EnviroLink

Time To Move On!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:12:00 +0000

Its True! After years of living in our happy home on Blogger, we've moved to WordPress and integrated the blog with the entire website. If you haven't stopped by in a while, check it out! www.douglasenviro.ca for the site - and the RSS feed for the blog subscription is right at the top in the middle (or linked right here to make it easy!) http://blog.douglasenviro.ca/feed/rss/

Please update your RSS feeds accordingly - submit your feedback, ask a question and you never know - you may just win a prize! ;) We're launching some brand new products and we'll be giving some away to our friends that subscribe and support all the work!

That's it - have a great week and thanks for keeping in touch!

Greg

Arsenic, Uranium and Other Trace Elements, a Potential Concern in Private Drinking Wells

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:36:00 +0000

A recent article published by the US Government indicates that a full 20% of residential wells contain contaminants that are above the levels set as "safe" by health officials. Contaminants like arsenic, chromium and even lead are showing up at levels that could prove harmful to anyone drinking them.

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone tell me their family has lived on the land for generations and "the water was good enough for my grandpa, so it's good enough for me," well, I'd probably have a couple bucks by now anyway. The fact is, 90% of the contaminants we have to worry about didn't even exist when our grandparents lived on the land. We have no control, and in most cases, no idea what is happening upstream in the underground aquifers that water wells draw from.

I'm working with a client that is building a brand new home on "family" land - land that's been owned for years in Sturgeon County. After careful consideration of the options, it was decided to dig a well instead of hauling water with to a cistern, the way most new acreage builders like to do. In this case, some unexpected contaminants showed up and they definitely require treatment.

Probably the most-concerning was lead. It was 20% higher than the maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) as set by Health Canada. Fluoride was also too high, testing at 5x more concentration than the new regulations allow for city water. Both of these are effectively treated, assuming optimal conditions, by either reverse osmosis, or distillation.

With these serious issues, this is no time to fool around with cheapo-Joe's RO - when health is on the line, the obvious choice is a system that carries the Water Quality Association's "Gold Seal" - stating that the purifier has been sent to a lab, its performance analyzed, and GUARANTEED reduction of these specific contaminants is provided by the manufacturer.

We only provide equipment that is certified by the WQA to achieve a minimum reduction, then we take the specs, compare to the water analysis, and ensure that we are in the optimal zone for making good drinking water. This goes well-beyond just plugging in the equipment and hoping for the best. Reverse osmosis requires sufficient pressure to meet the Gold Seal specifications - and no well water pressure system I've ever seen is sufficient in this regard. Consult an expert in your area to ensure the system is within specifications for pressure, pH, TDS and contaminant reduction. Anything else is taking a gamble with your health!

What Does Tucson's Water have to do with Edmonton???

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:43:00 +0000


Sediment & Scale Water Damage

The municipality of Tucson, Arizona just made an announcement regarding their city water supply. The water the municipality treats and delivers to the residents is filtered and chlorinated, much like it is in most cities. One thing Tucson has been doing been doing until now, is something Edmonton had done until the year 2000 - softening the water for the town's supply.

The Arizona news story talked about the town having to do cutbacks and not being able to supply conditioned water to the residents. They stated, "...it's the city's job to make sure the water isn't going to get you sick, as far water quality and hardness, it's gonna fall on the homeowner." Until now, they had been removing hardness minerals which have been known to cause build-up and clog water pipes. Soon their levels will rise in the water and so could the damage to homeowner's plumbing, hot water tanks and fixtures.

Not having softened water, as many Edmonton area homeowners found out when Epcor stopped softening their water, leads to increased soap use, and requires higher temperatures to do an adequate job with laundry. Softened water saves between 50 and 75% of detergent usage and allows for laundry to be done with cold water - not only saving money on soaps and energy consumption, but actually doing a better job of laundry. As noted in a 2009 Battelle study,

The study found that tankless water heaters completely failed to function because of scale plugging in the downstream plumbing after only 1.6 years of equivalent hot water use on 26 gpg hard water. Softened water saves 34% of costs compared to operating on 20 gpg and saves 47% compared to operation on 30 gpg hard water.

Scale Acts an Insulator

Further, an independent report by the Water Quality Research Council showed a 30% (THIRTY PERCENT!) savings on energy usage for gas-fired hot water tanks, simply by using conditioned water. Most people don't think about it, but the hot water heater is the second-highest user of energy in a home. Since we just got word last week that energy prices are going up yet again next month, it makes sense to keep as much as possible from going up the chimney!

At least Tucson residents were publicly advised about this change and adding residential treatment like water conditioning and reverse osmosis was recommended by the municipality. I don't know anyone in the Edmonton area that remembers hearing such recommendations here - just those that started noticing a scale build up on their faucets, having to replace hot water heaters more frequently, higher energy bills (take a look if you still have your old bills!) and grubbier looking laundry.

An average family of 4 saves $1200 a year using conditioned water - even more if they install a drinking water system and stop buying expensive bottled waters. For a link to the article referenced and a short video on the news story, please click HERE.

Moving From a Cistern to Well Water

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:46:00 +0000

This is an update to the family I mentioned June 26th, "Well Water vs Cistern Water" - they decided to go ahead with the treatment system and take their cistern offline.

Douglas Environmental closed off their cistern, just before their next scheduled water delivery (instant savings of $60!) and tied their well into the plumbing servicing the entire home. The water from this well wasn't particularly nice to start with - it has very hard (17 grains or almost 300 mg/L hardness) and had problems with iron, sulfur (or sulphur, if you prefer) and some tannins and organics that would be causing staining.

This called for two separate units to treat the water for the whole home, and a reverse osmosis (RO) system to supply pure, fresh drinking water to the kitchen faucet, a faucet in the basement and to the fridge & icemaker for chilled water and perfect ice. We ended up softening and sediment filtering the water in the first stage of treatment - for this, we used the "Puratech" system from Hague Quality Water followed in series by a special carbon filter unit that would handle the tannins, organics and H2S gas (sulfur - causing the "rotten egg odour" many well water families are familiar with.)

The family had a sink in the basement where they plan on making wine. It was determined the best place to install the RO system was under the basement sink, feeding a faucet right there for purified water, then run a line upstairs to feed the kitchen's RO faucet and the fridge. Normally, we install the RO completely out of the way, in the utility room where the pressure tank and any well water treatment equipment would be, but logistically, this time installing under the sink seemed to make the most sense.

After the transition was complete, the home actually had better water from the system than was being supplied to any city water home. Their well supplies LOTS of clean, fresh water now - and the organic staining most cistern owners deal with is a thing of the past. Other than the power to run their well pump, something still required with a cistern, the water is "free" to use now.

Unlike a cistern where rationing drives people crazy, not to mention the $120+ per month for water hauling, there is very little for this family to do or think about when it comes to their water. Monthly, they are to check salt levels on the conditioner and annually, there is a maintenance required on the drinking water system - something recommended even if they were to stay with the cistern, since that water is immediately stale and contaminated with dust, dirt, organics and often even with frogs and mice. (Yuck!)

Now the water is fresh and free-flowing. The way it should be!

Right Tool for the Job

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 15:43:00 +0000

I was asked to come out and check a rural home's water system this weekend. The owners have been trying to keep it going since they purchased their acreage, but have dealt with staining and bacterial build-up in their plumbing, as well as a rotten-egg odour in the home.

They had someone come to replace the "Birm" media in their iron filter in 2008 and have since had their water tested by the County. Even after their air injector, mixing tank and birm filter, they were still getting 0.74 parts per million (ppm) of iron through their plumbing - more than double the concentration where staining starts to be visible on fixtures.

I tested their raw well water as well as their water at the tap. I confirmed the system was only removing about 1/2 the iron coming from their well. The main problem is that there was H2S (hydrogen sulfide) gas present in the water. Some of it was being oxidized by their air injection system, but birm is specifically not suitable for treating water with H2S present. This is either a case of some overzealous salesman extolling the virtues of his magical "chemical free" iron filter, or perhaps a case where the water chemistry had changed and the birm system simply wasn't capable of keeping up.

Its unfortunate the technician that replaced the birm media in their filter seems to have neglected to test the water. The owners complained of rotten egg odour to him and that is an immediate reason to check for H2S gas. If it is present, there is absolutely no point in replacing the birm media - it simply won't work on that water. Period. Instead, the technician charged them around $700 for a service call and left a system behind that had no chance of working for his customer.

Perhaps ignorance, perhaps arrogance - but there is no excuse for what happened there. If you have water problems, especially with well water, you need to ensure you are dealing with a professional, not just some slick sales guy that may not be properly trained on how to treat different kinds of problem water. I left some recommendations for new equipment using a media called manganese greensand that will work and keep him going for the life of the property. Hopefully they take me up on the offer to help - spending more money trying to get the wrong system going is throwing good money after bad!

When Would Whole Home Reverse Osmosis Make Sense?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:18:00 +0000

Having represented the Hague Quality Water brand for years and having had nothing but success deploying their solutions, it seems odd that I would be suggesting a GE product for a client we're working with for an acreage near Sherwood Park.

The clients live in a high-end acreage in a beautiful subdivision in the Edmonton area. They just purchased the home and are finishing the basement, as well as performing some other renovations. With the steam shower they are installing and the high-end fixtures, it only makes sense to have high-performance water feeding their home's plumbing system.

Initially, due to the high flow rates, we were looking at either a dual residential softener system or a single commercial unit, depending upon the client's needs. The WaterMax system has the highest flow rate of any residential water conditioner or water softener at 13 Gallons Per Minute (GPM) but that still may not handle the high-end, multiple nozzle steam shower with body sprayers the client is getting installed. In order to effectively soften and remove the chemicals and chlorine, two units need to be installed in parallel, effectively doubling the maximum flow to over 20 GPM.

The down side to this is cost. Clearly, for more performance, most people expect to pay more money. In this case, instead of a traditional water conditioner plus reverse osmosis drinking water system, we explored a whole-home reverse osmosis system by GE - a new system called "PureOFlow." This cabinet-style system will soften all the water and remove chlorine and chemicals for the whole home - without the need for additional plumbing to run lines to separate faucets for a traditional reverse osmosis drinking water system.

With this configuration, all the home's water would be purified, leaving all existing taps delivering bottled-water (or better!) quality throughout the home. This is accomplished without the use of salt, a necessary addition to a traditional softener or water conditioning system. In terms of price, it actually cost about $1000 less to go this route, and as a bonus, the repressurization system included with this PureOFlow system will deliver up to 22 GPM of water flow to the home - enough to run the steam shower unit without any additional hardware.

It turns out once again that it pays to work with a water professional that keeps up on technology and offers multiple solutions - not trying to force the same answer to solve every problem.

Savings are Crystal Clear

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:02:00 +0000

Independent research has confirmed something people with water softeners have known for years - soft water just plain works better! Not only do you get the less-tangible benefits of softer skin, using less (if any at all) moisturizer and less itchiness, soft water has proven effective at helping every household's bottom line.

According to independent research done by the Water Quality Research Foundation people with soft water can cut their laundry and dishwasher detergent costs by 50% AND switch to lower temperatures -saving money on energy and making homes friendlier to the environment as well.

According to the study, soft water users, using 50% less detergent and switching from 100 degree to 60 degree water temperature achieved the same results OR BETTER than traditional setups.

The fact that softened water combined with the least amount of detergent and lowest temperature provides the highest degree of whiteness compared to increased hardness with the highest level of detergent and temperature is a noteworthy finding. -Pauli Undesser, Water Quality Association (WQA) Director of Regulatory and Technical Affairs and Toxicology Manager for WQA’s Gold Seal Certification Program

The same or better stain removal and whiter whites! The same savings goes for dishwashers - less soap, less energy and little if any rinse agent chemicals (like "Jet Dry") needed to get spotless dishes.

This is something we've known for years, conditioned water doesn't cost money, it pays!

For more information and an overview of the study, please see: www.wcponline.com/pdf/1103Undesser.pdf

C. Difficile Infections

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Another recent outbreak of "superbugs" has the media's attention and is cause for alarm across the country. This time, the culprit isn't MRSA, it is a clostridium strain of bacteria called "C. difficile" (often referred to as "C. Diff" or pronounced "see diff.") This germ is named for it's notoriety as being hard to treat and kill once it infects someone.

One of the reasons we chose to work with activTek Environmental many years ago was because we can very effectively PREVENT these types of infections from occurring in the first place, using patented "active" air purification technology.

Historically, UV light has been used in health care and other indoor air environments to provide continuous decontamination. UV light is a “line of sight” technology and does not provide the most effective means of control. Ideally, a system for continuous decontamination would produce antimicrobials which reduce contamination on surfaces and in the air.

The Photohydroionization Cell, incorporated into all our "active air purification" systems, produces oxidative gases that inactivate microorganisms in the air and on surfaces. These gases can reach all surfaces in health care and related environments.


Lab Testing on Assorted Microbes

Broad spectrum sanitizing of air and surfaces is offered 24/7 using this patented Active Air technology. It requires no upkeep and ensure clean environments in between regular cleanings performed. Effective against bacteria, molds, yeasts and even viruses, testing has yet to find a microbe that can withstand the technology, even while maintaining safe, healthy environments suitable for 24/7 occupancy by people, plants and animals.

In March 2010, a study specifically on the efficacy of killing C. difficile was performed at Kansas State University's "Food Science Institute" confirming this is a great solution to protecting environments from this, and so far any other Superbug known.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the information regarding C. difficile sanitization, please contact Greg Douglas at Douglas Environmental Solutions.

Sulphur in the Water

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:23:00 +0000

I just had a client that I met 19 months ago call me up to come re-test her water last week. First time I'd been out to her place to check the well, it was pretty standard well water - 25 grains of hardness and 3 parts per million (ppm) iron. TDS was around 500 - nothing too outrageous or difficult for us to treat.

We discussed her options and she decided to go with the Hague WaterMax well water conditioner, model 62-AMQ. This can handle up to 10 ppm of iron and a compensated hardness of 90 grains before needing any expansion or further treatment equipment. The beauty of this system, and the reason she chose it over a conventional well water filtration system is that it is modular; it's expandable.

So here we are 19 months later and she has a "rotten-egg" odour in the water. A quick test confirms that her well, like several in the Strathcona County area has become contaminated with sulphur. Normally this requires an additional system to treat, but the modular nature of the Hague WaterMax allows us to simply open the service port, load sulphur treatment media ("SulfurStat") into the vacant upper chamber of the WaterMax, and close it back up.

Not only is the time required to complete this service call short (under 20 minutes) this upgrade will actually reduce the amount of regenerant (in this case, plain sodium salt for the brine tank) by about 30%. The SulfurStat media will not only filter out the sulphur, but also a good portion of the iron, lessening the burden on the fine mesh resin that would normally be tasked with removing those from her well water.

All it took was a 20 minute service call, and a total cost of less than half what would normally be charged to install a new, dedicated sulphur treatment system - and she will use less salt now, AND the whole system including ALL the media is covered under the factory 25 year warranty. How sweet is that? (not to mention she doesn't have a second system to maintain or something like potassium permanganate (KMnO4) to stock and mess with in addition to the salt the system uses to clean itself.)

Well Water vs Cistern Water

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:32:00 +0000

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This is an issue many acreage owners confront regularly. For years, people have had problems with well water - systems that don't perform as hoped, bleed through iron, sulfur, minerals, hardness or anything else they are designed to catch can lead to frustration, extra cleaning of fixtures, laundry problems, odours and other issues around the home.

Some home owners, tired of treatment systems that don't live up to their promises, look to alternatives to a traditional water well. One option many people have chosen is to install a cistern and have water trucks haul and deliver water to the home on a regular basis. They supply standard "city water" which is stored in tanks usually located underground and pumped into the home.

Many people use that water for everything - cooking, cleaning, flushing toilets, showering, even drinking. The theory seems simple enough - its "city water" which contains chlorine, so it should be free from bacteria and other contaminants; it should be safe to drink.

One thing I recommend to any acreage owner with a cistern is to have it cleaned and sanitized. This involves having someone drain the tank, climb in and scrub down the inside of the tank. If the cistern is a few years old, I strongly recommend the homeowner watches the process. Invariably, what happens is the person cleaning the tank will remove frogs, mice, leaves and all kinds of junk from the tank. A common question is, "How did THAT get in there?" (If you want an easy preview of what sort of contamination you may be dealing with, just open the back of your toilet and take a look at the inside. How does that compare with what you would expect to find with "normal" city water???)

By their vary nature, the tanks cannot be completely sealed. If they were, the vacuum seal would prevent water from flowing into the home. As water flows to the house, air MUST replace it in the tank - thats' simple physics. Along with air comes mold spores, bacteria, and depending upon how well-sealed the tank is, frogs and other creatures common to acreage communities.

Ok - but there's chlorine in there, so we're ok, RIGHT? Well - let me ask you a question.... If you were making chicken for dinner tonight, after you're done the prep, you always disinfect the cutting board and counters where raw chicken was in use. That is basic info. So - do you use "chlorinated city water" to disinfect these items, or do you use cleaners or maybe even bleach to do the job? What does that tell you about the water in your cistern?

Even if you decide not to get a water softener and protect your appliances and skin from the effects of hard city water, you really have to assume the water is NOT free from other contaminants. While it may be ok for your washing machine and toilets, at the very very best, think of the cistern as a big jug of water sitting on your counter. If it sat there collecting dust for 2-3 weeks, would you drink from that jug? That is basically, in the BEST case scenario, what your cistern water is providing for your family. Stale, dusty water.

I just consulted with a family in a unique situation - they just bought an acreage in Strathcona County that has BOTH well water and cistern water supplied to the home. They are deciding whether to eliminate one or the other and simplify their home operation. Next time, I'll discuss the options they face, decisions they are weighing and let you know how it goes.

Yeah - But is it working???

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:22:00 +0000

A few months back, we were referred to a neighbour of a client. The referring family had just purchased a new acreage when they called us to come check on their water. Most wells in Strathcona County need a fair bit of treatment so they are not just drinkable, but so they'll not wreck appliances and fixtures.

Much to the delight of this particular family, their water tested almost perfect. No whole-home treatment required (other than a sediment filter, which they already had) and they just wanted the piece of mind of having purified water to drink. After installing the Hague H3500 reverse osmosis system for them, we got them a custom faucet to match the one on their sink and they were done. Truly impressed by the flow rate and water pressure, they were pretty happy with their new system. They also had us to some sneaky plumbing and run a line behind their cupboards to connect up the ice maker on their fridge - a nice benefit if you like crystal clear ice and cold fresh water!

Fast forward a few months and their neighbours are still complaining about their water. They purchased an acreage a few years ago with an existing treatment system that wasn't quite working properly. They hired an expert to come service the system and after $2000 in labour costs, they still weren't happy with the water quality.

After being referred to Douglas Environmental, I went out to do a water test and investigate their situation. The husband asked me for a "fresh start" -meaning not wanting to tinker with the old stuff, just put something in that will work and will not require a lot of hassle (unlike their old system which required mixing of concentrated chlorine chemicals and a complex array of mixing and storing tanks.)

The new system will replace their old chlorine injectors, not require a mixing tank and save them about 15 square feet in their utility room. It will work "hands-off" only requiring the addition of regenerant about every 6-9 months, depending upon water usage.

Even though they were right next door to the family with "perfect water," they had substantially different chemistry. Just because they had "problem water" however, doesn't mean they have to get a degree in chemistry to make it right. Hiring a professional with more than one approach to well water treatment is important. You know the old saying, if your only tool is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. There are companies out there (you know who you are, your whole client base does NOT love their water...) that are quick to install the same system in regardless of water chemistry.

A true professional analyzes the water, assesses the needs of the client and makes a recommendation to work within their budget, their lifestyle and most-importantly, to address their specific water chemistry.

Being a dealer for Hague Quality Water is a huge benefit. The WaterMax is truly the most flexible system out there and can be configured in many ways, rarely requiring multiple units to treat residential water. It is not just the most-efficient system on the market, it is backed by the longest warranty, and a complete support team involving the local dealer AND the dedicated support staff of the manufacturer.

This home was the exception to that rule though - they needed one unit, a WaterMax 61-AAN, to treat their iron and their hydrogen sulphide (H2S gas,) and a (WaterMax 61-AAA) to remove tannins, colour and odour from the water.

In the end, the system requires almost no maintenance, cost them less than the old one, and is guaranteed to work for 25 years. Living on an acreage or farm can be a wonderful experience - and your water situation doesn't have to scare or confuse you. If you aren't happy with your current situation, give us a call - we can make what you have work, or replace it with something that will work great for you. Period.

Sherwood Park's Environmental Service Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:38:00 +0000

The Sherwood Park News ran an article this week featuring the Chamber of Commerce's newly-launched Environmental Committee. The committee's focus is two-fold: to promote the green-ness of the Alberta Energy Sector and to highlight the new industrial developments in the environmental sector - a service industry that has sprung up alongside the traditional energy sector to both service and to augment the energy re harvest via more-conventional means.

The article discussed some new key players: Clearflow Technologies, a company that uses their proprietary technology to speed up tailings pond reclamation into days instead of months and years, and has a novel approach to combating soil erosion - a definite issue that must be dealt with anywhere energy is mined.

Sherwood Park, a few years ago, launched a world-class residential recycling program servicing the residents of Strathcona County. It has reduced materials going to the landfill by over 80%! Where it falls short is the fact it doesn't address the commercial or industrial sectors (basically all non-home-based businesses) at all. A new company, Tri-Line Disposal, is addressing this shortfall for commercial clients. This will supplement the activity and further-reduce unnecessary landfill use and increase the use of renewable energy in Alberta.

Our sister company, Renew Kitchen and Bath, got a great mention as well. The mandate of that company is to eliminate the replacement of fixtures like counter tops, bathtubs, showers and tiles that have years of life left in them, but whose only crime is being outdated or damaged (chips, scratches and water damage are all repaired,) and a new surface is sprayed on leaving a brand new finish and giving years of useful life for the fixtures.

There is a lot of new development in the burgeoning environmental sector - kudos to the Sherwood Park Chamber for bringing it to the spotlight and nurturing its development!

Are You Being Served?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:07:00 +0000

Received an interesting call today from an elderly lady in Sherwood Park. Her water softener has for some reason ceased up and is not allowing water through at all. She called the County of Strathcona and they sent a water technician out to her home to investigate. They confirmed there was nothing wrong with the plumbing and whatever issue was present was a problem with her softener.

She called the installers and they were no longer in business - and the manufacturer couldn't connect them with any local servicing dealers in the area. She was stuck! After some searching on Google, she found the Douglas Environmental webpage and contacted us directly.

Luckily, I had an installation booked for a home on the same street she lived on and was able to make an appointment to investigate. There are only a few things that can possibly cause this to happen, so it shouldn't take long to troubleshoot. Hopefully we can fix it, or at the very least, it can be replaced with a system backed by a strong warranty with a servicing dealer network that will be able to actually resolve problems after the cheque clears.

Chloramine & Chloramine Removal

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 05:13:00 +0000

The recent debate over water fluoridation in Calgary has lead to a lot of discussions amongst my peers and colleagues. It has brought up chats over the broad range of chemicals in the water - some naturally occurring (arsenic, sulfates, sodium, etc.), some due to pollution (hexavalent chromium, hydrogen sulfide, etc.), and some are there because we feel it is appropriate and/or the risks are outweighed by the benefits of their addition (chlorine, chloramine, fluoride, etc.)

In speaking with a Spruce Grove family about this, their concern was over the chlorine in the water supplied by the city of Edmonton. Several years ago, Edmonton switched from adding straight chlorine for disinfection, to a mixture of chlorine and ammonia known as "chloramine." There are a few advantages to this, namely:

Less is needed to maintain effective dosage. Because chloramine doesn't tend to dissipate into the air the way chlorine does, less is required to ensure a strong enough level reaches the homes at the end of the supply chain. If you've ever poured a pitcher of water and let it sit in the fridge overnight to get rid of the stink, it was the chlorine that was off-gassing. Over a few hours, it would dissipate and the odour would be gone. This doesn't happen with chloramine, so leaving it overnight will do little to reduce the chemical load in the water - only the "free chlorine" or a very small portion of the chemical can be removed this way.
Less disinfection byproducts are produced. Most people think chlorine is added just to disinfect the water - but when it is added, it reacts with organic compounds in the water to form disinfection byproducts. Chlorine is an oxidizer and acts similar to fire. Just as fire burns organic materials and produces "ash" - chlorine reacts with organics and converts them as well. The difference being, this "ash" stays in the water and you end up drinking it and bathing in it. By switching to chloramine, fewer of these byproducts are produced. -NOTE: they are still created, just fewer and slightly different forms of them are produced.
Cost. The chemical is relatively inexpensive and because it doesn't dissipate as much as straight chlorine does, less is required. This translates to a cost savings by the city.
Odour. Ammonia reacts with the chlorine and changes the putrid smell to a more-tolerable one. It is still very noticeable - if you pour a glass of tap water and a glass of reverse osmosis treated water and just give it the "ole sniff test" you'll immediately know which is pure and which is chemical laden...

The down-side? It is much-harder to remove. Simple carbon filters (like those typically found on shower head filters) will NOT remove chloramine. In order to remove it, catalytic carbon with a lot of contact time, or special metallic filters are required.

Because the shower filters this family initially inquired about aren't recommended for chloramine removal, we discussed a whole-home option to accomplish this. The clients were not interested in a water softener, or a combination unit would have been recommended. Although I personally feel every home should have softened, conditioned water, this simply was not what they were after.

As such, a chloramine reduction filtration system was installed. This is a special filter unit that requires little to no maintenance to keep going and you don't need to add salt or any chemicals to make it work. The filter has a special metallic compound which removes the chloramine, then the water passes through a bed of granular activated carbon to remove the chlorine, the organics and other contaminants that affect taste, odour and (in some people's opinion) the safety of the water.

The system runs around the clock and cleans itself in under 15 minutes once a week. The set up will last them about 5 years before the media needs to be changed out, and in the meantime, no maintenance or upkeep is required by the family. Odour and chemicals gone - no impact on lifestyle!

Chemicals in the Water - Hexavalent Chromium found in Two US Cities' Supplies

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:26:00 +0000

If you've seen the movie Erin Brockovich, you've at least heard of hexavalent chromium. According to Wikipedia, it is used in stainless steel and various other manufacturing processes. It is a known carcinogen, was found in some water wells and was the basis for the lawsuit that made this movie famous.

What is interesting right now is that it has shown up in two CITY water supplies in the US. Officials tested the water and found it to be exceeding their "recommended allowable levels" (as in "the levels of poison the government feels is safe for continued consumption - wrap your head around that one!)

Instead of issuing a warning and recommending people switch to purified water sources, the government simply issued a statement that the water was safe to drink. (Why do they bother setting maximum levels for poisons if nothing happens when those levels are approached, reached or exceeded? -a mental image of an ostrich with their head in the sand is coming to mind here.)

Each year, governments assess what are called "emerging contaminants" - these are the drugs, chemicals and other substances that new testing has determined to be in the water we drink and use in our homes. The term emerging contaminant doesn't mean the contaminant is only now in the water, it just means that someone finally got around for testing for it and the tests showed it was there. Once detected, governments may then decide what maximum allowable levels are and also decide whether to make regulating it legal. This step is not always taken, sometimes the contaminant is simply added to a list for "future consideration" (ie. read that as, "when enough people get sick or die from this contaminant in the water, and we can actually trace it back to this, THEN we'll do something about it.)

In a recent report published in the Globe Gazette, "federal and state regulations do not require regulators to monitor such chemicals, which now are showing up in trace quantities in drinking water supplies."

As stated in the November 2008 edition of Water Technology Magazine, water treatment industry professionals “can offer the most advanced technologies available for dealing with endocrine-disrupting, pharmaceutical and personal care product residues in drinking water,” says Joe Harrison, technical director of the Water Quality Association (WQA). “We welcome the EPA benchmarks to guide our product development and performances in this new emerging area.”

Harrison says there’s no single technology that can address all emerging contaminants. He says, “It appears that reverse osmosis (RO), activated carbon blocks, and advanced oxidation, such as is achieved by combining in various degrees hydrogen peroxide, ultraviolet light and/or ozone … may show effectiveness in treating many of these.”

Recent additions to the emerging contaminant list include 10 pharmaceuticals, one antibiotic and nine hormones added to the list, as well as two disinfection byproducts, five microbes and a firefighting foam.

All we know for sure is that these contaminants are in the water. Current regulations do NOT require testing for their levels, and no "safe" maximum contaminant levels have been set. As a consumer, its time to ask yourself, "How much firefighting foam is a 'safe level' for my family to drink?"

I know what the answer is for my family... If you are concerned about these contaminants in the water you drink, wash in and use in your daily life, see your local water treatment professionals. Douglas Environmental Solutions is the authorized dealer for Hague Quality Water and helps concerned families deal with these problems quickly and easily.

Sometimes you need to call in the big guns...

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:46:00 +0000

Today was an interesting day. I had a meeting with some clients we have helped with air quality a few years ago. They decided to do some home renos and before they replace their sinks, toilets, shower and bathtub, and wanted to resolve their iron staining problems resulting from using raw well water in their home. We scheduled a water testing appointment for this afternoon and proceeded to start the analysis.

As useful as a field test kit/portable lab is, sometimes you need to call in the "big guns." When there are higher levels of things like iron, hydrogen sulfide (H2S gas) or especially tannins in the water, they are easy to detect and easy to treat. Its when there are just "trace" amounts present that field equipment meets its match. Today was one of those days. There were extremely low levels present of H2S, possible low-level iron and appeared to be trace amounts of tannins in the water. The only conservative way to treat this is to set up a system to treat all these problems. There is a specific type of filtration equipment that can handle both H2S and iron, so those two can be grouped together, but tannins are a completely separate beast.

In order to guarantee results (in our case, for 25 years - the warranty period for our water treatment equipment) we need to be certain of the water chemistry. In this case, we need to defer to a lab. Depending upon whether or not these elements are present in the water, there are VASTLY different recommendations we can make for treatment. Proper lab analysis will tell us exactly what is there, as well as bringing the piece of mind for testing for the "Health Canada Metals" in the water and for the presence of coliform.

The lab work costs less than $200 and in about 5 days, we'll have the answer. Once we know exactly what we're dealing with, we can move ahead confidently. The easy answer would be to recommend and install an elaborate treatment system that would handle all these contaminants, but that is not really in the best interest of the client. Ultimately, this is a small world and overselling is something that will always catch up to a company. In this case, we spend a little more up-front and can recommend exactly the right system to treat their specific water problems.

Installation is Great, What About the Service?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:32:00 +0000

Earlier this week, a lady was in a pickle and was hoping to sort out some water treatment problems. Just over ten years ago, she bought a water treatment/iron removal system from one of the major brands operating in the area. (No names will be mentioned here here, but let's just say they have a LOT of advertising using a celebrity pitch man.)

10 months shy of their warranty expiring, they started having problems and called for service. Their technician was dispatched, noted a problem with their iron filter and removed one-half of their distiller. She received a note indicating the repair should be covered under warranty and the tech took their copy back to the office to arrange repairs.

That was the last she heard from them. After calling daily, twice-daily and then hourly for months, eventually a threat of going to the Better Business Bureau got their technician out again. They were quoted $180 for the service call and told their warranty had since-expired so would now need to pay for parts and labour to perform the repairs they'd been waiting for.

To add insult to injury, they never returned the missing components from the distiller, so the family still has no drinking water - they've gone from using a distiller to a "pitcher-style" filter in their fridge - NOT acceptable for well water!!! To further aggrevate the situation, the family now will have to replace or re-finish their sinks and tubs as no amount of scrubbing is able to remove the iron staining etched into their fixtures. (Pretty sad considering this function is built into the name of the equipment the family had purchased for water treatment.)

She then called her realtor who referred her to Douglas Environmental Solutions. Not only will she be getting a 25 year warranty on the replacement equipment, she was also offered several references and testimonials attesting not only to the quality of the Hague WaterMax equipment and the water it produces, but also to show that service doesn't stop the moment her payment for installation was completed. Suffice it to say, this other company has to do a lot of advertising because there's no way they get referrals and from what I've seen, not a chance for any "repeat business" from people moving around within the area.

It's too bad the big guys have such deep pockets for advertising. This seems to happen all the time - a copious amount of coverage in the papers and on the radio leads people to believe they are dealing with a reputable company. In reality, it often just means their system prices are inflated to pay for all those ads...

Please - be an informed consumer. Get references of existing, satisfied customers before making a purchase decision. Specifically, ask for examples of times when service was required and talk to those people. It's not too hard to be satisfied when everything is working tickety-boo, but where the rubber hits the road is on after-sales service.

Why Most Iron Filters Don't Work... And Never Will

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Why do so many rural homeowners have problems with iron? Iron is very common, especially in this part of Alberta. Iron causes staining at as little as 0.3 parts per million (ppm) concentration. That's like taking the total population of the provinces of BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, lumping them together, and choosing 3 people to represent "iron" - that is 0.3 people per million -> It doesn't take a lot!

Common complaints vary. It's typical to hear people talk about staining of appliances, especially where water lands or collects. Toilet bowls, sinks, bathtubs, and showers are common areas where iron staining can be found. If you look in the back of a toilet, under the cover where the water comes in from the house, that area can collect iron staining, rust and sediment on the bottom, as well as showing algae and bacterial growth if either are present in the water. Another area of complaint is odour - very similar to having sulphur in water, iron can cause a "rotten egg" odour. Laundry problems are also commonly reported. Whites turn pink or sometimes get reddish/rust-coloured streaks on them.

All these symptoms are common from iron contamination. There are multiple ways iron can be treated and if you listen to the radio, you'll hear different companies bragging about having their own "patented solutions" for it. One local company even goes so far as to say their's is the only solution designed for iron; that they can remove up to 25 parts per million of iron and that anyone that decides on a different method of treatment is basically foolish... I wish we had their marketing dollars (maybe if we charged what they do for their systems, we could compete with their media coverage.)

Unfortunately, what these "patented" systems and most other solutions don't tell you is that they can only remove up to about 80% of iron in the water. It's true their system can remove a LOT of iron, but it never removes all of it. As a homeowner, this is where the BIG DISCONNECT happens. These systems are usually purchased to get rid of the PROBLEMS iron causes. These problems, as I have stated, start at as little as 0.3 ppm iron in the house. I have seen many many many installations of this patented system and we constantly get called out to troubleshoot why the homeowner still has staining.

If you've ever heard the phrase, "if your only tool is a hammer, everyone looks like a nail," you can understand why the problems occur. Most iron filters, "uniquely patented" or otherwise, really only can remove about 80% of iron. So if the customer has (almost unheard of) iron levels of 20 parts per million, these systems will remove 80% of that, taking the level down to 4 parts per million - WELL above the levels that staining happens. I have seen customers with iron levels of 1.6 ppm with these systems. Take 80% away and you STILL have higher than 0.3 ppm iron levels in the home. These people STILL have iron staining. Calling their installers for support only leads to hearing that their levels are "so high" that "some staining is normal" and just part of rural living. (ie. sorry, we're keeping your money and you still need to scrub out the stains.)

At best, these types of iron filters should be used as PRE filters for other systems. One thing that you, as a homeowner should specifically ask, is, "Can you guarantee me NO MORE IRON STAINING?" If they say no, or won't put it in writing, RUN AWAY.

When treating iron, the systems we like to use are warrantied for 25 years, including the iron removal media. We can guarantee you that, for the life of the system, you'll not only have NO iron staining, but also no hardness (which, in this area, is dissolved limestone rock) that causes other problems with laundry, cleaning and damages appliances.

Living on well water doesn't have to be difficult, it doesn't have to mean cleaning up calcium and iron stains, and it doesn't require some hyped-up marketing for some patented system. What it means is getting a proper water analysis done, determining a solution appropriate for your water's chemistry and installing something that you can trust and don't need to think about as a homeowner.

There is a TON of information available, as a home owner, do your due diligence, ask good questions and when you get answers, GET THEM IN WRITING! Make sure you and the installer of your equipment are both on the same page. Removing 80% of iron is not going to get you the results you were looking for when you contacted your water treatment professional. Make sure you are brutally clear - tell the company you are working with what problems you want solved and make sure the solution meets your needs!

Is there Lead in my Water???

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Many people have heard about lead being in their water - especially those drinking tap water. I'm often asked if it's there - unfortunately, the answer is YES. Health Canada sets guidelines for contaminants and they determine the levels which their experts feel these contaminants will pose a risk to the health of Canadians. Lead is one of the contaminants tested and while lead has been constantly found in the water, it is monitored so that it is delivered at what is thought to be a 'safe' limit.

The limits for contaminants like lead are reviewed, usually every year, and can be revised as necessary. Usually, the limits of what is considered to be "safe" are raised from time to time. I'm not entirely sure why that is, other than by calling higher limits "safe" they are less expensive to maintain... One thing that has recently increased the levels of lead in drinking water is the switch from chlorine to "chloramine" as the disinfecting agent for municipal or "city" water.

Edmonton, among many other municipalities, switched to chloramine a few years ago. It has longer "staying power" in the water, so although it is not as strong a disinfectant as chlorine, less is required to ensure delivery to the people receiving water at the "end of the line," ie. the people furthest away from the treatment facility. Chloramine is toxic to fish - just ask anyone that sells aquariums. Although it kills fish, this mixture of chlorine and ammonia we call chloramine is considered safe for human consumption.

Before this switch, if you wanted to remove the taste of chlorine from the water, you could simply pour tap water into a jug and let it sit overnight. The chlorine would evaporate and you'd be left with better-tasting water. As a kid, I used to do this all the time. (I guess even at the age of 10 I had concerns about water quality! -I used to call it "mountain water" because it tasted similar to the water we used to stop for on trips to Banff...) Leaving the water to sit works with chlorine because chlorine is technically a gas trapped in the water. Leaving it out allows it to dissipate and leave the water (into the air in your home, but that's a topic for another discussion...) Now that chloramine is being used, leaving tap water out no longer removes it. If you have fish, you MUST purchase a filtration system or use special tablets which consume and react with the chloramine.

The main drawback of chloramine, and the reason for this blog post, is that it causes water to become "aggressive" - meaning it can leach toxins from the plumbing system. If it comes into contact with lead-containing pipes anywhere along the upwards of 20 miles of pipe between the treatment plant and your home, it will pull lead out of the plumbing. If you have any galvanized pipe in your home, that is also lead-containing so you will be increasing lead levels in your water there as well.

If you are concerned about lead, DO NOT boil the water. This will NOT remove the lead, it will actually just reduce the volume of water in the pot and actually INCREASE the lead levels - actually making it worse for you. If you want to remove lead, you need to either distill the water or use a reverse osmosis system. Because of environmental impacts, my preference is clearly reverse osmosis. They are about 10x more efficient than distillers when it comes to the amount of water used compared to water produced. Distillers also have a boiler unit which use at least 800 Watts of power (usually 1200 to 1600 or more!) to produce the steam which purifies the water. RO just makes more sense - they are less expensive systems and a LOT easier and less expensive to operate and maintain.

Even though the water meets Health Canada guidelines when it leaves the treatment plants, I always use a reverse osmosis system to remove the chemicals and toxins in it. For my family, the closer to ZERO contaminants in the water, the better. I also don't know what has been in contact with the water AFTER it left the treatment plant. Better safe than sorry, so reverse osmosis water is all we use for drinking and cooking.

Reverse Osmosis Gallons Per Day (GPD) Ratings

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:56:00 +0000

One item that is grossly misunderstood by people considering reverse osmosis systems is the "gallons per day" (or GPD) rating for their system. Reverse osmosis systems are, as far as I can tell, unique as appliances in the fact that the harder and more they work, they better they work and longer they last - I can't think of another appliance that works along those guidelines. One thing that all reverse osmosis systems have in common is they have a membrane of some sort.

Some systems use the older cellulose triacetate (CTA) membranes and most new systems use what's called a "thin film composite" (TFC) membrane. These membranes, regardless of construction will have a rating for daily water production; that is how much treated water they can produce over a 24 hour period. These ratings are done at laboratories under ideal conditions (these are RARELY, if ever, realistic conditions for a residential home, but they are used as a guideline.) Typical membranes are rated at 12, 24, 36 and 50 gallons per day production and it is getting more and more common to see manufacturers installing 50 gallon per day membranes in their systems.

Sounds good right? More production is better, isn't it? The best answer to that is MAYBE. It all depends upon your needs. The higher the GPD rating on a membrane, the larger the molecules that are allowed to slip through the system are, therefore increasing flow rate and production. Under ideal conditions, a 24 gallon per day rated system will produce superior water to a 50 GPD system. If you are treating city water that is presumed to be microbiologically safe and simply improving the taste, "safety" may not be a big issue.

That being said, under ideal conditions, a 50GPD system will make about 2 gallons per hour (50 Gallons Per Day divided by 24 hours in the day,) whereas a 24 gallon per day system will yield about 1 gallon per hour. What does this mean to you? Well, depending upon the size of the storage tank you have, this will tell you how long your system will require to refill the tank if you should empty it. Most systems ship with a 3 gallon tank, storing about 11 Litres of water. If you're making a pot of coffee or tea, this is much more than is required for most residential use.

I like to see our clients using their RO water for everything that touches their food and drink - water to cook rice, boil/steam vegetables and making pasta, for example. To make enough pasta for a family of 4 for dinner, usually 1-2 gallons of water is needed. If you're steaming veggies and pouring 4 glasses of water to drink with the meal, we're now getting closer to the 3 gallon capacity of the tank - if all this water was drawn out simultaneously. As long as the tank holds enough water to meet your immediate demands, everything works as planned, you get the water you need and as soon as you stop pouring water, production begins and the tank starts refilling.

Here again we need to look at the amount of time that is required to re-fill that tank. A 24 GPD system will need 2-3 hours to refill that tank completely, where a 50 GPD system will take just a little over an hour. This is usually not a problem as it is relatively rare that a household will need that much water, that quickly, and keep in mind water will be available during the production time, its not a case of having to "wait" for the tank to refill before you can draw any more water from the system. (To put it in perspective, needing that much water would be roughly equivalent to draining a "big blue" 5 gallon water jug of bottled water. If one of those wouldn't last you more than an hour or so, you may need to consider a faster-producing system, or a larger storage tank.)

Where the smaller, lower-capacity systems really shine is in the maintenance. Because people rarely completely drain a tank, consideration needs to be given for how long the RO system will run to refill the tank. If you only pour off a glass of water at a time, perhaps 16 ounces of water, then the 50 GPD system will barely run at all to refill the tank before it stops production. The 24 GPD system will run twice as long. Why is this a good thing? The life of the membrane is directly related to how clean it is kept. The only time and the only way a membrane is cleaned is when it is producing water.

One problem oversized systems face is early membrane failure due to the fact the system never seems to run long enough to get a good, thorough cleaning. Although any membrane from 12 GPD all the way to 300 GPD can be installed in our reverse osmosis systems, for residential use we normally supply a 24 GPD rated membrane. For residential purposes, this rating typically yields the best balance of production capacity when you factor in maintenance and cleaning of the membrane. When combined with a good whole-home water conditioning system like the Hague WaterMax, you can expect 5 to 7 years from your membrane, assuming it is properly sized for your home. Since membranes are the most-expensive part of your reverse osmosis system, it makes sense to choose the most-appropriate membrane for your family. Bigger isn't always better! (My apologies to Tim the Tool Man Taylor; you'll need to stifle your infamous "MORE POWER" mantra when it comes to drinking water systems!)

Why Do Reverse Osmosis Faucets all Look the Same???

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:45:00 +0000

For those familiar with reverse osmosis drinking water systems, you know the water is treated, then fed through separate plumbing to its own faucet. These faucets are special high-purity faucets that don't leach any of their construction materials into the water, potentially affecting the taste (or worse, if they have lead in them!)

Reverse Osmosis systems typically include a faucet that is often referred to as a "Gooseneck faucet." Looking at one, its pretty easy to see where the name comes from. Most are chrome with either a little black or white plastic tip on the end, and a lever on the side which you can either press down to dispense water, or flip up and snap into position to keep the faucet running for filling pots, jugs and larger containers. These faucets are standard for a reason: they tend to blend in and be unobtrusive - they don't really look out of place anywhere.

That being said, sometimes they aren't quite a fit for some of the more modern, higher-end kitchen faucets out there. I had a client earlier this month that had that exact concern. They have a relatively standard stainless steel sink, but have a really nice faucet with a pewter or brushed nickel finish. Their faucet was very round and curvy and the standard gooseneck RO faucet, while acceptable, certainly didn't add to the look of the kitchen.

I did a little research and came up with a line of faucets that I thought would be very close and offered the client an option to upgrade. She liked one of the faucets in the brochure I showed her (of course not the one I thought was a "perfect match" but that's not surprising since I didn't get into the water business because of my interior design skills!)

We were able to offer her a trade in for her the Hague branded faucet included with their system since we use a lot of them. (The Hague H3500 Reverse Osmosis System, our top-line water purification system, has enough pressure to handle up to SIX connections, so most clients have multiuple faucets in their home - one for the kitchen, one in a bathroom/ensuite and one in a wet bar, plus the usual hook ups to their refrigerator, ice maker, and furnace humidifier.) For a relatively small amount, the client was able to upgrade to the faucet she wanted and not only did she get the purified water she was seeking, but her kitchen looks great with the additional faucet installed.

There were some interesting kitchen installation requirements. Instead of putting their reverse osmosis system in the basement (the way I prefer it,) this client wanted it in the kitchen - but not under the sink, she wanted it in the adjacent cabinet. This was an acreage system, not "regular city water" so we had an additional pump installed, as well as a UV chamber for disinfection. We also ran plumbing through and along the back of their cupboards so we could still connect the ice maker in their refrigerator. (What good is having premium water if you have terrible ice for your drinks?!??!?)

Really good flow rate from the new faucet!

Tight, but functional. Client requested installation in an adjacent (12" wide) cupboard, not under the sink as is the norm. You can see the UV chamber on the top-left of the system, and the booster pump is near the bottom on the right (nestled between the two grey "sumps" of the system.)

Water Purification and Energy Usage

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:20:00 +0000

The need for clean drinking water - water that has had foul-tasting and potentially chemicals removed from it is becoming quite commonplace. Whether you choose to purchase bottled water, or opt for the convenience and savings of having a water treatment system in your home, most people have decided that drinking from the tap is not the best choice.

There are three basic ways to treat water in a residential setting and we'll touch on each of them here briefly.

1 - Carbon filtration. This is common nowdays. This can be something as simple as a filter attached to your kitchen sink's faucet, it could be in the form of a pitcher with a disposable filter built-in (like a Brita-style system) or in more-elaborate cases, or these can be built-in under the sink with an additional "gooseneck" style faucet on the side of the sink. No matter the style, these systems do mostly the same thing. Some have sediment filters built in, some are just carbon, most are both. These systems are a good start and a definite improvement over the water as it is delivered to the home. Using a carbon filter is most suitable for city water as it does little to remove several types of chemicals and does nothing to remove bacteria from water.

2 - Reverse Osmosis. This is taking something like the previously-mentioned carbon filtration and adding a "membrane" to the system. This allows water to be split into two streams: One, a purified stream of "product" water which gets stored in a pressure tank, and two, "reject water." The reject water is water that contains contaminants which cannot pass through the microscopic pores of the reverse osmosis membrane. An easy way to describe a reverse osmosis (RO) system is to compare it to a 'washing machine for your water.' There are different levels of efficiencies and different systems are designed to produce the desired amount of product water each day, as well as delivering it at varying pressures and flow rates. Residential reverse osmosis systems run using just the pressure of the water in your home to power the process. (This is unlike commercial RO systems which need powerful pumps to force water at high pressure through the system.)

3 - Distillation. This is a process which mimics the Earth's own 'recycling' program. In nature, water from rivers, lakes and streams evaporates up to the sky leaving behind impurities and coming back down in the form of rain. Pesticides, herbicides and toxic chemicals have rendered this process less-effective than it used to be, but the mechanics are unchanged since this planet came to be.

In a home, a distiller replicates this process using a powerful burner element to evaporate the water, then a series of condensing units cools the steam and turns it back into water. Carbon filtration is now strongly recommended for distillers because many chemicals have lower boiling points than water. This means a distiller can actually concentrate some chemicals into the 'pure' water it creates. Fortunately, most of these chemicals can be removed with carbon filtration, but it is definitely something you'd want in your distiller system. Most distillers also will use an electric pump to deliver the water to a gooseneck faucet up at the kitchen sink. (Since the process does not result in any pressurized water, mechanical pumps are necessary to deliver the water to the tap.)

Distillers used to be the most popular of the in-home but with rising energy costs, they are becoming less and less attractive. We recently had a client ask us to replace his 2-year old distiller just because of the energy usage. Reverse osmosis water is an excellent option in terms of energy usage because in most cases, there is no power used to run the system.

In terms of maintenance, reverse osmosis is MUCH simpler to keep running properly. Filters are changed out on a set schedule (see your manufacturer's instructions as this can be anywhere from every 3 months to 2 years depending on the brand and type of filters being used!) The membrane gets changed when the product water quality begins to degrade and can be determined with simple and inexpensive TDS Testing Strips. These will tell the owner if the system is working properly, or if it's time for a change.

With a distiller, chemicals like muriatic acid need to be used by the homeowner to clean out the residues left behind in the boiler. As most city water is hard water, there is a lot of calcium that gets trapped in here and takes work to remove. There are some greener products for cleaning distillers, but most have been reported as just making the process take longer and requiring more "elbow grease" to clean. This is one aspect that really makes reverse osmosis an easier prospect for homeowners. Changing filters is a simple process and takes just a few minutes to perform.

Plain carbon filtration, as previously mentioned, is a definite upgrade over plain tap water, but there are dissolved chemicals which can't be removed this way. Lead, flouride, nitrates, metals, sodium and other water contaminants pass right through these filters. (Because many cities have changed from adding chlorine to adding 'chloramine' these contaminants - ESPECIALLY LEAD - have become problems in the drinking water as chloramine causes a leaching action to occur.) Maintenance on a carbon filter system is similar to reverse osmosis. A cartridge of some sort is simply changed out - again, much easier than distillers, and again without the need for toxic and foul-smelling chemicals.

We recently had a client call us asking to replace his two-year old distiller with a new reverse osmosis system just because of the energy usage. As soon as he started running his distiller, the family's power bill jumped noticeably. In fact, he was able to make back all the money spent on a new RO system just with the energy savings from switching away from his distiller. Even factoring in the filter changes (for the system he chose, annual filter changes are all that is required) he was able to get back all his money in less than two years! He was also quite happy he would never need to use harsh chemicals to clean his drinking water system ever again.

For this client, there was a huge savings and these days, when everyone is concerned about the planet and reducing their energy consumption, reverse osmosis just makes more sense.

What's that Smell?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Just was out testing water for a family in Strathcona County yesterday. They've owned their acreage for 20 years and have had problems in the past with water. They had a competitor's system installed for almost 10 years, but had to have the entire system replaced every 18 months by the manufacturer because it couldn't keep up with their problems.

Their main complaints with water were, "its hard, there's lots of iron, and it has a sulfur smell." Eventually they just gave up, removed the system and have been scrubbing iron stains from their fixtures every week for years. I won't say the name of the system they removed, but suffice it to say, this family does know who he is and they most certainly did NOT love their water......

After testing their water, there really were no huge issues. The water was hard, there was some iron in it, and the iron was causing the sulfur smell, not actual sulfur... Its unfortunate that some companies have their "main system" and just try to apply that for every well they see. Its like the saying goes, if all you own is a hammer, everyone you meet looks like a nail. I'm sure that system has its place, but when you tell people "a little staining is normal" that just doesn't cut it.

A properly-designed system should remove ALL of the iron AND the hardness from the water. The system they had did nothing for the hardness and only removed about 75-80% of the iron, leaving them above the 0.3 parts per million (ppm) iron threshold where staining occurs. They were "close" to being below the threshold, but were not at or below it - and as a result, they had iron staining. It doesn't matter if the system can "handle" iron up to 25 ppm of iron, if it leaves 20% of the iron in the water that goes to the house. Even if it's installed on water that's only 1.6 ppm of iron (like this family's was) it still leaves 0.3 to 0.5 ppm iron remaining - guess what - there's staining of appliances and fixtures, and laundry doesn't work very well.

Another family that recently had me out had the exact same iron levels and exact same staining problems. They purchased their "iron filter system" (from the same company) just a year ago and were told that because "they had so much iron" that staining and regular cleaning was completely normal." That kind of deception makes me cringe....

For the price this family paid, it should be able to do everything. Perfectly. Luckily, we're able to design a system to completely handle all of this and do it at 30% less than what the "big guys" sold their patented iron filter for.... I wish I had their marketing dollars to be all over the radio, but guess who (in the end) really pays for that? In this case, a disappointed client with an overpriced, poorly-configured system.

For a free 12-point checkup on your well water, please call Douglas Environmental Solutions at 780-410-0837 and have a technician test your water for no charge. If you have an existing system, we can help configure it properly and make any recommendations necessary to keep your water running clean and clear.

"If we can't fix your water, we'll remove our equipment and refund your money."
–Greg Douglas, Owner

What About My Septic System?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:03:00 +0000

We do a lot of work with rural home owners and see all kinds of different well water quality issues. One thing most of these owners have in common is they have a septic system. In our area, its common to have a septic field or a mound, but there are also a good number of surface-discharge or cesspool setups as well. What these systems all have in common is the septic tank. If you're not familiar with a septic tank, its usually just a two-chamber underground container that separates out the solids and liquids and gives bacteria a chance to do some breakdown of the materials prior to being discharged from the tank (or sucked out by a vac truck, if there actually is no discharge.)

Because these bacteria need to have the right conditions to live and enough time to do their job, its common to question whether it is appropriate to discharge water treatment equipment into septic systems. There are concerns about salt-based systems killing bacteria or clogging up the pipes or even the soil in a septic field. There are also concerns of "flooding" the septic tank with the water used in cleaning and regenerating water treatment equipment. If too much water comes into the system too quickly, the bacteria will not have had a chance to work nor will separation into "sludge" (the solids,) and "scum" (the fats and greases that float to the top.) Without separation, the wrong things can go out to your field and cause massive problems - especially "biomat" - or an accumulation of a slimy layer in a septic field that clogs things up, eventually causing failure. These are valid concerns, but that doesn't mean they are problems.

There is a lot of information available on this and there have been a LOT of studies performed. The general consensus is: septic systems can be compatible with water treatment equipment. Newer water treatment systems are more efficient than ever. When they use less water to clean themselves, obviously that's less water going into the septic system. Even the use of salt isn't a problem. A recent study available from the Water Quality Association clearly talks to these points.

The end results actually show better operation of the septic system - including the field - when compared to not running the equipment. Another benefit is the dramatic reduction of soaps, detergents and cleaning products that soft, iron-free water allows home owners to take advantage of. The less these chemicals are dumped into our soils, the less impact on the environment.

To be sure, there are proponents of both sides, but it has clearly been shown that there are a lot of benefits to running rural water treatment equipment, and there is no reason that if done properly, the water treatment equipment should cause a concern for a septic system.

Resources:

For information on Pirana aerobic septic treatment and field remediation systems, please see the following LINK.
For information on WaterMax the most-efficient, "septic friendly" water softening and treatment systems available, please click HERE.
For a FREE, useful PDF on this topic from the Water Quality Research Council:
http://www.wqa.org/pdf/Consumer%20Briefs/cSoftprobseptic.pdf
For a free copy of a paper from NOWRA (National On-site Wastewater Recycling Association) the organization representing the septic treatment industry, please download the PDF HERE.

Reverse Osmosis - Fact vs Fiction, Volume 4

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Douglas) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Today is the last installment in the "Fact vs Fiction" or "Myth Buster" series...

Myth #7: Reverse Osmosis Systems are Prohibitively Expensive

Myth Busted: Costs are always more for better quality, better performing systems. There are budget RO systems that start around $500 (or less, depending upon where you live) and go up from there. What price do you put on health??? Sure you can cheap out, but you're simply increasing the chemicals and contaminants you allow into your drinking water, as well as increasing your operating and maintenance costs... Better systems also tend to have much longer, more-comprehensive warranties. They are often better-tested at the factory and have a lower failure rate and less chance of a problem at the time of installation.

Most dealers, like ourselves, offer different systems at different price points. Depending upon the need and budget of families, we can tailor a system that will be just right. Just bear in mind, this is kind of like insulation - you either buy it up-front, or you pay more over time to operate your system. The more-efficient systems use less water (saving money if you're on a meter, saving your septic field if you're not) and because they process less water to achieve the same production volume, they can run their filters for longer -often only requiring filter changes every year.

Inexpensive systems, due to their inefficiency, require a lot more source water to create the same volume of product water of a high-efficiency system. Because of this, their filters expire faster and can require changing as often as every 3 months. Pay now or pay later... The choice is yours!

To put it in perspective, compare a reverse osmosis system, which can be roughly described as a "washing machine for your water" to an actual washing machine. There are two types of washing machines currently on the market - standard "top loaders" and the new High Efficiency (or "HE") machines which are "front loaders." The newer, more efficient HE machines cost more, but they also use less water to do the job.

Do top loaders "waste" water? I don't know - but they definitely USE more water to accomplish the same job. Reverse osmosis is the same way - there are "standard" units and "high efficiency" units. The high efficiency models cost more up front, but have lower operating costs, require fewer filter changes, have increased pressure and use less water to operate. They are more efficient, greener systems. Pay now, or pay later (and continuously while you operate the system.)

Myth #8: RO Creates Acidic Water, and Acidity Causes Cancer

Myth Busted: This one drives me nuts - it is a blatant ploy by marketing departments to scare people into buying their high-priced ionizers or alkalinizers... (For the record, I am NOT a doctor and will NOT touch the acidity - cancer link. It may very well be true that acidic cells are more prone to cancer, or are consistent with those cells in a cancerous state.

I believe it is a LEAP to go from that potential fact to attempt to link it to the pH of water you drink having the effect of raising the pH of the body and thereby putting it in a state that is more prone to cancer. I am not qualified to comment on that, HOWEVER I can talk about water and am qualified to discuss that aspect of this myth AND comment on what happens in the body when you digest this alkaline water.)

The only way the RO process can acidify the water is if it is removing something like soda ash which was added to raise the pH. Even then, and I HAVE tested this on this type of water, the change in pH is negligible - you need a very sensitive meter to even detect the change. When I test "raw tap water" and RO processed water from the same source, right beside each other, the difference in pH is around 0.1. (In our area, that's the difference between tap water being 7.78 and RO water being 7.6 pH.) It is certainly not "acidic" water (acidic is defined as having a pH lower than 7.) I've seen some sales literature showing RO water as having a pH around 3.0 -strongly acidic. This is just patently false. I'm surprised these companies are not getting sued.

Even if it were a good idea to drink this alkaline water, let's take this a step further. Follow this process... You drink water, it goes past your mouth and heads where? To your stomach.

Your stomach's pH is around 2.0 -it contains hydrochloric acid, a necessary substance for digestion. Adding water of higher pH only serves to raise the pH of your stomach. I've seen product literature stating that your stomach's pH is only that low when you're eating, the rest of the time it is closer to neutral - around 7.0. Really??? Ask your doctor! (Or if this is easier, check with Google!)

If you want to spend $3000 or more on a "water alkalinizer" go fill your boots. What you end up with is expensive water that has been treated with a carbon filtration unit roughly equivalent to one single stage of a multi stage RO unit. By design, your stomach is supposed to be acidic; that's where digestion starts. Raising the pH in your stomach is NOT a good idea. This is pure snake oil!

(in terms of complete disclosure, one of Douglas Environmental Solutions suppliers DOES offer these alkaline water systems for sale. I have seen their specs and I have seen their marketing literature - it is truly misleading. I'm surprised at this ploy by an otherwise reputable company. Although it technically is something we can make available through this one supplier, we do NOT intend to market the product nor offer it to our clients.)