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: INTRODUCTION : WATER QUALITY : COFFEE CULTURE : MEDIA CENTER : |
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Like many others in rural Ireland, we have a private well supply, which was installed in 2001 when the house was built. The water enters the house and is split into 2 feeds, one feed goes to a drinking water tap in the kitchen, and the remainder runs through a standard salt-based water softener and onwards to the remainder of the house. The well borehole runs to a depth of 340 feet, and has been providing a stable quality supply. We have the water tested regularly every year. However, in early 2009, we had a water scare, when we noticed that the water was a cloudy brown-green colour. I believe this could have been due to a combination of external factors such as a) newly spread slurry in a field nearby, on the uphill side to us b) a recent heavy snowfall at the time, followed by a quick thaw, resulting in large surface water runoff c) water runoff of sufficient volume and poor quality to affect the water spring at the well source. We immediately had our water tested again. Although the results came back clear for coliforms and bacteria, we were concerned by this and decided to investigate some options for getting safer water from our tap. There are various treatments on the market to improve water quality, but you
could spend many thousands of euro trying to cover every scenario. For a private
well supply, a common approach would be to test the water from the well for both
mineral and bacteria composition, and plan a water treatment system to suit. The
problem with this approach is that well water quality varies considerably from
year to year and even from season to season. And, as demonstrated above, it
could work for many years without issue, or you could be unfortunate and have a
plethora of issues year on year. Ultraviolet System (UV) Many specialist water companies advocate using a UV based filter at the well side to sterilise the water, with a pre-filter to handle removal of sediment etc. The UV filter is a mains powered light over which the water passes, killing bacteria in the process. The problem with this system is, if the turbidity is severe, the water will not be clean enough by the time it exists the pre-filter. And, because UV light needs clarity in the water in order to kill the bacteria, UV systems are only effective if there is a consistent clear water source entering the UV chamber. Here's the nub: would it have worked in my case above, for the ONE time in 7 years that the water quality was really poor? I doubt it very much. It sounds to me like the UV system can only be used in strictly controlled conditions. While it may work 95% of the time, that's not enough for me. Reverse Osmosis (RO) System This is a powered chemical process, usually employed as a whole house based system, which artificially alters the water molecule structure to create clean bacteria free softened water. Its considered quite an expensive system initially, but it has a proven track record in the field and is sometimes installed in a countertop only system. However, on a well based system it may require additional pre-filters, it usually requires an additional pump to keep water pressure at a reasonable level and most important it does not provide any method for extracting non-softened drinking water (more on this later) unless a separate feed is used. If that's the case then this separate feed would need its own filtration in turn. Ceramic Filtration System This is a non-chemical process where various types of filters, typically carbon, can purify the water as it passes through, trapping debris, sediment and bacteria depending of the size and density of the filter used. While these systems are generally easier to install than then other two, they do need monitoring and possibly more frequent filter changes. Also, additional booster pumping may be required when using filters with very small micron ratings. System Chosen Having looked at the pros and cons of the 3 systems, it was clear to me that the ceramic filtration provided the best overall solution. The UV system could not be relied upon to safely sterilise the water when subject to extreme turbidity and sediment. The RO system works perfectly well, with one glaring omission: it does not supply non-softened water for drinking. Overall, the ceramic filtration actually works best for me, because of its flexibility. Here is a picture of the filter that I have installed, called a Doulton Imperial Ceramic Ultracarb:
This is seated into a standard 10" housing, on a water line which comes direct from the well, bypassing the remaining feed which goes to the water softener. I had tried an earlier 3-stage jumbo filter system, with a Doulton Rio-2000 ceramic filter, but found that it clogged up too much, so therefore cannot recommend it for well water. The water can then be tested yearly with/without the filtration system by simply removing the filter from the housing and replacing the housing. At the same time the well can be sterilised with the filters removed. Another benefit of this is that there are many specialist filters made by reputable water filter manufactures if I wish to change the filter to something else. This particular filter is the highest density ceramic filtration that I can find, and guarantees 99.99% filtration for bacteria and Cryptosporidium. There is a noticeable reduction in flow rate but because it is only on one tap that is acceptable for us. It is recommended that this filter be replaced every six months. The average cost of the filter is appx EUR40, although there are limited stockists in Ireland and you have to search hard to find it. Drinking Softened Water A number of water treatment systems incorporate water softening into their solutions. Although I am no expert in this, I can confirm that a large number of water suppliers appear to advocate a whole house water treatment system, particularly an RO system, which first treats the water, then softens it, and only after this is the water fed onwards for drinking etc. I will happily go on record, right here, and say that, in my opinion, this is wrong and should not be done. Generations previously have never drunk artificially softened water, and I'm betting on the track record of our forefathers rather than in some recently engineered concepts. Scientific studies done though many years continue to suggest that we should not drink non-naturally softened water, as there can be health implications for susceptible groups (such as young children, very old, mothers-to-be etc). In any case, I would point immediately to all city and town based water supplies which supply millions of people worldwide with water. They never soften the water either. It makes no sense to drink softened water, but the issue is that the RO systems do soften it, and that's why I think the implementation of these systems is incorrect. Softened water is only needed to ensure longevity of heating systems and as an aid to bathing and washing. You can pick up arguments both for and against drinking softened water, but I'm going to stick with the UK government guidelines which serve upwards of 60million people and state the following: a) "However, it is a legal obligation, under the Water Fittings Regulations, when installing a softener, to provide a supply of unsoftened water for drinking" b) .. RO systems: "Because of the correlation between cardiovascular disease and consumption of naturally soft water the Department of Health has advised that consumption of artificially softened water should be avoided." Now if an RO system did not soften the water then I would have no problems
with it, nor indeed do I have any issue with installing an RO system as long as
a separate drinking water system is available. Do your own research and decide
for yourselves, I've made my mind up a long time ago, and it's a no-brainer.
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