Do you know your tap water?

In the United States we should expect our tap drinking water to be safe right?

An article in Prevention Magazine states 80% of all disease and illness in the world could be water related. Studies have linked everything from simple illnesses like common stomach cramps and diarrhea to major illnesses like Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and many forms of Cancer to drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and your local water suppliers do everything they can to insure your safety but even their efforts can’t deliver pure water. Our research has revealed the presence over 700 known contaminants in the finished drinking water supplies. About 90 of those contaminants are regulated by the EPA’s Primary Drinking Water Standards. What about the rest? The picture is pretty bleak. Read the Environmental Working Group’s Findings. 100′s of contaminants were found that are not even regulated.

Modern treatment processes do a very good job of making your water look clean. There is little chance that you will go to your tap and fill your glass with a suspicious looking sludge any time soon.

If your drinking water looks clean and safe, it must be, right? Not if you consider how many of us buy bottled water at over 1000 times the cost of tap water on a regular basis!

Why do we do this? Some say “for convenience”, some say “it’s healthier” but all agree “it tastes better”. Why such a difference in taste? Water should taste like water, right?

A free water test can remove any fears – click here.

Do Water Treatment Systems Save Money?

Is it true that water treatment or water conditioner systems such as water softeners can actually save money? To answer this question you need to understand what hard water is and what it can do in your home.

Water is considered “hard” if it contains 120 to 180 milligrams per liter of dissolved minerals. The most common minerals are calcium and magnesium. These substances are not removed by municipal treatment of drinking water, which focuses on viruses, bacteria, solid particles and hazardous organic products. 

In some cases you can see these minerals that enter your home in your water. They form bathtub rings and those white scaly deposits on drains and taps. It is the unseen effects of hard water, however, that can have a significant impact on your household budget.

A good example is the appliances in your home that use water. According to the American Water Works Association, hard water can reduce the life expectancy of your dishwasher and clothes washer by 30% and your water heater by 50%. In terms of the plumbing, the study found that faucets need to be replaced 40% sooner and toilets 70% sooner.

Based upon these findings, if the problem of hard water could be remedied, the time that would elapse before a new clothes washer would require replacement would be increased by almost one third. A water heater that normally lasts 10 to 15 years would not need to be replaced for 20 to 30 years. Switching to soft water by installing a water treatment system will also reduce the cost of future plumbing repairs caused by pipes clogged with calcium deposits.

Most companies that sell water softeners will do a free water test to determine if you need a whole house water treatment system.

What is Hard Water?

In many parts of Canada, the water coming out of our taps contains a significant concentration of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium. These compounds are absorbed the water passes through earth on its perpetual journey known as the water cycle. The level of concentration determines the relative hardness or softness of the water we use for drinking, bathing, washing our clothes and cooking.

Water is considered “hard” if it has between 120 and 180 milligrams per liter of dissolved minerals (see Table 1). Based upon this standard, the populations of several Canadian urban centres use hard and in some cases very hard water every day.

How does using hard water affect the household budget? In other words, can installing a water treatment system save money? These days one budget item seems to be on everyone’s mind: energy. Whether it is the rising price of gasoline, electricity or natural gas, saving energy means saving money.

Take the water heater as an example. Research has demonstrated that using hard water causes calcium deposits to accumulate inside the water heater. The U. S. Bureau of Standards reports that a build up of ¼” of scale inside of the water heater can waste a significant amount of energy. A study conducted by New Mexico State University found that in electric water heaters, using soft water resulted in a 21.7% savings in energy. With gas-fired units, the energy saving was 29.5%. Given that water heaters account for approximately 20% of energy usage in the average household, the use of a water softener could reduce energy costs significantly.

There are many firms that market water softeners or whole house water treatment systems. They will be happy to do a free test of your drinking water and provide you with an analysis of the results.

What is the best solution for hard water stains on my sink and tub?

We have all seen them in sinks, tubs and toilets—ugly calcium deposits and water stains. Where do they come from? The answer is they come from the rain.

You may recall learning about the Water Cycle in grade school. Water evaporates from the earth’s surface and forms clouds. When the temperature conditions are right, it condenses and falls as rain absorbing some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This makes the rainwater slightly acidic. As a result, when it hits the ground and permeates through the soil and rock, it dissolves and absorbs minute amounts of various minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron. This is how water becomes “hard.”

This hard water eventually finds its way into your municipal water system where it is treated for a variety of potential biological hazards. This water treatment process, however, does not remove these dissolved minerals. As you use water in your sink, tub and toilet, over time there is a build up of mineral residue. These appear as white or rust-colored stains on your bathroom fixtures.

There are a number of options for eradicating these hard water stains. There are several commercial products available such as CLR or Lime Away that claim to remove them effectively.

Then there are the home remedies such as soaking the stained tap or faucet in vinegar or a mixture of vinegar and lemon juice. This is highly recommended for calcium stains. A paste of baking soda and vinegar can also be used for gently scrubbing a particularly stubborn stain on a porcelain surface. One website even suggests using a paste made of cream of tartar and a few drops of hydrogen peroxide.

Perhaps the best solution for this problem is to prevent the stains in the first place, rather than searching for ways to remove them. This involves installing a full house water treatment system to soften your hard water by removing the minerals before they reach your fixtures. Most companies that sell water softener systems will do a free test to determine how hard your water is.

Calcium Deposits from Water?

All of the water we use in our homes passes through what is called the “Water Cycle”* that you learned about in grade school.   Water moves from the earth to the atmosphere and back again in a continuous cycle. The Sun evaporates surface water from lakes and rivers and the land itself. It rises as invisible water vapour. When it binds with dust particles, the result is clouds.

As the atmospheric temperature changes, the water vapour condenses and falls as precipitation. It combines with gases like carbon dioxide as it falls, becoming mildly acidic. Once on the ground it seeps through soil and rock where the acidity causes the water to absorb various minerals that contribute to its hardness. The most common are calcium and magnesium, though the list also includes iron, aluminum, and manganese.

There are several systems for measuring the water hardness. Water is considered hard if it has 120 to 180 milligrams of calcium per litre (mg/L). Soft water has 17.1 milligrams per litre. Since the hardness of your water depends on the local geology, there are variations in different parts of Canada. In Toronto, for example, the water has 121 mg/L of dissolved calcium thus falling into the “hard” category, whereas in Winnipeg, the figure is 77 mg/L or “moderately hard.”

Hard water causes calcium deposits on tubs and tiles, plumbing and appliances. This means cleaning your bathroom is more work and appliances that use hard water have a shorter life. Hard water requires more soap to clean effectively and also leaves a residue on everything from glassware, to clothing to your skin. The dissolved minerals also negatively impact the taste of your drinking water and everything you make with it or cook in it. Many companies offer free water testing to determine if you have hard water in your home.

The optimum solution to hard water is to install a whole house water treatment system.

* Google Images “water cycle”