POU/POE vs. Centralized Upgrades

In the latest WQRF summer seminar, Dr. Kaycie Lane of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln presented research on whether point-of-use and point-of-entry treatment can replace centralized upgrades for small community water systems dealing with arsenic. Lane’s team used a “people, planet, and profit” framework, weighing health exposure, environmental life cycle impact, and 30-year cost effectiveness. The issue matters because very small systems serving fewer than 500 people accounted for 68% of MCL violations from 2008-2018, which is a heavy compliance load for systems that are not exactly overflowing with staff and budget. The findings did not produce a neat winner: POU/POE systems can reduce upfront costs, but maintaining individual devices across an entire community can eventually rival or exceed the cost of centralized treatment. Lane also found that treatment media choice matters environmentally, with resin-based systems carrying a higher footprint than reverse osmosis.

Good Housekeeping updated its under-sink water filter rankings after 25 years of testing filters and reviewing more than 20 under-sink models in the past five years. The Aquasana 3-Stage Max Flow Claryum took the top overall spot for the third year in a row, with NSF certification covering 78 contaminants including PFAS, easy installation, and no noticeable flow-rate drop. Culligan’s EZ-Change earned best value at $84, with simple twist-on filter replacement and about $70 in annual filter costs, though it does not carry NSF 401 certification for pharmaceuticals and pesticides. Multipure’s Aquaversa MP750 was named most reliable thanks to its stainless steel housing and lifetime warranty, while renters got a practical option in the Aquasana Claryum Direct Connect, which attaches to the cold-water line without drilling into the sink deck. The guide reinforces that NSF certification remains the gold standard for verifying contaminant removal claims.

Need to keep pumps primed, keep fluid in the line, or prevent flow from heading the wrong direction? A check valve handles the one-way traffic control.

In the latest video blog from Specialty Sales, Darrin discusses check valve options for tubing, chemical feed, car wash, and PVC piping applications.

What’s Available:

Read the full blog post here: https://specialty-sales.com/blog/types-of-check-valves/

Need help matching the right check valve to your system? Contact Specialty Sales or reply to this email and we’ll get you connected.

Buffalo-based WaterCure USA published a plain-language guide to reading well water test results, aimed at homeowners trying to translate lab reports into something they can actually act on. The guide starts with the basics: ppm and mg/L mean the same thing, ppb is a thousand times smaller and often used for serious contaminants like lead, and “ND” means non-detect, which is precisely what you want next to anything dangerous. WaterCure walks through common well water results including pH, hardness, TDS, and iron, then draws a useful line between manageable water-quality issues and results that require immediate action. Any detectable coliform bacteria or E. coli, nitrates above the EPA’s 10 mg/L threshold, or lead above 0.015 mg/L should stop water use until addressed. The most practical point is that a lab report tells you what is in the water, not how to fix it. Iron, hardness, and sulfur often show up together, and treating one while ignoring the others is a reliable way to leave the problem unsolved.

Dierolf Plumbing published a localized guide on UV water treatment for private wells, focused on areas where karst geology, older wells, nearby farms, and septic systems can increase bacterial contamination risk. UV systems use 254-nanometer light to damage bacterial DNA as water passes the lamp, treating typical household demand at 8-12 GPM without chemicals or taste changes. Dierolf points to local risk factors like limestone fissures that can let surface contamination reach groundwater faster, and cites Penn State research finding coliform bacteria in roughly one-third of Pennsylvania private wells. That is a strong argument for annual testing even when the water looks normal, because bacteria are inconsiderate enough not to announce themselves visually. The guide is also clear about UV’s limits: it will not remove PFAS, minerals, sediment, or dissolved contaminants, and it stops working during a power outage. With installation costs around $800-2,000 and annual maintenance around $150-250, UV is best positioned as one part of a broader well-water treatment plan.