What is in a name?
To us, our name is our expertise and our philosophy,
as well as our day-to-day business. Safe water is the type of
water our equipment provides. Most other manufacturers provide
equipment that is designed for water that is already potable (i.e. safe to
drink). SWTs advanced technologies can make even the foulest water
safe to drink. We provide for people that are mindful of their health,
and do not want to be worrying about what is coming out of their faucets.
SWTs equipment goes beyond the simpler treatments of taste and
odor and water softening. Our belief is that people have the
right to not just better tasting water, but water that is also safe
and free from contamination put there by others.
Define safe.
We define safe as being responsive to a specific water
contamination problem, or as an insurance against unknown, and future,
contamination in a given water supply. SWT water treatment systems concentrate
on removing, and reducing, items from the water that are directly responsible
for an adverse effect on health. These contaminants include:
- Chemicals, such as chlorine and pesticides
- Bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms
- Cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium
- Heavy metals, such as lead and copper
- Plus, specific problems, such as sodium, nitrates, etc.
What about things in the water,
such as hardness, taste & odor, or orange color?
Safe Water Technologies provides a complete
line of traditional water treatment systems, as well as the
newest technologies. However, we design all of our equipment to go
several steps farther than that.
We understand that purchasing a water treatment system
is an expensive and significant proposition, so we want to make sure that not only are
the cosmetic problems taken care of, but also the deeper health issues.
What is the difference between SWT equipment and the common filters available from a store or multi‑level marketing firm?
People forget that all water supplies have different
contamination problems. A filter that will treat taste and
odor problems in one city is not designed to handle nitrate or E.
coli bacteria problems on a farm 20 miles away.
Store bought equipment, generally speaking,
is generic and is not for use on non-potable water
(i.e. water that is biologically or chemically unsafe). In other words,
most retail systems are designed for water that is already safe
to drink.
SWT only sells its equipment through reputable, locally
owned, water treatment companies. These companies have the experience
and training to install and maintain equipment that is much more sophisticated
than store bought filters. The water treatment technicians in
your region can also custom tailor the equipment, or decide what
equipment is applicable to your local water supply.
They can advise you on when, and how often, to service your system.
It is the difference between “playing doctor”
and going to a real one. The SWT water technician can test your water
as required. Most part-time, multi-level, sales people cannot. Water is
as important to life as air and food. It should be treated as such.
Good, healthy, clean water is one of the most important investments
one should make for themselves and their families.
SWT designs and builds systems that cover
a wide variety of technologies.
- Adsorption — Carbon filtration is
the most widely used adsorption method. Contaminants are soaked up like
a sponge onto the matrix of the filter media.
- Ion Exchange — Water softeners work
on this principle. Hardness ions (negatively charged particles) are
caught on a positively charged bead during the softening process. Sodium
is used to clean and “recharge” the bed.
- Reverse Osmosis (RO) — More correctly referred
to as hyperfiltration. Water is forced under pressure through molecular
size openings in a special plastic film membrane. Only the cleanest
molecules can get through while the rest of the water is rejected by
the membrane. Dissolved salt and dissolved nitrates are even too big
to pass through. Other closely related methods of water treatment are
ultrafiltration and nanofiltration.
- Ultraviolet (UV) Sterilization — This is
one of the safest methods for treatment of bacteria and viruses. It works by bombarding organic matter with a special wavelength
of light, and imparts nothing into the water supply. However, it has
no effect on thick shelled organisms such as cysts.
- Mechanical Filtration — This is how
sediment filters work in removing solid particles from the water. Sediment
is rated according to micron size. Sediment filters will remove particles
that are larger than the filters micron rating. A 25 micron sediment
filter will generally remove most particles larger than 25 microns in
size. This is how red (oxidized) iron is removed. Also, this is how
cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium, are removed, since they are
not susceptible to oxygen attack.
- Oxidation — Excessive amounts of oxygen
are injected into the water. There are many types of oxidizing agents
in the market. Chlorine is the most common. Chlorine carries suspended
oxygen which is released when it encounters certain dissolved matter,
such as bacteria or iron. The oxygen then attaches itself to the particle.
In the case of waterborne bacteria that cannot survive in an oxygen
environment, the bacteria dies. In the case of a substance such as dissolved
iron, the iron becomes too complex to remain dissolved, and it turns
from an invisible element to a visible particle that can be strained
from the water.
There is no single type of water filtration technology that is “best for all.” Groundwater from wells in rural areas can vary tremendously, even among neighbors. Homes on municipal water supplies vary from community to community, and even the same household’s water can vary from summer to winter as chlorine levels rise and fall. Some municipalities draw their water from rivers, some from lakes, and some from deep wells. Some coastal communities even draw their water from the ocean. So far, there has not been one water treatment technology or system that has been found to work economically and efficiently in all applications.
Water treatment systems today are often a careful combination of several filtration technologies. Following a comprehensive water analysis and thorough understanding of the waters chemistry, a well-trained water technician will be able to recommend the proper combination of technologies and equipment to satisfy each customer's unique requirements for an effective, economical, and ecological finished product. At SWT, we're dedicated to being an expert partner in the process of bringing safe water technologies to the world.
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