What exactly do Water Filters do to your water, and do you really need one at home?
Use only High Quality NSA-certified Contaminant-removing Water Filters.
Be sure to use a High Quality Contaminant-removing Water filter, and change your filters on the recommended schedule.
CNA Insider
Water that can give you better digestion, improved hydration, and even help prevent cancer… These are just some of the benefits that water filters promise to give you, but are they everything they claim to be? What exactly do they do to your water, and do you really need one at home?
Through a series of tests, Talking Point host Steven Chia goes in search of answers to find out if filtered water can truly be healthier, cleaner and safer than what we get straight from the tap.
Watch more #TalkingPoint: • Talking Point | F… About the show: Talking Point investigates a current issue or event, offering different perspectives to local stories and revealing how it all affects you.
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Video Transcript:
0:13[Music]
0:15so sales of water filter systems in
0:16singapore have been climbing steadily
0:18over the years
0:19with one company even reporting a 100
0:22increase in unit sales year on year
0:25be perfectly honest i’m actually fine
0:27drinking tap water my wife we first
0:29filtered water
0:30we got this under the sink system which
0:34i believe cost about a thousand dollars
0:36now that’s a whole lot of money
0:38so in this episode of talking point i
0:40want to find out if we
0:42really need these water filters
0:47i’m starting my investigation with
0:49joysly
0:50who is the founder of kampung sinha an
0:53eco-conscious charity
0:55which promotes the use of natural
0:56remedies for health and wellness
0:59joyce has been using water filters from
1:01as early as 1999
1:04when she used charcoal sticks like these
1:07to purify her water
1:09it can accept many impurities
1:12including bacteria so this was how
1:15it all started just using at least that
1:18is how we started
1:19nowadays we have very modern technology
1:22filter
1:23i can show you yeah yeah yeah this
1:25wasted
1:27ah here is the system all right the
1:30filter
1:31is actually here yeah eight filters here
1:35yes wow okay what does it do
1:38the first four are reverse osmosis so
1:41using the basic ingredient
1:43white chakra to remove all the impurity
1:46or the chlorine
1:47fluoride heavy metals and the last fall
1:51is to add back the good thing the
1:52essential minerals
1:54like magnesium calcium zinc
1:57and do you really think this is
1:59beneficial for our body
2:01the senior they find that they do not
2:03have to go to
2:04toilets so often although they can drink
2:07more water
2:08are you saying the water is um well yes
2:12some of them they slim down some of them
2:14with diabetes they also improve
2:16so how much does a system like that cost
2:19about 2
2:20700 and do you feel that that is worth
2:22the money
2:23to me i look upon it as a responsibility
2:27to our beneficiaries because the people
2:30who come to us
2:31are either chronically ill or they are
2:33seniors
2:34who are physically weak and even if you
2:36had to pay for it on your own at home
2:38would you feel that this is worth yes i
2:41i
2:41i do pay for it because it’s important
2:44to have good water
2:45to take good care of our health water
2:48that is cleaner and healthier
2:50that is what some people believe these
2:52water filters bring us
2:54i’m going to put these claims to the
2:56test
2:57and i’m starting right here with joyce’s
2:59center
3:01i’m taking two different samples from
3:03her center
3:04regular tap water and filtered water
3:07and bringing them to the lab for testing
3:10i want to know if filtered water truly
3:12has higher levels of essential minerals
3:14like calcium and zinc
3:16and lower levels of chlorine and
3:17fluoride which some fields has promised
3:20to remove from our tap water
3:24before the results are out i’m tracking
3:26singapore’s water journey
3:28tap water comes to us at the turn of a
3:30faucet
3:32but it often travels a long way to get
3:35there
3:35[Music]
3:37from our water treatment plants water
3:39enters a network of portable water
3:41distribution pipes
3:43five thousand seven hundred kilometers
3:45long
3:46to our homes and industries
3:50while some buildings are served directly
3:52by pub water mains
3:54others like this hdb block are served by
3:57rooftop storage tanks
3:59where water is pumped up
4:03before flowing by gravity to our homes
4:05[Music]
4:09so how is our water kept clean
4:12throughout the entire process
4:16to find out i’ve arranged to meet liu
4:18shenyu he’s responsible for ensuring
4:20water quality
4:21throughout our distribution network so
4:24why are we here at this fire hydrant
4:26flying hydrants like this are not just
4:27used to draw water for firefighting
4:30pub also uses these hydrants to collect
4:32water samples from our extensive
4:34underground pipe network oh
4:35water quality monitoring do you want to
4:37help me take a sample yeah sure let’s go
4:39for it
4:45oh there we go okay
4:48so this is just regular tap water right
4:51yes this is regular tub also
4:52this is the look of it all right we got
4:55our tempo
4:56we also routinely inspect more than 80
4:59000 water tanks on 20 000 buildings
5:01across the island
5:02come let me show you okay let’s go
5:11oh wow what a view it is quite a view
5:15so this whole patch that we’re on is
5:16actually the water tank
5:18that’s right we’re standing right on top
5:19of the water segment so what are we
5:20checking for up here
5:22over here we want to check that the tank
5:24cover is properly
5:25locked we also want to ensure that
5:27there’s a stainless steel bracket
5:29to properly secure the tank cover are we
5:31able to open it
5:32yup okay oh
5:36looks a bit like a swimming pool in
5:37there it is
5:39pub takes samples from each step of the
5:41water journey
5:42from the source to our taps in order to
5:45ensure that water remains clean
5:47throughout the samples are then taken to
5:50its water quality lab where they are
5:52tested for over
5:53300 parameters including ph color and
5:57ammonia
6:00singapore’s tap water is recognized
6:02internationally to be one of the
6:03cleanest in the world
6:05but why do many still seem obsessed with
6:08even
6:08cleaner more purified water i’ll soon
6:12find out
6:13if filtered water is indeed cleaner
6:16so you tested both tapped and filtered
6:18water what do the results tell you
6:34i’m investigating the need for water
6:36filters i’ve send water samples from
6:38eagle conscious charity kampung sunung
6:40to a lab for testing
6:42i want to know if filters can really add
6:45more minerals
6:46and reduce the amount of chlorine and
6:48fluoride in our drinking water
6:51the results are out
6:53[Music]
6:54so you tested both tap and filtered
6:56water what do the results tell you
6:58let’s first look at chlorine and
7:00fluoride okay as these are the two
7:02chemicals
7:03of concern which the filter promises to
7:05remove for chlorine
7:07you can see that the concentration has
7:09actually remained
7:10the same it is 0.1 milligram per liters
7:13so there’s no significant decrease in
7:15the concentration
7:17but if you were to look at fluoride we
7:18do see a decrease from 0.5
7:21to 0.1 so the reverse osmosis filter did
7:24remove
7:25fluoride from the water itself but the
7:27permissible level
7:28for fluoride in our water is actually
7:320.7 milligrams per liter right so as
7:34long as you do not go above that
7:36it is safe some people believe that the
7:38filter will actually
7:40add more minerals into the water is that
7:42true
7:43if we were to look at the results
7:45between the tap and filter
7:47magnesium level only went up by one
7:49milligram per liters
7:51and if you look at zinc basically
7:53there’s no change to the concentration
7:55and for calcium there’s actually a
7:57decrease
7:58from 30 milligrams per liter to almost
8:01uh one milligram per liter
8:03so if we were to add all three minerals
8:06up that we are observing
8:07in our report it’s actually a drop in
8:10overall mineral contents so in other
8:13words this filter is actually removing
8:14more minerals from the water instead of
8:17adding minerals into the water you’re
8:18correct
8:20so water filters may be able to remove
8:23fluoride from your water
8:24if that’s what you’re concerned about
8:26but if you are looking at adding
8:28minerals
8:29into your water well filters may not
8:32necessarily
8:32live up to their claims but yet there
8:36are so many varieties of water filters
8:38in the market these days
8:43let’s see i’m just doing a bit of online
8:46shopping
8:47and i’m finding they have a truly
8:48dizzying array of water filters
8:50available on the market
8:51you’ve got your relatively simple ones
8:54those are cloth filters that cost about
8:5630 cents a piece
8:57there are also water filter pitches now
9:00those go between
9:0130 to 100 and then you’ve got your
9:05faucet filters which attach to your tap
9:07was a price between 50 to 200
9:10but ooh look at this they’ve got the
9:12more fancy counter top systems
9:14those can cost as much as 3 500
9:18but with so much to choose from and they
9:20all have terms like activated
9:22carbon ion exchange and alkaline ionizer
9:26i really have no idea what they all mean
9:31so today i’ve enlisted quark chenco to
9:34help me break it all down
9:36chenco runs a blog called water quality
9:38in singapore
9:40and he has a special interest in water
9:42filters
9:43you know there’s so many different types
9:45of water filters out there
9:47what’s the difference between them there
9:48are two block categories okay
9:50one group remove contaminants from the
9:52water
9:53the other group actually modify your
9:55water or add something into your water
9:58there are two common kinds of filters
10:00which claim to modify water
10:02ion exchange filters and alkaline
10:05filters
10:06chenco is going to show me what really
10:08goes on in each of these filters
10:11so what’s this one that we’re looking at
10:13this one that you are looking at
10:14is an ion exchange filter it acts like a
10:17water softener
10:18imagine your hot water going into the
10:21filter
10:21and what makes water hard well basically
10:25if you have calcium and magnesium ions
10:27inside your water
10:28it contributes to the hardness so hard
10:31water has more
10:32of this the calcium and magnesium yes
10:35that’s right all right how does it work
10:37imagine this part here is your water
10:39filter
10:40and the yellow magnets are your iron
10:41exchange resins okay
10:43hot water goes in from the top and this
10:46is
10:47calcium it gets
10:51captured by the iron exchange resin
10:53releasing
10:54some of the hydrogen ions into your
10:57outlet water so eventually most of
11:01your calcium and magnesium ions will be
11:04captured by the
11:06iron exchange resin and out comes salt
11:08water
11:09the lack of calcium and magnesium ions
11:11make the water soft
11:13softer water is often desired by coffee
11:15enthusiasts
11:16because the lack of minerals can prevent
11:19limescale buildup from clogging your
11:20coffee machine
11:22some also believe that using softer
11:24water can brew a more flavorful cup of
11:26tea
11:31now over here we have what we call
11:34electrolysis
11:35it’s basically used to produce alkaline
11:37water you need an electric current to go
11:39through your water
11:40and split it and in the process it
11:42produces hydraulic water
11:44if you can see one of these electrodes
11:46has a lot of bubbles coming out
11:48where alkaline water is produced if i
11:51put this into my electrolyzer here
11:55you can see a deeper green which
11:57indicates
11:58alkaline water according to the color oh
12:00yeah
12:01so it is converting the water in there
12:04by running a current through it yes and
12:06alkali water is also
12:08supposed to be beneficial for us yes a
12:11lot of people do believe it’s more
12:12beneficial it’s healthier
12:14nyx is the other kind of filter that is
12:17designed to remove
12:18contaminants from water the activated
12:20carbon filter
12:22activated carbon is a very common
12:24component in a lot of filters
12:27chenko proceeds to pour some blue dyed
12:29water through a coffee filter
12:30lined with activated carbon that’s the
12:33black powder you see there
12:36you can see the water dripping up now as
12:38blue that’s right
12:40so essentially this carbon is absorbing
12:42the blue dye
12:44yes and imagine the blue dye is your
12:46contaminant in the water
12:47that is what your activated carbon is
12:49doing it’s removing certain pollutants
12:51for example
12:52sovereign chlorine and certain
12:55chemicals it can’t remove bacteria
12:57unless it’s specially designed to do
12:59something
13:00okay for people who are out there
13:01looking for water filter
13:03what should they be looking out for
13:04first point they must
13:06already know what they want to remove
13:08from their water
13:09or modify their water for example are
13:12they going to remove chlorine
13:13and fluoride if that is the case they
13:16should look for a water filter that can
13:17handle that particular task second point
13:21a water filter which is certified by a
13:23third party
13:24not related to any of these
13:26manufacturers or retailers
13:28my third point for consumers is to think
13:30about how often you need to change your
13:32filters
13:33now the problem is this filters over
13:35time can
13:36actually allow bacteria to grow within
13:38them
13:39and of particular concern will be the
13:41activated carbon because
13:43it absorbs organic matter which actually
13:46serves as food for bacteria
13:48so we are talking about bacteria growing
13:50on your filter
13:51and coming up into your water which you
13:54are drinking
13:55right so if you don’t change it
13:56regularly it’s like the clean water
13:58going in
13:58getting mixed up with all the bacteria
14:00and then coming out into your cup
14:02yes which is even worse right yes that’s
14:04right
14:05could bacteria really grow in overdue
14:08filters and leak into the filtered water
14:10i need to find out i’m collecting two
14:13samples each
14:14from five different households who drink
14:16filtered water including my own
14:19the filters are all multi-stage filters
14:21which contain
14:22different types of filter medium but
14:25they all have
14:26one thing in common they all contain
14:29activated carbon the one thing that
14:31chenco has warned me about
14:34i’m sending my samples to the lab for
14:36another test
14:38in that particular filter there is an
14:40additional opportunity for the bacteria
14:42to regrow
14:58i’ve just found out that if we don’t
15:00change our water filters regularly
15:02bacteria can accumulate in them and
15:05contaminate our filtered water
15:07[Music]
15:10so i gather water samples from five
15:12different households who use water
15:14filters
15:14including my own i’ve taken two samples
15:18each from these households
15:20one a filtered water and one of regular
15:23tap water
15:26i’m sending the samples to the lab for
15:28testing today
15:30i want to know how effective water
15:33filters
15:34really are in our homes
15:38as we’re waiting for the results i
15:40investigate one more thing
15:43water filter and alkaline water
15:45companies alike
15:46advertise a laundry list of health
15:48claims from improved gastrointestinal
15:51health
15:52to detoxification improve skin condition
15:56better blood circulation and even
15:59preventing cancer
16:01i know water is the essence of life but
16:05can all this really be true
16:09to find out i’m consulting dr lyong lai
16:11ping
16:13dr leong is a food scientist she’s been
16:16looking into some of the claims
16:17companies have made
16:18ever since she took on a part-time job
16:21selling water filters
16:22when she was still a student so dr leung
16:25i have here
16:26a bunch of health claims that all these
16:29water
16:29treatment companies say they are water
16:32can do for you
16:33from helping your body detox even
16:35improve my gastrointestinal health
16:38is that true according to the claims
16:40some of them said because it is
16:42alkaline water it helps to neutralize
16:45the
16:45acid the acid in the stomach but the
16:48thing is that
16:48the acid is there to help with digestion
16:52if you neutralize it it doesn’t digest
16:54as well anymore right
16:55there’s no reason why anybody want to
16:57neutralize the acid in their stomach
17:04okay let me ask you about this it says
17:06it can help my body absorb
17:08water better because the water molecules
17:10are smaller
17:11now the water molecules doesn’t change
17:14in size whether they go through the
17:15filter or not it’s still the same size
17:17water is water there shouldn’t be any
17:20difference at all between
17:21filtered water or normal tap water it
17:24will
17:24both help you to hydrate
17:31what about this claim that it can help
17:33prevent cancer
17:35well there are actually no evidence that
17:38it can prevent
17:39cancer no evidence whatsoever
17:46any group of people that would benefit
17:48from drinking these treated water
17:50so there are some water treatment system
17:52that is able
17:53to get rid of some germs so people
17:57undergoing cancer treatment for example
17:59or people who are immunocompromised
18:01who are very vulnerable that’s a benefit
18:04if they take this water that can filter
18:07away the microorganisms
18:08that they wanted filtered away
18:11[Music]
18:12so it turns out that the claims are more
18:15often than not
18:16just persuasive marketing gimmicks but
18:19while it might not give me better
18:21digestion
18:22or prevent me from getting cancer it
18:24should at the very least
18:26ensure that my water is free from
18:28dangerous bacteria
18:29right
18:33it’s been a week since i dropped off my
18:35water samples at the lab for testing
18:38and the results are out i’ve also
18:42invited the households i took the
18:43samples from
18:48[Music]
18:50turns out the bacteria account for tap
18:52water taken from four of the households
18:54were all under 500 some as low as
18:58less than one a bacteria count of 500 is
19:01the safe limit imposed by the singapore
19:03food agency
19:05but when it came to filtered water from
19:07these four households
19:09three of them had bacteria counts that
19:11were between
19:129 000 to a whopping 25
19:15400 but one household bugged the trend
19:20household 5’s tap water had a bacteria
19:22count of thirteen thousand
19:24six hundred it’s filled with water a
19:26bacterial count
19:27of less than one dr guillaume drillet
19:30spearheaded this test
19:32he’s going to help us make sense of the
19:34numbers
19:36there are reason to explain why you
19:38could have regrowth of bacteria in the
19:39different
19:40filters my number is about 25 000
19:43which is like a lot more yeah that
19:46sounds pretty high
19:47was your filter changed recently or
19:50it’s changed one month past the supposed
19:54so you have used it longer than what the
19:56manufacturers recommends right
19:58okay okay that could explain the high
20:00factorial count
20:01so the longer you keep your filter
20:03running the higher probability that you
20:05will have a regrowth of bacteria
20:07so it’s very important to follow the
20:08schedule proposed by the manufacturers
20:10but even then so i actually did just
20:13change my filter
20:14about a month ago i would have thought
20:16there should be well almost no bacteria
20:18since it’s almost
20:19a brand new filter right so bacteria are
20:21regrow very fast
20:22so as soon you have nutrients and
20:24surface to regrow you will have
20:25development of a biofilm
20:27so if you look at it this way having a
20:29filter add one more step
20:32after the water you receive from the tap
20:34and in that particular filter there is
20:36an additional
20:37basically opportunity for the bacteria
20:39to regrow
20:42so even when the filters are not past
20:44their due date for replacement
20:46they could still be introducing higher
20:48bacteria accounts into unfiltered water
20:52so is this bacteria harmful for us yes
20:55and no
20:56not all bacteria are bad there are some
20:58good bacteria if you drink probiotics
20:59you will ingest a lot more bacteria than
21:01that
21:02so it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad
21:03it means that you have an increase of
21:05bacteria meaning potentially there could
21:07be some pathogenic bacteria regrowing in
21:09your filter
21:10if you don’t have a control of this it
21:12could be a problem so
21:13in the filter we may be collecting
21:15bacteria both good
21:16and bad and we just don’t know which one
21:18and you can’t control it
21:20and this is why technically the water
21:22from pob
21:24is safer because there is a control here
21:26so the water you receive
21:27at the tap has been treated by the
21:29public utility boards
21:31and contain chlorine to forbid regrowth
21:34the filter may remove some of this
21:35chlorine
21:36and act as a place where the bacteria
21:38can actually start regrowing
21:40but wendy has some unusual results
21:43wendy is from household five where our
21:46tests show that the level of bacteria
21:47for her tap water
21:49was shockingly at a count of 13 600
21:53compared to her filtered water which had
21:55a bacteria count
21:56of less than one the question to ask
22:00here is what could have created those
22:03higher presence of bacteria directly
22:05from the tap right
22:06so you may consider that the the filter
22:09here has done the job
22:10but for for me i will take this results
22:13with a
22:14cautious step and maybe start
22:18investigating to find out where the
22:19source of the issue in that case could
22:21be
22:22knowing these results will you still
22:24continue using your water filter
22:26i would say yes because the water filter
22:29makes my water taste a bit better but
22:30definitely i would
22:32change my filter on time and also boil
22:35the water
22:38one last thing to investigate the
22:41findings from household 5’s tap water
22:43why is the bacteria count so high
22:47i took my findings to the pob who did
22:49their own tests
22:50and found the tap water taken from
22:52household five had a bacteria count of
22:55less than one
22:57pob told talking point to avoid any
22:59external contamination of the water
23:01doing sampling
23:02it’s standard practice for taps to be
23:04disinfected first
23:06so the high bacteria count from our
23:08sample may have been due to contaminants
23:11in household 5’s tap not from the water
23:16[Music]
23:18so are water filters really necessary
23:20well if you think about how
23:21rigorous our water treatment process is
23:23the answer is no
23:25our tap water is perfectly safe to drink
23:28and
23:28even though filtered water isn’t a
23:30miracle cure for say cancer
23:31it gives me better digestion and some
23:33people believe it does
23:35it could be useful for those who are
23:37vulnerable to infections
23:38so as long as you do proper maintenance
23:40and change your filters regularly
23:42otherwise this supposedly cleaner water
23:45could actually do you more harm
23:47than good
