of almost everything and we then add the minerals we want back into it, or get them from other sources such as our diet or supplements?

If you have trouble deciding, please call our friendly staff today for a chat at (02) 8840 5177, or email us at sales@ilanwater.com.au.