Episode #768
October 21, 2023
My water is from a well. Yours might be too, but chances are that it is treated before it enters the city water system. Yet, even in city water, dangerous chemicals may be present.
Some of these chemicals are from the purification process itself, such as chorine, chloramines and fluoride. Some are simply not filtered, such as lead, chromium and nitrates.
Lucky for me the aquifer below my property is filtered through a granite mountain before it arrives at my well. Unfortunately, I live in a rural equestrian area. This means that there are nitrates in my water. The nitrate level is below the EPA limit, but nitrates in any amount are not healthy for humans and pets.
Nitrates reduce the ability of blood to carry oxygen. This can result in blue baby syndrome in infants.
In adults, nitrate exposure can cause increased heart rate, nausea, headaches and abdominal cramps. It can lead to anemia, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, sepsis and G6PD (which inhibits the workings of red blood cells).
Nitrates are not removed with carbon block filters, but they are removed with reverse osmosis, distillation and ion exchange filters.
I am not a fan of reverse osmosis because it wastes water. Reverse osmosis systems can waste up to 5 gallons for every one gallon filtered. This is not acceptable in my dry mountain chaparral area, especially since I am on a private well. A great deal of plumbing would be required for me to use the waste water for my landscape irrigation.
Whole house distillation systems are expensive. Also, there is a filter expense which can be as much as $100 per person per year.
I recently purchased a ZeroWater pitcher filter. It is an ion exchange system which removes nearly 100% of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) from the water. This includes calcium and nitrates.
My original application was for drinking water in my RV. During a six week road trip I purchased 50 gallon jugs of filtered spring water at grocery stores. That was about a $100 cost. Worse, in most states the plastic jugs were non-recyclable.
My well water measures 300 TDS. So I have started using the ZeroWater pitcher at home. The average “acceptable” amount of TDS in city water in 350 parts per million. This is borderline unsafe. The water from my ZeroWater pitcher measures 17 parts per million TDS.
An investment of $40 for the ZeroWater pitcher and about $70 per year for filters gives my household clean, pure, heathy drinking water.
Sometimes the dangers in life lurk unseen until it is too late, so I have decided to do something about my water.
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Very interesting. We have noticed that our city water doesn’t look so good after a few days in a small container and bought a similar filter which helps a lot.
Very useful info and especially needed when pickling food whereby city water kills the very bugs you need.
Love this valuable research and solution. Guess you’re still getting benefits from your skydiving the country trip!
Thank you. The breadth of your knowledge and your ability to simply explain it is impressive. So glad You share.
Thank you so much Rick for passing on this very valuable news.