Water Treatment 101: Why UV Is Gaining in Popularity for Microbe Control in Well Water

by Pure Water Annie

By its nature, water provides a an inviting growing place for bacteria.  Bacteria, viruses, protozoa are small creatures, but when ingested over time and in sufficient quantities they can lead to serious health problems. E coli, a member of the coliform family of bacteria, has received enough public attention to be feared and respected, although it is only one of many microorganisms that can be dangerous.

Actually, bacteria are fairly easy to control as compared with cysts like giardia and cryptosporidium, which are bigger, tougher and very difficult to kill with conventional water treatment disinfection chemicals like chlorine.  Cysts have a protective outer shell that protects them from municipal water treatment chemicals.

Essentially, there are three strategies that can be used to control  potential disease-causing microbes in water.

1. Chemical treatment with chlorine, chloramine, hydrogen peroxide and other less frequently used disinfectants. Chemicals are not effective against cysts. Chemicals remain the treatment of choice for municipal water supplies, however,  because chemicals like chlorine provide a residual effect that stays in the water all the way to the home.

2. Straining through very tight filters.  Bacteria, for example, can be removed by very tight sub-micron filters, and cysts, which are much larger, are easily blocked out even by a one or two micron filter. Straining is a popular strategy for emergency filters and small point-of-use drinking water filters.  It can be applied for cysts in larger applications, though flow restriction usually makes it impractical for bacteria control where significant flow rates are required.

3. Ultraviolet treatment which eliminates both bacteria and cysts.  Ultraviolet treatment (UV) involves passing the infected water by an ultraviolet lamp that has enough intensity to alter the DNA of water-borne pests. UV is becoming the favorite technique for well owners because it is easy to install, easy to maintain, and relatively inexpensive. It is also popular because it provides a complete treatment and adds nothing objectionable to the water.

Message from Mexico: U.S. Is Polluting Water It May Someday Need to Drink

  by Abrahm Lustgarten

Mexico City plans to draw drinking water from a mile-deep aquifer, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The Mexican effort challenges a key tenet of U.S. clean water policy: that water far underground can be intentionally polluted because it will never be used.

U.S. environmental regulators have long assumed that reservoirs located thousands of feet underground will be too expensive to tap. So even as population increases, temperatures rise, and traditional water supplies dry up, American scientists and policy-makers often exempt these deep aquifers from clean water protections and allow energy and mining companies to inject pollutants directly into them. 

 More Than 1,000 Communities Will Recover Part of the Expense Incurred Removing Agricultural Chemical from Water Supplies

More than 1,000 communities that have spent millions of dollars over many years filtering a common agricultural herbicide, atrazine,  out of their drinking water are welcoming their shares of a $105 million settlement with the weed-killer’s maker.

The lengthy suit has gone on for nine years.  Atrazine’s maker, Swiss-based Syngenta,  said it agreed to the settlement, approved in October by a federal judge in southern Illinois, “to end the business uncertainty” and avoid further legal costs. The company denied any liability or wrongdoing linked to the chemical, which it will continue to sell.

Research has shown runoff after rainstorms can wash the chemical into streams and rivers, where it can enter drinking water supplies. The settlement covers water systems used by 37,000 Americans.  

The settlement money will go to community water systems that serve more than 37 million Americans, mostly in farming states. While some consider it “free money,” others said it’s only a pittance compared with what they’ve spent dealing with atrazine.

Most cities have expressed that the settlement reimburses only a fraction of the actual cost of treating their drinking water for atrazine poisoning.

systems from at least a half-dozen states — Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio — sued Syngenta for reimbursement of the cost of dealing with atrazine. $3.1 million going to Columbus, Ohio appears to be largest sum collected by a single city.  

Atrazine is an herbicide used to control grasses and broadleaf weeds around row crops such as corn, sorghum and sugarcane. Its use has been banned in the European Union since 2003, but it remains the second most pervasive agricultural herbicide in the United States after glyphosate (Roundup®).

More details from ABC News.

More about atrazine from the Pure Water Products Contaminant List.

 A Family Had to Be Evacuated When Its Home Was Inundated by a 200 Foot Geyser 

A car sheared off a fire hydrant, caused a huge geyser and forced a family in the Beverly Glen area of Benedict Canyon to evacuate Friday night, authorities said.

The sheared hydrant sent water shooting more than 200 feet into the air, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said.

The water cascaded down on a nearby home, flooding that residence and forcing firefighters to help the family of four escape, officials said.

“They were saturated in water and in shock and frightened,” a neighbor said.

Residents said the curving roadway is known for being the site of crashes.

The water from the hydrant was so strong firefighters weren’t able to it shut off until 1:15 a.m., witnesses recounted.

“The driver involved in the crash remained at the scene,” said Sgt. C. Barlow of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division. “He was questioned to try to find out how this happened.”

Police are trying to detemine if drugs or alcohol was a factor.

The house was completely flooded by the geyser, and insurance agents will have to determine just how much damage it sustained.

No one was hurt in the incident. 

Details, and a video of the great waterspout.

A Good Test Should  Be Done Before Fracking Begins As Legal Protection

In order to establish legal footing for a future claim for damage to a well caused by fracking, it is essential to establish the condition of the water before fracking occurred.   There is no way to do this except with a high-quality test, prepared especially for fracking damage verification, which is administered correctly.  This usually means that a third party must collect and submit the sample.   Making a claim against an oil company by saying “the water used to be good but now it’s awful” isn’t likely to get you anywhere.  A comprehensive before and after test carries much weight as a bargaining tool and as a basis for legal action.

The following advice is from Water Quality Magazine:

With all the controversy surrounding the gas drilling business that utilizes hydrofracturing, also known as fracking, it is important to get the correct test performed by a certified laboratory. National Testing Laboratories is certified in the states in which fracking is occurring and has formed partnerships with other certified laboratories to meet the needs of its customers. The company has several packages, some geared toward state recommendations and others based on collaboration with geologists at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.

It is important to document which problems, if any, exist in the water, such as iron, hardness or manganese, because these levels may be affected by the drilling process. It is also important to document the lack of problems. For example, documenting that no volatile organics exist prior to drilling activities will be helpful should they show up after drilling has occurred. Most importantly, the sample should be collected by a third party that is trained in proper sample collection. This establishes a chain of custody, which will be important if litigation arises. The chain of custody documents who is in possession of the samples at all times, maintaining that the samples have not been tampered with. For more information about testing packages and sampler training,call 800.458.3330.

 ‘Green’ Approaches to Water Gaining Ground Around World

By Stephen Leahy

To Keep Water Coming Out of the Spout, You Must Keep Air in the Storage Tank

by Gene Franks,  Pure Water Products

The undersink reverse osmosis tank stores water then pushes it out of the faucet upon demand.  What pushes the water out is air.  For the tank to deliver water, you have to keep air in it. If air pressure in the tank gets low, only part of the water will come out of the tank.  Like auto tires, RO tanks lose air over time.  When the air pressure in the tank gets really low, no water at all will come out of the faucet.

An airless tank is easy to recognize:  You open the faucet to fill  your teapot and what comes out is about half a cupful of water, then nothing but a tiny stream or a drip.

If this happens, try to pick up the tank. If it is very heavy, that means that the tank is full of water but there is no air charge to push it out.  (If the tank is very light, it means that the tank isn’t the problem and you’ll have to look elsewhere to fix it.)

 

If the tank needs air–and this is the most common cause of low water output–here’s how you fix it.

The tools you’ll need are two:  A standard bicycle pump and a low pressure air  gauge. The gauge isn’t essential, but it will help you do the job right.  The gauge needs to read accurately at pressure levels under 10 psi.  The gauge you use on your automobile tires is not accurate enough at low pressures.

To start,  turn off the inlet valve to the unit.  Then, open the RO unit’s faucet and leave it open during the entire procedure. Let all the water run out of the tank.

When no water is coming out of the faucet,  pick up the storage tank. If it is empty, very light, the faucet isn’t the issue.

If the tank still has water in it — and this is usually the case — attach a bicycle pump to the air valve on the tank. (It’s on top of some tanks, on the bottom of others, and sometimes on the side.. You’ll have look for it. It usually has a cap on the valve stem that you’ll have to remove.)

With the faucet still open, pump air slowly into the tank. Water will start to leave the tank through the open ledge faucet. Continue to pump air into the tank slowly and steadily until all water is out of it.  When the tank is empty and no more water is coming out of the tank, you’re finished except for adjusting the air pressure in the tank.

Try to leave about 7 pounds of pressure in the empty tank. It doesn’t have to be exact, but resist the impulse to leave lots of pressure.  If you leave over 10 psi or so in the tank,  you don’t gain pressure, you just lose water capacity.

After you’ve aired the tank, close the faucet, open the inlet valve, and let the RO unit begin filling the tank.  Since the tank is empty, it will take a couple of hours to get a full tank of water, but you can get a glassful in ten minutes.  It’s OK to start using the tank at any time.

For more information about reverse osmosis maintenance, go to Pure Water Products website.

The Meaning of the pH of Water.  Another Installment in Pure Water Annie’s Water

Treatment 101 Series.

The term pH is used to describe the activity of the hydrogen ion in a solution. It measures the relative acidity and alkalinity of the solution. It is not a measure of quantity but of the relationship between acidity and alkalinity.

The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with a value of 7 considered neutral. Pure water is considered to be neutral, pH 7.0, although most water ranges between 6.0 and 8.0 on the scale. Values above 7.0 are considered alkaline and below 7.0 acidic.

The pH value of water decreases as the amount of carbon dioxide, CO2, increases, and pH increases as the amount of bicarbonate alkalinity increases. The ratio of carbon dioxide and bicarbonate alkalinity within the ranges of 3.6 to 8.4 is an indication of the pH value of the water.

The pH of water figures into almost all aspects of water treatment. The reduction of such contaminants as iron, manganese, arsenic, fluoride, and hydrogen sulfide is highly dependent on the pH of water.  Water that is low in pH is corrosive and must be corrected. Even disinfection of water with chlorine is highly dependent on pH.

As far as health is concerned, there is no evidence to support claims by sellers of pH amending machines that only highly alkaline water is suitable for drinking.

pH Adjustment in Water

The pH can be raisedby feeding soda ash (sodium carbonate), caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), sodium

bicarbonate, or potassium hydroxide into the water. Calcite (calcium carbonate, CaCO3) and/or Corosex (MgO—magnesium oxide) are used as filters to increase pH from the 5 and 6 range. The peak flow of neutralizing filters is limited to about 6 gpm per square foot of medium. Downflow filters must be backwashed frequently to prevent “cementing” of the bed. Upflow filters do not experience cementing of the bed, but they do not work if iron is present in the water.

Lowering pH is less frequently done, but can be accomplished by feeding a variety of acids with a standard metering pump. Both sulfuric and hydrochloric acids will work, but weaker acids are usually preferred. The most commonly used are phosphoric acid (H3PO4), acetic acid (CH3COOH), and citric acid (C6H8O7). Vinegar can also be injected to lower pH.

 Nestle’s Water Sales in China Increased 27% in 2012

Research from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Ministry of Environmental Protection has shown that 320 million rural people in China still do not have access to safe drinking water, with 190 million using drinking water that contains excessive levels of hazardous substances.

In Beijing, while officials insist upon the safety of the water supply, residents are skeptical  and for this reason bottled water sales are reaching record highs.

In 2001, bottled water sales totaled $1 billion in China; in 2012, the total was $9 billion; and, in 2013 one research group predicts that bottled water sales will jump to $16 billion.

Bottled water giant Nestle seems to be the main benefactor of China’s water problems.  China is Nestle’s eighth largest market worldwide, and Nestle’s water business in China increased by 27 percent in 2012.

More information.

 

Marine Base’s Water Contamination That Caused Male and Female Breast Cancer and Leukemia Goes Back to at least 1953

President Barack Obama signed a law last year granting health care and screening to Marines and their dependents on the Camp Lejeune marine base between 1957 and 1987.  A new government study shows that  drinking water in the residential Hadnot Point area of the base was unsafe for human consumption as far back as 1953. According to a Marine spokesman, the extension of the time line will add between 33,000 and 53,000 to the number of people who lived at the base when the water was contaminated.

Contamination resulted from years of leaking fuel tanks, which estimates now show leaked at least a million gallons of fuel, and to a lesser degree from an off-base dry cleaning establishment.

According to the Washington Post, “The Marines were slow to react after groundwater sampling first showed contamination on the base in the early 1980s. Some drinking water wells were closed in 1984 and 1985, after further testing confirmed contamination from leaking fuel tanks and an off-base dry cleaner. . . . Health officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to tainted water.” 

It is believed now that the base’s water supply was contaminated with VOCs (volatile organic compounds) at least as early as 1953.  

The fifteen health conditions singled out in the 2012 law that veterans and family members who served on active duty or resided at Camp Lejeune for 30 days or more during the 24 year can make VA medical care claims for are

Esophageal cancer

Breast cancer

Kidney cancer

Multiple myeloma

Renal toxicity

Female infertility

Scleroderma

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 

Lung cancer

Bladder cancer

Leukemia

Myelodysplastic syndromes

Hepatic steatosis

Miscarriage

Neurobehavioral effects.

 

Full story from the Washington Post