In this full summer Occasional , you'll hear about washing clothes in cold water, the outrageous flood of chemicals we live with, PFAS-certified water filters, how chlorine works, treating well water issues with aeration, lawsuits about climate change, the nation's cleanest and dirtiest lakes, Garden Hose Day, Koi pond fences, the hottest day on Earth, the Inflation Reduction Act, PFAS in pesticides, water quality at the Olympics, garden hose filters, ephemeral streams and, as always, there is much, much more.
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Washing your clothes in cold water may seem counterintuitive to everything you’ve learned in the laundry room, but there are a host of benefits that come from turning down the heat on your washing machine.
Using cold water isn’t just better for your clothes and your wallet – it’s also better for the environment.
90% of the energy used in a typical washing machine goes towards heating the water. The other 10% is simply used to power the motor. According to Business Insider, washing machine manufacturers have spent the last 15 years improving their designs so their products can clean laundry more efficiently while still meeting hot water use standards that have been set by the Department of Energy.
As the manufacturers improved their designs, laundry detergent companies improved their recipes so their products could work more efficiently with cold water.
“Front-loaders and high-efficiency top-loaders run normal cycles 10 percent cooler than agitator washers, and the ‘warm’ wash temperature in the U.S. has declined by 15 degrees over the past 15 years,” Tracey Long, communications manager for Proctor & Gamble’s fabric care products in North America, told the news outlet.
“Traditional detergent enzymes can be sluggish in cold water so we worked to create a mix of surfactants and enzymes that deliver cleaning performance in cold water across all product lines,” she added.
So unless you’re washing fabrics that have been used by sick people, or you’re doing a load of dirty diapers, washing dirty clothes in cold water is just as efficient as using hot. According to Christine Dimmick, the author of “Detox Your Home”, you can add a half-cup of white vinegar to a load of smelly laundry to get the odor out. She also says you can add a little dose of essential oil if you’re adverse to the smell of vinegar.
Additionally, cold water is better for the longevity of your clothing, as it keeps them from wearing out, shrinking, or bleeding color.
If the average American washed 4 out of 5 of their laundry loads in cold water, they could save up to 864 pounds of emissions from the atmosphere every year, says Cold Water Saves. That’s the equivalent of planting .34 acres of trees in the US.
Plus, using hot water accounts for roughly $265 worth of electricity for the average American annually, in comparison to cold water only costing about $16.
The article below is adapted from a February 9, 2023 article by Carey Gillam in The New Lede.
Gazette introductory note: --The article below is reprinted as a reminder that we live in a world in which chemicals are being created and dumped into our living space at ridiculous speed. We are way beyond the point where we can keep up with evaluation and regulation of new substances. We're currently fretting about cleaning up a world flooded with "forever chemicals" that have been known killers since 1950 but whose creators keep merrily cranking them out. New chemicals, lots of them, are coming on the scene every day. If you expect government regulation to protect you, you may be expecting too much.
Getting President Biden to read a book about the over-abundance of chemicals isn't going to help. He's only partly responsible. We, all of us, made a pact with the devil long ago. We agreed to put up with high cancer rates, rising temperatures, poor air quality and dozens of other inconveniences in exchange for things that we've come to consider necessary. Like automobiles. And computers. And things made out of plastic.
We complain about plastic, but try to imagine our lives without it.
Imagine, too, the reaction poor President Biden would get should he decide that he's going to prevent cancer by outlawing plastics and automobiles. So don't bother to ask him to read a book so he will learn that we're drowning in chemicals. That boat sailed a long time ago.
Since the dawn of the chemical era in the early twentieth century, more than 300,000 new chemicals have been invented.
In President Biden’s 2023 state of the union address , he pledged his devotion to a fierce “fight against cancer,” invoking a heart-tugging story of baby “Ava,” who began battling kidney cancer at the age of 1.
Biden spoke of a reignited “Cancer Moonshot” search for a cure for cancers that are impacting far too many lives, and of measures to cut healthcare costs to make treating cancer more affordable. He outlined an ambitious goal to cut cancer death rates by at least 50% in the next 25 years, and to “turn more cancers from death sentences to treatable diseases, provide more support for patients and their families.”
But nowhere in his lengthy prime-time address did Biden speak of working to rein in the vast, virtually unchecked, flood of environmental chemical contaminants that scientists say cause cancer.
A new book scheduled for release in May written by journalist Kristina Marusic lays out in stark terms how already-staggeringly highly rates of cancer are sure to continue to climb if we don’t slash our exposure to the chemicals known to cause cancer.
Landrigan writes: “From 1975 to to 2019, the number of new cancer cases per 100,000 Americans—the incidence rate—increased for multiple cancers. Incidence of multiple myeloma rose by 46%, incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 76%, and incidence of testicular cancer by 70%. In the same years, incidence of childhood leukemia increased by 35% and incidence of childhood brain cancer by 33%. These increases are far too rapid to be of genetic origin. They cannot be explained by better diagnosis.
“The explanation for the increasing incidence of cancer lies in our world of chemicals. Since the dawn of the chemical era in the early twentieth century, more than 300,000 new chemicals have been invented. These are novel materials that never before existed on Earth. Many are made from oil and natural gas. They are manufactured in enormous quantities, and global production is on track to double by 2030.
"Chemical pollution has become so widespread and complex that in 2022, an expert body at the Stockholm Environmental Institute concluded that chemical pollution now exceeds our ability to monitor and contain it and thus threatens the sustainability of human societies.
"The World Health Organization has determined that more than 100 manufactured chemicals can cause cancer in humans.”
The fact that many widely used chemicals cause cancer – not to mention a range of other human health problems – is widely known in scientific circles.
But for Biden and most of our elected leaders, these facts are clearly too politically uncomfortable to address, or even acknowledge.
US Sen. Cory Booker recently reintroduced a bill aimed at banning some of the most clearly dangerous pesticides used in our country – chemicals already banned in the European Union. But even Booker and his staff admit they have no hope the measure will become law anytime soon. As Booker’s counsel Adam Zipkin told me, Booker has laid out a “wish list” for the future but is not wasting time pushing big reforms he knows have “no realistic chance” in overcoming opposition from the powerful chemical industry and the lack of political will in Washington to challenge the industry.
Meanwhile, the suffering goes on. It’s so common now, to have cancer.
Marusic details the human toll in her upcoming book:
Half of all American men and one in three women can expect to get some type of cancer diagnosis in their lifetimes.
One in every 285 American children receives a cancer diagnosis before the age of 20, with cancer rates for children increasing steadily over the last 50 years.
Rates of childhood leukemia have increased by 35%, and rates of childhood brain cancer have gone up by 33% since the early 1970s.
A presidential panel determined years ago that up to two-thirds of all cancer cases are linked to preventable environmental exposures.
Biden’s upbeat public address glossed over those ugly truths, focusing instead on feel-good rhetoric: “For the lives we can save… and the lives we have lost, let this be a truly American moment that rallies the country and the world together and prove that we can still do big things. Let’s end cancer as we know it and cure some cancers once and for all.”
Efforts to find a cure are necessary, of course. The same is true for moves to cut drug costs. But without a serious effort at prevention that includes putting public health over the corporate profits of chemical companies, reducing exposures to cancer-causing chemicals, we ensure the suffering and pain and loss of precious lives continues.
As Landrigan points out in the book’s introduction, most of the manufactured chemicals that are known to be human carcinogens are still sold today in the United States, with a mere five hazardous chemicals removed from US markets in the past 50 years. “Chemical policy in this country is broken,” he writes.
This coconut shell catalytic carbon block filter for chlorine, chloramine, and general chemical and VOC reduction is now certified for PFAS/PFOS reduction as well.
All MatriKX carbon block filters now carry certification for PFAS/PFOS reduction. All MatriKX filters are made of 100% coconut shell carbon, a renewable and environmentally friendly resource. Coconut shell carbon is the preferred carbon for removal of certain chemicals (VOCS) as well as being a popular choice for good-tasting drinking water.
MatriKX blocks have been standard equipment in all Pure Water Products drinking water systems for over 25 years. This includes countertop and undersink filters as well as reverse osmosis units. Our standard RO units have two MatriKX carbon blocks. The MatriKX CTO is the standard cartridge for our “compact whole house” filter, and we stock other MatriKX cartridges that will fit the unit.
We stock MatriKX cartridges in all four standard sizes. We have been confident that these high performance carbon blocks provided excellent drinking water protection from the “forever contaminants,” and now we are happy to see that PFAS/PFOS removal has been validated by IAPMO (International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials) testing.
Understanding Chlorine: How It Works to Disinfect Water
Introductory Note: The article below is adapted from information from Blue-White Industries. It provides a good explanation for the frequently misunderstood terms free chlorine, total chlorine and combined chlorine.
For over a century, chlorine has been used to provide clean drinking
water to communities in the U.S. and across the world. In the correct
doses, chlorine can kill a broad range of pathogens while remaining safe
for people and animals to consume. The key is dosage, as too little
chlorine will not have the disinfecting power required to eliminate the
most critical pathogens. Too much chlorine can cause water to taste
and/or smell unappealing, or worse, have long-term negative impact.
Measuring chlorine isn’t a simple matter of saying, “I have X parts
per million in my water.” After all, once chlorine enters water, it
begins to change, and when it interacts with pathogens and other matter,
it changes again. There are technically three measurements that must
be considered: free chlorine, combined chlorine, and total chlorine.
How Chlorine Works
In water, chlorine breaks down into smaller chemicals such as
hypochlorite ion and hypochlorous acid. It is these substances that kill
bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. They do this by either
collapsing proteins in bacterial cells or damaging the outer membrane of
viruses and similar pathogens. Not every pathogen is equally vulnerable
to chlorine, however. Protozoa such as Giardia lamblia and
Cryptosporidium are chlorine-resistant. Fortunately such pathogens are
large and can be easily removed via filtration.
Free Chlorine
“Free chlorine” is the amount of chlorine that is available to
combine or oxidize contaminants in water. The greater the amount of free
chlorine, the greater the disinfection potential. In a drinking water
system, the amount of free chlorine should generally be kept between 2
ppm and 4 ppm. When free chlorine levels rise above 4 ppm, the water may
take on a strong “swimming pool” smell or taste. However, too little
chlorine means there may not be enough chlorine available to disinfect
pathogens.
Combined Chlorine
When hypochlorite ions and hypochlorous acid interact with
contaminants, they form new compounds. Generally speaking, these new
compounds are no longer available for disinfection. The amount of
combined chlorine measures how many pathogens or other contaminants have
been using chlorine, which helps to understand how dirty the water is
(or was).
Of course, not all combined chlorine chemicals are inert. When chlorine combines with nitrogen, it can form chloramines. These compounds do have some disinfection power, but they are not
likely present in high enough quantities to be considered in
disinfection potential (unless operators deliberately added ammonia to
the system with the intent of forming chloramines).
Other types of combined chlorine include disinfection byproducts (DBPs), such as trihalomethane and haloacetic acid. These substances occur when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter in the water. DBPs can be harmful to human health and are regulated by th the U.S. EPA.
Total chlorine
As the name suggests, this measures the total amount of both combined
chlorine and free chlorine. Total chlorine is the easiest to measure
and can be done with simple test strips. If you want to test your city
water for chloramines, you need a test kit that tests “Total Chlorine.”
Aeration for Residential Treatment of Iron and Hydrogen Sulfide
Water News —July, 2024
A large number of lawsuits in courts around the world are holding governments and corporations to account for their treatment of the seas. There have been more than 2,500 lawsuits relating to the climate crisis around the world – and many relate to the ocean. The Guardian.
A new study ranks Lake Louise in Florida as the cleanest lake in the U.S. The prize for the dirtiest goes to Utah Lake, Utah’s largest freshwater lake. Find out who the other winners and losers are on the Gazette's website.
The city council of Girard, OH passed an ordinance requiring fencing around Koi ponds, not to keep the fish in but to keep children out. The law was occasioned by the near drowning of a toddler in a Koi pond.
July 21 was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth. It broke the previous record established on July 20, one day earlier. Full article in The Guardian.
Inflation Reduction Act
On July 25, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced more than $325 million in funding for 21 selected applications to help disadvantaged communities tackle environmental and climate justice challenges through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience and build community capacity. Much of this goes directly to projects that improve water quality. Made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Community Change Grants Program is the single largest investment in environmental and climate justice in history. The funding announcement today is the first tranche of nearly $2 billion from the program that was designed based on community input to award grants on a rolling basis.
Gazette's Comment: In an age of political overstatement and exaggeration, it's easy to overlook something really significant. The Inflation Reduction Act is a big deal. It will have a positive impact on the lives of Americans and on the health of our environment for decades to come.
If you would like to read the EPA's recent bulletin, it's on the Gazette's website.
PFAS and Pesticides
A peer-reviewed study published in late July in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has found that per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” are increasingly being added to U.S. pesticide products, contaminating waterways and posing potential threats to human health.
The study, “Forever Pesticides: A Growing Source of PFAS Contamination in the Environment,” is the first-ever comprehensive review of the many ways PFAS are introduced into U.S. pesticide products. Pesticides containing PFAS are used throughout the country on staple foods such as corn, wheat, kale, spinach, apples and strawberries. They are widely used in residences in flea treatments for pets and insect-killing sprays.
Researchers at the Center for Biological Diversity, or CBD, Environmental Working Group and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, compiled data on sources of PFAS in pesticide products. Those sources range from specific ingredients intentionally added to pesticides, to contamination via leaching from fluorinated storage containers. Full report from Water Online.
Water in the Seine. The Olympics.
Water quality in the Seine has been touch and go during the Olympics, largely because of above-average rainfall. The E. coli test required by European standards was passed on most days but not all. (Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Since 2015, Olympics organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.)
Greening the Desert Isn't Always a Good Idea
Shortly after Egypt’s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi came to power in a military coup in 2014, he announced an ambitious – and controversial – project to transform 6,487 sq miles of desert into farmland before 2027. But with a huge water deficit, critics doubt the project, which is rapidly depleting water from Egypt’s groundwater reserves, is viable. Water under the Western desert is being depleted twice as fast since Sisi took office in Egypt. More.
More Than Half of Contiguous U.S. River Water Comes from Ephemeral Streams
New research published in Science underlines the importance of regulating and protecting "ephemeral streams," which supply half the water for our rivers. A very questionable 2023 Supreme Court decision favored polluters by taking away the EPA's ability to regulate the part-time streams. Details in this excellent article from the Gazette's website.
Garden Hose Filters Are Inexpensive, Easy to Install, and Very Versatile
The garden hose filter above provides chemical-free water for a raised-bed garden. Garden hose filters offer an easy, convenient way to provide excellent water for plants, animals and people–for irrigation, for drinking, for washing cars, for pH amendment, for iron removal, for removing chlorine or chloramine, for any application that requires high quality water. Garden hose filters come in four sizes and use standard-sized filter cartridges, so the possible applications are many.
National Garden Hose Day Is On the Ropes Because of the Political Climate
National Garden Hose Day, a lusty national holiday that used to be celebrated in June, reached peak popularity as an early summer good time event in the years preceding the pandemic. Garden Hose Day festivities were curtailed beginning in 2020 due to public health concerns, and, unfortunately, efforts to bring the holiday back have faltered because of the divisive political climate.
Many US cities have banned Garden Hose celebrations this year because of fears of transgender participation in the Garden Hose Tug, a tug of war event that is often the center of Garden Hose festivities. Critics also point out that the garden hose is not mentioned either in the Bible or the US Constitution and that the shape of the garden hose itself has suspicious implications and should not be seen by children under 18. In Texas and Mississippi there are now bills before the state legislature to remove books from libraries that have pictures of garden hoses.
(Since fake news has become so common that it’s hard to recognize these days, the Pure Water Gazette wishes to advise that the article above is completely phony. Please do not sue or write abusive letters. While we’re at it we’ll confess to having invented and shamelessly promoted a non-existent holiday for a number of years. To our credit, we did not try to sell you a Monkey Pox tee shirt, a Bible, or a NFT depiction of Garden Hose Superman blasting the enemies of the Second Amendment with a high powered fire hose. Here’s a Garden Hose Day article from 2013, back in the good old days before politics got so nasty that you couldn’t enjoy a good old summer Garden Hose Tug or Hose Blast competition.)
Garden Hose Basket. A remant of Garden Hose Days past.
