Simple, Inexpensive Tools and Supplies for RO Service.  You Already Have Most of These.

Undersink reverse osmosis units sometimes look frightening to those unfamiliar with them, but once you catch on to how they work you’ll find they’re pretty easy to take care of.  As with most self-care items, having a few basic tools makes things easy.  Opening a can is a complicated job without a can opener,  but it’s very simple if you have one.  A few simple tools make RO maintenance as easy as opening a can of soup.

Most RO units come with a filter wrench.  For most systems, you’ll need the wrench to open and tighten the filter housings when you change filter cartridges. Best source:  Online water treatment websites. Make sure you get one that fits the housings on your unit. Many new RO units have easy-to-remove disposable filters and for these you won’t need a wrench.

Owning a TDS tester isn’t essential, but a good TDS meter is a very important diagnostic tool.  For one thing,  it can tell you when the RO membrane needs to be replaced.  Owning a simple hand-held tester can  save you money because it takes the guess work out of assessing the condition of the membrane.  Membranes often last for many years, so simply following the manufacturer’s suggested change schedule can lead to lots of unnecessary expense. (There is never an reason to replace an RO membrane that is performing well.) The tester tests the TDS, “Total Dissolved Solids,”  of the RO water, which is the most practical way to assess the performance of the membrane. Best source:  Online water treatment websites.

A bicycle pump,  or the equivalent,  is an almost essential tool.  You will need periodically–once a year is a good rule of thumb–to add air to the RO storage tank.  A small compressor will work, but a hand pump works better. RO tank bladders aren’t as hardy as auto tires, and they are often ruined by adding air too fast.    The bicycle pump is a perfect tool for the job. A related tool is a low pressure air gauge.  You need a gauge that  accurately measures pressures below 10 psi.  Most regular “tire gauges” aren’t accurate at these pressures.  Best source: Your local hardware store or an online hardware  merchant.

Common items that you already have are also effective tools.  A towel placed under the unit  before  you work on it will catch drips and keep your floor dry.  A flashlight is the best leak-finding tool known.  And when you finish your service job, looking over you unit’s fittings with a bright flashlight will let you find small leaks you might otherwise miss.

More Information:

Using a TDS Tester to Test Your RO Membrane

A good source of parts and RO tools.

As Carbon Dioxide Increases, Oceans Become More Acidic. The State of Washington Has Decided to Take Action.

The oceans have long acted as a sink for carbon emissions.  Now they are being asked to absorb more than they can handle.

The result is every increasing acidification.  Seawater is steadily becoming more corrosive.  Many coral reefs have already been destroyed and in many areas of the ocean the entire food chain is threatened.

The State of Washington is particularly concerned about growing ocean acidification because increasing acidity is a major threat to the state’s important shellfish industry.  Shellfish, especially oysters, are prevented from developing shells by an acidic environment.

The only long-term solution for acidification is for the world to reduce industrial emissions of carbon dioxide, but since this is clearly not going to happen overnight, Washington is attempting to “buy time” by slowing the process.

Here is how the plan works:

The first step will be to monitor ocean acidity with greater breadth and accuracy and to create an acidity budget — an assessment of just how much acidity is contributed by whom. Next it will seek to reduce carbon pollution from land-based sources, including agricultural and urban runoff. There will also be practical, site-based steps to offset carbon, like planting sea grasses (which themselves are endangered globally) in shellfish hatcheries. And there will be an extensive campaign to educate the public, business leaders and policy makers about the risks of increasing acidification.

The state has set aside $3.3 million to begin the effort (much more will be required down the line), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will help with its laboratories.

The important thing about the program is that it is a start. Waiting for the world to change is not a practical strategy.

Reference:  New York Times

 The Role of  Reverse Osmosis in Removing Chloramines from Water for Aquariums

The water disinfectant chloramine that is being used increasingly by  municipal water treatment plants is bad news for aquarium owners.  Chloramines kill fish,  so there is much interest in removing it from water for aquariums.

Reverse osmosis (RO) has been a favorite of aquarium owners over the years for providing superb-quality water for fish.  There is some concern, however, about RO’s ability to provide chloramine-free water.  The following is an attempt at a non-technical explanation of how RO deals with  chloramine.

First, there is much misinformation,  some of it provided by anti-chloramine groups, that indicates that chloramines are virtually impossible to remove from water.

The fact is, chloramine is removed from water with the same methods that remove chlorine–especially filtration through carbon.   Chloramine reduction just takes longer, which in many cases means that it requires a larger carbon treatment bed and/or greatly reduced flow of water through the bed.  Some carbons, called catalytic carbons, are manufactured especially to treat chloramine and they work much faster than standard carbons.

Chloramine is made by combining chlorine with ammonia.  The removal process involves breaking the bond between chlorine and ammonia then converting the chlorine to harmless chloride. The carbon prefilter of an RO unit (which handles the water very slowly) does a good job of getting rid of the chlorine.  The part that often disturbs people is what happens to the ammonia, since, theoretically, RO membranes aren’t very good at ammonia reduction.

The remaining ammonia can be removed easily by cation exchange,  provided by common water softener resin. There are pH and hardness requirements, however, so that not just any water can be run through a water softener with the assurance that ammonia will be removed.  The reverse osmosis membrane, however,  prepares the water so that  leftover ammonia can be easily removed by cation resin placed after the RO membrane.  Post-RO water is low in hardness and pH,  so a simple and inexpensive cation resin postfilter added to a good RO unit should produce water that is essentially chloramine free.  All filters must be kept fresh to assure success.

Another option is an RO unit with a deionizing (DI) post filter.  The process is the same.  The RO unit’s carbon prefilter breaks down the chloramine and converts the resulting chlorine to chloride.  The RO membrane reduces the total dissolve solids greatly, leaving the DI postfilter free to polish off the ammonia.

Either RO followed by a cation cartridge or a deionizing cartridge should assure excellent, chloramine-free water for fish (or for people, since the same strategies work with undersink drinking water RO units).

References —

Removing Chloramine and Ammonia from Aquarium Water.  (This article provides references to excellent Resin-Tech sources.)

Chloramine and the Reef Aquarium.

The Ob River Is Delivering Natural Gas From Norway to Japan, Via the Arctic  Ocean

A tanker carrying liquified natural gas is attempting to become the first ship of its type to sail across the Arctic Ocean. The trip will take the tanker from Norway, where it set sail in November 2012, to Japan, via Russia.  The ship is called the Ob River.

Built in 2007 with a strengthened hull, the Ob River can carry up to 150,000 cubic meters of gas. The tanker was loaded with LNG at Hammerfest in the north of Norway on 7 November and set sail across the Barents Sea. It has been accompanied by a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker for much of its voyage.

The route taken by the ship, which has a crew of 40, is about 40% shorter than the usual voyage to Japan.

There is an expectation that because of changing climactic conditions, sea traffic across the northern sea route will increase rapidly. 2012 has been a record year both for the length of the sailing season and also for the amount of cargo that has been shipped.

As ice recedes, new routes are opening through the northern seas.  Some 19,000 ships went though the Suez canal last year and only about 40 through the northern sea route.  But things are changing.

 

More details from the BBC.

 

 World Bank and Islamic Development Bank To Provide Gaza Funds for Water System Improvements

The conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinians has left almost 200 people dead.   Water conditions in Gaza are terrible and rapidly getting worse as the single aquifer in the Strip is being over-pumped and rapidly depleted. The area is choked now with untreated sewage, which threatens health and welfare as well as the meager water resources the area possesses.

In response to this situation, the World Bank in conjunction with the Islamic Development Bank with provide a total of some $17.5 million in financing for improvements.  The funds will help construct water tanks to collect and blend water from different sources to improve the quality and efficiency of Gaza water and wastewater and to connect major well fields supplying Gaza’s middle and southern areas.  Water distribution networks will also be upgraded.

The population of Gaza is 1.6 million and its water infrastructure is one of the world’s worst.

Reference.

See also Waterless in Gaza.

 

Drought and Rising Temperatures Are Shrinking The Great Lakes and Leaving Shore Cities High and Dry

In this Nov. 16, 2012 photo, the white streaks on a steel break wall show the normal water level on Portage Lake at Onekama, MI, which is connected by a channel to Lake Michigan. Levels across much of the Great Lakes are abnormally low, causing problems for small harbor towns that rely on boating and water tourism. The Great Lakes are dropping because of drought and climbing temperatures, a trend that accelerated with this year’s almost snowless winter and scorching summer.

The Great Lakes, the world’s biggest freshwater system, are shrinking because of drought and rising temperatures, a trend that accelerated with this year’s almost snowless winter and scorching summer. Water levels have fallen to near-record lows on Lakes Michigan and Huron, while Erie, Ontario and Superior are below their historical averages. The decline is causing heavy economic losses, with cargo freighters forced to lighten their loads, marinas too shallow for pleasure boats and weeds sprouting on exposed bottomlands, chasing away swimmers and sunbathers.

Lake Michigan’s level at the end of October, 2012 was more than 2 feet below its long-term average. The Corps of Engineers says that  without heavy snowfall this winter, the lake may decline to its lowest point since record-keeping began in 1918.

Funding for dredging channels to enhance navigation, which at one time would have come from Congress, is now not available.  Some towns have been able to raise local money for such projects, but they cannot afford to do this on a regular basis.

Tourism, of course, has fallen precipitously, and tourism is essential for many of the small towns in the region.

Through the entire region falling water levels are taking a toll, illustrating how extensively the health of the Great Lakes affects the economy of a region that is home to more than 30 million people extending from Minnesota to New York.

Gazette Fair Use Statement

More Information from the Herald Standard

 

Gray Whales Habitat in Baja, Mexico Is Alive Though Threatened

Laguna San Ignacio in Baja, Mexico is a tranquil lagoon where mother gray whales travel each year from thousands of miles away in Alaska to give birth to their babies without human disturbance.  It is, in fact, the last gray whale sanctuary on earth.

The environmental group, NRDC, the Natural Resources Defense Council, has gone to great lengths to protect it.  In 2000, NRDC stopped Mitsubishi from building a saltworks plant that would have turned the shores of the lagoon into an industrial wasteland. But still today, the lagoon is perennially threatened by schemes for industrialization and development that would destroy the whales’  home.

NRDC is currently working with local and international partners to permanently protect 500,000 acres around the lagoon to ensure that it will be kept pristine for the gray whales.  Recently, the Mexican government  granted special protection to an additional 199,000 acres of land surrounding the lagoon.

The gray whale is one of the world’s greatest migrators.   They travel in  groups called pods.  Some swim 12,000 miles round-trip from their summer home in Alaskan waters to the warmer waters off the Mexican coast. The whales winter and breed in the shallow southern waters and balmier climate. Other gray whales live in the seas near Korea.

Gray whales were once the target of extensive hunting, and by early in the 20th century they were in serious danger of extinction, but today they  are protected by international law, and their numbers have grown. In 1994, the gray whale was removed from the United States endangered species list.

Read more.

More from the NRDC Website.

 

Water Exercise Is Excellent, But There Are Pitfalls

Popular internet doctor Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that  in some ways a water workout may be better than one on land.  He explains that the heart rate during aerobic exercise is slower in water than on land because the pressure of the water helps your blood circulate more effectively with fewer heartbeats.  He explains:

According to the American Council on Exercise, your heart rate will be reduced by as much as 17 beats per minute compared to land exercise, so be sure to keep this in mind if you measure your heart rate to watch your intensity.

When you’re in the water, your heart rate will be lower than on land, even if you’re exercising very strenuously, so you need to listen to your body, not rely on heart rate, to gauge when you’ve had enough.

Dr. Mercola cautions, however, that water exercise has its pitfalls.  Chlorine is a major concern.

Swimming pools typically contain chlorine, he points out,  and along with it, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which are formed when bromide, naturally existent in the source water, and/or organic materials like hair, skin, sweat, dirt and urine react with the large amounts of chlorine used to sanitize the pool water.

He writes:

DBPs are over 10,000 times more toxic than the chlorine itself and have been linked to DNA damage and cancer. In one study, more than 100 DBPs were identified in pool water, and when researchers measured evidence of genotoxic (DNA damage that may lead to cancer) and respiratory effects on swimmers who swam in a chlorinated pool for 40 minutes, they found:³

• Increased micronuclei in blood lymphocytes, which are associated with cancer risk
• Urine mutagenicity, a biomarker of exposure to genotoxic agents
• An increase in serum CC16, which suggests an increase in lung epithelium permeability

This is a serious issue if you swim in chlorinated pools on a regular basis, as your body absorbs higher levels of DBPs by swimming in a chlorinated pool once than you would by drinking tap water for one week! In fact, in one study on trihalomethanes (THMs), one of the most common DBPs, found the cancer risk from skin exposure while swimming comprised over 94 percent of the total cancer risk resulting from being exposed to THMs!⁴ The authors even went so far as to conclude that swimming in a chlorinated pool presents “an unacceptable cancer risk.”

As an aside, DBPs are also the likely culprits for the increased incidence of sinusitis and sore throats among swimming instructors,⁵ as well as the negative impact of chlorinated pools on the respiratory health of children and adolescents. In fact, one study found that in children with allergic sensitivities, swimming in chlorinated pools significantly increased the likelihood of asthma and respiratory allergies.⁶

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up swimming. Swimming in an ocean is an excellent alternative, as is swimming in a lake or other natural body of water. You can also find a way to keep your pool clean from bacteria, algae, and other organisms without the use of dangerous chemicals.

One of the best solutions is NOT to chlorinate your pool and just use a maintenance “shock” treatment every five or six days, which will kill the algae buildup. The shock treatment volatilizes in about 24-48 hours and gives you a several-day window in which you can safely use your pool. You can also reduce the amount of organic material you bring into the pool, and thereby the amount of DBPs created, by showering prior to entering and teaching your children not to urinate in the water.

 Read Dr. Mercola’s full article.

Another Expert Says That People Are Being Urged To Drink Too Much Water

The Gazette has long taken the position that the “8 glasses per day” advice usually given by the medical community is pure nonsense.  A researcher at La Trobe University agrees.

Spero Tsindos of La Trobe University, writing in the June 2012 issue of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, asserts that our bodies need about two liters of fluids per day, not two liters of water specifically.  The Gazette has frequently pointed out the water in the foods we eat is water, so people have vastly different needs for actual water since diets vary considerably.

Mr Tsindos believes that encouraging people to drink more water is driven by vested interests rather than a need for better health.

“Thirty years ago you didn’t see a plastic water bottle anywhere, now they appear as fashion accessories, he writes. “As tokens of instant gratification and symbolism, the very bottle itself is seen as cool and hip.”

He also discusses the role of water in our constant quest for weight loss. “Drinking large amounts of water does not alone cause weight loss. A low-calorie diet is also required. Research has also revealed that water in food eaten has a greater benefit in weight reduction than avoiding foods altogether. We should be telling people that beverages like tea and coffee contribute to a person’s fluid needs and despite their caffeine content, do not lead to dehydration.”

Tsindos says that  people  need to maintain fluid balance and should drink water, but also consider fluid in unprocessed fruits and vegetables and juices of equal importance.

More Information.

Nano Technology Company  Claims Invention of a Self-Filling Water Bottle

An enterprising nanotechnology company believes that it has created a marvelous self-filling water bottle by imitating the natural process of hydration used by the Namib Desert beetle.

NBD Nanotechnologies has imitated the beetle’s uncanny ability to extract water from dry desert air.  The beetle lives in one of the world’s most arid regions (about 1/2 inch of rainfall per year) and has developed a unique survival technique by drinking water that it collects from tiny droplets that its bumpy back collects from the atmosphere.

 Here’s how one writer describes the process:

To drink water, the Namib beetle (genus Stenocara) stands on a small ridge of sand. Facing into the breeze, with its body angled at forty-five degrees, the beetle catches fog droplets on its hardened wings. Its head faces upwind, and its stiff, bumpy outer wings are spread against the damp breeze. Minute water droplets from the fog gather on its wings; there the droplets stick to hydrophilic bumps, which are surrounded by waxy, hydrophobic troughs. Droplets accumulate and coalesce until their combined weight overcomes the water’s electrostatic attraction to the bumps as well as any opposing force of the wind; in a thirty-kilometer-an-hour breeze, such a droplet would stick to the wing until it grows to roughly five millimeter in diameter; at that point it would roll down the beetle’s back to its mouth parts.

The water droplets in fog are, on average, just one one-thousandth of an inch across, and the largest ones are only twice that size. The droplets are so small, in fact, that they often don’t fall downward; instead they get carried sideways or even upward by currents of wind.The trick to drinking fog is getting the droplets to aggregate, so that wind and electrostatic forces no longer overwhelm gravity. When a wind-blown fog droplet lands on a hydrophilic (water-loving) surface, such as clean glass or stone, the drop flattens out because of the electrostatic attraction between the molecules of water and those of the surface. The cross section of the flat drop is too small for the wind to pick it back up. And, because water molecules so strongly attract each other, the flat drop also presents a highly hydrophilic surface to which other droplets can attach.

To mimic nature,  NBD Nanotechnologies layered a surface with hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings, used a fan to pass air over the surface, and managed to get water to condense. This eventually led to the design of a conceptual self-filling water bottle.

The best part, according to the developer, is that it uses virtually no energy and can be run entirely by solar cells and a rechargeable battery.

The company points out that there are  more than three quadrillion gallons of water in the air, which is essentially a massive untapped resource.

More.