Ultrafiltration Defined

Written by Jim Artress, Designer of Ultrafiltration Water System

The system Jungle Cafe has in it's Greenpoint Avenue location produces the finest potable water in NYC because it is tailored to the specific challenges of the NYC Municipal water system.  The primary concern in NYC Municipal water is the rust scale and sediment from the eroding infrastructure or piping that is slowly disintegrating into the water.  Many sections of NYC piping has been there for over 160 years.  This rust appears as a red brown iron and when consumed stays in the body for extended periods of time, attracting and holding free radicals, which advance the aging process while clogging up the liver and kidneys and inhibiting their function. 

The first phase of the system is the “Ultrafiltration”. Water enters a .9 micron diameter pore. However, to exit this phase of the system it must pass through a .0135 micron of each of it's 280 tubes, which has 500,000 micro pores so that’s 280 tubes x’s 500,000 pores. That's a lot of filtration.  The next stage consists of the Carbon Combo Filter which addresses Chlorine, Chloramines, Voc’s (Volitile Organic Compounds such as pesticides) Fluoride, CH6 taste and odor. 

This system is effective for 50,000 gallons before needing a filter change as it back-washes daily throwing the heavy contaminants down the drain keeping the carbons clean so they can do their job without being inhibited from the sediment, which is thoroughly eliminated in stage one.  Meanwhile, the system leaves the minerals in the water like calcium and magnesium. Studies show that people who drink water containing the naturally occurring minerals left in it have less heart disease than the people drinking water where they have been removed.

Ultrafiltration is also quite effective on Bacteria and Viruses as they general run 2-3 Microns and can’t pass through the membrane.  Viruses are much smaller but clump together which makes them almost the size of Bacteria, far too large to make it through.

After 15 years of working with NYC water (34 years in total in the field) and trying many different filter combinations and modalities - Jungle Cafe has the ideal combination requiring a minimum of filter changes, a minimum of water waste and maximum water quality.