Arsenic, Uranium and Other Trace Elements, a Potential Concern in Private Drinking Wells

A recent article published by the US Government indicates that a full 20% of residential wells contain contaminants that are above the levels set as "safe" by health officials.  Contaminants like arsenic, chromium and even lead are showing up at levels that could prove harmful to anyone drinking them.

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone tell me their family has lived on the land for generations and "the water was good enough for my grandpa, so it's good enough for me," well, I'd probably have a couple bucks by now anyway.  The fact is, 90% of the contaminants we have to worry about didn't even exist when our grandparents lived on the land.  We have no control, and in most cases, no idea what is happening upstream in the underground aquifers that water wells draw from.

I'm working with a client that is building a brand new home on "family" land - land that's been owned for years in Sturgeon County.  After careful consideration of the options, it was decided to dig a well instead of hauling water with to a cistern, the way most new acreage builders like to do.  In this case, some unexpected contaminants showed up and they definitely require treatment.

Probably the most-concerning was lead.  It was 20% higher than the maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) as set by Health Canada.  Fluoride was also too high, testing at 5x more concentration than the new regulations allow for city water.  Both of these are effectively treated, assuming optimal conditions, by either reverse osmosis, or distillation.

With these serious issues, this is no time to fool around with cheapo-Joe's RO - when health is on the line, the obvious choice is a system that carries the Water Quality Association's "Gold Seal" - stating that the purifier has been sent to a lab, its performance analyzed, and GUARANTEED reduction of these specific contaminants is provided by the manufacturer.

We only provide equipment that is certified by the WQA to achieve a minimum reduction, then we take the specs, compare to the water analysis, and ensure that we are in the optimal zone for making good drinking water.  This goes well-beyond just plugging in the equipment and hoping for the best.  Reverse osmosis requires sufficient pressure to meet the Gold Seal specifications - and no well water pressure system I've ever seen is sufficient in this regard.  Consult an expert in your area to ensure the system is within specifications for pressure, pH, TDS and contaminant reduction.  Anything else is taking a gamble with your health!

What Does Tucson's Water have to do with Edmonton???

Sediment & Scale Water Damage

The municipality of Tucson, Arizona just made an announcement regarding their city water supply. The water the municipality treats and delivers to the residents is filtered and chlorinated, much like it is in most cities. One thing Tucson has been doing been doing until now, is something Edmonton had done until the year 2000 - softening the water for the town's supply.

The Arizona news story talked about the town having to do cutbacks and not being able to supply conditioned water to the residents. They stated, "...it's the city's job to make sure the water isn't going to get you sick, as far water quality and hardness, it's gonna fall on the homeowner." Until now, they had been removing hardness minerals which have been known to cause build-up and clog water pipes. Soon their levels will rise in the water and so could the damage to homeowner's plumbing, hot water tanks and fixtures.

Not having softened water, as many Edmonton area homeowners found out when Epcor stopped softening their water, leads to increased soap use, and requires higher temperatures to do an adequate job with laundry. Softened water saves between 50 and 75% of detergent usage and allows for laundry to be done with cold water - not only saving money on soaps and energy consumption, but actually doing a better job of laundry. As noted in a 2009 Battelle study,

The study found that tankless water heaters completely failed to function because of scale plugging in the downstream plumbing after only 1.6 years of equivalent hot water use on 26 gpg hard water. Softened water saves 34% of costs compared to operating on 20 gpg and saves 47% compared to operation on 30 gpg hard water.

Scale Acts an Insulator

Further, an independent report by the Water Quality Research Council showed a 30% (THIRTY PERCENT!) savings on energy usage for gas-fired hot water tanks, simply by using conditioned water. Most people don't think about it, but the hot water heater is the second-highest user of energy in a home. Since we just got word last week that energy prices are going up yet again next month, it makes sense to keep as much as possible from going up the chimney!

At least Tucson residents were publicly advised about this change and adding residential treatment like water conditioning and reverse osmosis was recommended by the municipality. I don't know anyone in the Edmonton area that remembers hearing such recommendations here - just those that started noticing a scale build up on their faucets, having to replace hot water heaters more frequently, higher energy bills (take a look if you still have your old bills!) and grubbier looking laundry.

An average family of 4 saves $1200 a year using conditioned water - even more if they install a drinking water system and stop buying expensive bottled waters.  For a link to the article referenced and a short video on the news story, please click HERE.

Moving From a Cistern to Well Water

This is an update to the family I mentioned June 26th, "Well Water vs Cistern Water" - they decided to go ahead with the treatment system and take their cistern offline.

Douglas Environmental closed off their cistern, just before their next scheduled water delivery (instant savings of $60!) and tied their well into the plumbing servicing the entire home. The water from this well wasn't particularly nice to start with - it has very hard (17 grains or almost 300 mg/L hardness) and had problems with iron, sulfur (or sulphur, if you prefer) and some tannins and organics that would be causing staining.

This called for two separate units to treat the water for the whole home, and a reverse osmosis (RO) system to supply pure, fresh drinking water to the kitchen faucet, a faucet in the basement and to the fridge & icemaker for chilled water and perfect ice. We ended up softening and sediment filtering the water in the first stage of treatment - for this, we used the "Puratech" system from Hague Quality Water followed in series by a special carbon filter unit that would handle the tannins, organics and H2S gas (sulfur - causing the "rotten egg odour" many well water families are familiar with.)

The family had a sink in the basement where they plan on making wine. It was determined the best place to install the RO system was under the basement sink, feeding a faucet right there for purified water, then run a line upstairs to feed the kitchen's RO faucet and the fridge. Normally, we install the RO completely out of the way, in the utility room where the pressure tank and any well water treatment equipment would be, but logistically, this time installing under the sink seemed to make the most sense.

After the transition was complete, the home actually had better water from the system than was being supplied to any city water home. Their well supplies LOTS of clean, fresh water now - and the organic staining most cistern owners deal with is a thing of the past. Other than the power to run their well pump, something still required with a cistern, the water is "free" to use now.

Unlike a cistern where rationing drives people crazy, not to mention the $120+ per month for water hauling, there is very little for this family to do or think about when it comes to their water. Monthly, they are to check salt levels on the conditioner and annually, there is a maintenance required on the drinking water system - something recommended even if they were to stay with the cistern, since that water is immediately stale and contaminated with dust, dirt, organics and often even with frogs and mice. (Yuck!)

Now the water is fresh and free-flowing. The way it should be!