| Pure Water Products |
|
September 2025
|
|
|
Current Water News and Water Treatment Issues |
In this September Occasional you'll hear about water pollution from animal farming, the disheartening "walk back" of federal water regulation standards, how to take care of your water well, how to get tough with stubborn filter housings, how often to change water filter cartridges, the shameful record set by the Campbell Soup Company, hear how towns are sinking because of groundwater depletion, the rise of the Water Monitor lizard, the increase in PFAS contamination, the demise of water quality sensors, the sad lives of tropical fish, a ban on research publication at the EPA, the alarming acidification of Earth's water, and, as always, there is much, much more. |
Animal Farming and the EPA
Pure Water Gazette Introductory Note to the article below:
Two things.
First, the article that follows shines a light on what is one of our most harmful sources of water contamination and the one that is most neglected: animal farming. Pay attention to the outrageous amounts of pollutants that go into our water continually from the factory farming of animals. Second, the “walk back” of regulation is the standard operating mode of our time. EPA bulletins for the current year (2025) continually celebrate reversal of standards previously established by the EPA. Cancellation and reversal of regulatory standards are touted as accomplishment when they are actually good news for agribusiness and other polluting industries but very bad news for the rest of us.
EPA walks back proposal to limit water pollution from meat and poultry plants
In a move celebrated by US meat and poultry producers but mourned by environment and health advocates, federal regulators are walking back a proposed rule that would have strengthened water pollution standards for slaughterhouse operators.
According to information published September 3 in the Federal Register, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that “it is not appropriate to impose additional regulation on the [Meat and Poultry Products] industry, given Administration priorities and policy concerns, including protecting food supply and mitigating inflationary prices for American consumers.” Additional regulations on the industry’s wastewater would also result in increased air pollution and solid waste, the EPA wrote.
Slaughterhouses and rendering facilities have long come under fire from health and environmental advocates for polluting US rivers and streams with nitrogen and phosphorus, nutrients which can contaminate drinking water and cause harmful algal blooms that are harmful to humans and animals.
In 2019, slaughterhouses released over 28 million pounds of nutrients directly into waterways. In a 2023 environmental assessment, the EPA determined that over 60 million people in the US live within one mile of a stream or river potentially impacted by wastewater discharge from the meat or poultry facilities.
“We appreciate the EPA’s acknowledgement of our industry’s dedication to properly treat wastewater coming from our plants to a very high standard,” Nath Morris, president of the US Poultry & Egg Association, said in a statement.
The EPA’s decision “ends a regulatory disaster that would have forced meat processing facilities to close, causing food prices to go up and hardship for livestock and poultry producers,” Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute, added in another statement.
The US EPA in 1974 implemented a regulation for pollutants in wastewater directly discharged by facilities that make meat and poultry products, which the agency amended in 2004. The regulation still only applies to about 150 of the industry’s more than 5,000 facilities and fails to cover phosphorus and pollutants in wastewater that plants indirectly discharge.
Environmental advocacy groups filed a lawsuit in 2019, challenging the EPA’s lack of action to update water pollution standards for slaughterhouses and rendering facilities. The agency announced in 2021 that it would update standards, but failed to commit to a timeline by which it would issue a new rulemaking, leading the groups to sue again.
In what Earthjustice called “a victory for clean water,” the EPA in 2023 announced it would publish updated water pollution standards for slaughterhouses and rendering facilities by August 2025.
The EPA’s proposed rulemaking in 2024 under the Biden administration could have resulted in 16 facilities closing, with any supply chain disruptions being “minimal, temporary and localized,” according to the agency’s evaluation at the time.
The proposed regulations would have reduced pollutant discharges by almost 100 million pounds per year, including nine million pounds of nitrogen discharges and eight million pounds of phosphorus.
The agency’s preferred option would have cost about $232 million annually and would “allow the Agency to achieve significant reductions in nutrients and conventional pollutants in a way that avoids potential supply chain disruptions in the nation’s food supply,” according to the EPA’s proposal.
The decision to step back from new rules is a blow to years of efforts to limit pollution of important waterways, critics said.
“This decision by the Trump Administration will mean that slaughterhouses will continue to dump huge amounts of pollution into America’s waterways, making them unhealthy for swimming, fishing, and drinking,” Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said. “This gross neglect degrades the quality of life of Americans across the country.”
Keeping Your Well Safe
Well Ownership 101
Bacteria, viruses, and parasites can contaminate private wells. These problematic contaminants pose immediate health risks and cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted.
When harmful microorganisms enter the water supply, people can experience a host of acute symptoms—diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps—to more life-threatening illnesses like kidney failure or liver damage. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and immunocompromised people are particularly vulnerable.
Microbes enter water supplies through runoff, leaking or poorly maintained septic systems, flooding, and improperly constructed or maintained wells. To prevent contamination, well owners should regularly inspect and maintain their wells and septic systems and divert runoff from them.
Wells should be tested for E. coli and coliform bacteria annually, after heavy rainfall and floods, and if anyone in the household becomes ill. UV systems help protect water from microbial contamination by providing continuous treatment without chemicals.
PS to the above from the Pure Water Gazette. The article above focuses only on microbial contamination. There is good reason to have your well tested regularly for other contaminants that can enter wells undetected. These include agricultural and industrial chemicals and nitrates from fertilizer and feedlots. Many chemical pollutants do not affect taste and odor of the water, so you won't know they are there unless you test for them. The most common issues with well water such as hydrogen sulfide, iron, manganese, and hardness cause staining, mineral build-up, and odor, so you'll know that you have them without a test, but a test confirms their presence and measures the severity of the problem.
Opening Difficult Filter Housings:
Can’t Open the Filter Housings on Your Undersink Water Filter or Reverse Osmosis Unit?
1. The first thing of all is relieve the pressure on the housings. With a filter, turn off the inlet water and open the faucet. Leave the faucet open while you work. If you have a reverse osmosis unit, also turn off the valve on the storage tank. When no water is coming from the faucet, you should be able to open the housing.
2. To open, turn the sump counterclockwise. Think of it this way: If you put the filter wrench on the extreme right housing and point the handle away from the housing to the left, you would use your right hand and pull back toward your body to open the housing.
3. Get into a comfortable position. If the unit is installed in an awkward, hard-to-reach location, you may have to pull it out to a place where you can address it comfortably. In the worst case, you may have to uninstall it so you can lay it on its back to get more leverage. (Remember that the housings are full of water, so it’s going to run onto the floor when it opens if it’s lying sideways.)
4.If all else fails, you can get more leverage by lengthening the wrench handle with a pipe or a vacuum cleaner wand. Or you can even buy a special wrench designed for very tough jobs. See WR012 on this page.
5. Extreme methods: Someone suggests using a hair dryer to warm the filter cap causing it to expand and thus loosen more easily. Another suggestion, and I’ve seen this work with larger housings, is to apply the wrench to the housing and tap on the wrench handle lightly with a small hammer or rubber mallet. The shock from the mallet tapping can break the housing loose and let you open it.
6. Finally, this may sound strange, but it is important. When you apply steady pressure to the wrench to loosen the housing, believe that it will open. In fact, think about what it will feel like when it breaks loose and opens. This technique is more effective than you would imagine.
How Often Should Carbon Filter Cartridges Be Changed?
MatriKX Chloraguard Filter Cartridge, 2.5″ X 9.75″ — Standard Drinking Water Size
The simple and probably the best answer for residential applications is that carbon filter cartridges should be changed at least once a year. The more complicated answer is that it all depends on what you expect of the cartridge, how much you know about your water, and how willing you are to monitor such things as the amount of water used and the flow rate.
Carbon filters are a very versatile tool that can be applied to many different problems. What they do best and easiest is remove chlorine and improve taste and odor. But they are also the most practical treatment for many more difficult problems, like chemicals in general (see how many times carbon appears as the treatment of choice in this contaminant removal chart), and very hard to treat items like VOCs and PFAS.
Below is the manufacturer’s lifespan recommendation for the high quality coconut shell carbon block filter pictured above.
- Chlorine: 45,000 @ 1 gpm,
- Chloramine: 4,000 @ 0.5 gpm,
- PFAS: 3,500 @ 0.5 gpm,
- VOC: 750 @ 0.5 gpm,
Note that if your requirement is only the removal of chlorine from drinking water the cartridge should last until you die of old age. However, if your city uses chloramine rather than chlorine as its disinfectant, it will last only about 1/10 as long, and you should run the water half as fast. Running the cartridge at “chlorine speed” will greatly reduce its service life as well as its effectiveness when treating chloramine or difficult contaminants like PFAS and VOCs.
In most cases the once-a year-rule works well and assures excellent performance with most contaminants. If more than a couple of people are using the water and VOCs are a known issue, changing the cartridge twice a year is a good idea.
And then, of course, there are variables to be considered like multi-cartridge filters, position of the cartridge within the unit (a reverse osmosis pre-filter treats much more and much dirtier water than a reverse osmosis post filter), water temperature, pH, etc. But, for simplicity, the once-a-year cartridge change works pretty well in most cases.
The Filter Cartridge Menu on the Pure Water Products website provides much information about cartridge longevity and recommended flow rates. In some cases the manufacturer's information sheet is also provided. Take a look.
|
Water News
Water News for September of 2025
EPA Chickens Out on Much Needed Regulation of Meat and Poultry Slaughter Facilities
In a move celebrated by US meat and poultry producers but mourned by environment and health advocates, federal regulators are walking back a proposed rule that would have strengthened water pollution standards for slaughterhouse operators.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that “it is not appropriate to impose additional regulation on the [Meat and Poultry Products] industry, given Administration priorities and policy concerns, including protecting food supply and mitigating inflationary prices for American consumers.” Additional regulations on the industry’s wastewater would also result in increased air pollution and solid waste, the EPA wrote. [This interesting argument seems to say that we can keep contaminants out of our landfills by putting them instead into our bodies.] Source: New Lead. Full article can be found in the Pure Water Gazette.
Campbell Soup Excels in Clean Water Act Violations
Campbell Soup Supply Co. admitted to violating the Clean Water Act at least 5,400 times between April 2018 through Dec.2024 by dumping waste from its canning factory in Napoleon, Ohio, into the Maumee River, according to a court document filed recently.
The lawsuits claim the Napolean plant has been violating the Clean Water Act by discharging millions of gallons of wastewater into Lake Erie and the Maumee River since 2018. Court documents state the wastewater included high levels of phosphorous, which can contribute to the toxic algal blooms in the lake each year.
Other substances alleged to have contaminated the water include ammonia, E. coli, oil, grease and more. Spectrum News
Towns Are Sinking Because of Groundwater Depletion
A town in Arizona is literally sinking, and local officials say they are in a race against time, megafarms, climate change and state politicians to stop it.
The desert community of Wenden resides roughly 100 miles west of Phoenix, in La Paz County. NBC News reports it has sunken into a subsidence bowl, dropping 3.5 feet over 15 years and continuing at more than 2 inches annually.
The culprit? The depletion of groundwater via wells that supply the town with its drinking water. Yahoo News.
Water Monitor Lizard is on the Rise
The Asian water monitor ( Varanus salvator) is the world’s second-largest species of lizard, reaching lengths of about two metres (7 ft). It can be found in rivers, lakes and swamps across south-east Asia and into India and China. Increasingly, however, the dark brown lizard can be spotted in urban areas, joining an exclusive league of animals that have carved out a stronghold in cities. The Guardian for the full story.
PFAS Contamination is more widespread than previously thought
Toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” are in everything from Band-Aids and clothing to water and floss. However, new research reveals they are potentially even more widespread in the U.S. than previously thought
.
The research done by Northeastern University’s PFAS Project Lab reveals that while there are about 2,200 known sites of PFAS contamination in the U.S., there are close to another 80,000 likely contaminated sites. It presents what the researchers say is a much more complete — and stark — picture of PFAS contamination while also presenting legislators, communities and environmental activists with a roadmap of where to focus their efforts. Water Online. See full article.
Iowa Is Losing Most of its water quality sensors
At a critical time when nitrate contamination is growing at an alarming rate, time has run out on a short-term plan to continue funding a network of sensors that monitors the water quality in Iowa’s rivers and streams. Unless new funding can be secured, dozens of sensors will be taken offline next year, eliminating the ability to measure nitrate and phosphorus to see if conservation practices are working. TheGazette.com
The Hidden Cruelty of the Tropical Fish Trade
In a world of problems, you probably haven't given a lot of thought to what's going on inside the attractive aquarium in the bank lobby. What seems like a peaceful hobby often hides a trail of harm. The tropical fish trade is massive: the global ornamental fish market was estimated at $5.9 billion in 2022 and is projected to surpass $11 billion by 2030. About 55 million marine animals—including fish, corals, and invertebrates—are sold annually, worth more than 2.1 billion. In this trade, up to 30 million marine fish may be removed from coral reefs each year. Full story, if you would like to pursue it, in Wiki Observatory.
EPA will no longer publish ongoing research
Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, which ensures drinking water is safe, have been instructed by Trump officials to halt publishing ongoing research in an “unprecedented” move.
Staffers at the agency’s research office told the Washington Post they were summoned to a town hall this week and told that their studies would be subject to a new review process, a change they said was ordered by political appointees. The Independent. Full report.
Chicago River makes a comeback
Chicago River that was too polluted for human contact for decades was just opened for swimming because of gains resulting from the Clean Water Act. Full story in The Guardian.
The Planet's Waters are Failing the critical pH test
The world’s oceans have failed a key planetary health check for the first time, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, a report has shown. In its latest annual assessment, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said ocean acidity had crossed a critical threshold for marine life.
This makes it the seventh of nine planetary boundaries to be transgressed, prompting scientists to call for a renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels, deforestation and other human-driven pressures that are tilting the Earth out of a habitable equilibrium. Read more.
More About the Alarming Drop in Ocean pH
Oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface and play an essential role as a climate stabilizer.
The 2025 Planetary Health Check noted that since the start of the industrial era, oceans’ surface pH has fallen by about 0.1 units, a 30-40% increase in acidity, pushing marine ecosystems beyond safe limits.
Cold-water corals, tropical coral reefs and Arctic marine life are especially at risk. This is primarily due to the human-caused climate crisis. When carbon dioxide from oil,coal and gas burning enters the sea, it forms carbonic acid. This reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, which many marine organisms depend upon to grow coral, shells or skeletons.
Near the bottom of the food chain, this directly affects species like oysters, molluscs and clams. Indirectly, it harms salmon, whales and other sea life that eat smaller organisms. Ultimately, this is a risk for human food security and coastal economies.
Scientists are concerned that it could also weaken the ocean’s role as the planet’s most important heat absorber and its capacity to draw down 25-30% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Marine life plays an important role in this process, acting as a “biotic bump” to sequester carbon in the depths. The Guardian. |
|
Places to visit for additional information:
|
|
|
|
|
|
