Many people are under the assumption that Alkaline Water will remove unwanted Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in the water, as well as believe zero TDS is healthy. Some also believe you can have filtered drinking water both high pH and low or zero TDS. This is unfortunately not possible. It is possible to lower the TDS and create clean healthy ionized alkaline water, but not entirely remove TDS.

This article hopes to clear up any confusion around this topic and explain why. Let us look at basic definitions of each area:

pH - stands for Potential of Hydrogen

The pH measures the hydrogen-ion concentration in a solution, and shows you whether the water you are consuming is alkaline, neutral or acidic. The higher the pH reading, the more alkaline and oxygen rich the solution is. The lower the pH reading, the more acidic and starved of oxygen the solution is.

The pH range goes from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Anything above 7.5 is considered alkaline, anything below 7 is considered acidic. It is important to remember that the pH scale is logarithmic, this means it multiplies by the tenfold. For example: pH 8 is 10 times more alkaline than pH 7, and pH 9 is 100 times more alkaline than pH 7. The same principle applies for the opposite acid direction on the pH scale.



Human blood and what is considered your natural body pH consists of a very narrow pH range between 7.35 - 7.45. Below or above this range means you may develop symptoms and disease. If your blood pH moves much below 6.8 or much above 7.8, cells may stop performing leading to shortened life. The ideal blood pH is 7.4.

You can measure your drinking water by using pH liquid, or a digital pH meter. If you are interested in measuring your body’s pH, then you can use the pH liquid, pH meter or pH strips.

TDS in Water - stands for Total Dissolved Solids

This measure shows you how many molecular, ionized or micro-granular particles - of all present organic and inorganic substances - are in your water. The general rule is that the dissolved solids must be able to pass through a filter with 2 micron (um) pores.



Although TDS in water is not considered a primary pollutant, it mainly stems from agricultural and residential runoff, clay rich mountain waters, soil & water pollution discharge stemming from industrial or sewage treatment plants, and can present a broad array of chemical contaminants in your water. The more harmful type of TDS is pesticides.

High levels of TDS is not good for us, but it can also be a testament of beneficial or essential minerals in your tap water such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium and more than 20 different types of trace elements, all vital for optimal health.

How do I get low or zero TDS and is it healthy?

Alkaline water filters help add beneficial minerals and trace elements to your water, these elements are considered TDS, and thus, low or zero TDS is not possible if wanting healthy living water. Low or zero TDS is only possible with purification filters with a pore size of 2 micron or less. To purify water below 2 micron, you will need a Microfiltration (MF) membrane, Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane, Nanofiltration (NF) membrane or Reverse Osmosis (RO) system.  We will here focus on RO systems and UF Membranes.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems

RO is a very commonly used medium today in many households, and also a very disputed one. RO is the only type of filter that is able to purify and strip the water clean of almost everything, with a performance removal rate of 0.001 micron. This is basically stripping the water of near everything that is in it, that means all the bad stuff like bacteria, virus, toxins like heavy metals and chemicals like fluoride and chlorine, as well as pesticides, but it also strips all the healthy elements like minerals and trace elements that are vital for your health. It further decreases the pH of your water, and if you do not have a re-mineralizing filter in your RO system, you are consuming unhealthy water of around pH 5-6. It is a contradictory system, as it claims to work for our health, but in its pursuit, it removes so much, it no longer aids our health, and may in fact lead to a more unhealthy body than if you consumed the toxins in the first place.



To have a healthy body with no disease, we need to stay neutral or slightly alkaline, this means our body blood pH needs to be between pH 7.35-7.45. If consuming low level RO water, you will only add to the acid buildup in your body, on top of your daily diet.

Not only does RO strip the water of all things, it also generates 1 gallon of wastewater per 4 gallons filtered (4:1), or 1 gallon per gallon filtered in high water pressure areas (1:1). This is very wasteful in today’s water short society, and unless you consciously and consistently use this wastewater to either water your plants, wash your car or other household chores, you are on a large scale contributing to the water crisis of the world. This is why Invigorated Water choses to not back this type of product.

Ultra Filtration (UF) Membrane Filter

Invigorated Water currently offers a PH001 Alkaline Mineral Water Filter + PH002 UF Membrane Filter combo, to both give you healthy mineralized ionized pH water, as well as receive the purification benefits of the UF Membrane which is capable of filtration of colloidal particles and larger dissolved contaminants down to 0.01 micron.



UF Membrane Filters provide clarification and disinfection of your water through the process of applying low pressure filtration. They filter the same as an RO filter, including removing pathogenic organisms and turbidity, pollen, algae, bacteria, virus, germs and organic molecules, but will let through some salts and dissolved organics. What is let through the UF filter ranges between 0.001um that RO can filter, and 0.01um that the UF Membrane can filter. As you can see, both these measurements are very low, which is why Invigorated Water has yet to promote RO, which promotes such large water wastage.

UF is widely used to filter drinking water treatment, swimming pools, desalination, recycling and industrial wastewater.

INVIGORATED WATER’s FILTERS

PH001 - our Alkaline Water Filter

An Alkaline Water Filter is also known as a mineral filter, as it adds in and retains beneficial minerals and essential trace elements that give good health. It further ionizes and structures the water, so the water molecules are micro-clustered and small enough to be recognized and accepted by your body’s cells, thus allowing you to hydrate, detox and restore your body to its optimal state.

We are currently working on a new improved recipe that will increase the capability to remove all the nasties from your water and make sure you hydrate, detox and restore even better. Our PH001 Alkaline Water Filter, not only ionizes and structures the water, it increases the pH so you are able to balance out any acidic dietary intake you may have throughout the day, naturally detox this from your body, as well as reduce hard water, heavy metals and fluoride from your water. In our new model we have achieved what we believe is an optimal balance.



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PH002 - our UF Membrane Purification Filter attachment

A UF Membrane has the ability to remove elements down to 0.01 micron, and although this therefore means it does not remove certain elements that an RO system will, we believe it is worth it to ensure the safety of our water consumption for all. After all you are talking very small elements between 0.01 - 0.001 micron. The way we counter what the UF membrane can not remove is by adding filtration material capable of removing these elements to our PH001 Alkaline Water Filter, so it will to a far extent be removed before the final purification happens with the UF membrane.

With a removal capacity of 0.01 micron means the PH002 UF Membrane can remove any organic and inorganic matter substance with a pore size above 0.01 micron, including sand, dust, rust, bacteria, virus, colloids, herbicides, pesticides, parasites, protozoa, giardia, cysts, cryptosporidium, endotoxins, proteins, pyrogens, colloidal silica, as well as reduce water hardness and salts.

A filter that has the ability to filter so many elements, without any chemicals, no electricity so you increase your energy bills, no waste water to stress the environment, this is why we choose not to support this type of filtration, and rather find viable solutions that are comparable and good for our society and wallet.

Summary

Removing everything and getting a zero rating on your TDS does not give as healthy water as many believe.  Unfortunately small water pitcher filters are not capable of generating both a high pH and low TDS, but we certainly believe we can provide you with a well balanced filter.

We are for the future considering creating a variety of filters that offer to cover a selection of customers needs. This may included basic carbon filters like Brita to remove chlorine, odors and improve taste, limescale removal filters for areas with very hard water, purification filters to remove TDS, fluoride filters, heavy metal filters, and of course our main products, the PH001 alkaline mineral filters and PH002 UF Membrane filters.

We are here to guide you, and are not trying to be everything to everyone. Our pursuit is to be able to deliver clean water to as many people as possible across the globe, in an affordable solution for all. It is of course up to everyone to make up their own minds, do their own research and find out what aligns with them. We are here to focus on what we believe in and do best, and hope you will join us in our quest for Invigorated Living! :)