What Are The Differences Between Water Filtration And Water Purification?

Although water filtration and purification seem similar, there are several differences that Northern Utah homeowners should know about!

water filtration and water purification in Northern Utah homes

We all need clean water in order to be healthy, but the sad truth is that unfiltered and unpurified water is often full of impurities like sands and sediments. These types of contaminants are unfortunately found in Northern Utah’s municipal water supply too often, and homes with well systems frequently experience these contaminants as well.

Beehive Plumbing has supported countless homes and businesses throughout the Northern Utah region when it comes to installing and maintaining water filtration and purification systems, and we understand how filtration and purification are two similar plumbing terms that are often misunderstood.

So below we’ll be detailing the main differences between water filtration and water purification!

What Exactly Is Water Filtration?

Water filtration is the process in which fluids are effectively separated from solid matters via a filtering barrier mechanism. The general aim of water filtration is to ensure that a home’s water supply is free of any impurities.

So when water is properly filtered, it can appear to be a lot cleaner but can still have viruses and chemicals within it that aren’t safe for human consumption.

What Exactly Is Water Purification?

Water purification refers to the process in which toxic gases, harmful chemicals and other unwanted solids are removed from your home’s water supply. Many water purification systems will utilize state-of-the-art processes like de-ionization and reverse osmosis to ensure the safety of a property’s drinking water.

Main Differences Between Water Filtration & Water Purification

It’s sometimes hard for homeowners to understand the water filters and purifiers within today’s marketplace, and these terms are sometimes even used interchangeably when they really shouldn’t be.

Some of the main differences between water filtration and purification include:

Scope

Water filtration will usually utilize a physical barrier or biological process to eliminate water contaminants, which will go a long way to improve a water supply’s taste and color. Water filters do a great job at eliminating bacteria, and many homes will invest in a whole-house filter to effectively eliminate the buildup of sediments and other contaminants.

Water purification goes a step further within this same process to effectively remove the contaminants that most filtration systems don’t eliminate, including biological waste, chemicals, viruses, and other types of impurities. Purification can also effectively remove excess amounts of minerals from within a water supply as well.

Purpose

The main purpose of water filtration is to stop and prevent particulates from entering your home’s water system. The bad news about this method is that it sometimes can’t separate certain types of contaminants like chemicals that are already within the actual water molecules.

Water purification does focus on removing all of these harmful substances and particles from within the water molecules.

Process

The process associated with water filtration separates fluids from solid particles, and this occurs as water passes through a filtering barrier. These barriers are usually physical, but they can also be mechanical or biological.

The process associated with water purification is chemical and utilizes iodine or chlorine to effectively remove any unwanted particles from a water supply.

Methods

Filtration is one of the simplest water cleaning methods, and there are two main methods of water filtration. One is called sediment filtering, and it utilizes a polypropylene filter. The second filtration method is called centrifugal filtering, and it filters water by utilizing centrifugal force.

There are three main methods for water purification, including:

Reverse Osmosis
Deionization
Distillation

Reach Out To The Beehive Plumbing Water Specialists To Learn More About Our Water Filtration And Purification Systems!

Beehive Plumbing has helped many households and businesses throughout Northern Utah with improving their water supplies, and we’ll answer your questions and put you in the right direction towards a safe residential water system.