Well Water vs Cistern Water

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This is an issue many acreage owners confront regularly.  For years, people have had problems with well water - systems that don't perform as hoped, bleed through iron, sulfur, minerals, hardness or anything else they are designed to catch can lead to frustration, extra cleaning of fixtures, laundry problems, odours and other issues around the home.

Some home owners, tired of treatment systems that don't live up to their promises, look to alternatives to a traditional water well.  One option many people have chosen is to install a cistern and have water trucks haul and deliver water to the home on a regular basis.  They supply standard "city water" which is stored in tanks usually located underground and pumped into the home.

Many people use that water for everything - cooking, cleaning, flushing toilets, showering, even drinking.  The theory seems simple enough - its "city water" which contains chlorine, so it should be free from bacteria and other contaminants; it should be safe to drink.

One thing I recommend to any acreage owner with a cistern is to have it cleaned and sanitized.  This involves having someone drain the tank, climb in and scrub down the inside of the tank.  If the cistern is a few years old, I strongly recommend the homeowner watches the process.  Invariably, what happens is the person cleaning the tank will remove frogs, mice, leaves and all kinds of junk from the tank.  A common question is, "How did THAT get in there?"  (If you want an easy preview of what sort of contamination you may be dealing with, just open the back of your toilet and take a look at the inside.  How does that compare with what you would expect to find with "normal" city water???)

By their vary nature, the tanks cannot be completely sealed.  If they were, the vacuum seal would prevent water from flowing into the home.  As water flows to the house, air MUST replace it in the tank - thats' simple physics.  Along with air comes mold spores, bacteria, and depending upon how well-sealed the tank is, frogs and other creatures common to acreage communities.

Ok - but there's chlorine in there, so we're ok, RIGHT?  Well - let me ask you a question....  If you were making chicken for dinner tonight, after you're done the prep, you always disinfect the cutting board and counters where raw chicken was in use.  That is basic info.  So - do you use "chlorinated city water" to disinfect these items, or do you use cleaners or maybe even bleach to do the job?  What does that tell you about the water in your cistern?

Even if you decide not to get a water softener and protect your appliances and skin from the effects of hard city water, you really have to assume the water is NOT free from other contaminants.  While it may be ok for your washing machine and toilets, at the very very best, think of the cistern as a big jug of water sitting on your counter.  If it sat there collecting dust for 2-3 weeks, would you drink from that jug?  That is basically, in the BEST case scenario, what your cistern water is providing for your family.  Stale, dusty water.

I just consulted with a family in a unique situation - they just bought an acreage in Strathcona County that has BOTH well water and cistern water supplied to the home.  They are deciding whether to eliminate one or the other and simplify their home operation.  Next time, I'll discuss the options they face, decisions they are weighing and let you know how it goes.

Cisterns: But I Have City Water, Right?

I was doing a routine reverse osmosis maintenance yesterday for a client of mine in Strathcona County. Anyway, they do a lot of water testing for this facility as they rent this particular hall out for parties, weddings and other group gatherings. They were having problems passing the microbiological tests because the water in their cistern (for those not familiar with this concept, if you don't have municipal water piped into your home and you don't have a well, the alternative is to have a buried storage tank that gets filled by delivery trucks filled with city water to run your property) kept showing bacteria.

The client had been performing regular cleanings (something most cistern owners rarely do) and they have spent a LOT of money sealing the cistern so leaves, dirt, bugs, mice, etc don't find their way in. Despite these steps, the tests kept coming back FAIL... Douglas Environmental Solutions was called in a little over a year ago to make recommendations.

The client initially was inquiring about ultraviolet (UV) sterilization to take care of this. Sounds good, but there are certain water quality requirements that must be met for that to work. The water must be:

- filtered to finer than 5 microns - sediment creates shadows and places for bacteria to "hide"
-there cannot be any colour, turbidity, iron, H2S or manganese present. (This is normally not a problem with city water supplies.)
- less than 7 grains hard (Edmonton/Sherwood Park water is HARD, between 9 and 12 grains, so that won't work)
- there must be minimal "turbidity" (basically a murkiness in the water) that prevents light from passing through and can inhibit UV's effectiveness at killing germs.

Needless to say, since raw city water doesn't meet these requirements, if they wanted UV, they'd need to filter and soften the water. Because of particular installation confinements at this facility (its so incredibly tight) we opted instead to create a potable water supply using reverse osmosis. This treatment would filter, soften and clean up the water effectively removing bacteria from the supply.

As added protection, we incorporated a UV sterilization chamber for the product water - just in case something physically happened to the RO system, the UV would still be there as back up and sterilize any germs.

The system has been operating for over a year now and even though the cistern is continually cleaned and the seal on the cistern rivals the one my grandma used when she made jelly, "stuff" is still getting into the tank.

How do I know? When we change the filter, you can see all the organics that are trapped by the prefilter. When new, these filters are pristine and white. The post filters (final stage of filtration before the water goes to the faucet) still look nice and white - although when wet, you can see the black carbon behind it, kind of like when you get a t-shirt wet - but that's another story...

Anyway, we've had to cut the filter change time in half for this facility and we're still getting a great deal of staining on the pre-filter. That's what its there for though - you can see by the post-filter the organics are not making it through the system.

We employ Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Monitoring at this location as well. TDS is a measure of purity of the water. A meter reads impurities in the water and gives a number. The closer to zero the number, the better the water. When we installed the system last year, we were getting ZERO TDS water; indicative of very high quality. A year later, the meter still reads ZERO. The system is still doing its job - despite all the 'stuff' in the cistern.

I literally cringe when I hear people telling me they can drink water from their cistern because its "pure city water." Those people have, I guarantee you, either not cleaned their cistern, or not WATCHED the cistern getting cleaned. What comes out of there is enough to make you sick - just by looking at it. Its not uncommon to see frogs, mice and all kinds of organic material just decaying in there. That is running into your home and out the tap - unless you take measures like our clients!

Tap Water Fluoridation - why???

I was so frustrated yesterday at the dentist's office when the technician that cleaned my teeth gave me the fluoride treatment and told me it was ok to swallow it... She then said that fluoridated tap water has the same thing and that it was GOOD for you. (I have no problem with fluoride treatments for my teeth, where it can help, but fluoride has NO business being digested and getting its way into my bloodstream!)

The government officials have been saying this for years. It simply isn't true and the reality is, fluoride is dangerous. I did some digging for some easy to access info this morning and found info that will allow you to make an informed decision.

So far, there hasn't been a single conclusive study that shows ANY tangible benefit to fluoridated tap water - NONE. ZERO.

It has, however, been linked to lower IQ, thyroid and bone problems, as well as 1 in 3 children that drink fluoridated tap water having "dental fluorosis" -white spots and pitting of the teeth. Thinking back to grade school - I know off the top of my head three kids that had this problem in my GRADE ONE class.

It is quite easy to remove the fluoride from the drinking water (whole house treatment really isn't required - this isn't going to hurt your toilets or cause problems for laundry.) The simple act of having a reverse osmosis drinking water system installed should protect you by removing the fluoride from your Life Support Water*

For more information, there's a great video on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SYgUi_f5yY

The article also talks about the benefits of cleansing. I've recently started cleansing and was amazed at the difference in my life. I've shed a lot of weight already, have more energy, feel better, even have clearer skin... For more info on cleansing, please visit: www.cleanlean.ca

* What is Life Support Water? -Water that is consumed, as opposed to "Utility Water" which is water as it enters your home from either municipal service or a well. "Working water" refers to water that has been conditioned to increaase the life of your water-using appliances, save on water heating energy, as well as dramatically reduce the costs of cleaning and doing laundry. Life Support water requires the highest level of treatment because we actually consume it. Our bodies are 85% water when we're born and 70% water at maturity. That water must be of the highest quality, free of chemicals and pollutants.

Considerations When Building a New Home

Unfortunately, today's topic comes about from a situation that probably could have been avoided. A colleague of mine had purchased an RO (reverse osmosis) system, but wanted us to wait to install it since she was moving.

Something about the way she said it lead me to believe she was moving into an already-built home, not waiting for the builder to complete a new project for her. Had I known, we could have very easily set up her RO system for installation in the basement and just run the lines to connect to the kitchen sink and to the refrigerator. We could have also worked with her granite installer to get them to pre-cut a hole for the RO's separate faucet in her kitchen sink - typically at no additional charge...

That didn't happen, so when she called to arrange the booking after taking possession, we now had to get the granite people out for a service call to make the faucet's installation hole, and we now need to install the system and the storage tank under the sink, since the basement is finished and has a drywalled ceiling.

If it was a drop or "t-bar" style ceiling, we'd probably have been ok still, but there's no way to run the plumbing connections through the drywall without damaging or probably removing a few sections - not something she was wanting to do on her BRAND NEW home....

When we test the water and find out what sort of treatment (if any) she'll need for the whole-home, that is typically not too big a problem as connecting to the existing plumbing is quite straight forward. Only the drinking water system is causing problems. (It is a seperate system and uses its own plumbing connections.)

Too bad... But the lesson here is to always plan ahead. If you're building a new home, it is SOOO easy to get your drinking water system installed during the construction phase and it can all be neatly tucked-away - even inside what will be finished ceilings and drywall. We can also more-easily run connections to second floor areas.

Quite often, people would like to have a drinking water faucet right in their ensuite, or upstairs bathrooms. If the master bedroom is upstairs and you get thirsty in the middle of the night, its a lot easier to just pop your glass under a nearby faucet rather than head downstairs....

It never hurts to ask - if you're planning on building, or already in the construction phase, give us a call and see if there's any shortcuts you can take for a seamless installation. This is a great time to quit the bottled water habit. You can get better quality, for WAY less money, and an almost endless supply right in your own home - all it takes is a little planning and it can be a perfect setup.

Things You Can Do with Reverse Osmosis

If you know me very well by now, you probably know I'm a big fan of Reverse Osmosis (RO) as a water purification technology. There's a lot of conversation about it lately, a lot of people talking about the pros and cons, and like any technology created by man, nothing is perfect - but RO is very good!

I decided to clear up some of the confusion over what it's all about by starting an article series about the many benefits of RO. Most people think of it as a drinking water source and that's about it. It gets compared to tap water, to bottled water, to carbon filtration, the "pitcher-style" filters and on and on, but instead of focusing on the technology, I want to talk about the many "other" uses of RO - beyond drinking water.

There are so many "alternate uses" that I can't cover them all in one article - what I'll do is give you a few with each posting and talk about them with enough detail so you can see whether or not this would be a good application for you - something you'd want to try yourself.

1. Cooking. This may seem simple, but it's often overlooked. My thinking on this one is, "If I wouldn't drink the water, why would I use it to cook my food?" Think of the ways you can use RO water for cooking....

Steaming vegetables. We use a countertop vegetable steamer. We had used it with tap water for a long time, and the steam generator had a buildup from the dissolved minerals that are left behind when the water evaporates. Since switching to RO, most of those minerals have flaked away and the unit looks like new again. Just the same way your teapot doesn't need to have that white, gunky build-up, any water-using appliances can benefit from RO's clean, pure water.

What about rice? If you look at the hard, dry grains you start with, and then compare those to the fluffy, white grains you end up with, you'll easily see how much water goes into rice. The cleaner, the purer the water you use to make your rice, the better, tastier and healthier your rice will be. This just makes sense - why would adding chlorine or other contaminants do anything but hurt the flavour of one of the tastiest side dishes around?

Same thing goes for pasta. Most people wouldn't think of using 4 or 6 litres of bottled water to make their pasta, but when you have an RO system, there's really no limit to how much you can use! Just like rice, pasta absorbs and takes a lot of water in as it cooks. If the water is clean and pure, you won't have all the chemicals or bits of dissolved rock to taste - if you make home-made pasta sauces, this is a must. So much time, effort and love goes into those sauces that it is almost criminal to poison the flavours by introducing chlorine and other toxic chemicals into your meal. Let your flavours do what they're supposed to do - be delicious!

...instead of focusing on the technology, I want to talk about the many "other" uses of RO - beyond drinking water.

2. Spot Free Rinse. Wait a minute, you're probably thinking... I've heard about that at the car wash, but how can I use RO for this? That's all the spot free rinse at the car wash is - Reverse Osmosis water. It removes any chlorine and any dissolved materials that will create and leave behind water spots when the vehicle dries.

So how do you do this at home? Easy - when you're ready to wash your car, just follow the normal steps you'd always do, but have a spray bottle ready that's filled with RO water. Once your vehicle is clean and rinsed off, use the spray bottle as a final step - mist the entire vehicle and that should be about it. No hand drying should be required and you'll have a virtually spotless finish! (AND - for a LOT less money than doing it at the car wash!)

*** TIP: if you use softened water to make your soap solution, you can save even more money by reducing the amount of soap required by about 75 - 80%! As an added bonus, when you use less soap, you'll not only be saving money, you'll also be less likely to miss some soap when rinsing and you'll waste less water rinsing it away at the end!

3. Humidifiers. This is one of my favourite RO water uses. When we install an RO system into a basement, we always ask the homeowner if they'd like their furnace's humidifier connected. Most people are familiar with the disgusting gunky build-up you see after only a few month's of running the furnace humidifier. That's all the material that's carried along in the tap water that normally feeds the humidifier (yes, it's true - if you drink tap water, just look in your humidifier to see all the "stuff" that you're drinking down in each glass of water, tea, coffee or juice made with it - GROSS!!!)

By running the appropriate water connection from the RO system to the humidifier, you'll be sure that only pure water gets to the system. One of the main reasons humidifiers fail so quickly is the buildup of all the dissolved and carried-along particles in the tap water. If you use purified water (which now doesn't cost you any extra with your in-home RO system) your humidifier will last MUCH MUCH longer, all the while requiring less maintenance and less toxic chemicals to clean!

Ok - that should be enough to get us started. Please feel free to post any questions or comments - and if you have a unique way to use your RO system, send it over to us at info@douglasenviro.ca - we'll reward you for your efforts! (or if you're shy about email, visit us online at: www.douglasenviro.ca and use the contact form to submit your idea. While you're there, make sure to sign up for our free newsletter, filled with ideas and information like this on water, air quality and healthy living!)

Take care and enjoy healthy water for life!


Greg

Arsenic linked to Type II Diabetes

An article was published today in the Americal Journal of Medicine that has linked low levels of arsenic to Type II Diabetes. At concentrations of 0.01 mg per Litre, this colourless, tasteless and odourless contaminant gets into the body where diabetes develops. This was discovered in urine tests - people with high arsenic levels detected were THREE TIMES more likely to have diabetes.

Arsenic is found mostly in western regions of North America, but can be found anywhere. Municipal water treatment plants are required by law to monitor and remove arsenic, but there is no such program to assist people drawing their drinking water from a private well. Thankfully, there are reverse osmosis systems that are certified to remove arsenic as well as a broad range of other contaminants.

This is yet another reason to ensure your well water is treated before consuming it. I had two seperate clients yesterday comment that they drink the water from their well just as it comes out of the ground. One client was talking about how their family has been on that land for a long time and it seemed fine. I had another one tell me they use it for cooking because of the salty flavour it makes nice pasta and vegetables!

When it comes to your family's health, well water is something to be taken seriously. Even if your family has been on the land for a long time, and for 3 or 4 generations have been drinking the water from that well - try to picture what has changed in the world! Around these farms and rural areas, crops have been treated with newer fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and all kinds of chemicals. Our cattle are injected with hormones to make our meat more tender and lean. All of this finds its way down into the ground and into the water table. If you draw your water from the ground - this HAS to concern you!

In many areas, land that used to be used for farms have been purchased and re-zoned for commercial, industrial and residential usages. Commercial and industrial processes can add toxic pollutants. New residential development adds septic systems as well as fertilizers and other chmicals to the water. Increasing levels of air pollution have affected the rain that falls and ends up in the wells.

It is so important to look at the big picture when it comes to your health. Just because your great grandfather drank from that well 75 years ago does not mean that the water is "just fine" now....

Arsenic is a well-researched problem. There is ample information on this element at the EPA, the World Health Organization and Health Canada. For a free copy of Health Canada's Arsenic in Drinking Water Guidelines, email: info@douglasenviro.ca with ARSENIC in the subject line. We can mail a hard copy if you prefer, just send us your name and address.

Drugs in Our Tap Water

A recent Associated Press probe found that drugs were found in the water in major centres across the US and Canada. This affected both municipal (or "city water") and private well water sources.

Contaminants ranged from pharmaceuticals and vitamins to anabolic steroids. When people take medications, most of it is absorbed by the body and used, but some inevitably passes thru the system and is excreted with the rest of the body's waste materials. In New York, heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer found in their public water supply.

Its not just human wastes we're concerned with either - a study done in an area downstream of a cattle ranch found that the water was affected here too. Cattle are often fed steroids like "trenbolone" by an ear implant that slowly administers the dosage to increase cattle size. These typically are the types of anabolic steroids used by bodybuilders to bulk up.

A German study showed that 10% of the steroids passed thru the cattle and quadrupled the levels detected in the ground water. (Side note - kind of scary to think that this already was in the water UPSTREAM too! These steroids were detected in the water even before it reached the cattle, and were found to be FOUR times higher in concentration in the water downstream.)

Although the levels of these medications were typically found in doses MUCH lower than anything you'd receive by taking the drugs directly, long-term exposure is clearly a concern. Another problem with city water arises with the addition of chlorine, typically considered a "catch-all" type of treatment for the millions and millions of gallons that flow thru these plants.

Chlorine is a cheap way to treat bacteria and helps to treat some of these problems. Unfortunately, with these medicines and chemicals, there is evidence that chlorination now makes some pharmaceuticals more toxic! It also creates "trihalomethanes" (THM's) as a byproduct of chlorine disinfection. Health Canada and the World Health Organization regards these THM's a bigger health concern than the chlorine itself.

The results clearly show that these are not only found in water supplies, but they are also not isolated - this was widespread. The studies were performed across the US, and included Canada and Europe as well. They also talked about how to protect families from them. Processes like Reverse Osmosis can remove these contaminants with their technology - the "nuts and bolts" of how this is done is beyond what I'll cover here - but suffice it to say that a typical inline or "jug style" filter setup will absolutely not remove this sort of contaminant. Reverse Osmosis selectively rejects things other than water and washes them away - out of the system and out of your drinking water supply.

True, there are pro's and con's to any technology, there is no "perfect" system, but when you are talking about your health, all options should be weighed accordingly and decisions must be made. Even bottled water isn't a guarantee. Many bottled waters are packaged as "spring" or "mineral" waters. In these cases, they are simply not treated with purification technology to remove these chemicals. We recommend a combination approach of filtration and reverse osmosis. By using these two technologies together, it is possible to prevent these chemicals from entering the home's water supply.

Basically, what it all comes down to is taking control. There is simply just no economical way that city water treatment plants can handle the volumes of water they do, and treat it to the levels that make it clean, pure water suitable for drinking, for bathing, washing dishes or cooking. When dealing with a private well water system, there is nobody to monitor the water and ensure it is safe. There are safe, easy and economical solutions to your water quality concerns.
Consult an expert - find out what's in your water and what you can do about it!

Greg Douglas, owner of Douglas Environmental Solutions
(www.douglasenviro.ca) is an Indoor Environmental Specialist, certified by NORMI and an active member of the Water Quality Association (www.wqa.org)