Worried about your water? You’re not alone!

While New Zealand is a long way from some more industrialised nations when it comes to poor water quality and the health risks that carries, water quality is a growing concern for many of us.

From nitrate leaching in farming areas, to campylobacter outbreaks from infected water supplies and now the proposed “three waters” legislation, it feels like declining water quality, and what we can do about it, is always in the news.

In fact, in a recent study¹, Water New Zealand found that 89 per cent of Kiwis are concerned about drinking water quality in New Zealand.

On the one hand, it’s great that councils, government, industry sectors and agriculture are taking water quality seriously.

But large-scale changes take time, and will take effect at different rates depending on where in the country you live. That’s why many New Zealanders are looking at what they can do closer to home, to improve the quality of the water their families drink, wash in and use for cooking.

Broadly speaking, water purification solutions fall into two categories: whole-home and drinking water only.

Whole-home solutions are a very effective approach if you want every single tap, shower and outlet in your home to supply purified water. You can even reduce contaminants in the water you use to water your vegetable garden!

A more targeted approach, though, is to focus on the water your family drinks. Typically, we only use one tap in the house for drinking, so installing a quality under-bench drinking water filter can be a really efficient solution. Purified water usually tastes better too – which means your family will drink more of it. Win-win!

If you’re looking for the ultimate in under-bench water filtration, you might want to look at a reverse osmosis system. If you stayed awake during high school chemistry class, you’ll remember that osmosis is a process where a fluid passes through a membrane from an area of high concentration to low concentration.

Reverse osmosis flips that, taking water with a (relatively) high concentration of unwanted chemicals and other contaminants and moving it through a membrane to leave you with purified drinking water.

Until recently, reverse osmosis technology has only been found in high-end applications like food and beverage manufacture. In Antarctica, Scott Base even uses it to remove salt from seawater to create fresh drinking water!

Now you can give your family’s drinking water the same top-end treatment, with an under-bench reverse osmosis unit. Here’s why New Zealand homeowners are choosing a reverse osmosis drinking water purifier from HRV:

• More compact design – will fit easily on most kitchen benchtops
• Less waste – 1:1 water in / water out ratio avoids excessive water use
• Direct Flow technology – no tank to fill, no waiting for water flow
• Quality tap included – high-grade stainless steel construction
• Digital display – showing cartridge life and system status
• Designed to be seen – modern high tech aesthetic to look great in any kitchen

Water worries aren’t going away, and restoring New Zealand’s water quality is a big job that will take a long time. Tackling your own family’s drinking water quality is a step any homeowner can take, and a reverse osmosis unit could be a good solution.

Interested? The first step is to arrange an in-home consultation to give us an understanding of what you need from your water supply (including water testing if needed). RO is just one of the solutions we offer for homes, whether you’re on town, rainwater or bore supply – so get in touch today to find out what’s right for you.

1 Based on a 2017 study conducted by Water NZ. Source: https://www.waternz.org.nz/Attachment?Action=Download&Attachment_id=4358