"Last summer we had a water reservoir incident where fuel contaminated water was used to refill our reservoir. The Embassy had a temporary solution setup in our driveway to our home (temp water tanks) until they could determine the replacement options of the underground reservoir. A few weeks ago they decided to tile the inside of the reservoir as the answer/fix and let us start using the reservoir again.

We haven't started using it yet, but I am afraid that simply tiling the inside of the underground tank may not have been the best option. What if, eventually, the fuel that seeped into the walls of the old underground (concrete) reservoir begins to seep through the grout of the tiles they used to line the tank? I'm not sure if you could ever get the fuel out of that old concrete tank.

It has me wondering if I should explore the option of testing my water periodically? Our house has a durastill distiller (inside the home) that boils and distills the water prior to our consumption but someone told me that distilling the water would remove any bacteria but would not remove any residue from the fuel. I don't know about these things but am curious as to what you may think? I don't want to find out in 10-20 years that I have developed cancer and then it's too late!

Are there any home test I can do or somewhere I could mail a water sample? I am scheduled to be over here for about 2 more years so a periodic test would be great. I'm not sure how often I should test it (every 3 or 6 months?) but I am interested.

I use the distilled water for cooking/drinking but I used the water from the reservoir to wash dishes, shower, and brush teeth and do not want to be contaminated that way. Any help/advice you could offer is appreciated. I know the Embassy says it will be fine, but they are people and people make mistakes. I just want to be safe and sure....I have my Family over here."

Thank you, Dean, for what has got to be the longest email inquiry we have received thus far!  We will attempt to answer your questions as best we can.

1) Regarding testing, no at-home water testing product we know of can detect trace amounts of gasoline or diesel fuel products, additives, etc. in drinking water. The water must get analyzed in a laboratory setting using expensive equipment. Usually we suggest people consider using the mail-in water testing services of a company like  National Testing Laboratories for such testing. Given that you are stationed overseas, however, we suspect that option may not work out for you.

2) As for whether or not distillation removes gasoline and diesel fuel components, we contacted a manufacturer of distillation units and learned the following:

• Components of gasoline and diesel fuel products fall into a category known as Volatile Organic Contaminants (VOC's)
• Distillation units may remove some of the contaminants associated with gasoline and diesel fuel, but since those contaminants typically have boiling points lower than water's boiling point, it stands to reason that they would vaporize and wind up in the distillate (water produced via distillation).
  
  NOTE: The manufacturer we contacted stated that some of the VOC's would exit through specially placed vents in their distillation apparatus, but they recommend using Activated Carbon Filters post-distillation to effectively get rid of VOC's.
• A wide range of VOC's may come out of fuel products and filter manufacturers suggest having a comprehensive test performed prior to purchasing a water filter because water sources heavily polluted with VOC's typically require custom tailored water treatment solutions.

We would like to thank "Nancy" for this inquiry.

Regarding the effectiveness of the Nitrate removal portion of the Crystal Quest Undersink Water Filter Triple w/ Nitrate Reduction, Crystal Quest states the following:

Standard 10" x 2.5" Nitrate Removal Filter Cartridge. Contains special nitrate-selective resin. Nitrate reduction is 90% to 95% and breakthrough is not affected by sulfate levels.

Optimum performance is achieved at 0.5 GPM (gallon per minute). Be aware, that the higher the flow rate, the less nitrates will be removed from water. The cartridge capacity is 8700 ppm of nitrates as NO3. This cartridge can be regenerated using sodium chloride brine.

• Nitrate Removal Filter Cartridge features:
• Capacity: 510 grains or 8700 ppm
• Design flow rate (nominal): 0.5 GPM
• Maximum temperature: 100°F (38°C)
• Minimum temperature: 40°F (5°C)
• Maximum pressure: 125 PSI (8.6 bar)
• Minimum pressure: 20 PSI (1.4 bar)
• Micron rating: 5 nominal

How long will my filter last? To calculate capacity, first calculate the ppm (mg/L) of nitrates as NO3, then divide 8700 by that number to get the gallons.

ABOUT THE NITRATE FILTRATION MEDIA

Media in this cartridge is a strong base anion exchange resin supplied in the chloride form as moist, tough, uniform spherical beads. It is especially useful in nitrate removal applications due to its ability to remove nitrates in the presence of sulfates and other divalent ions.

It is also intendend for use in application involving monovalent and divalent ions where monovalent ions must be removed preferentially, such as removing perchlorates from ground water

• The resin has Highest Operating Capacity of Any Nitrate Selective Resin
• Low Pressure drop while maintaining superior kinetics
• Manufactured in USA

Source of information: http://www.filterwater.com/p-129-nitrate-filter-cartridge.aspx?affid=10174

= = = = = =

Regarding the system's ability to remove coliform bacteria, no, we do not believe the system will accomplish that goal. For a full list of what the unit WILL do, please refer to the following page: Crystal Quest Undersink Water Filter Triple w/ Nitrate Reduction

On the topic of reverse osmosis, those filters typically do an excellent job of removing most unwanted contaminants, yes, but some units may produce a sizable waste water stream and may also make water taste a bit 'flat'.

Sound too good to be true? Gladly, the test runs for the Slingshot water-producing equipment that go in the EKOCENTERS went well in Ghana despite unpredictable power outages and shortages of fossil fuels that other systems designed in the past required.

The Slingshot’s inventor (Dean Kamen) and his team of engineers predict that each Slingshot unit will produce around 1,000 liters of water per day, take up less room than a standard refrigerator, and run virtually maintenance free for several years.

Naturally, since big business has its fingers in the mix, the kiosk will also serve as a retail source of necessary supplies for residents of the region and it creators also envision the unit as a central gathering point for social activities, etc.

So far, Coca-Cola and the makers of Slingshot water-producing equipment have plans to install EKOCENTER kiosks in about 20 countries by 2015 which means a whole lot of water-deprived people will soon have access to safe, clean and quite vital-for-survival drinking water.

One of the biggest obstacles many people face when considering a water filter deals with their fear of the installation process. Most people simply do not see themselves lying under the sink getting soaking wet and messing around with foreign or strange tools as they fumble their way through installing a water filter.

Thankfully, Leena, times have changed since times like those and installing a water filter does not have to take all day or require a master plumber with years of experience.

Most relatively new homes have straightforward, easy to follow plumbing lines under the sink with shutoff valves on incoming cold water and hot water lines so hooking up basic undercounter water filters usually does not require the assistance of a professional.

So… Have you installed one yourself?

As a matter of fact, yes, we have. We installed one of the Austin Springs Undercounter Water Filters (Brushed Nickel Finish) under our kitchen sink… and the difference in water quality between water from the regular faucet and the filtered faucet blew us away.

Why did you install a water filter?

We knew that we had fluctuating levels of chlorine in our regular tap water (chlorine testing told us that) and found our water tolerable all the time, but not necessarily likable all the time.

Regular testing of our tap water’s pH and Alkalinity also revealed substantial fluctuations (which we corrected in our showers by installing Austin Springs Shower Filters) so we figured it wise to normalize those for our drinking water, as well.

As we said before, and will say over and over again, testing your water prior to selecting a water filter will keep you from possibly choosing the wrong filter for the job… and THEN imagine the aggravation you’d feel after installing a water filter — REGARDLESS of how easily the filter installed!

So… Was installation of the Austin Springs unit easy?

We live in a relatively new home so we encountered no problems whatsoever. The Austin Springs Countertop Water Filter came with easy-to-follow instructions and all the parts required (except for a pair of regular pliers) to get the job done.

Any problems installing the Austin Springs unit?

The filter and accompanying faucet gave us no troubles… but getting around the garbage disposal during the installation process did prove a bit tricky. We can’t blame that on Austin Springs, though!

Many folks, including ourselves, read about a device called the Sweat Machine that converts the sweat from a piece of clothing into potable drinking water and… gagged at first. Then we remembered other recycled water options we’d read about recently… and gagged even worse.

See: Innovative and Scary Water Technology. But we digress.

UNICEF and a Swedish engineer by the name of Andreas Hammar joined forces to build a machine that uses a heated centrifuge-like apparatus to separate the liquid sweat from the garment (usually a shirt) and then filters the extract using a fine porous filter media that allows only purified steam to pass through.

The steam then gets cooled and collected for consumption. One wet shirt apparently produces about 10 mL of potable drinking water.

Is the machine practical for daily use?

UNICEF had the Sweat Machine built not for implementation in water poor regions of the world but rather as part of a publicity campaign designed to call attention to the plight of nearly a billion people around the world who do not have direct access to safe, clean drinking water.

One article on the Sweat Machine stated that of that nearly 1 billion people about 125 million of them had not, yet, reached the age of 5.

Regarding the practicality of building more Sweat Machines for distribution, UNICEF and Andreas both indicated that far more people would receive much needed help with their water quality problems if society invested in basic and far less costly technologies (i.e. water purification tablets) to turn non-potable local water into potable water.

Would we personally drink other people’s purified sweat?

Given the option of water from our faucet or water extracted from other people’s sweat, and we hope that we will always HAVE the option of turning to our faucet for a cold drink of water, we think we would pass on purified sweat.

This does not, however, mean we think devices like the Sweat Machine will not have a place in this world at some point because…

• The size of our fresh water supply keeps decreasing
• The human population keeps increasing
• Plenty of science points toward our planet’s temperature rising slowly

Yep. If things on our planet continue as they have, long the path that they have on our planet we will need all the creative ways we can find to keep hydrated before too long!

Attachments will show composition of hydrocarbon (DCP-Goldsmith East LACT #7415).

Also you will find sketches to show details of the system.

We have a water stream from a 3 phase separator (see attached “East LACT Tk Instr & Controls“) and have a very low tolerance for entrained hydrocarbons. The max limit of hydrocarbons in the water is 50mg/L.

The associated hydrocarbon is shown on attached DCP-Goldsmith East LACT #7415.

I would like to get some info on filtration systems as applied to this process.

1. Can you filter the hydrocarbon to achieve the 50mg/L limitation (or lower)?
    
2. Can the filters be regenerated or do that need to be replaced when saturated?
    
3. How can we determine when the filters are at their limit and need to be regenerated or replaced?
    
4. Do you furnish equipment mounted on a skid with parallel filters including controls and instrumentation to alert operations if/when their actions are required?
    
5. Can you give me a ball park figure on cost for this system and cost of replacement filters?
    
6. The system should be sized for 50 GPM flow rate at a pressure of 75PSIG. Temperature will range from 60F up to 100F.

If you believe you can help this gentleman out, please drop us a line w/ your contact information and we will forward it on to him.

Moral of the story?

In a perfect world we would have all the answers to every water quality question anyone ever asked us… but the fact that we all have to (or should!) worry about the quality of the water we drink proves that we do not live in a perfect world so we do the smart thing and reach out others we know who may have the answers our readers seek.

If you, as homeowner, business owner, or experienced water quality professional have a question about water quality, don’t hesitate to ask because the more knowledge you have, and we all share, the greater the odds of our collectively coming up with solutions to the world’s constantly growing number of water quality issues.

– Water Testing Blog & Water Test Kit Store

Thank you for your inquiry, Eddie, and congratulations to you and your wife on the new baby!

As for whether or not you can use your public water supply to dilute your child’s formula, that all depends on the amount of fluoride that your water treatment plant adds to the water it distributes.

We have read that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a recommendation against using undiluted water sources that contain fluoride concentrations at or above 0.7 mg/L (ppm) to make formula for infants 6 months of age or younger.

While fluoride does play a role in the development of healthy of a child, too much of a good thing can cause problems… like a condition known as ‘mild dental fluorosis’. Experts in the field describe dental fluorosis as visible changes to the enamel surface of the teeth.

Examples of dental fluorosis include:

• Very mild and mild forms of dental fluorosis — Teeth have scattered white flecks, occasional white spots, frosty edges, or fine, lacy chalk-like lines. These changes are barely noticeable and difficult to see except by a dental health care professional.
   
• Moderate and severe forms of dental fluorosis — Teeth have larger white spots and, in the rare, severe form, rough, pitted surfaces. ( source )

At this time the CDC states that symptoms of dental fluorosis develop only in the teeth of children 8 years old and younger and only before the teeth emerge through the gumline.

Why does dental fluorosis affect young children?

Scientists and health experts hypothesize that since a child drinks a lot more fluids (formula & water) when younger and smaller in size, the amount of fluoride they take in compared to their body mass puts their fluoride per pound level at a much higher concentration.

Think of this this way: If you add 1 gallon of blue dye to 10 gallons of water then the water will turn a dark blue color. This represents a small child consuming ‘normal’ amounts of fluoride. Now add that same 1 gallon of blue dye to 50 gallons of water and the water turns a much lighter shade of blue. This represents an adult or adolescent consuming ‘normal’ amounts of fluoride.

Ways to prevent dental fluorosis

Opponents of public water fluoridation immediately jump up and scream, “Stop adding fluoride to the water supply!” While that sounds like a quick fix, the battle of fluoridation of municipal water supplies has gone on for a long time so we highly doubt that it will end anytime soon — which means some public water supplies will continue to contain fluoride.

Therefore, the CDC suggests using low-fluoride water sources like bottled water when making formula bottles for infants. Check the labels on the bottled water, though, to make certain you use deionized, purified, demineralized, and/or distilled water.

For those not in favor of using bottled water, and we know a lot of folks out there who absolutely despise bottled water, by the way, we have found that a quality reverse osmosis water filter will do an excellent job of lowering fluoride levels in drinking water.

Certain undercounter and countertop water filters also do an excellent job of reducing fluoride levels in drinking water, but make sure the unit you select specifically states that it reduces fluoride levels. Not all undercounter and countertop water filters include a filter cartridge designed to reduce fluoride levels!

For a list of water filters specifically designed to target fluoride concentrations, we suggest you take a look at the Fluoride Filters page on FilterWater.Com

‘Rocker86’ recently asked, “Would it be possible for pollutants and other junk in water to make allergies worse? I go to my dads everyother weekend across town and in the spring my allergies act up real bad over there but not at my moms. My moms has filters on the faucet and in the fridge but my dads does not.”

Thank you for the inquiry, Rocker. Until about a year ago I had never heard of a term called ‘allergy stacking’ which means that a person can have slight to mild allergies to things in their environment and never really suffer the effects of a pronounced allergic reaction until they become exposed to a number of those things at the same time.

As an example, let’s say Rocker has a slight allergic reaction to cat fur and also to the pollen of a Maple tree. When exposed to either he shows little or no symptoms. However, when exposed to them both at the same time he begins to sneeze his head off and break out in hives.

What does ‘allergy stacking’ have to do with water quality?

We figure that since the human body naturally mounts a defense against and reacts to unwanted contaminants in the air, it would also do the something similar for contaminants in the water we consume. Therefore, it stands to reason that drinking water contaminants to which the human body reacts and quickly wishes to get rid of may contribute to the body’s overall allergen load.

Have we found proof of this? No, not really, but we did find an interesting article that found a correlation between a person’s exposure to various pesticides and the likelihood of that person having food allergies. Dr. Elina Jerschow, an assistant professor of allergy and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City stated in a press release that “Our research shows that high levels of dichlorophenol-containing pesticides can possibly weaken food tolerance in some people, causing food allergy.”

Although Dr. Jerschow’s research did not find a cause and effect relationship between the pesticide ingredient and food allergies, it does certainly lend a great deal of credibility to the notion that all the pesticides, VOC’s (volatile organic contaminants), and other contaminants many of us ingest on a regular basis in our water have an adverse effect on our health.

Removing & reducing water contaminants

Depending upon your unique water quality situation, and you will only know the details of your water quality situation if you TEST YOUR WATER (you’ll find a number of useful water test kits in our Water Test Kit Store), several options exist for removing unwanted contaminants in your water:

• Shower Filters – We carry the Austin Springs brand of shower filters that have tested to reduce chlorine concentrations by more than 90%. Studies have shown that exposure to chlorine — which easily off gases from warm/hot shower water — can trigger mild to occasionally severe allergic reactions and may potentially cause long term respiratory problems.
• Countertop Filters – At this time we have Austin Springs‘ NSF/ANSI 42 and NSF/ANSI 53 Certified counter top water filters. In total, these units are NSF Certified to reduce more than 60 water contaminants including chlorine, chloramines, mercury, cysts, various gasoline additives, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), lead, etc.

• Undercounter Filters – Using the same filter elements as the contertop models, the Austin Springs undercounter water filters also bear NSF Certification for the reduction of more than 60 water contaminants including chlorine, chloramines, mercury, cysts, various gasoline additives, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), lead, etc.

I have city water and want to know if the austin springs water filter will clean my water so it is safe. The under counter and countertop models look like they will work but how can I can I tell for sure?

First and foremost, Fred, before you start deciding on a water filter, we think you should consider getting your water fully tested for typical water contaminants in your area. Contact your local water department for a copy of the most recent annual water quality publication and then locate a certified water testing laboratory in your area that can perform any testing that appears necessary.

We suggest using a qualified (and certified!) local water testing laboratory because they may have the ability to recommend testing based on their experience with the local water supply over a number of years.

If no local lab exists, then you may want to consider the mail-in water testing services of a company like National Testing Laboratories that currently offers three levels of what they call ‘City-Check’ ranging in cost from $140 for the Basic City-Check up to $250 for the Deluxe City-Check.

After completion of testing?

With any luck, Fred, your water will receive a clean bill of health! But, if not, then make a list of all the things found in your water that you would like removed (or in some cases reduced) and compare that list to the list of water contaminants removed/reduced by any of the water filters you have considered purchasing.

Moral of the story?

Rushing into a water filter purchase without knowing exactly what, if any, contaminants your water supply contains makes no sense. You could very easily make one of several foolhardy things:

• Spend money on an expensive, complicated water filtration system when your water does not require anything more than simple chlorine reduction for taste and odor improvement.
   
• Spend any amount of money on a water filter that does not address your specific water quality issues.
   
• Spend money on point-of-use (i.e. shower, faucet, countertop, or undercounter) water filters when in actuality, only a whole house filter has the filtering power to meet your water quality improvement needs.

What about simpler drinking water test kits?

The cost of water testing by a laboratory may not fit a lot of people’s budgets these days — and we can FULLY appreciate that!    🙂

So… will more economically feasible water test kits like the WaterSafe City Water Test Kit, WaterWorks COMPLETE Test Kit or SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit work just as well? Not for complex contaminants like VOC’s (volatile organic contaminants) and harder to test for environmental elements, no, but for folks on municipal water systems one would HOPE that none of those would exist in the water supply to begin with since those folks PAY a company to clean up the water before distributing it!

Interested in learning more about Austin Springs water filters?

If you would like to learn more about the filtration capabilities of the Austin Springs product line, then the links below will take you to pages containing more facts about each of the products shown:

“For the last 8 years we lived in the country and had our own well and some pretty good tasting water. Recently we had to move (regrettably!) closer to our jobs in order to save on gas and so the kids could go to better schools. We THOUGHT the water would taste better since it got treated by the city where we moved but it tastes something awful like pool water only worse. Is that normal and can we do anything about it? Hoping for good news ! Thanks!”

The above inquiry came from ‘Diane’ and to answer her questions directly, “Maybe & Yes!”

By law public water systems must treat water for unwanted biological contaminants and for the most part pretty much all of them use some form of chlorine as part of their disinfection process. Also by law, water may not leave their facilities containing more than 4 ppm (parts per million) free and/or total chlorine.

Want more information on the difference between free and total chlorine? Take a look at an earlier article entitled Free Chlorine, Combined Chlorine and Total Chlorine.

Getting back to Diane’s question, though, a water supply could very well contain under the allowed level of free and/or total chlorine — and still smell and taste really bad.

Getting rid of chlorine taste and smell

For most folks removing the chlorine taste and odor from their drinking water begins and ends with the installation of a Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filter as a countertop water filter, faucet filter, undersink water filter, or whole house water filtration device.

For others, however, the reduction and/or removal of chlorine taste and odor requires the installation of a granular activated carbon water filter as well as a more sophisticated water filter like a reverse osmosis water filter that more or less strips EVERYthing out of water… and for that level of filtration one typically will need to spend a few extra dollars.

Two main types of chlorine to test for?

In order to determine which water filter will best address your chlorine in drinking water reduction/removal needs you will first need to determine whether your water supplier uses free chlorine or chloramines as its main disinfectant. For that task we have found that the WaterWorks 2 Free & Total Chlorine Test Strips works quite well since it tests for both free and total chlorine at the same time.

Upon completion of testing, simply subtract the free chlorine reading from the total chlorine reading to get the chloramine concentration. If you obtain a value the same as, or very close to, the total concentration (i.e. the free chlorine test pad reads zero) then your water supplier more than likely uses a process known as chloramination as it primary disinfecting method — and you will need a more sophisticated filtration system to get rid of the chlorine taste and odor.