The Great California Drought: It’s been all over the news lately that California is getting into more and more trouble with the continuing drought and dwindling water supply. Not enough people are conserving it, crops need it and enforcing conservation is extremely difficult. While everyone is concerned about the amount of water being used, few people think about the quality of water being used.
During a drought, water levels are low because much of the water has been evaporated and not replenished. The water that is available will be more concentrated with contaminants. During these times, we can expect to see an increase in nitrates, organic and inorganic minerals, bacteria, pesticides and herbicides in the remaining water supply.
In addition, California’s municipal water treatment facilities will be pressed to treat and recycle the remaining available drinking water supply at a faster rate, which will adversely affect the quality of water. Many municipal water supplies will add additional chlorinate to the water to kill bacteria. This means it is very likely that Californians will be getting more chlorine in tap water then they are accustomed to.
What does this mean for the water conscious home consumer? Bottled water is an option. However, the consumer should be made aware that bottled water, if treated or filtered at all, is often of variable quality and will likely be of lesser quality in a drought when the available water inputs are of lesser quality. In addition, the process of bottling and filtering water is extremely wasteful for our resources and the environment. Finally, the cost of bottled water can quickly add up.
There are several options available for environmentally and cost conscious consumers. Home treatment systems known as ‘point of use’ POU systems for drinking water purification are a common option. These include barrier treatment methods such as ‘RO’ reverse osmosis, filtration and distillation. As with bottled water, RO systems are very inefficient and waste water. Also, with the increase in contamination, filters are not only going to deteriorate faster and need to be replaced more often, but their initial effectiveness will be lower. This can become especially expensive for RO systems which require regular replacement filters.
A sensible alternative are distillation POU systems. Distillation systems offer a high quality, eco-friendly and cost-conscious option. A quality U.S. made distiller will consistently remove 99.9+% of water contaminants without wasting a lot of water. Bacteria is killed in the boiling process and practically all of the contaminants are removed when the water becomes vapor and then re-condenses, leaving fresh, pure water for you and your family to drink.
Water Quality in a Drought
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Hi Jim!
You said ‘practically all the contaminants are removed’. How much is NOT removed?
Hello Janet,
That is a great question, thanks for giving me the opportunity to explain. Most contaminants, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, selenium, sodium fluoride and copper, have a higher boiling point than water. This means that when these contaminants are brought to the boiling point of water (the first step in the distillation process), they will not turn to steam, instead they will stay behind in the boiling tank. This also applies to any biological contaminants such as viruses or parasites, (which would be killed and left behind) and even some radioactive contaminants! On the other hand, gaseous compounds that have a lower boiling point than water (usually called VOCs or volatile organic compounds) such as chlorine, ammonia, or even the combination of the two, which is chloramine, will rise with the steam. This is why we have (and have always had) dual volatile vents on the condensing coil. They will be vented off and if any VOCs should happen to condense back down with the steam, they will be absorbed by the carbon in the filter. This is why most of our 3rd party tests have yielded a 99% or greater removal rate, because this combination of technologies is highly effective. Feel free to look at a sample of the testing we’ve had done,https://mypurewater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Lab-Test-Results.pdf. If there’s any contaminant you’re concerned about that you don’t see on the list let us know. We can either provide you with the results or an educated guess on if the distillation process would remove it (which it often does!) This is why we remain so passionate about the distillation process, it’s a scientific process that is very consistent and effective. We appreciate your question, please let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help!
Hi Jim,
I reviewed the sample test results from the link above. Impressive, however, do you have the results of the same water sample prior to going through the distiller and filter? That bit of info also would be very useful to review. Thanks!
Hello Len,
I was able to load up a different report that lists the beginning contaminant level. you can see it by clicking here.