Have you ever thought twice about the water you drink?

At the beginning of last year as part of a company relocation scheme, I left my home town of Toronto to live for a time in Shanghai. The transition was quite smooth, largely thanks to my wonderful and supportive local Chinese colleagues. With their help, I have come to realize that Shanghai is a wonderful city to both live in and to further one’s career. To date, the only problem I had encountered concerned drinking water. When I first arrived in the city, I frankly thought the water here carried a peculiar taste. This was certainly a big change from Toronto, where I lived for just under thirty years; there, tap water drunk at home or school tasted clean and fresh. On the other hand, Shanghainese tap water was slightly pungent and acrid, with an equally sharp odor. Thankfully, my landlord helped me install a water dispenser. With this arrangement I thought I had resolved my problem with drinking water.

The problem returns – the water tanks

There was one memorable incident at the office that disrupted my peaceful life in Shanghai. The company admin team invites water dispenser technicians every six months to inspect and sanitize all water dispensers in the company building. One such routine check has revealed that not only have the dispensers grown a rather unhealthy spread of green algae, but several small cockroaches were also found residing inside various dispensers! In a flash, these revelations became the company’s latest hot topic. One colleague even managed to sneak a couple of pictures to be uploaded on a popular social chat forum, attracting even further interest from regular web surfers. The company responded by purchasing a whole batch of brand new dispensers to replace the ones found to have cockroaches. But the replacements have done little to soothe the employees’ nerves. Since inspection day, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of people using the dispensers, and a reciprocal increase in the number of bottled mineral water on employees’ work desks.

[The dispensers, with a layer of yellow scum after just several weeks of use]

The water dispenser incident has left me visibly shaken. I now even view the water dispenser at home as a time bomb, as a health threat. It now seems that my problem with drinking water really has returned.

Serendipity

Not long ago I attended a colleague’s house warming party. When serving us water, to my surprise, she collected it straight from the tap! With an inquisitive but also suspicious tone I asked whether that was drinkable. My colleague looked at me, downed a whole glass of ‘tap’ water, and burst out laughing. Not entirely convinced, I took a small sip, just out of politeness. To my surprise, that small sip of water tasted just like bottled mineral water, it did not have any of the strange flavors and odors of regular tap water. “Why is her ‘tap’ water palatable?” I thought to myself. “Could it be that Shanghai’s water treatment centers differ from each other by this much?” I asked her why, and she replied that she had installed a water purifier for the whole house.
My colleague opened the closet door in the utilities room and pointed at the curious white machine with the blue cap. She revealed that when she first moved to Shanghai, she found that the water had an odor, which was repulsive even for washing. Boiling the water first did not seem to help either. It turned out she had the exact same problem as I had with drinking water. She originally thought there was something wrong with her home water supply, which resulted in small tiffs with the estate’s management team. Only after talking to a neighbor did she realize that it was because she did not understand the nature of the problem; that the whole city suffers from this affliction. Her neighbor also went on to advise her to install a water purifier. Thus she and her husband, after much careful deliberation, decided on the purifier now sitting in her closet space. A few days after installing the purifier, she discovered to her pleasant surprise that the odors that once plagued her were gone. She can finally enjoy drinking water and taking showers at home.

[The big white fellow with the blue cap sits in the closet of the utilities room of a colleague’s house.]

The secret to healthy clean water – Canature Whole House Water Filter

As if revealing a treasured secret, my colleague explained that this water purifier has a two-tiered purification system: not only can it eliminate odors and unpalatable flavors allowing one to eat and drink in comfort, but it can also remove lead, mercury and other heavy metals that can affect a child’s mental development. It also removes microbes, organic matter and other harmful entities. Furthermore, the large flow of purified water is enough to cover all aspects of home life, including drinking, cooking, washing vegetables, dishes and clothes, showering and bathing. As for my colleague’s three year old daughter, no matter if it is used for making formula, soup, porridge, or for washing her hands or showering, she can finally stop worrying about her health or the recent news reports sparking new fears about water safety. For my colleague, allowing her daughter to grow up in an environment free from polluted water is truly a blessing.

I held up the glass of water to examine it more intently, and I discovered that it was crystal clear. My colleague laughed and dragged me into her bathroom to show me the sink and the tap. After letting the water flow through the tap for a couple of minutes, the ordinarily colorless water turned into a very pale but very distinct blue! Seeing this display, I let out a cry of surprise. My colleague exclaimed that since the purifier was installed, all the water in her house has, as if by magic, been adorned with this brilliant bluish hue. To drink this water everyday has brought her so much happiness.

[The water in the bath tub had a pastel blue color]

Another colleague told me that another reason why she and her husband had decided on a water purifier was Canature’s service, since one of the biggest fears when installing such a purifier is unsatisfactory service and installation. This colleague’s husband even went to Canature’s offices to make a thorough investigation of the quality of its products and services. Now the purifier has been installed for over half a year, and my colleague can still say with pride that the service, the product manager’s assistance in deciding on a purifier and the subsequent maintenance checks were all of the highest quality, on par with the services available in any large overseas corporation. This mark of excellence has really earned Canature their confidence.

Such excellent service has won over my heart

After hearing this introduction to Canature’s water purifier, I have decided to once and for all solve my own problem with drinking water. Thus, right after making it back home, I gave Canature a call. A few days later, Canature’s product manager arrived at my home at the scheduled time, to provide detailed answers to all my queries. The whole experience was efficient and enjoyable. When he learned that my reason for installing a purifier is to have potable water at home and that I was soon due to move, he provided me with two solutions. The first one was to install a small household purifier with a flow large enough to cover my daily water needs, including showering and washing. The second is to install a Canature Kitchen Water Filter, which has a small attached water tap allowing me to collect drinkable water; there is a second larger tap which dispenses water fit for washing and cooking. This dual tap system makes water purification more economical.

The product manager also told me that since the type of water purifier is determined by the needs of the customer and the dimensions of the house it services, if I were to choose the first solution, then I can install a purifier after moving house. If I were to choose the second solution, then I can install the purifier immediately, as it can be easily transported to a new location. As I was a bit indecisive at the time, he very kindly suggested that I give it a few days as I did not have to make the decision on the spot.

In the end, after considering it for a week, I made a decision: I will go for the first solution, to install a whole house water filter. Everyone knows that water is crucial to our health, so a decision to improve water quality cannot be taken lightly. Even though for now I have to continue relying on bottled mineral water, I do believe that after moving house, I will be able to live a more comfortable life, just like my colleague’s, all thanks to Canature’s water purifier.

Contact details:
Shanghai Canature Environmental Products Co., Ltd
No. 518, Chuanda Road, Pudong, Shanghai,China
Tel: 400 820 1199
www.canature.com

About Jane Kang
Jane Kang is a freelance editor, working for several different organizations, conveying stories that she finds appealing and amusing. If you have any suggestions for this piece of work, please contact the author at esuko@126.com.