Healthy Water
Running Afoul of Clean Water
What is that smell? Okay, okay, maybe it’s not quite as bad as we all imagined when the heroes ended up in a garbage masher aboard the Imperial Death Star, while rescuing the princess. However, it is hard to argue that any sort of odor is acceptable when we’re in the shower. Water is supposed to be pristine and pure; it’s supposed to make us feel like we’re removing everything that has accumulated, not adding another layer. Where do odors come from? There are innumerable possibilities for t...
Toxic Metals
Leaching: Metal escaping into the water supply Having just received a letter from the city Health Department (because of the age of the house) suggesting the incoming water pipe should be inspected to see if it was made from lead reminds us that this is a good time to talk about toxic metals in your water supply. This is particularly important if someone is pregnant or there are young children in the house. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tells us that if the levels of dissolved le...
Activated Carbon and Water Filters
Getting rid of Organic Solutes There are two mechanisms by which activated carbon removes contaminants from water. The first one is called adsorption, which is not to be confused with absorption. The second one is called catalytic reduction. Adsorption vs Absorption Since the spelling is very similar people often confuse these two terms. When you clean up some spilled water with a paper towel, the moisture is absorbed, and travels inside the actual structure of the paper fibers. That does...
KDF 55 Filters Kinetic Degradation Fluxion
It sounds complicated… What is it? It really isn’t that difficult. With activated carbon filtration, you may remember, it works because the carbon has an immense surface area. An amount that would just cover your thumbnail possesses the same surface area as a full-sized NHL hockey rink. Carbon filtration relies on the fact that the water (and the impurities within) comes into contact with the carbon surface and the impurities get trapped like flies on flypaper. KDF filters use a completely...
Pharmaceuticals in the Water
Not what the doctor ordered You may find this astonishingly hard to believe, but the FDA (yes, the Food & Drug Administration, of these United States) recommends washing your old drugs down the sink, or flushing your old drugs down the toilet! In the case of the latter, it includes things like transdermal fentanyl patches (Isn’t that just terrific for your plumbing). Why do they suggest this? Apparently not everybody has access to proper disposal facilities, they tell us. They are so c...
Pesticides & Fertilizers
Yes, but not in our water supply! In English we use of the suffix “–cide” to denote something that kills or destroys something that we don’t want, such as germicide or bactericide. In agriculture there are some invasive species of plants (“weeds”) that could compromise the quality of the crop, and so farmers carefully select herbicides which are deemed harmless to people, but target the undesirable plant. Insecticides kill insect invaders, and fungicides handle the remainder. All of these ...
It’s Silver Lining Or Tarnished Reputation?
Many metals have antibiotic properties, such as copper, brass, bronze, and silver. Bacteria that come in contact with these metals have their cellular activity disrupted in a number of ways that are deadly to the cells. This is not true of stainless steel or aluminum, for example, two popular metals that are a mainstay of modern buildings. Most hospitals and medical facilities are now in the process of replacing the shiny, easy to maintain surfaces with traditional brass or copper; this i...
Hard Water Dark Secrets Revealed
Americans are starting to focus more on the purity of their products, food, and air. It's no surprise that more and more people are starting to look into the shocking facts about hard water and how they can go about fixing the issues that hard water causes. Here are some hard water facts and what you can do to purify your water. 1. It Destroys Your Hair Yes, hard water can destroy your precious locks. Have you been noticing that your hair is dull, straw-like, limp, and coated in a film lately...
Fluoride
Not as evil as you have been told Water filters for your shower are terrific for reducing your exposure to chlorine and chlorine gas. The best quality filters also remove heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, herbicides, pesticides, and negate the effects of bacteria, viruses, algae, and even nasty protozoans. There are very few filters that remove fluoride from water. The reason for this is that it makes it needlessly expensive, and it is mostly unnecessary. There are very few areas in the world...
Calcium Sulfite and Water Filters
Dispelling the myths behind the hyperbole Calcium sulfite, or CaSO3, as used in water filtration systems, is largely insoluble in water. Over the 10-12,000 gallon lifetime of our shower filter cartridges, less than 6/100ths (0.06) of 1% will dissolve, but that is only in the coldest water (0ºC/32ºF). In hotter water that diminishes to 1/100th (0.01) of a single percent. Let’s imagine, for example, that you indulge in a luxurious eight-minute shower, with a flow rate of 2.1 gallons per minute....
Down for the Count… the bacterial count
You hate bacteria, right? Commercial product advertisers have done a really good job of convincing us that bacteria are bad. Good grief! Those awful little horrors are going to destroy humanity if we don’t fight them with chemicals, alcohol, sanitizer gels, and antibiotics. The truth however is that we actually have a huge resident population of bacteria cells in our bodies that outnumber our own cells by an average of 30% (30 trillion human vs. 39 trillion bacterial). In fact, 90% of all ...
Algae: Will it hurt you?
Back in August of 2014, half a million people in Ohio and parts of Michigan found themselves without drinking water. Though not as large as those seen in the past, an “algae” bloom at the west end of Lake Erie meant that the water became rich in microcystin, a toxic product produced by cyanobacteria. Time for a tiny bit of Science Of course, cyanobacteria are not really algae at all. We used to think that they were part of that family, and we called them blue-green algae, but we now know th...
