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How it works: Urspring Membrane Ultrafiltration

Urspring is the only whole house water filter on the market that eliminates up to 99.99% of all viruses, bacteria, and parasites from city and well water to effectively sterilize the water in your home. How can it achieve such powerful results? It all comes down to the science of membrane ultrafiltration. 

What is membrane ultrafiltration?

Membrane ultrafiltration is a form of physical filtration featuring a semipermeable membrane. The membrane catches unwanted solutes and waterborne pathogens in its pores, allowing the filtered water to flow through. The pore size is what determines what pathogens or contaminants the filter will effectively address. 


The Urspring membrane has a pore size of approximately 20 nanometers (0.02 micron), which means it can remove the vast majority of particles larger than 20 nanometers—smaller than the smallest known virus. In fact, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency testing determined that the Suntuity ultrafiltration membrane removes up to 99.99999% of bacteria and parasites and up to 99.99% of viruses present in water. It also removes larger particles associated with cloudy or murky water such as clay, silt and organic and inorganic matter that can attract pathogens.

Urspring Ultrafiltration at Work

Compared to other membrane filters, our ultrafiltration technology eliminates pathogens as small as 20 nanometers in size.

Compared to other membrane filters, our ultrafiltration technology eliminates pathogens as small as 20 nanometers in size. 

Why Choose Urspring Ultrafiltration?

Featured in the Urspring whole house water filter, the ultrafiltration membrane mitigates a number of potential problems that could negatively impact the health of your home and family.

Urspring Membrane ultrafiltration treats pathogens that other filtration methods and existing regulatory standards miss.

We often assume that our city treatment facility ensures that our water is safe and clean, but that is not always the case. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drinking water can be contaminated with waterborne germs including Cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes diarrheal disease, Naegleria, which is often called the “brain-eating amoeba,” Legionella, a bacteria that can cause a pneumonia-type illness called Legionnaires’ disease, E. coli, Hepatitis A, Giardia intestinalis, and other pathogens that cause disease.1

There are currently no regulations in the U.S. concerning levels of Cryptosporidium in the water supply, and testing for Naegleria is limited. In addition, Cryptosporidium and Giardia oocysts and cysts are resistant to chlorine disinfection. 

Urspring ultrafiltration is a critical layer of defense for well water systems.

If your home uses well water, the purity of your water supply could fluctuate greatly with the weather, environmental conditions and other factors outside of your control. 

As a result, well water systems often require a greater defense against potentially serious parasites and bacteria. For example, poorly constructed, cracked or unsealed wells allow fecal coliform bacteria to enter your water supply. 

If feces or sewage runoff is seeping into your well, your water can become contaminated with disease-causing organisms, including bacteria that cause diarrhea and vomiting, protozoa that cause dysentery, viruses that cause polio and hepatitis, and roundworms and tapeworms that cause chronic diarrhea.2   

Leaking sewer lines, septic systems, and improperly protected well heads are a fairly common risk factor. Around half of all waterborne disease outbreaks in the U.S. each year are the result of contaminated groundwater.3

Fortunately, ultrafiltration eliminates these potentially serious pathogens that can enter your well water without your knowledge due to hidden damage to your well. 

 

Urspring ultrafiltration protects against the formation of biofilm in a home’s plumbing system. 

By stopping pathogens from entering your home’s plumbing, whole house ultrafiltration can greatly reduce the formation of biofilm in your pipes and on your hard surfaces. 

Biofilm is a protective slime produced by colonies of microorganisms that attach themselves to limescale deposits in a home’s plumbing system. Once formed, biofilm is difficult to eliminate and can lead to the growth of more waterborne pathogens over time. Because Suntuity WaterWorks ultrafiltration membrane removes bacteria before it enters your pipes, existing buildup of biofilm will begin to decline within a few weeks of installation.

Urspring ultrafiltration uses no harmful, added chemicals.

When your goal is safe, pure, delicious water, the last thing you want are more potentially harmful chemicals in your household water. 

Chlorine and chloramine are chemicals often used to kill bacteria and viruses in water, but they carry their own risks. 

While the levels of chlorine used for drinking water disinfection are unlikely to cause long-term health effects,4 there could be a risk of accidental overexposure when attempting to use at-home chlorination systems for well and spring water. According to the CDC, chlorine exposure can cause blurred vision; skin injuries similar to frostbite; a burning sensation in the nose, throat, and eyes; coughing; chest tightness; difficulty breathing or shortness of breath; fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema); nausea and vomiting; watery eyes; and wheezing.5

In Feb. 2022, the city of Sugar Land, Texas notified its residents to expect strange tasting and smelling water during the month of March while the city temporarily used free chlorine to flush the pipes of organic matter that had accumulated from using chloramines to disinfect drinking water. The city noted that prolonged use of chloramines and high temperatures can cause organic matter to grow and persist in distribution pipes, introducing unwanted taste and odor and hindering the maintenance of an adequate disinfectant residual.6

Urspring's patented ultrafiltration membrane is the method of choice for safe and effective water filtration and disinfection because it does not use chemicals such as chlorine that could make your water taste foul and potentially cause you harm. In addition, Urspring ultrafiltration removes the organic buildup, including bacteria and parasites, that are either left untreated or created when your municipal water treatment plant relies on these chemicals to treat your water. 

Urspring ultrafiltration delivers medical-grade water sterilization.

The Urspring ultrafiltration membrane was adapted from technology used in the medical industry, specifically the filtration membranes used in dialysis. Why not purify your home water supply using the same technology that is trusted in the most sensitive of medical environments?

The immunocompromised and the elderly will particularly benefit from the water sterilization provided by our ultrafiltration membrane. It only takes a tiny amount of bacteria or virus to cause potentially serious illness in someone who already has a weakened or suppressed immune system.

Urspring ultrafiltration preserves water’s natural balance and nutrients. 

Unlike other filtration methods, Urspring ultrafiltration allows beneficial dissolved minerals to remain in tap water. Minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium are essential for our health and well-being. By keeping these trace minerals in your drinking supply, Suntuity WaterWorks ultrafiltration promotes a healthier household. 

In addition, cold water from the tap is in a state of natural balance, neither too acidic nor too alkaline. Filtration methods that remove dissolved solids from the water can turn the water more acidic or alkaline, disturbing its pH balance. Water that is too acidic could corrode metal pipes and overly alkaline water cannot dissolve minerals as effectively, leading to scale buildup inside pipes and on fixtures. Water that is in pH balance is also best for your health. Acidic water can lead to heavy metal poisoning and damage your teeth and bones, and there are no proven health benefits of drinking alkaline water.7 Although not directly harmful to your health like acidic water, the bitter taste of alkaline water could discourage consumption and promote dehydration. The Mayo Clinic recommends drinking pH balanced water.  

Whether the water in your home comes from a well, a spring, or your city’s treatment facility, there is a good chance that you need an additional line of defense to fully protect the health of your family and your home. Eliminate disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites and other potentially harmful pathogens, while maintaining the beneficial minerals and pH balance of your water with Urspring’s ultrafiltration membrane.  

 


 

  1.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Water Treatment: Community Water Treatment” https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_treatment.html (Jan. 20, 2015). 

  2. N.C. Department of Public Health and Human Services - Division of Public Health “Protect Yourself from Coliform Bacteria in your Well Water Fact Sheet - July 2009” https://epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/oee/docs/Coliform_Bacteria_WellWaterFactSt.pdf.
  3. Extension Foundation, Cooperative Extension, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture “Drinking Water Contaminant – Protozoa and Amoeba” https://drinking-water.extension.org/drinking-water-contaminant-protozoa-and-amoeba/ (Aug. 23, 2019).
  4.  Minnesota Department of Health “Drinking Water Chlorination: Frequently Asked Questions” 

  5.  CDC “Facts about Chlorine” https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/chlorine/basics/facts.asp (Apr. 4, 2018). 

  6.  Amanda Cochran “Sugar Land water might smell, taste differently in the coming weeks; Here’s why, authorities say” https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/02/09/sugar-land-water-might-smell-taste-different-in-the-coming-weeks-heres-why-authorities-say/ (Feb. 9, 2022). 

  7. Healthline “Acidic Water: Risks, Benefits, and More” https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/acidic-water#_noHeaderPrefixedContent