‘WATER DEMYSTIFIED’
or
‘CLEARING THE AIR ABOUT WATER’
H2O, 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen is the combination
that gives us liquid life. Our bodies
are mostly made up of it and the earth is mostly covered by it. Today’s question is what do you really know
about water?
There are more than 220 billion trillion gallons of water on
the surface of this ever changing planet.
Unfortunately most of it is salt water found in the oceans. Nature has an amazing process for desalinization
of ocean water. It’s called evaporation. When the salt water becomes a vapor the salt
is left behind so the vapor can reform as a more pure raindrop. Of course, when that raindrop falls and if it
makes its way back into the ocean it becomes salt water once again. Every day the process continues and the earth
just keeps on turning.
So much for science 101, I want to talk about the water in
your home. It is either well water or
treated ‘city’ water. Oh, I almost
forgot, there are a few places where the water is actually trucked in for
consumption. I’m not sure what category
that falls under.
When you boil this topic down (pun intended) there are only
two areas of water that really should be of concern within your living
space. Those things are water hardness
and water filtration. They are, in fact,
two very different things. Hardness and
filtration are not interchangeable topics.
Hardness
Hard water will not cause you any physical harm. It may make your water taste strange and it
also may give it an odor, but with regard to health the point is moot. I have city water and although treated for chemicals
and other crap that may cause physical and health problems, it is not treated
for hardness. Very hard water has 7.0 to
10.5 grains per gallon (GPG) of hardness.
Our city water has 19 GPG, which easily exceeds the standard of very
hard water.
So if it is not a health problem do you really need to treat
hard water to make it softer? You may
want to because of two other issues. 1)
Calcium and Magnesium precipitate out of hard water in the form of scale. These appear as white deposits that are left
behind in the separation process. It’s
the same scale that leaves your skin feeling dry and sometimes itchy after a
shower in hard water. It’s the same
scale that will eventually build up in plumbing and appliances, which can be a
cause of future problems and shortened appliance life. 2) Hard water cuts into a soaps ability to
lather. It also causes soap to leave
behind a sticky filmy scum. With hard
water you will need to use more soap to get the same effect of a clean wash in
soft water.
Since we’re about money savings here, hard water will cost
you money. So now the question become how
do I fix it and at what cost? A water
softener is the fix and the cost will vary depending on the type and who
installs it. Figure the cost to be
anywhere from $500 to 2K. If you go much
higher than the $2,000 mark you will have a hard time getting the return on
your investment during the life of the softener system. There are several types of softeners to
choose from. I’ll mention the most
common here. They are magnetic and
chemical softener systems.
Magnetic…..Although it does alter the ionization of water,
which will turn hard water into SOFTER water, this is gray area
technology. It should also be noted that
magnetic or electromagnetic softeners (Such as the Easy Water system) must have
the water used quickly after being altered.
If the water is not used for its intended purpose it will return to its
hardened state.
Chemical…..Salt water softeners are the most economical and,
contrary to what some water softener companies would have you believe, very little
salt remains in the water during the softening process. I repeat, very
little salt remains with the water. Some
very expensive water softening operations would have you believe salt softeners
are bad. They will point to some areas
where it is against code to install a salt water softener. Here’s the down on dirty on the code
issue. In a few areas of California and
Texas it is against the law IF
you have a septic system and are not on city sewage. This is not done because the salt in your
potable water is excessive. This is code
because during the backwash process the salt will go into septic tank, which
often have outflow lines and leach beds.
These leach beds COULD let the salt makes its way into an aquifer. Notice I used the word COULD and not WILL or
DOES. This code thing is a precautionary
measure and there is no hard evidence of this ever happening. It’s an err on the side of caution
thing. Very California in nature.
There are also Potassium water softeners. If the salt thing really bothers you
regardless of the facts, simply go potassium.
It will cost you three to five times as much in buying the potassium, but hey,
it’s your choice.
Watch the warranty on the softener you buy. Remember you get what you pay for and this is
no exception. If you buy a $500 softener
with a 5 year warranty, don’t be surprised if you are having a funeral for it
in 5 or 6 years. This is especially true
in very hard water areas.
Filtration
Filtration is the area you should really be concerned with
because this CAN affect your health.
Notice, again, I said CAN and not DOES or WILL. If you are on city water it must meet certain
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, which removes the bad stuff
down to a defined safe level.
Here’s a fun little fact.
Blind taste tests have shown some city water is favored over bottled
water. If you’re buying bottled water to
drink at home you really need to ask yourself “WHY?”
If you want the ultimate in pure water for cooking and
drinking then your best option is to install a Reverse Osmosis (RO) water filter
under your kitchen sink. For every
gallon of RO filtered water used an additional 4 gallons are washed down the
drain in the filtering process. At an initial
cost of less than $200 (Oh, you will be buying filters after the initial cost
at a cost of around $30 a pop and some units use 3, 4 or 5 filters.) The water
pouring out of these devices is about a pure and clean as it gets. In fact, RO water purification systems are
used in many bottled water plants. Yep,
and you can have it at home for pennies compared to what bottled water
costs.
DID YOU KNOW BOTTLED WATER COSTS MORE THAN GASOLINE? If you pay $1 for a 16 oz. Bottle of water
that makes the cost of water $8 per gallon.
I’ve seen places charging $3 a bottle or $24 a gallon for water. I truly do understand the OCCASIONAL need to
buy a bottle of water, however, I don’t understand how any sane person is
willing to pay big $$$ for tap water that costs …… less than $1.50 per 1000
gallons. (NOTE: EPA guidelines for bottled water only apply
if the water is shipped across state lines.
State guidelines apply for product produced and sold within the
state. In many states it is perfectly legal
to bottle city tap water and sell it.)
Oh, for those of you that regularly buy bottled water just
because you THINK it tastes better or you THINK it is better for you, I’ve got
this bridge in New York that I’m selling for a real bargain price…………….
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