I have been notified, very politely I might add..

[itsmecindi]

...that I have begun to stray off topic with some of my posts. Now that I look back over them and compare them to others, I see that that is glaringly obvious, so I will try very hard to limit my posts to rural issues and/or tractor related topics.

We finally had our well water tested last night by a reputable water softening company. I have always worried about the impact of the livestock on our water supply as here in Florida we have little more than some fine sandy soil working as a purification system for our aquifer, and who knows what Tom Jones down the road is dumping on the ground and what is leeching into the water from all the pesticides and herbicides from all the groves around us.

All things considered, our water was not that bad but had loads of room for improvement, based on the 'pure' treated water sample we were shown in comparison. It was clear as a bell and it made me thirsty just to look at it.

The most alarming thing during this demonstration was the test that was performed on the water I buy by the bottle to drink. It was a generic drinking water product put out by the grocery store where I buy food. I watched in horror as the 'special' drops were added, and a half inch of sediment that looked not unlike flour, settled to the bottom of the little beaker. This is what I am buying for my family to drink!

Besides the staggering price of the purification system that I now feel that I can't live without, I came away from the presentation with this handy bit of info. Whether we get the system or not, when I buy bottled water it will be Aquafina. The salesman tested a sample of a bottle Fred had in the truck and it came back looking like what it is advertised to be. One hundred percent pure and clean. The salesman said, buy only water that is PURIFIED, not distilled or filtered. Look for 'purified by reverse osmosis' and it should be safe. Am I the only one who didn't know this?

 

[Egon]

Re: I have been notified, very politely I might ad

Boiled would be the best water. Reverse osmosis is really a filter system.

Egon

 

[itsmecindi]

Re: I have been notified, very politely I might ad

Now that's a new one. You mean run it out of the tap and just boil it? I can do that! What about the pesticides and so on. Boiling takes care of that as well?

 

[Bird]

Re: I have been notified, very politely I might ad

I certainly don't have the scientific knowledge for a factual opinion as to the health benefits (if any) or safety of the water supply, etc., but my personal opinion is that bottled water is the most ridiculous racket I've heard of since the pet rock. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I'll bet a lot of it is nothing more than them filling those bottles with the tap water in whatever neighborhood they're located in. And I don't know for sure what boiling will do about pesticides or chemicals, but I do believe that just boiling your water for 10 minutes is about the ultimate that us ordinary folks could do to make our water safe. And of course, I don't even do that; just drink tap water (with or without Scotch /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif).

 

[Egon]

Re: I have been notified, very politely I might ad

To get pure water it should be distilled. That means boiling and condensing.

Some towns will issue "Boil Water" notices if their treatment plants are not functioning properly.

The reverse osmosis systems only work with pretty clean water.

Egon

 

[JohnMiller3]

Re: I have been notified, very politely I might ad

<font color="blue">...bottled water is the most ridiculous racket I've heard of since the pet rock... </font>

Amen... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

(unless of course...you're the one doing the bottling and selling $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Egon]

Re: I have been notified, very politely I might ad

Bird:
Surely hope that's not a single malt.

Egon

 

[rmorgan]

Cindi--

Since I spend a lot of time working for a Pepsi bottler in Florida I absolutely agree with you that Aquafina is the proper--err, make that the one-and-only--bottled water to buy /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif, and you shouldn't pay a dang single bit of attention to what John Miller says!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriously, reverse osmosis is indeed excellent technology, but just because your well water has stuff in it doesn't make it unhealthy. I grew up with well water and lived for years with cistern water from rooftop collection systems, and IMHO as long as it doesn't stink, have a lot of fecal coliform or other bacteria in it, or make you or others sick, it's probably just fine; and as far as I know (and I sure could be corrected on this), water softening doesn't cover the water front. If you are serious about water purification, you might consider an ultraviolet system combined with an RO filter; lots of folks use those to make lake water (bacteria; boat suitable for human consumption.

 

[higgy]

There are many laws on what must be done in order to keep our waters safe for drinking.

This is a not such a complex issue that everyone can't understand it, but there are many companies that will sell you what you think you want.

The test where you had a precipitate that settled sounds like a hardness test, but I am not sure. Ask them what they are testing with that test, might look good and mean nothing.

Go online to the epa site and get a copy of the safe drinking water act and read it, not riveting but informative.

R/O is a good way to removed materials from water, but the membranes that are used are fairly specific on what they will remove.

Distilled water has few impurities in it, it is obtained from catching the water vapor and condensing it, but is can easily be contaminated by the handing process, and it can take out all of the other material that you want in your water for taste, target hardness and buffering capacity.

If you want to have the best water most chemical labs use 10 megohm water (megohm is the measure of resistance through the water). The water is measured using resistance as “pure water” does not conduct electricity, the conductance comes from salts in the water.

The boil orders that are mentioned are when fecal coliform are found in the distribution system. This is why distribution systems are required to have a chlorine residual, to keep the system clean.

I personally think that salesmen are not always truthful or give the whole of their knowledge when they are talking with a possible customer.

BTW sand is a very good filter material for certain types of physical contamination.

I personally drink from my well that I test every year and look for changes in the chemical and biological results, no change, no worry.

Just my 0.02.

 

[DKinWA]

Granted it's been many years since my college days, but I do recall a lot from my water quality course work. First off, I wouldn't worry about the demonstration you saw. Just because the salesman was able to make something settle out of the water doesn't mean it's bad. One of the first things I learned in my college class was to determine how much dissolved oxygen (no DO, no fish) was present in a water sample. 2ml of "x" and 2ml of "y" into a 300ml water sample would cause the loose oxygen molecules to settle to the bottom. It didn't look like flour, but it might if given some time. I also wouldn't rely much on the salesman since he really doesn't appear to understand filtration in the first place. "Purified water" is a term that's relatively meaningless without some clarificaiton. For instance, was it purified through a filter, what kind of filter/microns, reverse osmosis, etc. "Purified water" could really be anything from a sediment filter to a very expensive reverse osmosis system that removes virtually anything that isn't actually water. Also, Egon was right when he said reverse osmosis is actually a filtering system. I won't go into details, but electricity is used to move h20 molecules through a permeable membrane which leaves the bad stuff on one side and the purified water on the other.

If you're really worried about your water, contact a local certified water testing lab. I know here locally I can have a top notch analysis done for $150-$200. They'll provide you with a sample bottle and specific instructions on how to take the sample. Most labs even have someone that will sit down with you and explain the results and provide recommendations if anything needs to be corrected. I realize this sounds expensive, but a fast salesman can easily sell you a system you don't need for 10 times that.

Personally I wouldn't spend a dime on a treatment system unless it's really necessary. A lot of minor elements and ions present in water are really good for us and actually provide that "good taste".

You also mentioned that there's nothing but some sand between your cows and your aquifer. The good news is that sand filters are very effective mediums for water treatment. Just think about all of those sand filters used for treating septic effluent from the thousands of homes around the country.

Sorry for being so long winded, but I've been given the pitch a time or too and they always wanted to sell me something I didn't need.