Pure Water Occasional, December, 2022
 
Greetings from Pure Water Products, the Pure Water Gazette, and the Pure Water Occasional.
 
 
 
In this last for 2022 Occasional you'll hear about bacteria in water, the Colorado River crisis, Handel's Water Music, the ridiculous over-abundance of canine excrement,  the sorry state of PFAS regulati0n, and much, much more. 

Thank you for reading, and sincere thanks from Pure Water Products for your continuing support.  We consider our greatest asset to be the many faithful customers who have kept us going over the years. We really appreciate your support!  A happy and prosperous new year to all. 
 
Thanks for reading!

Please visit the Pure Water Gazette, where you will find hundreds of articles about water and water treatment, and the Pure Water Products website, where there is much information about water treatment and the products we offer.
 
 

E. Coli, the Most Popular Bacterium.   You Hear About It In the News, but Do You Really Know What It Is?

Escherichia coli,  usually known simply as E. coli, was named after its discoverer Theodor Escherich,  a German doctor in the 19th century. It is part of a family of fecal bacteria called coliform.  It is found in the intestines of animals and humans and will grow in a wide range of intestinal environments.  A typical E. coli measures about 2 microns by 0.5 microns and is rod shaped.
 
When water tests are done, a test is usually first performed for coliform, and if coliform is detected, E. coli, specifically, is looked for.  Water can test positive for coliform bacteria without E. coli being present. Although finding E. coli is an immediate cause for concern, most strains of E. coli are harmless.  A few strains, like O157:H7, O121 and O104:H21, cause serious disease.
 

Rod-shaped E. coli  are often about 2 microns long and half a micron across. This makes them big enough to be caught by a tight water filter.
 
E. coli can infect humans not only through contaminated water but also through foods like insufficiently cooked meat, contaminated, unwashed fresh vegetables, as well as milk or juice.

Presence of E. coli in water is a strong indication that water is contaminated by human or animal feces.
 
Health effects of E. coli range from no symptoms to death, although in most cases infected individuals recover without medical treatment.  Serious outbreaks, though not frequent in this country, are  impressive.   In 1999 at a county fair in New York, a well at the fair used for drinking and food preparation was contaminated by manure from a nearby animal barn. The result was two deaths, 65 people hospitalized and more than 1,000 sickened.
 
The EPA considers detection of E. coli a "direct health risk," and has set an MCL for total coliforms of zero.
 
Water treatment of E. coli is diverse.  The list of accepted treatments  includes ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, distillation, ultraviolet, chlorination, ozone, and boiling.  By far the most trusted treatments for residential water infected with E. coli are chlorination and ultraviolet.
 
Reference: Water Technology Magazine.
 
More Infromation:   Pure Water Products. 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Replaceable Filter Cartridges: The Heart of Modern Water Filters

by Gene Franks

The use of replaceable cartridges gives modern water treatment equipment amazing versatility.  The ability to use a standard filter vessel design that can be applied to numerous purposes, and to change the purpose at will simply by replacing the inner cartridge, allows filter users to address an almost endless number of water treatment issues.
Below are some general considerations that help put residential filter cartridges into perspective.
Classifying by Design

Cartridges by design fall into two broad groups:
 
Axial Cartridges: Water enters one end, flows through the length of the cartridge,  and exits the other end.
 
Radial Cartridges: Water passes through the porous walls of the cartridge,  flows to the center, then exits at one end.
 
Classifying by Purpose

Cartridges can be used for many purposes, but some generalizations can be made.
 
Sediment Cartridges:  The purpose is to remove particles with a physical size from water.  The particles can be very large, like sand, or very tiny, like colloidal matter that can be removed by only the very tightest of filters.  Bacteria and cysts can be removed if the filter is tight enough.  These cartridges are usually specified with a “micron” rating to describe the relative “tightness” of the cartridge–the size of particle that the cartridge will trap. The smaller the micron number, the tighter the filter.
 
There are three basic sediment cartridge groups:
 
Wound string (polypropylene).  These look like string wound around a core (because that’s what they are).
 
Spun (melt blown) polypropylene.  A specially prepared material with a cake-like appearance.
 
Pleated (usually) polypropylene. Accordion-style arrangement of thin filter material.
 
All three styles are radial–water flows through the wall to the center. The first two styles have the advantage of “depth,” but pleated cartridge have considerably more filtering surface area.
 
 
A radial flow 2.5″ X 9.75″ Carbon Block Cartridge. Water flows through the wall of the cartridge from outside to the center. 
 
Carbon Block Cartridges.  Very finely ground activated carbon is pressed or molded into a solid block to make an extremely effective filter that can be assigned a micron rating to indicate its tightness. The  very fine carbon is held in place by plastic binders that give the filter a board-like appearance.Other media, especially lead removal resins, can be added to carbon blocks,  but carbon only is the standard.  Carbon blocks are always radial flow cartridges. Carbon is a universal medium, used widely to remove chemicals and improve taste and odor.  An emerging cartridge design, usually called simply “radial flow carbon,” uses highly effective powdered carbon held in place by a porous shell without adhesives.  “Radial flow carbon” cartridges cost more but can last longer and cause significantly less pressure l0ss than standard carbon blocks.

Media Cartridges.  A great variety of granular media and resins can be put into cartridges.  Media cartridges are virtually all axial flow.  Among the many applications are treatment for chlorine and chloramines, taste and odor, arsenic, fluoride, nitrates, lead and heavy metals, pH, hardness, iron, manganese,  and more. Media cartridges are not usually given a micron rating.
 
 
Above is an “axial” style media cartridge. 2.5″ X 9.75″. Water enters the bottom and flows upward through the full length of the cartridge.
 
Ceramic Cartridges.  Ceramics are a special breed.  They are made in the radial flow format like carbon blocks but from a ceramic material.  Their main purpose is very fine filtration to remove cysts, bacteria, and viruses.  Some ceramics are built in a special screw-in format and are called “candles.”  Ceramics filter in the sub-micron range. Water flows slowly through them and there is significant loss of water pressure. 
 
Classifying by Size

Filter cartridges exist in many sizes and formats,  some of them proprietary, but there are four basic sizes that predominate in residential filters:
 
Size 1: 2.5″ X 9.75″.  This is the most common filter size.  It is used for drinking water filters and sometimes for light duty “whole house” sediment filters.
 
Size 2: 2.5″ X 20″.  Used for light duty whole house applications.
 
Size 3:  4.5″ X 10″.  This size is commonly called “Big Blue” in the industry,  because of the familiar blue housings it fits.   Common uses are for light duty whole house carbon filters and higher flow sediment applications.
 
Size 4: 4.5″ X 20″.  Called 20″ Big Blue.  Used for whole house carbon and media filters and high flow sediment applications.
 
For pictures and much more information about filter cartridges, please visit Pure Water Products cartridge menu.
 
 
 
 

 

Officials Predict 'Doomsday' For Colorado River As Water ScarcityPersists

By Peter Chawaga
 

One of the most critical source water bodies in the country is on a dangerous path toward drying up, as officials recently warned that levels at nearby reservoirs are nearing problematic lows.

Water levels in Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, are now dangerously close to falling below the openings that send river water to a critical hydroelectric dam. If water is unable to flow through these openings, turbines that serve 4.5 million people with electricity would not be able to function, and the only remaining outlet for Colorado River water would be a set of much smaller bypass tubes.

“Worse, officials warn, is the remote possibility of an even more catastrophic event,” The Washington Post reported. “That is if the water level falls all the way to the lowest holes, so only a small amount could pass through the dam. Such a scenario — called ‘dead pool’ — would transform Glen Canyon Dam from something that regulates an artery of importance into a hulking concrete plug corking the Colorado River.”
 
These critical Western source water bodies have been struggling for months due to growing water scarcity. Lake Powell has been facing potential “collapse” since at least August and nearby Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, is also near its “dead pool” levels. California has recently proposed cutting its consumption of Colorado River water by 130 billion gallons per year in an effort to save it.

But now officials are using perhaps their most drastic language yet to convey the growing threat to water availability.

“A complete doomsday scenario,” as Bob Martin, the deputy power manager at Glen Canyon Dam, described it to the Post.

Negotiations among Colorado River consumers on how exactly to cut back are ongoing, and the federal government has been weighing mandatory cuts if voluntary ones prove not to be enough.

“Last month, federal water managers initiated a formal process to conduct an environmental analysis that could result in mandatory water use reductions in the Lower Basin,” per the Nevada Independent.
 
“The federal government is evaluating a number of options, including holding back water in Lake Powell, redefining existing cuts and accounting for the significant amount of water that is lost to evaporation and leaky infrastructure.”

Whatever actions are ultimately taken, it is clear that water levels out West will not hold out much longer.
 
Source: Water Online
 
 


Handel's Water Music
 

From the Pure Water Gazette's Famous Water Pictures Series.
 

Georg Frideric Handel and King George I on the Thames River, 17 July, 1717. Painting by Edouard Hamman (1819-1888).
 
The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717 after King George I had requested a concert on the River Thames.
 
The usual explanation for the gala on-the-water concert is that the king was feeling heat from an opposing political faction gathering around his son, the Prince of Wales, and he staged a big public event to draw attention away from his son and to himself.
 
 Akademie für alte Musik Berlin performance.

 
 
 
 

 

Why Does Bowser Get Away With Shamelessly Polluting the World's Water? 

 
"A great environmentalist has said that the best thing an individual can do to help the planet is to serve his dog for dinner. That may sound radical, but the idea has merit. Dogs are without question the worst news possible for planet Earth. These pampered gluttons consume vast amounts of resources, contribute nothing useful in return, and, worst of all, leave behind piles and piles of the foulest dung imaginable. And they are not at all particular about where they leave it."  
 
Surprisingly little has been said about the massive water pollution caused by "man's best friend." The paragraph above is from a 2013 Pure Water Gazette article by notorious dog hater Tiger Tom, a fearless crusader against canine polluters. 
 
Read Tiger Tom's full article on the Gazette website:
 

 

 
 

Four of Four Thousand Seven Hundred: The EPA’s Progress in Regulating PFAS

by Maggie Koerth and Michael Tabb

First, there’s four … That’s the number of harmful per- and polyfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, that the Environmental Protection Agency released new concentration guidelines for this year. This is the good news.
 
Then, there’s four thousand seven hundred … That’s roughly the number of different PFAS chemicals out there, globally. They’re present in thousands of products you buy and use. They’re even in your drinking water. And this entire category of chemicals, including the ones developed to be “safer” replacements, have increasingly been shown to be dangerous to human health.
PFAS are a problem that date back to your grandma’s day. They were invented during the Great Depression and have been used in non-stick coatings on products like pots and pans since the 1940s. Since then, they’ve become part of how we make waterproof and stain-resistant fabrics and carpets, fire-fighting foam, cleaning products, paint, food packaging and more.
 
But these “forever chemicals” don’t break down. They just build up in the environment. And in the early 2000s, scientists started finding these chemicals in soil and water … and, eventually, in human blood.
 
To put it mildly … this is not good. Just a few parts per trillion in drinking water have been linked to a wide variety of health issues, from thyroid and immune response problems, to high cholesterol, to testicular cancer. This summer, the National Academies of Sciences reported that almost 100 percent of Americans have been exposed.
 
Despite all of this … or maybe, behind all of this … is the fact that PFAS aren’t well regulated. The EPA didn’t even have guidelines for what an acceptable concentration of PFAS in drinking water might be until 2016. At that time, they said that 70 parts per trillion was an acceptable amount of PFAS to find in water supplies. Now they’ve dropped that by more than a thousandfold. Scientists aren’t sure they even have the tools to measure PFAS at that level.
The EPA is in the process of creating the first federally enforceable regulations around two PFAS chemicals. That’s likely to happen in 2023. And individual states are taking action too. By 2030, new products containing any PFAS at all will be illegal in the state of Maine.
 
And things are changing at the industry level too. 3M, the company that first developed and still is the exclusive manufacturer of some of these chemicals, has said they will stop making PFAS by 2025.
So the publication of unenforceable guidelines covering 4 out of 4000 plus chemicals is just the beginning. We’re at the start of a serious shift in how the public – and the government – think about PFAS.
Article adapted from fivethirtyeight.com video.
 
 
The Pure Water Gazette’s take on the article above:  From the viewpoint of residential water users, it doesn’t seem like a good plan to wait for federal regulators to test and establish acceptable levels for the 4,000 remaining polyfluorinated chemicals. Unfortunately, PFAS regulation is no further behind than regulation of many other water contaminants. There are so many spinoff chemicals created by chlorination, for example, that they can’t even be counted. New chemicals come into use every year–so many that no one can count them, much less test them for safety. The obvious best plan for the individual water user is self protection in the form of point of entry and/or point of use water treatment equipment.
 

 
 
"Call to Order"
 
Our main website has a growing number of products marked "Call to Order" in place of the standard shopping cart order link. 
 
"Call to order" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is not available or the price shown (if any) is not valid. Often it means that availabilty changes day to day and it makes more sense to share exact "lead time" expectation on the phone than to take a shopping cart order for a product with a lead time that is unacceptable to the customer. 
 
Some products (whole house reverse osmosis, for example) are by nature "call to order" items simply  because they involve options and choices that aren't easy to explain in a website presentation.  Also,  we want to be sure that what you order is what you need. Ordering the wrong thing can be costly to us and to you.  Mineral tanks are a prime example. Returning a pair of socks to an internet vendor is easy, but you may be surprised at how very expensive and troublesome it is to return an 18" X 65" fiberglass tank. 
 
It's better to call to order than to make several calls about delayed delivery or returning a product that doesn't meet your needs. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Places to visit for additional information:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thanks for reading. The next Occasional will be out eventually--when you least expect it.
Pure Water Products, LLC, 523A N. Elm St., Denton, TX, www.purewaterproducts.com. Call us at 888 382 3814.
Powered by YMLP.com