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GBlist: Re: Water Quality

John Salmen forwarded (?) this, in part:
 
>> One of my significant findings was that soft water (or demineralized water)
>> was generally not a healthy water to drink. I have even gone so far as to
>> say that soft water is a health threat under some conditions (like long term
>> exposure).  As you know both RO and Distillation systems remove minerals
>> from water and I have run into many arguments from people in those
>> industries who would not agree with me.  Yet when I have asked them for
>> their research notes etc. I have never received a reply.  I would be glad to
>> share with you all  (or those specifically who are interested) my research
>> summary notes, which are many pages right now.

Who wrote this?  I would definitly like to read this person's research on 
this topic.

I would also like to echo John's comments (in part):

>I know you posted this message a while ago but I am hoping your offer of
>sharing your findings is still valid. I agree with you that water is a
>prime element of the interior environment and have had similar
>difficulties in gathering information on the potential negative effects
>of water treatment....

I am developing 176 acres of rural property, and the water source will be 
wells.  I had one well drilled last month sort of as a test, and it came 
in as expected:  extremely high in minerals.  Unlike John, we have no 
problem with any bacteria, but according to my findings, bacteria is very 
easy to remove compared with sodium, sulphates and calcium.  This water 
actually upsets your stomach if you attempt to drink it. 

What to do?  I sent an RFP to 8 different water treatment companies, and 
they were in complete disagreement as to the solution.  Here were the 
various options:

1. Water softening.  This is the standard approach.  It uses sodium 
("soft") to remove the calcium and magnesium ("hard").  Since it already 
has too much sodium, I thought this was a terrible idea.

2. Water softening using a potassium salt instead of sodium.   Some 
people said this was great, others said it would be no help, and I am 
clueless.

3. Reverse Osmosis (sometimes combined with above).  This removes 
everything, but is costly, actually uses water, and the message above 
seems to indicate the quality might not be as good as suppossed.

4. Venturi chamber.  This is really wierd, but one proposal said by 
"micronizing" the water, the minerals would not be a problem (?).

5. "Nano" filter.  This is like an RO, but with a larger screen size, so 
the cost is reduced and less water is wasted.

6. Anion softener.  This will take out the sodium, but not the calcium, 
so needs to be used in combination.

7. Forget the wells, and collect rainwater from the roof.  If we had more 
than 15" of precipitation/year, this would be the preferred choice.  As 
it is, we might do this as it will dilute the well water.

8. Haul water from town.  Not a good long term plan.

Any thoughts, suggestions?  

Buzz Burrell
Bolder Building
Boulder, CO
 

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