作者: lifesolutions_editor

不同國家的水質硬度都會有所不同，因此旅居外地可能會出現水土不服的情況。根據香港水務處的資料顯示，香港水質硬度為軟水級別，含有微量礦物質。常聽人說，水有分「軟水」和「硬水」，不同國家的水質硬度都會有所不同。根據香港水務處的資料顯示，香港水質硬度為軟水級別，含有微量礦物質。有時香港人到外國旅行，飲用當地自來水後感到不適，可能是水土不服問題，不適應硬水導致。那究竟兩者有甚麼分別？

水質硬度如何界定？軟水和硬水有什麽分別？

根據世界衛生組織（WHO），水質硬度是根據礦物質含量而定，以每公升水中的碳酸鈣含量作為標準，碳酸鈣含量越高則水質硬度越高，一般將水質硬度分為4個等級：

• 軟水：每公升水中的碳酸鈣含量少於60毫克
• 偏硬水：每公升水中的碳酸鈣含量介乎60至120毫克
• 硬水：每公升水中的碳酸鈣含量介乎120至180毫克
• 超硬水：每公升水中的碳酸鈣含量多於180毫克

分析軟水及硬水利弊

歐美國家的自來水多為硬水，因為水源通常是山泉水，或是地下富礦物質的水。在自然環境中，水中的礦物質主要是來自岩石礦石受水流沖刷後，會使礦物質沉積或溶解於水中，因而形成硬度各異。

水的硬度越高，礦物質含量就越高，那麼硬水是否就比軟水好呢？

硬水

的確，硬水可以為人體補充礦物質，而且水的口感和味道也會隨礦物質含量而有所變化，部分人會特別喜歡礦泉水的口感，不過也有人覺得水的硬度會增加苦澀味，影響沖調飲品和烹調的口感和味道。

一些外國研究指出，飲用硬水能夠減低患有心血管疾病的風險，不過世衛指出，目前仍需更多更全面的科學研究來證明兩者的確有關聯。此外，有不少歐美地區人士都反映，長期使用硬水會容易出現脫髮問題，因硬水中的礦物質會積聚於頭髮表面，堵住毛鱗片，長遠影響髮質。硬水因含有大量鈣化物和鎂化合物，容易形成水垢，堵塞熱水器或洗衣機的喉管，導致家用電器效率下降、減短使用壽命等問題。

值得注意的是，衛生防護中心建議指引指出，礦泉水的礦物含量可能超出嬰幼兒身體所需，不宜用作沖調配方奶。

軟水

軟水的礦物質含量較低，因此對皮膚的刺激也相應較少，而且不易形成水垢，能夠延長家用電器的使用壽命。

雖然香港自來水屬軟水，部分人會擔心礦物質攝取不足，但事實上人體每日所需的營養素主要靠進食攝取，只要飲食均衡，進食各種天然食物，就無須擔心礦物質攝取不足的問題。

香港的食水是軟水還是硬水？是否安全飲用？

一般來說，香港經處理的食水屬軟水，但仍可能含有微量的鈣和鎂等礦物質，故市民有時發現水煲經使用一段時間後，底部會沉澱出一層薄薄的白膜，稱為「水垢」。這其實是水中的礦物質累積所致，其主要的成份是鈣和鎂化合物，並不影響水質和人體健康。

既然香港自來水已經過處理，那為何仍然需要使用濾水器？

理論上，香港水務署濾水廠處理後的食水可安全飲用，不過需要注意，自來水的水質會受其他因素影響，例如貯水箱、內部喉管或其他關連的供水設施等，在供水過程可能會參雜銹鐵、沉澱物、細菌和其他物質，影響口感之餘，更可能對身體有害。因此不少人都會選擇安裝濾水器或過濾式飲水機，確保飲用水水質安全、純淨、無雜質。

香港專業濾水器設備

如要選擇合適的過濾及飲水機方案，需要考量現場環境水質、實際需求用量等，因此可考慮選用過濾及飲水機服務方案，交由專業顧問分析建議，量身訂造最適合的方案，並由技術團隊定期檢查保養，維持過濾系統發揮最佳效能。

本文僅供參考，並不構成法律或醫學建議。如有任何健康問題或疑慮，請諮詢醫生的專業意見。

Maintenance matters: when it comes to water filters, quality servicing is absolutely key.

Hong Kong-based Life Solutions has been specialising in providing safe, clean drinking water via water filtration systems for almost two decades. They service a broad range of clients, from homes and offices to large-scale events like the Rugby Sevens and even the Hong Kong International Airport. We sat down with founder Blake Ireland about how he came to start the company, why water filtration maintenance is vital, and how we can each take action to ensure that we’re consuming high-quality safe drinking water. 

GQ: How did you come to start Life Solutions?

BI: One thing that has always been a “bête noire” for me is the use of disposable plastic water bottles and the damage they do to the environment. The bottled water industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. There is no excuse for shipping water across continents for the purposes of drinking, especially given that with proper filtration and good maintenance, we can enjoy the fresh water we have locally. Bottled water also comes at an enormous financial cost. In some cases, it is sold for higher prices than a litre of petrol. Having come from the construction trade, it was a fairly logical step for me to go into water filtration and persuade people to use these systems for drinking water, rather than buying bottles.

GQ: Maintenance is a huge part of what you offer. Why is servicing water filters so important?

BI: Much like with a car, it doesn’t matter how expensive, or high-quality it is, if you don’t maintain it properly. Take a luxury Rolls Royce, for example. You probably wouldn’t take it down to any old mechanic down the street. Instead, you’d want to take it to a Rolls Royce dealer or a licensed mechanic where they have the right machinery, they know how the car works and they have the proper parts. Maintenance in water filtration is the same thing. It doesn’t matter what type of filter or technology you use, whether it is carbon filtration, or ultraviolet (UV) sterilisation, or reverse osmosis (RO). It doesn’t matter if you buy the most expensive or the best brand, without professional maintenance, it won’t do its job properly.

GQ: How often should your filter be serviced? Does it depend on the type of water filter you have?

BI: Servicing frequency very much depends on the type of filtration you are using. RO membranes can last up to 3 years, especially if they are NSF-certified. With micro-filters, or carbon filters which are commonly used for drinking water, you may need to change it every few months, or even every month, depending on the amount of water that goes through the cartridge.

We have hospitality clients in Macau that use such high amounts of water that their carbon filters need to be replaced on a monthly basis. For businesses that use less water, filters can be changed every 6 months. It really depends on the quality of the source water, the volume of water going through the system and the capacity of the filter types. 

GQ: What are some of the most common misconceptions about Hong Kong water? 

BI: There are quite a few misconceptions amongst the general public, the most prevalent of which is that Hong Kong water is not good quality. The city’s Water Supplies Department (WSD) provides water to every building well within the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, and it’s as good as any world-class city such as London, Paris or New York. 

Issue arises after the water enters a building and goes into the building’s pipework system. If not maintained properly by the management of that specific building, then contamination can occur. That being said, in most cases, the city’s buildings are managed pretty well. 

Another common misconception is with the piping – many people believe that the pipes are made of lead, which then contaminates the water. In fact, the government changed all the old lead piping into copper, stainless steel or plastic quite some time ago. 

These misconceptions may exist because the taste of Hong Kong water isn’t particularly good. The reason for this is that the Hong Kong government like most governments, adds chlorine into the water as a disinfectant. It is required to kill harmful bacteria and viruses. In terms of quality, Hong Kong tap water is safe to drink, and the taste can be improved by removing the chlorine with filtration systems at point of use (POU), in other words just before the draw point. 

GQ: Is it true that the majority of water you test is actually dirtier than it was before?

BI: Obviously we do a lot of water testing for companies and individuals here. In fact, we provide this as a free service. When we go to a building to test an existing filtration system, we find that the water that comes out of the filtration system is dirtier than the source water. This is true for about 90% of the installed micro filtration (carbon) systems that we have tested. Usually, this is because the water filter hasn’t been changed frequently enough. This is the reason why good quality, professional maintenance is so important!

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GQ: How can people take action on this problem? 

BI: People can take action by getting more professional advice. In too many cases, people install systems themselves, or via their contractor, and therein lies the problem. They might not necessarily know how often to change the filter and how to maintain it. There are a number of companies in Hong Kong that provide ongoing maintenance service, of which Life Solutions is one. We proactively contact our users to let them know we need to change their filter. If anyone has a system installed and wants to know if it’s working properly, we provide free professional water testing to ensure that the water meet the WHO safety standards.

GQ: How important is water quality in terms of fighting public health threats such as the current coronavirus pandemic?

BI: I think the pandemic has shed light on maximising general hygiene, not only with water. Obviously, water is a medium in which bacteria can be communicated. Though there is no specific data regarding the transmission of Covid-19 by water, various other viruses and bacteria can be transmitted through water so it’s important to make sure that any drinking water filtration system is capable of combating these pathogens. 

Chlorine is an efficient way to treat water, which is why so many governments deploy it. The Hong Kong government has increased the level of chlorine since the pandemic began to ensure that if the virus does get into the water supply, the drinking water will be sufficiently disinfected. 

Another way is through UV sterilisation, and indeed RO membrane technology and nano-filtration systems are 99.9% effective at removing bacteria and potential viruses.

As always, it depends on the system you use and more importantly, it depends on a the quality and frequency of the maintenance.

GQ: You work with big event organisers like the Rugby Sevens and Clockenflap – what are the requirements for safe water on a large scale?

BI: For large events, the drinking water on the premises must comply with WHO standards for drinking water. There are certain criteria for potable water, such as a maximum amount of bacteria, metals, various chemicals and PH. Depending on the event that we are working for, we measure the water quality at that location and employ the relevant filtration system to make sure that the water complies with WHO standards.

GQ: You also work with the Hong Kong International Airport. Can you tell us more about what they require?

BI: Every one of our clients has slightly different requirements. In the case of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), we have a very stringent requirement for quality. They provide systems for passengers so it’s extremely important that this is safe and of the correct quality, and that it fulfils all WHO requirements. For these we use a combination of micro-filtration and UV sterilisation to achieve the desired results. We also have a dedicated servicing team for the airport that is on call 24/7.

For most of our other residential and corporate clients, we use membrane technology. Although it is more expensive, it does offer greater safety measures- if the water drops below a certain standard, the output will be stopped by the filtration system, the RO membrane. The drawback of such systems is that the filtration process is quite slow, so most of them require a storage tank for consistent capacity. For a client like the airport, where the system needs to generate thousands of litres of water a day, RO is not practical as they would need to have large storage tanks on tap whenever a passenger comes along and presses the button. 

GQ: From lead contamination scandals to the current epidemic, is the general public more aware about safe drinking water now than ever?

BI: A few years ago, there were high levels of lead in the water in a public housing estate that was caused by cheap lead-containing solder – the glue that is used to join together the pipes. This absolutely raised people’s awareness about water, but it may have been counterproductive. As we already discussed, there is a general misconception that government water supply is not particularly good, which isn’t true. So in some cases, these scandals have heightened a misconception when it was in fact an isolated case.

In terms of the current pandemic, it is certainly raising more awareness. People are more conscious of hygiene, whether in terms of wearing masks, washing hands, ingesting food, or water quality. This is extremely important as we live in an ever-increasingly populated world and these issues will become more, not less frequent. I hope Covid-19 serves as a wake-up call and makes us look at what we’re doing as a species, so we can change some of our habits for the better.