Let’s say, for example, a hospital was looking to provide patients safe drinking water from faucets or drinking water fountains, but had impurities in the water as many areas in this country do. Patients, with their many susceptibilities, needed to be sure they wouldn’t consume harmful contaminants. With a good water filter, kitchens could serve safe drinking water without the expense and waste of plastic bottles. People could feel good about water fountains. Appliances won’t be breaking down from hard water buildup. A simple and inexpensive solution could be to install drinking water systems.

Likewise, hotels could also benefit from some of the related services. From offering sparkling clean drinking water, to saving on hard water buildup, water treatment systems are a great way to get clients into your business and save money in the long run. Hotels utilize constantly expensive equipment – washing machines, pipes, dishwashers, sinks, etc… Hard water can leave mineral buildup which can quickly shorten the life of the appliances, creating both a hassle and a cost. With a commercial water softener at an affordable price, the savings are imminent. Not to mention the increased profits due to people who want to stay in a hotel with safe drinking water at their fingertips!

Farmers who are looking at hydroponic crops can also benefit from the use of a reverse osmosis system. There was a recent article on this very topic that states that farmers grow larger and healthier hydroponic crops by utilizing a reverse osmosis system. They, too, will reduce water wasted while improving the quality of their hydroponic crops.

One last example is, of course, restaurants which use water in a variety of ways and who could immensely benefit from drinking water systems. Restaurants, like hotels and hospitals, have very expensive equipment that they would want to last for many, many years. Hard water mineral buildup can hinder this, should nothing be done. A water softener can reduce this mineral buildup, creating better water and minimizing damage to dishwashers, sinks, and so on. However, one of the biggest benefits with a reverse osmosis system in restaurants would be for the consumers. Just like John Hickey discussed in an article  in the Orlando Sentinel, many people are drinking water when they go out to eat – to watch their wallet and their waistline, kicking sodas to the curb. Most consumers would prefer to know that they are conserving water at the same time that they can enjoy safe drinking water as a beverage alternative. Explore the benefits of a drinking water system or a water softener for your business or corporation today!

Since our society uses antibiotics so frequently anymore in medicine, agriculture, and even cleaning products bacteria are evolving to defy antibiotics. Because of the nature of what’s in waste water, the process wastewater treatment plants use, and the chemicals that are used to control bacteria growth, scientists have found that the antibiotic resistant gene is 20-times more common in the outflow of the Minnesota treatment plant as in other water samples they collected.

The good news is that very thorough water filter can capture the contaminants quite effectively. The Duluth plant being studied uses an excellent multi-stage filter – a much more exhaustive system than many treatment plants use. In fact, the plant claims that most treatment plants in the United States don’t have their level of treatment, so this antibiotic-resistant bacteria is likely every where and proliferating quite rapidly. This means people everywhere could be exposed to the bad bugs by swimming in rivers and lakes where wastewater is discharged or even by drinking tap water.

Of course, this study is relatively new, and more scientific data is being considered to determine the level of risk, but adding another layer of defense sure wouldn’t hurt! Here at Rayne of Irvine, we know our California water. We offer tests of your home or business water, and we have technology that has been certified by the Water Quality Association. Our water filters, drinking water systems, water conditioners, and water softeners can be designed to fit your needs and your budget.

Just last month, The Wall Street Journal announced that New Jersey is being threatened with mandatory water fluoridation. The state’s Senate Bill S-959 and Assembly Bill 1811 will require cities to add what the article calls “unnecessary, untested, health-robbing fluoride chemicals” into the public water supplies – all to the tune of $5 billion in start-up costs and $1 billion each year to maintain the practice.

Research shows that there is quite a long list of reasons why we should not want fluoride in drinking water:

1. Fluoridation chemicals, often purchased from Mexico, China, and Japan, are hazardous waste byproducts of the phosphate fertilizer industry that are typically contaminated with arsenic, lead, and radionuclides.
2. More than 40% of adolescents already have dental fluorosis – a visible sign of fluoride toxicity.
3. Government, health, and dental organizations advise that infant formula should not be mixed with fluoridated water. Many families have to scrape together money for formula, without having to purchase special water with which to mix it.
4. Low-income children have a greater risk of suffering from all forms of fluoride toxicity since poor diet exacerbates fluoride’s negative effects.
5. There have been 25 studies showing that fluoride can lower the IQ of children.
6. Fluoride works topically – and is much more effective when applied in toothpaste or mouth rinse form.

What I found most disturbing was that the Wall Street article indicated that most New Jersey residents did not even know about this bill that’s up for vote! So, keep your hears open and your eyes sharp – the question can arise in other states too!

Already stuck with fluoridation? Here’s what to do – purchase a home drinking water filter. But, when you do, ask the right questions. How much fluoride is left in the filtered water? What percentage does the drinking water system remove? Reverse osmosis or an ion exchange system are the most successful filtration systems. What won’t work? Many faucet-mount filters, many pitcher filters, boiling the water, and freezing the water.

According to recent news from KWQC, Dixon, Iowa is currently being cited (again) for dangerous drinking water. Three times last year, dangerously high levels of nitrate were found in Dixon’s water at 11 milligrams per liter; the limit is ten. Now a year later, nothing has been done and water tests came back even worse at 13 milligrams per liter. Leaders say Dixon is leaning towards building a new well, but it’s not that simple. So although they may be correct, it may not be that simple, it is that important. Talking about the issue is not enough. Leaders must be doing something to solve the issue. Unfortunately, as stated in the article, “Dixon officials have to figure out how to pay for the cost of the new well, the cost of the land to put that new well on, and the cost to hire an engineer to do the research and make sure this problem doesn’t come up again. All of this is estimated to cost well over $100,000, but Dixon only has $2,000 to pay for it and the town is running out of options.”

But you don’t have to run out of options whether you are facing a similar issue in your area or fear that your water could potentially be contaminated. Water filters can be the best choice to eliminate or reduce harmful contaminants while still providing a constant flow of safe drinking water with the most advanced technology. Don’t choose an ultimatum when it comes to drinking water. Choose the best water filter for you, and worry less about what leaders in your town are doing, or would do, should you find yourself in this situation. To read more from this article, click here.

Hexavalent chromium is a potentially carcinogenic (cancer causing) metal that Erin Brockovich brought to the media’s attention some time ago. Because scientific studies on the contaminant are still ongoing, official maximum allowable standards have not been set, but California’s public health officials have determined a “goal” of 0.02 parts per billion that public water utilities and private wells should try to stay under. To implement and maintain a chromium-6 removal system is speculated to cost just one California water district more than $275 million and would raise water rates by approximately 74 percent.

Many Californians complain that there is absolutely no room for cancer-causing agents in their drinking water. Others argue that if chromium-6 were a real problem, they would have felt the effects of it by now, since generations of people have been consuming this same water. Regardless of which way the public opinions swings, governmental regulation is a long ways off, with the EPA often taking four or more years to set limits.

The solution is surprisingly easy – and affordable. While a faucet-mounted or pitcher-style water filter will not remove the contaminant, a reverse osmosis system generally can. Be sure to ask your water treatment professional for a list of contaminants their water filter can remove.

Children at school can choose between flavors of milk and sometimes orange juice. If they want water, they must use the drinking fountain and those may or may not work and may or may not be convenient. According to the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only 15% of kids in middle school consume adequate amounts of water. That indicates that a huge percentage of kids are spending their school days being thirsty and dehydrated. Nutrition advocates believe school children’s access to water is a national problem the federal government is only just beginning to address.

Children spend the largest part of their day in school; they should be drinking at least 4 glasses of water at school. Considering how much playing goes on during recess, these 4 glasses hardly would seem to be enough hydration. Standard recommendations for children are 6-8 glasses of water per day; teen boys need about 11 glasses per day. If school children are only getting 4 glasses of water each day or less, they are actually in a dehydrated state most of the day. Dehydration can affect learning as well as mental and physical performance.

Congress recently passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 in December to improve school nutrition in the National School Lunch Program. This same legislation requires that clean water be easily available in school. The question is, will these new rules be enough to address dehydration in students? School districts now have to provide water in student eating areas, but accessibility isn’t discussed. As long as water fountains are around the lunchrooms that may be all the requirements that must be completed. The main challenge appears to be the provision of cups to drink the water provided. Like was mentioned above, it seems that students are expected to get up during their short meal time go to the fountain and get a drink and return to eating.

Many educators and advocates say that too many of America’s largest school districts simply choose to not provide cups. Chicago Public Schools don’t, Miami-Dade County Public Schools don’t, Newark Public Schools don’t, Atlanta Public Schools don’t, and Clark County School District in Nevada also doesn’t provide cups to students. Some schools only provide cups if students ask for them. Educators say that providing cups can get expensive and take too much from the already shrinking school budgets.

A new program called Water Intervention, a 5 week research program that includes installing a water filter in the school, filling 5 gallon jugs, chilling them overnight, placing them in the eating area during mealtime and serving with cups. “We’ve seen students really gravitate towards the water out here and fill their cups right before and after lunch to hydrate” says Burt Cowgill, the project manager. “The water is very popular and we have a lot of participation.” This water intervention program has been done in 5 schools in the Los Angeles school district, provided free during the program. Now that the research has ended, it is up to the school district to continue funding it if it so chooses. According to CNN, the Los Angeles Unified School District says it cannot afford the estimated $1.8 million to $2.3 million it would take each year to provide the cups and water for the entire district.

Aside from the money expense, school districts may be paying attention to the loss in revenue from bottled water and other drink sales. These schools would have to come up with other ways of fundraising to replace the revenues lost from these drink sales.

Hard to imagine that our children’s water consumption – and health – could be significantly improved with the addition of paper cups or water bottles. Providing filtered water systems and cups would encourage students to actually stay hydrated and could make a difference in behavior and focus in the classroom.

Parents can perhaps help the situation out by sending a water bottle to school with their children. The only problem with this practice is some schools won’t allow students to store their water bottles at school. If they can’t leave them there, they forget to take them to school each day and the whole process is a failure. The fact is that water is of great importance to all of us, we all require a certain amount of water in order to survive. The amount of water we drink has a large effect on whether or not we are obese. In fact the lack of available water may be contributing considerably to the obesity of children. We can’t allow the lack of water to have such a huge impact on our children’s lives. Its time school districts and parents got together and made certain that simple water is a part of every child’s school day for more than just a sip or two. Don’t let your school tell you that water is just too expensive for them to supply, they are taking care of your children.

We don’t ever want to find out what it is like to not be able to simply drink our own water. But that is potentially in our future with the constant budget cutting that is going on in Washington. Our government has to find ways to cut expenses to improve our deficit, however endangering our clean drinking water would have far more expensive outcomes than the cuts could save. Unfortunately, those cuts have been made to the Safe Water Revolving Fund when it is in the process of urging upgrades and improvements in the declining water treatment systems that provide American’s with clean drinking water.

Municipal water treatment facilities need to be kept up to date in order to guarantee the removal of contaminants. When these facilities are strapped for money they don’t keep their facility in top working condition. Everything ages and breaks down, whether it is repaired or properly maintained depends on the money provided. If that money is lacking then the repairs will likely be lacking as well. When this all begins to fall apart, safe clean water will simply be a distant memory. Our public health will be at stake, but it can be prevented.

While the municipal systems may be in danger of not being reliable, we can take the matter into our own hands. There are home water treatment systems available on the market today that will also remove contaminants from our water and make the tap water safe to drink again. The reverse osmosis systems and home water filtration systems will become more and more important. We need to keep ourselves and our children healthy and if it comes down to the homeowner providing safe drinking water, these systems will be invaluable. Many Americans have discovered the use of these systems and have found the drinking water to be far superior to any regular tap water. People don’t usually drink water if it tastes or smells bad; these systems make it easy to drink water. While boiling water would remove many pathogens and bacteria, there are certain contaminants that can’t be removed with boiling. The only way to guarantee safe drinking water is through water treatment or filtration. Don’t trust the municipality to take care of you and provide you with safe water to drink; we aren’t certain that we can trust in that now or in the future. Budget cuts have to be made; don’t let them affect your health and well being. Do that for yourself by installing your own water treatment system. For information on the systems available on the market today visit Rayne Water.

Traditional water softeners use and discharge a lot of salt throughout the water softening process. This discharge of excess salt has been found to be contaminating water that was being reused for irrigation purposes. While reusing the water was a step in the right direction, this water was actually found to be killing the grass on golf courses in Scottsdale Arizona.

Rayne Water of Phoenix is the first to take these traditional water softeners and change the way they work to make them environmentally friendly. Rayne Water now focuses their water softening products almost entirely on metered systems and soft water exchange tank services. They took it one step further in guaranteeing that at no point will their systems flush salt down the drain and into any septic system. Their solution is to desalinate and recycle the water before discharging it as wastewater. Tank regeneration is confined to a properly designed desalination facility so that the salt discharge is nearly 0% and water usage is reduced by at least 2/3. Because the spent tanks are regenerated at a special facility, Rayne provides the exchange tank service in which a Rayne representative comes to the home and picks up the spent tank leaving a recharged tank in its place. The spent tank is transported back to the facility and is emptied into a regeneration vat, the resin is backwashed, and the tank is recharged. The water used in the backwash and regeneration process is captured, filtered, and reused in the next regeneration cycle. The solids that are filtered out in the backwash water are recycled as well, so no water is wasted, and no salt is dumped.

This process certainly changes the impact on the consumer as well. Consumers no longer need to buy and carry salt bags home to run through the water softener. And they don’t have a guilty conscience over the effects of flushed excess salt on the environment. Consider now if just 100 homes were to use this type of water softener and tank service for one year, over 3 million gallons of water would be saved, over 400,000 pounds of salt would be kept out of the septic systems, waste water treatment costs would be greatly reduced, and reclaimed water would be useful for irrigating without damaging the land. These are some very big advantages for communities and in fact the entire country.

Rayne of Phoenix is proud to be partnered with Arizona Water Association in the common goal to preserve the quality and availability of our drinking water. To become more educated about the Zero Liquid Discharge process, visit http://www.raynewater.com/exchange_tank_services.php to watch two brief educational videos. Join Rayne of Phoenix as they begin making a better tomorrow for all of us.

According to an article on suite101.com, uranium is present in larger quantities in certain types of rock. Some of these rocks include granite, shale, and sandstone. So wherever groundwater flows through these rock formations, the mineral can then dissolve into the water. Drilled wells that need underground water sources flowing through the bedrock are more likely to have higher, and sometimes unsafe, levels of uranium.

So what are the safe levels set forth for uranium in drinking water? Health Canada defines it as .02mg/L, and the World Health Organization has been working to determine the safe levels. In 2011, a provisional document has the amount at .03mg/L. And because uranium naturally occurring, those people with drilled wells are advised to get their well water tested. Uranium can also occur as a result of mining, industry, and agricultural fertilizers.

The health affects when consumed in large amounts are really quite alarming. According to the Nova Scotia Department of the Environment, the effects of uranium are caused only from consuming the drinking water, not through skin or air. Ingesting excessive amounts of uranium can lead to kidney damage. But the dangers don’t stop there. According to the online article, when the uranium breaks down, radon gas is produced. In homes, radon has a tendency to collect and increases the risk of lung cancer when inhaled. As previously mentioned, well water consumers are encouraged to test water. If the water test shows the presence of uranium or radon, water filtration systems can be the solution to a potentially harmful situation.

KFRE 59 of the WB describes the findings of a recent water investigation that show unincorporated valley communities have well water that can make a person sick. East Orosi is a low income community which has between 75 and 100 homes in the neighborhood. The water in the neighborhood is contaminated by nitrates, so much so that one resident can’t cook with the water and is forced to buy bottled water when it needs to be consumed. Pacific Institute has been studying the state’s water and found that in one county, fertilizer, pesticides, and sewage have contaminated the water in the wells.

In Visalia, the Community Water Center states that “By far nitrate is the most common contaminant in the area and it’s also the number one reason for well closure in the state.” They explain that nitrates don’t have a taste or odor so actually it would be safer to drink the browner tap water there. One resident of East Orosi buys ten gallons of bottled water a week. But there’s no replacement water for showering. “Sometimes when you bathe after awhile you feel like your body itches.” His is from just one of ten communities with unsafe drinking water due to nitrates. However, as previously mentioned, the financial situation in California means that the necessary water cleanup projects won’t happen for a long time.

And ten gallons of bottled water each week is hardly wallet-friendly or eco-friendly. Most residents who find themselves in this situation are best off looking into a water treatment system like a water cooler for the home, or a water filtration system like reverse osmosis which will be affordable and safe.