By far, the majority of the questions I receive about water from consumers have to do with drinking safe, poison free water. This certainly makes sense as our first motive in life is to be safe and secure and protect our loved ones. Conversely, investors, politicians, activists and those looking to expand company growth, focus on issues such a green products, recycling, circular economic issues, and the environment. While the environmental matters are indeed important, more often than not, those promoting these things have little or no actual hands-on experience actually solving water problems.

I refer to these people as water grabbers. They recognize the universal compassion people have for water and they use their position/wealth to promote themselves to the public as water experts.

Consumers are the most enjoyable people for me to deal with. Their interest is always very simple and direct: “Can you fix my water”? I have fixed water for 35 years, so my answer is always a resounding, “yes I can”.

The challenge with the  Water Grabbers is that their interest is more in the narrative and seldom in the technical details of the product. In fact, these people are repulsed by any science that does not support the narrative and financial goals that are of foremost interest to them.

So here then are a few points everyone should know about the state of the world’s water.

• The majority of water filters do not eliminate pollutants, they merely concentrate them on the filter or in wastewater. While the end user achieves safe water, the pollutants still have to be disposed of. The pollutants go back into our environment, and like it or not, they will again find their way into our water supplies. So just remember, if we use a filter to purify your water, we are in fact still very likely polluting our water when the filter gets disposed of.
• Water treatment technology that does destroy harmful toxins,  more often than not, still places waste products back into the environment.
• Scientific Law assures us that mass cannot be created nor destroyed. We have the same amount of Chromium today that we did when the Earth was first created. Our challenge is not the amount of pollutants in the environment, but rather the concentration, reuse and disposal of them.
• The world will never again have pristine, pure lakes, rivers and streams. Those days are long, long gone. The natural tendency of water is to become contaminated. Our very existence creates pollution. The reality of science is that the water coming out of our taps is going to continue to get worse and worse over time.
• Our focus must be on equipping our homes with technology and products that will guarantee clean, safe, water.
• Our focus must also be on what is being accomplished in the field, not in the lab, classroom or academic dissertation.