KUALA LUMPUR: Panasonic Malaysia, in collaboration with Panasonic Corporation, recently conducted a study to compare the effectiveness of boiling water versus filtering it for impurity removal.
The study found that while boiling was effective in removing chloroform, it failed to eliminate three other impurities: manganese, iron, and free residual chlorine.
Panasonic Malaysia said in some instances, boiling even caused an increase in manganese concentration due to water evaporation.
The research tested tap water from 48 locations across six states - Kelantan, Perlis, Selangor, Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak.
It focused on these four elements because of their prevalence in Malaysian tap water and the health risks they pose at high concentrations.
In areas with particularly high water pollution, three models of Panasonic's water filters and purifiers, the TK-AS500, TK-AS700, and TK-CJ300, outperformed boiling in removing impurities from tap water.
"While boiling effectively eliminated chloroform, Panasonic's filters excelled in reducing levels of iron, manganese, and free residual chlorine, key indicators of water quality. These findings underscore the effectiveness of Panasonic's filter cartridges in delivering cleaner, purer water," it said.
Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) research fellow Dr. Minhaz Farid Ahmed said the water filter systems showed better performance.
This was based on one sampling at six states in Malaysia, in removing free chlorine, iron, manganese and chloroform from tap water than boiling the tap water at the household level.
Panasonic Malaysia managing director Keisuke Nishida said with Malaysians becoming more interested in healthy living, the company began to wonder if this boiling water approach is still the best way to ensure the water is pure.
"Driven by this curiosity and our commitment to delivering healthy living solutions to every Malaysian home, we partnered with esteemed researchers to compare boiled and filtered tap water," he said.
Keisuke said Panasonic's goal is to raise awareness about the benefits of using water filters or purifiers at home.
"By doing so, we can all enjoy cleaner, safer, and healthier drinking water," he added.