Nitrates are a common contaminant in well water. Nitrate compounds occur naturally within the soil, but agricultural and rural areas have higher levels. They are a health risk for elderly people and children, and they can worsen some medical conditions for people with low stomach acid. Read on to find out how to remove nitrates from your home’s water.

1. Test for Nitrates

Nitrates are tasteless, colorless, and odorless chemical compounds, so you can only determine their presence through chemical testing. It’s especially important to test your water if you own a private well.

When a person performs the nitrate test, they gather samples of the water in vials. They then send the vials to a lab, and the lab tests the water against the same standards municipal water and bottled water must meet.

At the end of the test, the lab will record the measurements of contaminants in parts-per-million and return the findings to you. With this data, you will see if the contaminants in your water exceed the EPA’s standards for safe drinking water.

2. Install Anion Resin Filters

There are three methods for removing nitrates: reverse osmosis, distillation, and ion exchange. Reverse osmosis can work well as an under-the-sink water treatment system for your drinking water, while distillation is a slow and costly method. The best way to remove nitrates from your entire home’s water is the last option, ion exchange, through a whole-house water anion resin filter.

To remove nitrates through ion exchange, the contaminated water passes through a tank containing resin beads. The resin beads collect and exchange the nitrate ions in the water for chloride ions in the beads. Chloride, which isn’t harmful, and nitrate are both anions that carry a negative charge. This characteristic allows a smooth exchange that filters out the harmful nitrates in your water.

3. Maintain the Anion Resin Filter

Your anion resin filter will successfully treat a certain volume of water, depending on the system capacity and your water’s concentration of nitrates, before either the resin regenerates or you replace the cartridge. For full-house water treatment, you can have a regenerative tank filled with resin near your home’s main water supply so that all the water is treated before going to other places in your house.

Remove nitrates with Good Water Company, a WQA-certified provider of residential water treatment services. We service, repair, and maintain all Good Water Company equipment in your home to guarantee refreshing, clean, and healthy water. Call us today for friendly service.