When was the last time you wondered what's in the water you use every day? If you already had your own water filtration system you would have less to wonder about. But if you use city water you probably don't give it a second thought. Like me you would think that most cities are pretty good at treating water, so you don't really need a water filtration system.

Recently I became much more concerned about out "safe" city water after coming across some alarming facts about municipal water systems. Which is why I am convinced that having your own water filtration system is a smart thing to do even if you have city water.

It's not about how city water is treated. It's about how it is delivered to your home. City water is treated in a central location until the harmful stuff in it reaches acceptable levels. Once treated, water is transported to your home through miles of pipes, countless valves, pumps, and storage tanks.

Unfortunately, as it travels to you that carefully treated water can become contaminated right inside the water distribution systems due to their design. Many factors can impact the quality of city water on the way to your home. Some of the facts about contamination in municipal water distribution systems are quite technical. Leaving the details to the science majors let me simply say that one cause of contamination is corrosion.

Corrosion is when metal degrades. Degrading metal in water distribution pipelines, pumps, valves and other fixtures can decrease the quality of the water by the time it comes out of your tap.

And corrosion is much more likely the older the systems are. The EPA says that our drinking water distribution systems are aging. Some of the components are over 100 years old. Research studies of corrosion in these older systems have been underway for years.

And these studies have revealed some very disturbing findings. Some of these findings are listed below. It is for these reasons that you should seriously consider adding a water filtration system to your home water source.

1. Just about every mineral in the periodic table can end up on water pipes. Not just lead pipes corrode, copper pipes do too.

2. Corrosion deposits, sediment, and other solids that collect in the distribution system can accumulate contaminants if they are in the water. Things like arsenic, antimony, radium, and uranium can "stick" to the equipment. These contaminates are serious enough to be regulated by the EPA.

3. Even "safe" levels of contaminants in treated waters could accumulate over time in pipes and be released, sometimes unpredictably, and sometimes at high concentrations.

4. There is enough evidence to reasonably expect pipe corrosion deposits to mix and react with various chemicals in treated waters over time.

5. It may not be chemically possible to stop the release of accumulated metals in some circumstances.

6. In general, water entry point monitoring is inadequate for assessing water distribution system conditions and for catching exposure problems in the distribution system.

7. There is potential for human exposure. Normally, trace amounts of known contaminants are not dangerous. But if they accumulate in distribution systems and are released, we may find them in higher concentrations at our taps.

Now that you know this about your city water distribution system, you might want to take another look at installing a water filtration system in your home, starting today. As you have learned, in order to have safe and good tasting water for you and your family, you need to take control.