The Truth of Water – Answers

• 30Mar

  Whole House Water Treatment

  Drinking Water, Filtration, softening 1 Comment

  Nadia from Bettendorf Writes:

  I was very interested in your site and am looking for an advice. I am currently reseaching two companies and their products but finding it very difficult to compare them. I would like to install a RO system for drinking water. I would also like to remove clorine and hardness from all the water in the house. I contacted Eco water and was advised an RO system with 3 gal tank and a water conditioner/purifier model ERR 3502

  http://ecowater.com/systemERR3502R30.php

  There are 6 of us in the house. I am wondering if 3 gal worth of drinking water is enough and if this purifier is big enough for us. It has coconut shell carbon filter.
  The other salesman I talked to was from Culligan. He recommended 9 gal RO system. like this one:

  http://www.culligan.com/en/products/drinking-water-systems/aqua-cleer/

  He did not even want to go the whole system route. I need to check with him but I think he thought the amount of carbon that is included in those 2-in-1  (so to speak )systems would not be adequate. He said we would need a softner and a carbon filter tank – seems like a lot.
  My question is what RO tank we need and if this coconut shell filter is enough.
  The eco-water system carbon filter needs to be replaced every year for $100 while Culligan lasts 2-3 years but the price is $200 plus labor. So they are comparable this way.
  I do not know why Culligan did not recommend this system

  http://www.culligan.com/en/products/whole-house-water-filters/total-home/

  Even though he was showing me the picture of Gold seried water softener that looks exactly like this one.  I think he was afraid that we would be going thru salt and carbon too fast.

  Also, how would I compare water softners (valve, salt, etc) I am not sure what to look at.

  I really appreciate your advice in this matter. I have kids who cannot tolerate bad water so I am trying to get the most bang for my $.

  Hi Nadia

  Thank you for writing in.

  First off, since you mentioned chlorinated water, I’ll assume that you’re on municipal water.  If that’s not the case, please write back and let me know, as my answer will change.

  My thoughts on reverse osmosis systems are that they are an absolute last resort device.  I’ve only recommended them a few times, like a woman in Manitoba who had high levels of uranium in her drinking water, for example.

  This is because reverse osmosis is very expensive, produces only a small amount of water (some systems reject up to 50% of the water that goes into them), and produces water that is lower in pH and had no minerals which most health professionals agree is part of a healthy diet.

  If you like the taste of de-mineralized water, then by all means purchase a reverse osmosis system.  You will probably need one larger than 3 gallons for a 6 person home, as it will produce the three gallons slowly.  If you drain the storage tank filling water bottles, or cooking a large pot of pasta, it will recover slowly.

  Contrary to what water stores may have you believe, here in North America municipally treated water is safe to drink and use right out of the tap.  The only concerns with that water are the chlorine, which offer objectionable taste to some, and sometimes the hardness which makes washing chores more difficult.

  My recommendation is a two fold process:

  1) Carbon filtration and softening for most of your house
  2) Carbon filtration only for your drinking water

  In my municipality, I use a filter by a company called Kinetico.  The reason I use these filters is that they have a twin tank design for redundancy, meaning even if the unit is in a backwash mode you still get water.  They also do not require any electricity at all, and operate on water pressure. This saves a lot of hassle, wasted electricity and the potential for issues if you have power surges or black outs.

  Kinetico makes a softener/carbon filter product that operates in this principle, so you will get soft, dechlorinated water for showering, washing, and laundry.  Check it out here:

  http://www.kinetico.com/KineticoSystems/WaterSofteners.aspx

  Scroll down to view the municipal water softeners.  I wholly recommend Kinetico products to be of top quality and reliability.  You may pay a little more than the Culligan systems but I think you will be pleased.

  The reason I do not recommend softened water for drinking is because softened water adds a lot of sodium. The harder your water is, the more sodium it will add. This is especially a problem for those with heart problems or sodium restricted diets; but most health professionals agree too much sodium from water and/or food isn’t a good thing for your health.

  When you get the softener installed, make sure your plumber plumbs a line from before the softener to the kitchen sink, where you will take your drinking and cooking water.

  From there, my recommendation is to use a carbon filter.  Carbon removes chlorine, chloramines, and even some organics that may be present that might hamper taste.

  You can get carbon filters in many forms.  Under the sink units with it’s own tap, under the sink that ties into the existing tap, units that attach right to your tap, and jugs with a built in carbon filter.

  To see examples of this technology, I put together a simple Amazon web page.  Any of these carbon filters will do you just fine to improve the taste of your water:

  http://www.truthofwater.com/store.html

  One of the filters even comes with removable flavor cartridges.

  The advantages of carbon systems such as this are that it works off direct pressure, so there is no “gallon limit”.  The filter cartridges are very inexpensive to replace compared to R.O. as well.

  

  Tags: carbon filter, Culligan, kinetico, r.o., reverse osmosis, softening, whole house filter

• 01Mar

  Personal Filtration Devices

  Filtration, disinfection No Comments

  Larry from Denver writes:

  What are the least expensive yet safest types of water  filtration systems to make contaminated water drinkable? I’m interested in types that can be carried with you in an emergency or camping situation, and a larger type, say for a cabin, that works without batteries or electricity.

  In Outward Bound we used iodine drops. It had a slight aftertaste, but it apparently worked. What do you recommend?

  Hi Larry, thanks for the question.

  This is an excellent question.  Drinking water is the most important thing you need on a trip, and it has to be safe. But water is very heavy to carry, so your best option is treatment.

  Here is the issue.  When you go about treating raw water supplies to make them safe to drink, your biggest concern is the acute issues. Generally, these acute issues are microbes, bacteria, parasites, and viruses. That is why you added the iodine drops, for disinfection.

  To assure proper disinfection, you need to take two steps:

  1. Filtration
  2. Disinfection

  The dirtier the water is, the less effective your disinfectant will be.  This is because particles in your water, even colloidal particles (particles that are too small to settle out on their own) both absorb disinfectant and can shield microbes from said disinfectant.

  For the first part of your question, I’ve browsed Amazon.com and found a good product for you. It’s from a company called Katadyn. Katadyn specializes in outdoor camping type activities, and have come up with a great little product that provides filtration, disinfection and even taste and odour control within an easy to carry bottle. The first filter is a sediment filter tight enough for cyst reduction (cryptosporidium cysts are common in surface waters and make you very sick), the second is an EPA approved disinfecting stage and the final stage is a carbon filter. The second stage is an iodine type disinfectant but the carbon filter should remove any aftertaste from the disinfectant or from the water source.

  Click below to take a look. You can even purchase it from Amazon if you like. Generally Amazon.com prices are rather competitive:

  Filtering larger volumes for drinking at a camp or cabin can be a bit trickier.  I wasn’t able to find a solution to treat larger volumes of water all in one step as above. However, I did find a filter for multiple people that can be seen below:

  Simply add your iodine disinfectant afterwards to ensure any pathogens in the water are killed.

  I hope I’ve answerd you question. If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

  

  Tags: camping filters, personal filters, portable water treatment

• 23Feb

  Water Filter Information

  Filtration 2 Comments

  Myron from CT writes:

  We have municipal water. We use a lot of water (drinking, bathing etc.) I’m worried about chlorine, fluoride, metals, vocs and socs.

  I’m looking for sink water filters for drinking and shower filters.
  My head is spinning from all the products and information on the internet.

  Hi Myron, thanks for writing in.

  There is indeed a lot of information on the internet for water filtration and treatment systems.  There’s a lot of good stuff out there, and there is a lot of crap.  It is hard to know what to get at times.

  Firstly, I’d like to belay your fears of all these nasties in your municipally treated water. Because there are so many people out to make a buck from selling you things you probably don’t need, there is a lot of money going into advertising creating negative propaganda against municipally treated water.

  These days, water plants employ things like optimized coagulation, and sedimentation techniques, advanced oxidation, and activated carbon filter beds, and an aggressive distribution sampling protocol to ensure the safety of your water supply.  Most of the things you mentioned above are either just not there or are there well below the governments maximum acceptable concentrations.

  However, if you want to err on the side of caution and make sure, and you have the money to spend, there are several things you can do.

  Firstly, chlorine, VOC’s, and SOC’s.  These are things that can be removed with an activated carbon filter.  Activated carbon will also remove lead, which is effective if you have older plumbing in your home.  It’s important that you ensure the filter remains fresh and change it out at manufacturer recommended intervals, because activated carbon can propagate bacterial regrowth.

  There are a few ways you can utilized this technology. I’ve provided links to appropriate products on Amazon.com to help you along.  Any of the products I recommend here will do the job.

  There is a countertop pitcher method, where you add your water to the device, it filters it and you serve the water from it. You can view a good examples here and here.

  You can also attach a carbon filter right to your kitchen tap, as you can see here and here.

  Fluoride is a highly debated chemical. Some experts claim it’s imperative, while others claim it’s harmful. I tend to think that at the minute levels found in most supplies, it’s not any particular concern. You probably get all the fluoride you need if you purchase a quality toothpaste.

  If it is a concern to you, there’s only one way to remove it, and that’s to use reverse osmosis filtration. R.O. also removes everything else.  It leaves you with nothing in the water but water.  If you decide to go this route, there has been some debate on whether the absence of minerals can be harmful. I tend to think that as long as you have a good diet and take a multivitamin, it’s not a big deal.

  To check out a reverse osmosis unit, (which includes sediment and carbon prefilters), you can click here

  Shower filters are also available in carbon filtration to remove chlorine.  There’s been some talk if the chlorine fumes are harmful.  There is so little chlorine in tap water (it just smells like a lot!) that I doubt it very much. However, it can’t hurt to take it out and it can make showering a more pleasant experience.

  This shower filter will remove chlorine, and I think it’s pretty attractive too.

  What you buy, what it removes and how much you spend is all up to you, but any of the above products should meet your needs.

  I hope I’ve been of help. Please let me know if you need any clarifications.

  

  Tags: carbon, counter top, faucet filter, reverse osmosis, water filters

• 28Oct

  Water Treatment For a Well in Michigan

  Drinking Water, Filtration, disinfection 1 Comment

  Recently, Anna from Michigan wrote into The Truth of Water asking several questions.  She has recently moved from Poland to Michigan, and purchased a house with well water.  Our correspondence is long so I’ll break down her questions below and answer them in turn.

  1. Anna has a water softener, and has heard that it can be bad for your health. Is this true?
  2. Where to get your water tested, and how often?
  3. There is a smell coming from the water. As well, rusty stains are developing on her water fixtures
  4. She wants to disinfect her water using U.V. to ensure it is safe to drink, and would like a recommendation on a U.V. unit.

  Anna, thank you for writing in and I’ll try to help you as best I can.

  Question 1 – Is water softener water bad for your health?

  Water softeners add sodium to your water in the same proportion that they remove hardness. Sodium in excessive amounts can be bad for your heart and blood pressure. Your best bet is to plumb a special line of non softened water to your kitchen sink and use that water only for drinking and cooking. This way you’ll be able to benefit from sodium free water for your health, and softened water for your cleaning activities.

  Question 2 – Where to get your water tested, and how often?

  It is best to find an Environmental laboratory closest to you.  Some samples are time sensitive so the sooner you get it to the lab, the better.  As I live in Ontario, the laboratories I am close to are too far away to be of use to yourself. However, I have found a Michigan association of Environmental laboratories.  You can find them at http://www.michlabs.org/. Please write into them and explain your situation, and that you need to do some well water testing. They will be able to recommend a lab close to you. Most laboratories have a well water testing suite custom tailored to the problems specific to the area.  When you do find a laboratory, please make sure that they can test for ultra violet transmittance.  This is usually a very inexpensive test but it is necessary to properly size a U.V. treatment device, as I will explain below.  Generally most home owners will get their water tested 4 times per year, once quarterly.  As you progress in your testing and find some contaminants commonly not existing in your water supply, you can start reducing the frequency of testing or eliminate it. You should ALWAYS test for bacteria in your water, as that is the most acute problem you may face and can come up at any time.

  Question 3 – Smell and Rust in the well water

  Many times, well water can contain sulphur reducing bacteria and produce hydrogen sulphide, which will make your water smell like rotten eggs. If this is not the case, I do understand that Michigan groundwater can sometimes be contaminated with methane, which will cause a smell. If your water does not smell like rotten eggs, it is most likely methane.  The company I will recommend below will be able to help you with this.  The rust in your water is from iron, which can come from your well water and/or your iron well casing.  To treat this, you need to oxidize with either air or an oxidizing agent and filter it out.  The below company I will mention will also have experience with this.

  Question 4 – U.V. system recommendation

  One of the most important treatment devices you will own is your U.V. system, simply because it will kill or inactivate any microorganisms like bacteria, virus’s and protozoa, which can be common to some ground water supplies.  It is very important to properly size your U.V. system.  Just as car companies must not under size an engine for their car, if you under size a U.V. system it will not deliver an effective dose.  The US EPA, AWWA, NSF and various other water specialists recognize that the lowest safe dose for U.V. to produce safe water is 40 mj/cm2.  In order to achieve this, you must achieve these factors:

  1. Know your maximum flow rate. The higher the flow rate the lower the U.V. dose will be.
  2. The U.V. transmittance of your water, or how much U.V. light can penetrate your water
  3. The strength of your lamps at all times, as lamp strength degrades over time.

  I work for a small muncipality, and have installed about twenty small U.V. treatment systems. After careful consideration, I purchased all of them from a company called U.V. Pure.  The reasons I did this was simple. U.V. pure took all three factors above into consideration.  Through independent third party testing, they have proven a minimum effective dose of 40 mj/cm2 at the end of lamp life, at a maximum flow rate (which they set with a flow restrictor), and with a U.V. Transmittance of 75%.  If the lamp output failed, or if the U.V. transmittance dropped below 75%, the unit shut off a valve and sent out an alarm, ensuring that you either get safe drinking water or you do not.

  U.V. Pure offers a home unit which is independently verified by a third party company to produce this. They test using live bacteria and ensure all are dead on the other side of the system. Indeed, I have my own performance data showing E.coli bacteria on the raw water side of one of my systems and clean, bacteria free water on the other.

  Where to get water treatment?

  I contacted U.V. Pure to find the closest distributor to you.  They lead me to a company called Clear Water Systems in Brighton, Michigan which I believe is close to you.  As an added bonus, this company also carries Kinetico Water filters, which I have direct and positive experiences with.  Kinetico has filtration options that can take care of any iron, sediment, or methane in your water.

  Make sure that if you visit Clear Water systems, you take the results of your well water tests with you. This will help them choose a system to best take care of your needs.

  You can contact Clear Water Systems at the following:

  Clear Water Systems (Kinetico)

  10008 E. Grand River

  Brighton, MI 48116

  Phone: 810.632.7880

  Email:sales@clearwatersystems.com

  Website: www.clearwatersystems.com

  To recap: To help solve your problems, use the website I gave you in question 2 to find a local drinking water lab.  Take that information to your local clear water systems dealer, so he can help you with treatment for your iron and stinky water problem, and a properly sized U.V. Pure U.V. system to make sure your water is safe to drink.

  I hope I’ve helped you out today. Please let me know if you need any further information or clarifications.  Also, I would be very interested to see how you make out in your endeavors!

  

  Tags: disinfection, Filtration, softener, u.v. pure, water treatment

• 27Oct

  Removing Uranium from Drinking Water

  Drinking Water, Filtration 2 Comments

  Sandra from Saskatchewan Writes:

  How do you safely remove for drinking from a private well?

  Thanks for the question, Sandra.

  Uranium is common to aquifers in or in contact with a sedimentary based bedrock, like the kind you have in Saskatchewan. It can also be found in granite, so is common to well waters in England, among other places.

  The accepted maximum safe level of uranium in drinking water is 20 parts per billion in most parts of Canada. If you have not already done so, it is advisable to have your drinking water tested.  You should be able to find a laboratory that tests for uranium locally. If you cannot locate one, contact your municipality, they should be able to direct you to the lab closest to you.

  Uranium is a heavy dissolved metal, and can be removed one of two ways:

  1. Reverse Osmosis Filtration
  2. Distillation

  Distillers are expensive and hard to maintain. Your best option is to use a reverse osmosis filter. R.O. filter. These filters can be purchased relatively inexpensively in small sizes, small enough to fit under your kitchen counter and provide water through a special tap, which can be used for drinking and cooking.

  Reverse Osmosis filters are the tightest filters, removing almost all dissolved substances from your water.  This creates a few problems. Firstly, the water must be very clean before entering the R.O. filter, or it will clog it up quickly.  When selecting your R.O. filter, most good manufacturers will provide several pre filters with your R.O. filter to preserve the integrity of the filter.  It is also important to purchase a good quality R.O. filter to ensure that it has high removal efficiencies for dissolved contaminants like uranium.  Make sure that the filter is NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) certified or has similar accreditations.

  The other issue with reverse osmosis water is that it tends to be corrosive.  R.O. water, plain water by itself with no dissolved minerals will take those minerals from wherever it can, like a sponge.  If you plan on drinking R.O. water on a regular basis, ensure that you also take a daily multivitamin to help replace minerals lost from this water.  Even better, ask the manufacturer if he can provide a remineralizer.

  Reverse Osmosis filters are a very common staple filter among water treatment companies.  While they can be inexpensive in the “under the counter” style, it is important you don’t buy cheap.  A good quality filter will go a long way to protecting you and your family from the uranium you are concerned about.  Peace of mind is worth a few extra dollars.

  I do know of a manufacturer of R.O. systems in Winnipeg, Manitoba that can help you if you cannot find a good system locally. Visit http://www.waterite.ca/ for more information.

  I hope I’ve been helpful, please do not hesitate to write in again for clarification or to ask another question.

  

  Tags: r.o., reverse osmosis, uranium, uranium removal, water treatment, waterite

« Previous Entries