Pure Water Occasional, November 9, 2021 |
This early fall Occasional is about washing cars, removing "pharmaceuticals" from water, dealing with lead and nitrates in residential water systems, and, unfortunately, increasing prices and delays in shipping.
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News about Us
Like everyone else in the water treatment industry, we've had to increase some prices.
Here are some typical increases. In most cases they are significant:
Big Bubba high flow filtration units. Now $779.
All Big Bubba Pleated Cartridges. Now $199.
WellPro Dry Pellet Chlorinators (all 4 versions). Now $889.
Power Module Replacements for WellPro. Now $289
WellPro Wiring Harness Replacement. Now $72.
WellPro Chlorine Pellets (case of 9 bottles). Now $270.
All large RO tanks, filter control valves, and more.
In addition to increasing costs of products and delivery, we, and everyone else in the industry, are experiencing long restocking times on many basic products and parts. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.
National Garden Hose Day, we regret to say, came and went earlier this summer without so much as a token celebration. Garden Hose officials, wisely we think, decided to hold off celebrating until safer times. Next June, we hope.
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FAQs
This section always includes actual questions received since the previous Occasional and our actual answer.
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Question:
I am ready to replace the cartridges for the first time in my Pura UV20 unit. I find it impossible to remove the sumps. I told the plumber to be sure to only hand-tighten the sumps when he installed the unit and he assured me he did. I want to confirm that one must turn the sumps clockwise to remove them?
Also, how does the filter wrench wr006 work? I don’t seem to be able to get the wrench to grip the sump. I still have the “Classic” filter wrench that grips the sump but I don’t have the strength and I don’t want to rip the unit off the wall trying to get the sumps off.
Answer:
First and foremost, be sure you let the water pressure off of the unit. To do this, close a valve upstream of the unit, then open the nearest faucet downstream. Leave the faucet open. If no water is coming out of the faucet, the pressure should be released from the unit and you can open it.
To open, turn clockwise (looking downward from above the unit). The wrench should grip the sump. Move the wrench upward on the sump until it gets a good grip on the sump. A steady push with increasing force should break the sump loose. (This may sound strange, but I've found that believing that the sump will move, and thinking about how it will feel when it opens, will help.)
If this doesn't work, resorting to brute force comes next. One way is to get the wrench in place and tap the handle with a rubber mallet or something similar to break it loose. Careful not to break the wrench. A few authoritative taps will often loosen things up. Another application of force is to extend the length of the wrench handle to provide some leverage. I've used a vacuum cleaner wand placed over the wrench handle to extend its length. It's amazing how much more force you can exert with a 2-foot longer handle.
If all else fails, call (888 382 3814) and we'll try something else. Good luck.
Question: "Spot free" carwash help
I'm so confused about what to order, Houston 's terrible hard water leaves endless water spots/ trails worn out drying and cleaning it off.
Please suggest the best system to connect to the garden hose. Affordable would help with my better half.
I wish I had a better answer for you, but the only thing we've found that works with hard water spotting on cars is conventional softening with regular water softener resin. The best way to provide this is with a conventional, salt-based softener, residential size. Keep in mind that softening doesn't guarantee a spot-free wash. That takes mineral-free water like reverse osmosis or deionized water, but these are expensive and most car washers settle for softened water. To elaborate, a water softener, large or small, removes hardness by exchanging salt for it. It puts salt into your water. Salt wipes off of your car much more easily than hardness minerals (calcium and magnesium), but it can still leave spots if you don't wipe it off. Deionizers and reverse osmosis units remove calcium magnesium bun don't add anything to the water.
We have smaller units that use the same technology as large softeners, but these have drawbacks. The most popular is the standard garden hose filter with the water softening cartridge sold on this page--
The drawback is its small size which requires that you limit flow to well below full-blast garden hose velocity and that the cartridge be replaced or regenerated frequently. Here's more information from our website:
The garden hose filter page referenced about has links to larger portable softener options and more information about softening and car washing in general.
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Removing "Pharmaceuticals" (aka PPCPs) from Water
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Getting the Lead Out
by Pure Water Annie
A recent US News report announced the astounding finding that over half of American children now have detectable levels of lead in their blood and that a significant amount of this lead can be traced to lead water pipes that should have been replaced long ago. More than ever before, lead is becoming a priority for home water treatment. |
The most common advice for removing lead from drinking water tells you to remove the source of lead. This is excellent advice, but unfortunately home owners have no control over lead entering the home from external sources.
Lead most often comes from piping. If the water supplier still has lead pipes in service, or if your home has old copper pipes with lead solder joints, that is probably your source of lead. If you can’t remove the source, then “removing” the lead usually involves corrosion control through pH and alkalinity adjustment, adding calcium (e. g. with a calcite filter) to the water line, or using a phosphate-based corrosion inhibitor.
This sounds complicated, and it is. Most of these strategies must be done by the supplier and are outside the control of the individual home owner.
A common whole house strategy for lead removal that is sometimes recommended to home owners is using a standard ion exchange water softener. This, too, can be tricky, because flow rates have to be kept low, and often the source of lead can be in the home plumbing itself. If so, a softener, by removing the calcium from the water, can actually promote corrosion and leaching of lead and make the problem worse.
For homeowners treating lead, the best strategy is to treat only the drinking water. Lead is an ingestion issue. It is not taken in through the skin during bathing, so if you can break your habit of drinking water from the bathtub, whole house treatment really isn’t needed.
Here you have several good options for drinking water:
Point of Use Treatment
Activated alumina, most often used for fluoride reduction, can be used as well for lead removal, but since its effectiveness is pH-dependent, be sure you know what you’re doing. KDF combined with carbon has also been shown to be very effective at removing lead, but results should be verified if you’re going to trust your life to it.
Another very effective way to remove lead from drinking water is with a steam distiller. Distillers work well, but they can be inconvenient, expensive to operate, and they often require lots of attention.
Without doubt, the best home treatment to assure lead-free drinking water is a reverse osmosis unit. RO serves as an excellent lead barrier and removes 95% or so of soluble lead. RO units are relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain.
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Leading Water Issues, Old and New
by Emily McBroom and Gene Franks
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"The statement,'my parents drank this water for 50 years, and it never hurt them' is no longer a valid excuse for consumers to not be concerned with their water quality"— Greg Reyneke.
In a recent article in H2O Quality magazine, water treatment expert Greg Reyneke (see note below) commented on recent information that has surfaced about some old water treatment issues. Below are Greg’s comments, followed by some observations of our own which suggest practical approaches to dealing with the contaminants. Greg’s comments are italicized.
Arsenic
A 2010 assessment by the Environmental Integrity Project suggests that the risk of getting cancer from drinking water containing 10 ppb of arsenic is closer to 1 in 136, almost 15 times higher than current EPA assumptions (1 in 2000). Many scientists say the increased risk of cancer in humans who drink water, inhale dust, or ingest soil contaminated with high levels of inorganic arsenic puts the chemical’s danger level in the same category as that of smoking cigarettes.
The acceptable maximum level for arsenic in drinking water, as recommended by the EPA, is just 1/5 what it was a few years ago. Removing arsenic from a small amount of drinking water is fairly easy, while point-of-entry removal is difficult and expensive. Since arsenic is mainly an ingestion issue, we recommend removing it from drinking water and practicing common sense avoidance for other water in the home. In other words, drink water from your kitchen reverse osmosis (RO) unit, not from the bathroom sink. The best drinking water treatment for arsenic is reverse osmosis. Undersink filters with iron oxide media are also effective.
Bacteria and Waterborne Pathogens
Bacteria exist in ALL water at some level, even safe, chlorinated city water. Some bacteria are relatively “safe,” but there are other potential problems like brain-eating amoeba that have been found in certain waters. The expense and difficulty of consistent testing often means that contamination may go undiscovered for extended periods of time.
By far the best residential treatment for bacterial contamination is ultraviolet. UV was at one time mainly used almost exclusively with well water, but because of growing concerns over the effectiveness of city water disinfection, and because of frequent “boil water” alerts, whole house UV units are now becoming common items in homes with municipal water. UV can also be used for point of use applications, but it costs so little extra to do the whole house, point of entry systems are most common. UV is a reliable technology that adds nothing objectionable to the treated water. It is easy and relatively inexpensive to maintain.
Chlorine and Chloramine
While chlorination of water is probably one of the most significant contributors to lowering the risk of waterborne illness in the USA, there are significant negative effects, such as taste and odors, corrosion, and even a correlation to the development of some cancers.
Removing chlorine or chloramine from water for the whole home or for drinking water only is best accomplished with carbon filtration. There are innumerable products to choose from, including large tank-style filters, carbon block cartridges, and even small filters built into refrigerators. Whole house filters can remove chlorine or chloramine, but tighter drinking water filters are more effective at removing other chemical contaminants that might be present in the water. An excellent residential treatment plan is a whole house carbon filter to provide chlorine/chloramine-free water for bathing and general household purposes, and a drinking water unit, either a tight carbon block filter or reverse osmosis unit, for drinking water only. In general, chloramine is much harder to remove than chlorine. Chloramine removal filters are larger and use better quality carbon (catalytic carbon) to do the job.
Hard Water Scale and Soap Interactions
While many people might consider hard water to be a simple aesthetic issue, it really is bigger than that. Hard water is a significant drain on a family’s monthly budget and has a decidedly negative impact on the planet due to increased heating and cleaning expenses, along with premature appliance failure. Consumers are clamoring for low-salt and no-salt solutions to their hard water problems that “waste” a minimum amount of water.
While there is no substitute for the conventional salt-based ion exchange water softener, salt-free alternatives, especially TAC (Template Assisted Crystallization) units, are growing in popularity fast. While TAC units don’t do some of the things softeners do, they have the advantage of requiring no salt, electricity, or connection to a drain. They don’t use water for regeneration or add salt to wastewater.
Lead
While Flint, Michigan, captured the imagination of the nation, lead can also be found at some level in other areas. In 2017, 779 Texas schools (about 71%) were reported to have lead in their drinking water, according to an analysis of testing data by Environment Texas Research and Policy Center. Lead is a potent neurotoxin, affecting the way children learn, grow, and behave, which can cause problems that will persist into adulthood.
Lead is a tricky issue, because lead in drinking water often comes from the pipes inside the home itself, making a “whole house” filter for lead pointless. Nevertheless, growing evidence shows that infrastructure issues, old lead city water pipes in particular, are adding lead to water coming into homes. Lead can be removed by ion exchange and by special carbon block filters with added resins, but reverse osmosis is the best treatment for drinking water. As with many contaminants, lead is mainly an ingestion issue, so having a good reverse osmosis unit in the kitchen is the most practical treatment.
Manganese
The serious health risks of consuming water containing manganese have been overlooked for far too long. Long-term consumption of even low levels are now related to complications involving alterations in neurotransmitter and enzyme levels in the brain that can cause nerve damage, brain changes, hormone alteration, and possibly even the proliferation of certain cancers.
Manganese is normally a well water issue, but we increasingly hear reports of manganese in water from central suppliers, especially small water systems. Manganese, regardless of the source, is a significant aesthetic issue, causing odors and dark stains, and it is now being regarded as a health issue as well. Whole house treatments can be complicated, but they can also be as simple as a conventional water softener or a backwashing filter. For drinking water, reverse osmosis assures manganese-free water.
Perfluorinated Compounds (PFC, PFOS, PFOA)
Perfluoroalkyls are not natural, and PFOA and PFOS are the two types that have typically been found in the largest amounts. These substances are unique because they repel oil, grease, and water – meaning they have been used to help produce countless convenient modern products. Exposure levels of these chemicals can already be found in the blood of most Americans. Health risks from exposure to these chemicals include hormone disruption, fertility issues, and even certain cancers.
Although treatment for perfluorinated compounds in municipal systems can be complex, carbon filtration for whole house and reverse osmosis for drinking water have been found to provide significant reduction for homes.
Nitrates
One other issue we would like to add to the list of regulated contaminants that should be taken more seriously is nitrates. There is growing evidence that nitrate contamination is becoming much more common, not only in well water but also in city water supplies. The long-standing EPA allowable amount of 10 parts per million may be way too lenient. Although nitrates can be removed with ion exchange, the best and easiest way to provide nitrate-free drinking water is with an undersink RO unit in the home.
Conclusion
Of the issues discussed, whole house treatments are practical for bacteria and hardness. For city water with chlorine, chloramine, and general chemical issues, including PFAS, an appropriately designed and sized whole house carbon filter is recommended. For drinking water issues like lead, nitrates, and arsenic, an undersink reverse osmosis unit is the treatment of choice. A good undersink RO unit covers virtually all drinking water issues. It includes carbon block filters for chemical reduction and a very tight membrane that strains out lead, arsenic, fluoride, nitrates, sodium, and other undesirables.
Reference: Greg, Reyneke, “It’s Up to You,” H2O Quality (a publication of the Texas Water Quality Association), Winter, 2019. pp. 10-12. See also www.gregknowswater.com .
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Nitrates in Water: The Basics
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The primary sources of nitrates in water are human sewage, livestock manure, and fertilizers. Areas with a high density of septic tanks and animal agriculture in close proximity to the drinking water source are most vulnerable to contamination by nitrates. Research has shown an increase in nitrates in water as both agriculture and population grows. While nitrates used to be a “well water” problem, many urban water suppliers now having to work to keep nitrate levels down. (See Nitrate Levels in Drinking Water Are on the Rise.)
The foremost health hazard associated with excessive levels of nitrates in water is blue baby syndrome, a condition that affects the blood usually in infants 6 months old or younger. Young infants’ digestive systems convert nitrates to nitrites and can be fatal.
Nitrates and nitrites are very soluble and cannot be precipitated from water. They are not removed by conventional filtration. This means they have to be treated with a chemical or biological process. The best residential treatments for nitrate contamination are reverse osmosis, distillation, and anion exchange. Reverse osmosis is normally the product of choice for residential applications. Anion exchange can also be effective but it is important to have a water analysis to show other contaminants. Anion treatment is less effective in water with high TDS, high hardness, and high sulfates.
EPA maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) are 10 mg/L for nitrate and 1 mg/L for Nitrite.
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Places to visit for additional information:
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Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the next Occasional!
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