The Truth of Water – Answers

• 19Nov

  Sampling for Bacteria in Your Home

  Drinking Water, health, microorganisms 2 Comments

  Anyone who is on their own water supply at home invariably has – or should, take samples to be tested for bacteria on a regular basis. Taken on a quarterly basis, this kind of check keeps tabs on the effectiveness of a water treatment system and/or the quality of your water supply.

  We live in a bacteria world. There is bacteria on us, in us, and all around us. The technique you use for sampling your home has a huge effect on the reliability of the results. You need to sample in such a manner as to exclude outside interferences.

  Sample location is one of the most important considerations. It is better to choose an area that’s kept clean of dirt and clutter on a regular basis, such as a kitchen tap. This is a better choice than say a basement laundry room tub that probably has years of accumulated dirt, grime and grease.

  The type of tap is important too. The best tap to take a sample from is one that has separate hot/cold faucet handles, rather than one hot/cold faucet handle. The latter uses a mixer valve, and over time those mixer valves can leak hot water into the cold water side, even when not asking for hot water. Hot water tanks and heaters tend to grow bacteria, so could skew your results.

  Make sure you run your water for at least two minutes. You want to make sure that your water is fresh, clean water, and not stagnant water that has been sitting in your pipes for some time.

  Before you take your sample, remove your aerator. Aerators can collect sediment which can harbor bacteria. Filling your sample bottle, turn your water off. Heat up the tip of your tap with a propane torch, just until you hear a squelching noise when the water is turned back on. This will kill any bacteria that is on the surface of your tap from daily activities that will skew your result.

  Finally, make sure you inspect your sample bottle. Bottles should come from your lab or health unit pre sealed and steralized. Give your bottle a squeeze. If air enters or escapes, throw the bottle out and get another one. When you are sampling, take the cap off carefully. Do not touch the inside of the cap, don’t put it down, and make sure that you hold the cap in such a manner (downwards), so nothing can fall into it.

  When submitting your sample, use a small cooler and ice pack. Most laboratories prefer it at refridgerator temperature.   This is to ensure that if there is any bacteria in the sample, it will not grow while in transit, skewing the results.

  Follow these simple steps when taking your bacteria samples, and you can be sure that you’ll have accurate results.

  

  Tags: bacteria, household water, sampling, testing

• 17Nov

  Response on Water Softeners, Discussed

  Conservation, Drinking Water, health No Comments

  Pau from California left a comment on the article Electronic Water Softeners – Misconception and Misdirection posted on November 10th.  He writes:

  The environmental issue with water softeners is not their effect on septic tanks, but the amount of water they waste and the effect of chloride on reclaimed water and agriculture. Do you realize that the Canandian WQA is the trade group for the softener industry? Cities and counties in Califoria have rebate programs to remover softeners (San Bernadino) and one city has succefully passed a law to have them removed (Santa Clarita) See the news article. http://www.wwdmag.com/California-Voters-Approve-Santa-Clarita-Softener-Ban-newsPiece17017.

  Even if the water to the sink is by-passed so it is not softened, what about the water in other faucets and the water that you shower in.
  Water softeners are not healthy and are bad for the environment.

  Thank you for leaving the comment, Pau.

  It is true that no one needs a water softener.  Hard water is an aesthetic concern only, and indeed does have health benefits to the user in the form of higher levels of needed minerals.  I encourage anyone who is considering having a softener installed instead purchase more soap, and live with hard water.

  California must have very hard water for the softeners to have that high of an effect on chlorides in natural water tables.  I do not know much of the hydrogeology of California.  I do understand that the water tables in most of the United States have dropped significantly, concentrating much of the naturally occuring (and some not so naturally occuring) contaminants in the water.

  I am familiar with the hydrogeology where I’m from.  The majority of chlorides and sodium come from the practice of road salting. Indeed, one of our well sites is experiencing elevated sodium that can be traced directly back to a salt storage yard upstream of it.  We have corrected that by building a new and leak proof storage shed.

  I do agree that softeners are a waste of water, due to their regeneration cycles.  I would comment though, that the way we use water in general is wasteful.  Our bathing practices, washing practices and industrial use of water is very high.  Even our low flow toilets use three times more water in one flush than the average third world African does in a day.

  In closing, I agree that there is no need for water softeners.  I would argue that stopping the use of water softeners is only a small step to reducing water waste and contamination of water supplies, but it is a step in the right direction.

  

  Tags: contamination, water softeners, water waste

• 12Nov

  Water Usage – Is it Too Much, and What of the Future?

  Conservation, Drinking Water 2 Comments

  Simone from Shanghai, China writes:

  What will happen in the future if we keep using water at this rate?

  Hi Simone, thanks for writing in.

  There is no question that the population of the earth is going up, and no question as to water being one of if not the most important resource to life.  The human body is mostly water, we need to consume it on a daily basis to keep up our metabolic processes. As well, water is vital to hygiene, to industry, to food production, and a whole host of daily activities as we go about our lives.

  As our population rises, the need for fresh, clean water goes up.  There is also no doubt as to the imbalance in availability. Those living in North America, Europe, and other first world economies have access to much clean treated drinking water, while others in third world economies are not so fortunate.

  Regardless of the current situation, our fresh water supplies are disappearing on a global scale.  Eventually, everyone will be desperate for water regardless of where they live.  In effect, water is soon to be the next oil.

  Water, of course, is finite.  There is a set amount on this planet and there is and will be no more, and no less then there ever was.  The issue the planet is facing is the availability of fresh (not salt) drinking water.

  Think of the water in the planet fitting inside a two liter coke bottle.  Out of that two liters, most of that water would be salt. Only a teaspoon of that is fresh, and only a drop from that teaspoon is readily available for human consumption.

  The vast majority of fresh water exists as ground water, and most of the planet relies on wells. Others use surface water such as lakes, rivers, and sometimes ponds for their supply.

  In the natural order of things, fresh water is continually supplied by the earths natural hydrologic cycle.  Water evaporates from the oceans, leaving the salt behind.  Precipitation deposits the fresh water back into ground and surface water aquifers, which eventually find their way back to the ocean.  On the way back, animals, plants, and humans use some of this water.

  The concern is that humans are taking fresh water many, many times faster than it can be replaced.

  What will happen in the future?  I don’t know for sure, and anything I say will be conjecture on my part.  However, we are running out of water, fast.

  There are two possible outcomes that I can see. The first is one more on a positive outlook.  Eventually we will start running so short water will become incredibly expensive.  Lifestyles and water usage patterns will change.  Less water will be wasted on unnecessary things, and conservation will become key. A move will be made to use treated, fresh disinfected water only for drinking and cooking.  Households will incorporate water recycling, rain water collection, etc. for use in things such as washing, bathing and other things.  A concerted effort will be made to take water from our struggling aquifers at a rate slower than they are being depleted, allowing them to recharge to where they once were.  A balance will be made and we will live in harmony with the natural water cycles.

  A much more ominous possibility may be expected.  As has been done with other resources in the past, and is being done even now, we may see conflict for our dwindling supplies.  Hoarding may occur, and fighting may break out.

  It may also be a combination of both.  Regardless, times will be different as our supplies dwindle.

  There is a possibility that new technologies may surface that will be able to cheaply and effectively desalinate ocean water.  Currently there are projects in Australia, and there have been several ddesalination plants built. However, the process is time consuming and extremely costly to do now.

  In any event, times ahead will be much different as we are careening full force into a serious problem of world wide water shortage.  Actions will have to be taken in the next little while, and I do predict we shall see very shortly exactly how we will deal with this.

  In the meantime, I’m currently working on an E-Book entitled “When the Taps run dry”.  It will be a guide as to how to obtain and treat water when and if the municipal taps turn off, and what to use it for and not to use it for.  Keep an eye out for it in the coming months on this website.

  I hope I’ve given you some of the information you were looking for.  Please feel free to write in again if you have another question or require further clarification to this one.

  

  Tags: water cycle, water shortages, water supply

• 10Nov

  Electronic Water Softeners – Misconception and Misdirection

  Drinking Water, health, softening 4 Comments

  Pete from Henderson, NC writes:

  Does the EasyWater water softening product work?  I have seen a lot of discussion of this but would like to know if this has been tested and if so does it really work?

  Hi Pete, thanks for the question.

  Most people want water softeners because of the effect that hard water has on detergents and soaps.  The harder your water, the harder it is to get a lather from your soap.  This is because the components that make your water hard – dissolved calcium, magnesium, and other trace minerals – react with the soap to form a precipitate, or what you would call “scum”.

  The key here is that regardless as to what form your dissolved calcium is in, as long as it is dissolved and in your water supply it will continue to react with your soaps and detergents and produce that undesirable effect.

  I went to the Easy Water website.  There are a few key elements I found there:

  • The main focus of the website was on how harmful sodium is, and how traditional methods add sodium to water.
  • They claim only to reduce and remove scale, there’s nothing about effects with soap or detergents
  • The only third party proof they have is some questionable photos of what they claim is calcium in tree like branches before hand and little smooth droplets after wards
  • They post no data that they’ve had third party accreditation of this technology proving it works in blind studies
  • The only other resources they do have points to articles on how unhealthy too much sodium is for you

  This electronic water softener claims to send “electronic pulses” that change the state of the calcium ion.  Regardless, if it’s still there dissolved in the water, it will still cause problems.

  The website does not address the science behind softening, it does not give any valid references to real studies and tests that has been done, it uses clever marketing and health scare tactics to try and drive sales.

  To go into the actual and proven methods of softening, there are three ways:

  1. ion exchange
  2. sequestering
  3. reverse osmosis filtration

  Sequestering involves the addition of chemicals to “bind” the calcium in the water, rendering it ineffective for scale formation or reaction with soap or detergents.  This is generally done with boilers and large industrial heating systems, as sequestering chemicals do not make good drinking water.   Reverse osmosis filtration removes everything, and is extremely expensive for whole house water flows.

  Ion exchange, for a home owner, is currently the most viable and trusted way to soften your home water.  It is a tried and true method, has been proven over and over again, and simply works, no questions asked.  There is of course two issues that an Easy Water sales representative would bring up, health issues from excessive sodium, and environmental issues with the brine backwash.

  Both issues are easy to deal with.  When your plumber is installing your softener, have him run a line of un-softened water to your kitchen tap.  Use this water for drinking and cooking.  For the environmental concerns, please follow this link to an article prepared by the Canadian Water Quality Association.  It seems that dilution of your septic water with briny softener backwash isn’t such a problem after all.

  My opinion is stay away from any of these electric water softeners, go with tried, true and proven, and you can’t go wrong.

  I hope I’ve helped. If you need any further clarification, or have another question, please let me know.

  

  Tags: easy water, electronic softeners, misconceptions, misdirection, softening

• 08Nov

  Distilled Water – Safe to Drink?

  Uncategorized 3 Comments

  Mr. Barraza from California writes:

  Is distilled water safe to drink?

  The answer is yes and no.

  Distilled water is very similar to reverse osmosis water.  Both techniques leave nothing but pure H2O behind, for the most part.  What happens then is because the dissolved minerals are gone, the dissolved CO2 is allowed to combine with some H2O to form carbonic acid, bringing the pH of the water down to about 6.

  The other thing is that water is an excellent solvent.  It will dissolve trace amounts of just about anything given the opportunity, like a sponge.  Think of your tap water like a sponge full of minerals that cannot take any more.  Distilled water is like a dry sponge looking for minerals.

  When the distilled water enters your body, the water in your body with a mix of dissolved minerals will pass some over to the distilled water to balance the ratio.  It works very much like air temperature, where warm air will pass its energy onto colder air until an equilibrium is reached.

  Eventually, drinking too much of this water over a long period of time can deplete your body of much needed minerals and electrolytes.

  While drinking the occasional glass of distilled water won’t harm you, but it can be a chronic problem if drank repeatedly over a long period of time, especially to women who are at risk for or suffer from osteoporosis.

  

  Tags: chronic problem, distilled water, minerals, safe drinking water

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