Essential water purification tips: choosing the right filters for borewell water quality

If you stay in a bore-well water area in India, there is a great chance that you're exposing yourself to unnecessary risk which comes with water hardness. The problem with water hardness is that sometimes it's chronic and worsens bit by bit, you may think it's all well and good until one fine day you start noticing that your hair is thinning and skin is drying and itching in weird ways.

The risk increases many times if there is an elderly person in your family. For drinking water, a TDS level of less than 150 is generally considered OK but for elderly people, it must be below 70-80 levels as water hardness can cause undue stress on kidneys, especially in that age.

One of my relatives recently shifted to South Bangalore which is a predominantly bore-well water supply area and that's when he started facing these issues. I want more and more people to know and be aware of this, lest they don't repeat this easily avoidable mistake like my relative did.

In general, if you're a little bit inquisitive, you can know from the neighbors, etc. if water is indeed that hard and whether things like RO (Reverse Osmosis) and tap filters are generally needed. RO is used quite often but very few bother getting tap/shower filter which is equally important and even fewer invest in a TDS meter to actually verify if things are working. The tap/shower filter acts as a softener which removes the impurities in water which might be hazardous to your skin or hair.

(Image Credits: Amazon.in)

For RO filter, a local buy is generally advisable but for tap/shower filter, Cleo Water Filter from Amazon is an ideal one and currently costs ₹2295. It works for both taps and showers. Each cartridge lasts for about six months after which you can reorder a new one.

There is something you must be aware of before ordering though. There are two variants of this product, one suitable for "Borewell/Tanker" water and another for "Municipal/Metro" water and it's easy to confuse between the two! The former is what you most likely want. The installation kit is a DIY, you can usually fit it yourself to the tap or shower without any plumber's help.

The tap filter is decent in usage but the cartridge may not always last as long as they claim, a lot depends on your water usage and water hardness in the area.

For TDS Meter, this typical/unbranded one costing ₹229 is all you need. Doing a test is as easy as pressing the "On/Off" switch and dipping the end of the meter in a water sample (taken in a cup, etc.). The display will instantly show you the reading.

For drinking water, TDS level in range of 20-150 is said to be generally good for drinking without hardness but in my own experience, the hardness starts increasing around 120 itself. Another thing to note here is that for tap water, you can ignore the TDS readings as the tap filter isn't really designed to perform that minute level of cleansing like RO filter. However, you can observe the results practically as the hardness reduces in daily usage.

One thing to be aware of here is that the sedimentary structure of each bore well differs. It's quite possible that a water TDS level of 140 in your bore well is harmless but for your relative's bore well which is few kilometers away, even a 100 TDS level could be harmful. Hence, taking a due diligence of the situation and applying these measures is a must.

To summarize, here are the recommendations if you are staying or just shifted to a bore-well water area:

1. Cleo Water Filter- ₹2,295
2. Cleo Water Filter - Replacement Cartrige - ₹845
3. TDS Meter (Unbranded) - ₹229
4. TDS Meter (Konvio) - ₹299
5. Eureka Forbes AquaSure RO+UV+MTDS water purifier  - ₹8,999

Please note that I haven't actually used the Eureka Forbes drinking water RO filter but listed here just due to its rating/popularity. Unless you're sure about your exact requirements, it's generally advisable to get a water filter locally from your nearby store instead of Amazon/Flipkart.

And do let me know in comments below about your home improvement plans in regards to bore-well or hard water. As community, I'm sure we can help each other by sharing more information in this regard.