The Truth of Water - Answers

• 23Mar

  Pool Water Filtration

  health, microorganisms No Comments

  Ron from California writes:

  I am looking to have the safest and healthest pool water system that does not use chlorine?

  Hi Ron

  My expertise is in once through potable water systems. I don’t have much experience with pool water.

  I do understand that it’s very unusual to have pools without some sort of secondary disinfectant in it. This is because pools are open to the atmosphere and environment and without a residual disinfectant they would very quickly become cesspools of a very active ecosystem, including things like e.coli (very common to soil, think of your bare feet on your lawn and garden then introducing it into the water) and other micro organisms that could be a potential threat.

  I understand that some people can have a recirculation system through an ultraviolet disinfection device. I understand that systems like these drastically reduce the amount of disinfectant you add to your pool, but you still have to shock your system on occasion with a disinfectant, so biofilm doesn’t start growing on your underwater surfaces.

  I wish I could help you further, but as I’ve said I’m out of my element and don’t want to lead you down the wrong path.

  I encourage you to seek pool experts, either online or in your area. Perhaps you could go to your local pool store, see what he recommends, than ask for a list of references so you can call around and get the opinions of others who have pool and have used those systems.

  I hope I’ve been of help.

  

  Tags: chlorine, Filtration, pool, recirulation, ultraviolet

• 28Jan

  Sulphur burps from water.

  Drinking Water, disinfection, microorganisms, softening 3 Comments

  Rachael from Alaska writes:

  Hi! I was reading some answers on your website, and have a question. We recently purchased a home on a well. We have a water softner with salt, but do not know the last time it was filled. My family has been experiencing “sulfur burps” since we moved in. Our water smells fine, but I am worried that we are drinking something that is not agreeing with our stomachs. Could there be a way that we can fix this by getting a water purifier on our sink for drinking water?

  Hi Rachel, thanks for writing in.

  Water softener resin is an excellent breeding ground for bacteria.  This is especially true if left to sit or run without salt, or proper maintenance.  If using a water softener, it is a good idea to have a kitchen tap as non softened water for drinking and cooking with.  This will prevent excess salt from the softening process potentially harming you, and prevent contamination from bacteria.

  Ground water commonly has sulphur reducing bacteria.  This usually departs a ‘rotten egg’ smell in the water when they are in the ground. It is possible that these bacteria are growing in your water softener and you are ingesting them.  Sulphur reducing bacteria reduce minute quantities of sulphur compounds to create hydrogen sulphide, which they may be doing in your guts. This is however consistent with the processes of the bacteria, as the hydrogen sulphide they produce is a gas, which may be why you’re getting these “sulphur burps”.

  I wish I could give you more information on the particular processes of these bacteria or if this is even the case, but I am not a health care professional. I do know that sulphur reducing bacteria are not considered a health problem and hydrogen sulphide is considered only a nuisance.

  I would be careful of counter top water purifiers like Brita or other carbon filter based products. Most of these products are only for improving the aesthetic quality of already potable water, and in fact could foster further bacteria growth (carbon, like softener resin, is considered ‘housing’ for bacteria).

  To protect your water supply it needs to be disinfected.  My advice is to ensure that you do have at least one kitchen tap free of softened water for drinking and cooking.  You may want to invest in a sediment filter and a whole house U.V. system.  I currently operate twenty small systems with U.V., and use the U.V. Pure product. I feel it is an excellent product and a top notch company, and has served me well for the 5 years I’ve had their product installed. This particular product has built in alarms that assures proper does for inactivating micro organisms, and if the proper U.V. dose drops too low, it will shut down your water and issue and alarm. You can visit them at http://www.uvpure.com.  They should be able to point you to a distributor in the area.

  If you continue to have these ‘sulphur burps’, I would encourage you to visit your local health care professional for a diagnosis.

  I hope I’ve helped. Please do not hesitate to write in again for further clarification or to ask another question.

  

  Tags: hydrogen sulphide, sulfur, sulfur burps, sulphur, water softener

• 04Dec

  Storage of Distilled Water

  Drinking Water, disinfection, microorganisms 4 Comments

  Karen Writes:

  I have a home water distiller. How long is the water stored in glass bottles, safe for drinking?

  Hi Karen, thanks for writing in.

  Distillation of water is an effective way to ensure most chemical and biological contaminants are left behind.  It is an easy and fast way to treat water in your own home for drinking and cooking.

  When purchasing store bought bottled water, a reputable manufacturer will ensure that the water is completely disinfected before bottling.  Most will add a disinfectant like ozone to the process, because it is a powerful disinfectant. The bottle is then sealed and any remaining ozone quickly converts to oxygen shortly after that.  It’s this disinfection/sealing process that allows bottled water to be stored indefinately.

  The process you describe will allow for some interaction with the environment in the glass bottle.  Because there is no trace disinfectant left in your water, it could leave it open for propagation of bacteria.  In this case, you water should be consumed within the same amount of time that food can last in the fridge, within a week or two. Any longer and it could turn stagnant.

  If you would like to produce water that would last longer for storage, you could follow a pasteurization technique as you would with producing home canned goods.  Using heat on a sealed bottle in the proper technique would ensure any bacteria allowed to enter the bottle is killed, and would allow you for longer storage of your water.

  I hope this answered your question. If you would like further clarification or want to ask another question, please do not hesitate to write in again.

  

  Tags: distilled water, home water bottling

• 26Nov

  Rotten Egg Smell from Only One Tap

  disinfection, microorganisms 2 Comments

  Allan from from Chatham County, NC wrote in about a very particular rotten egg smell problem, one I have yet to encounter.  Below is the string of emails of Alan and myself communicating about this problem.  It’s an interesting one, and worth the read if you are having some localized rotten egg smell problems in your plumbing.

  My wife and I live in a small 30-year old house with well water
  and copper plumbing, a 17-year old 80-gallon hot water heater, and a pretty
  standard inline cartridge sediment filter.

  Recently, we started noticing a rotten egg smell (probably hydrogen
  sulphide?) coming from ONLY the upstairs bathroom sink COLD water tap after
  several hours of not being used.  The smell disappears quickly after 5-10
  seconds of running the water.  The taste of the water appears to be
  unaffected.

  I’ve checked all the other taps throughout the house (hot and cold
  including the toilet tanks and bowls, bathtub, shower, and clothes washer),
  and none of them have this smell, even after much longer periods of not
  being used.

  My thought on an inexpensive remedy would be to remove the sediment filter
  case and cartridge, fill the case with clorox, and temporarily reinstall the
  case without a new cartridge.  Then, I would turn on only the affected cold
  water tap upstairs until I smell chlorine.  Just as soon as I smell the
  first traces of chlorine, I would immediately turn off the tap, thus
  trapping a fair amount of chlorinated water in the affected line only.  I
  would then wait, say, overnight for the chlorine in that line to do its
  anti-bacterial duty.  Then, the following morning, I would turn on the cold
  water tap again to flush out all traces of the chlorinated water.

  Sound like a plan?  Or does it sound like a plan of someone who’s way off
  base?

  Thanks in advance for your reply.

  Hi Alan

  Usually, the rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulphide) comes from one of two places:

  1) Directly from your well.  The bacteria can usually be found deeper in overburden aquifers

  2) From sewer gas escaping through your drain pipes

  It could be that you have some biofilm accumulated in that line, and some of the bacteria are of the sulphur reducing variety.

  Your original plan is a good one, if that is indeed the problem.  The only thing I would add is to run water vigorously through the tap first, to create a scrubbing effect with the water.  Make sure no other tap or appliance that uses water is on, and open the tap full on for 5 or 10 minutes.  This might produce enough velocity to start breaking up the biofilm, making your chlorination process more effective (as chlorine is only a surface disinfectant).

  Thank you very much for writing in. I’m grateful you did as this is a problem I’ve never heard before.  Please let me know how you make out.

  Problem solved.  Here’s what I did:

  • Before bedtime on Sunday evening, I removed the 10″ cartridge from the filter case and filled the case with 100% Chlorox.
  • I reinstalled the case without a filter and reopened the shutoff valves.
  • I went upstairs and turned on only the cold water tap to the bathroom wash basin (the culprit producing the smell) and let it run until I started smelling chlorine gas.
  • I immediately turned off the cold water tap and we went to bed.
  • When we got up on Monday morning, I turned on the cold water and let it run to flush out all the Chlorox.  I also turned on all the other cold water sources in the house to hasten that process.  There was quite a large amount of ruddy brown water that flowed for quite some time, but then it gradually disappeared.
  • When the Chlorine smell and the ruddy brown water had disappeared, we began using cold water again.  I then installed a new 10″ filter.
  • We then went to work for the day at about 7:30 a.m.
  • When I returned from work at about 6:30 last evening, I immediately went upstairs and turned on the wash basin’s cold water.  No smell whatsoever.  The smell normally had reappeared after about three hours of nonuse.
  • Again this morning, no smell.

  Looks like the problem may have been somehow isolated to the cold water line to the upstairs wash basin.  But that doesn’t explain why there was no smell to the toilet water tank, the shower, or the bathtub water faucet, all of which receive their cold water from the same cold water line.  My best guess now is that somehow, the faucet assembly, which I replaced about a year ago, somehow became contaminated.

  Thanks for your help.

  Great to hear it worked.

  There very well could have been some contamination when you changed your tap.  We live in a bacteria world and contamination happens very easily without you knowing it.

  One of our standard municipal procedures is to disinfect any and all plumbing and fixtures if the system has been opened to air, to do a repair or replace a fixture, for example.  It would be a good idea for you to do the same if you do any other work like that because you have your own well supply and there is no secondary disinfectant in your water.

  

  Tags: disinfection of plumbing, plumbing, rotten egg smell

• 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

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