Water is one of the most necessary things for life, and it’s something that many Americans take for granted. Having clean water is essential for being able to live a healthy lifestyle. People typically don’t think about their need for clean water, but men actually need about three liters and women need a little more than two liters of water per day.

Almost 300 million men and women in America get their water from public water systems, which could be problematic should that water supply become contaminated — and there are a number of ways that this could happen.

Though contaminated water is one of the leading causes of the transmission of epidemic disease in developing countries, an alarming problem in the United States is lead. When water runs through old lead pipes, some of the element is picked and later consumed by unsuspecting Americans.

The real problem is when lead contaminated water is consumed by children. Clean water is important for the healthy mental and physical development of a child. When children consume lead it can eventually cause a learning disability. In fact, 480,000 children in the United States develop a learning disorder every year due to the consumption of lead.

The only way to ensure that the water coming into a home is clean, healthy, and uncontaminated is to install in home water purification systems. Rather than just having a single two liter pitcher of clean water in your refrigerator, water softener systems for homes are often installed in a way that cleans and purifies all of the water that comes into the house, out of any tap.

Water filtration systems also help purify hard water, which is just water that has a high mineral content. Simply having a water purification system is not enough, there is also a certain amount of water softener maintenance that needs to be done to ensure that the water is getting filtered properly.

Water softener maintenance typically includes simple things like monitoring the salt levels and adjusting them accordingly and cleaning the tanks periodically. Read this for more.