The Water Wheel

[J Trout]

Hi, I'm Joanie Trout. I am a new blogger, so I would consider any comments as welcome guidance. I am having a great time being creative and spreading the word about something that I think is hugely important in our world. Safe Drinking Water. The uses, the importance, and the power of this natural resource is amazing. I write useful and healthy water tips, recipes and articles all with one common factor, they all include the importance and use of water. I hope to include some of my own artwork soon also.

Please let me know what you think, and also if any one has useful ideas for tips, recipes, or just insight, I would love to give mention to it and it's author in my blog. Thank you so much for visiting my site. Please leave your info so I can reciprocate. You can find me @ The Water Wheel . Have a waterful day. J Trout

[Evan]

Hi Joanie,

I like your blog and think it is a very important issue.

Just one suggestion for a topic: water purifiers. In Australia they are quite common, don't know about other places.

Evan

[J Trout]

We are in the process of adding a water treatment product line to our biz. Once in a while Google posts a water treatment product ad, but since I'[m not supposed to click on them I don't see them.

Our business is called Trout's Quality Water. At present we operate 13 small water systems (community and non community wells that serve between 25 and 1000 users), back flow assembly testing (valves which protect the public drinking water supply from contamination), we do Sanitary Surveys for Washington State Dept. of Health (routine and emergency water system inspections), compliance reporting, etc. Everything that has to do with drinking water quality. I run this business under my husbands guidance and he works another full time job at the County Courthouse running their water dept.
Eventually we will have a company website which will be linked to my blog. I may do an article in my blog on water softeners and other water treatment products soon. Thanks for the suggestion! Joanie

[Simo]

Joanie, I found your blog very interesting. I'm always in doubt regarding the quality of the water, and not only the tap water, but the bottled one as well. I'm looking forward to read more info about this on your blog. I'm also interested in methods of keeping us safe, especially that I've heard that boiling does not always help, because the impurities will still stay, and they will be even more condensed.

Well, good luck with your blogging, and if you ever need some technical advice, please do not hesitate to ask.

[Evan]

Boiling (for twenty minutes) will kill the germs and other living things. It doesn't do anything to the other contaminants. So it depends which things your worried about.

[Granny]

Nice blog Joanie. And interesting topic, too.

Could I please ask a water question? I am recently informed that bottled water is also not as good as represented, since the plastic from the bottle emits something into the water.

Have you heard of that? This information is not necessarily from an expert, but has concerned me since I do drink bottled water frequently when out. We have reverse osmosis at home.

Thanks,
Granny

[J Trout]

Boiling water is the State of Washington Dept. of Health recommended method for killing harmful microorganisms in water such as E coli or Fecal bacteria. In Washington State these contaminants are tested for on a monthly basis in public drinking water systems serving 25 people or more, and should be tested for at least annually in smaller systems. If boiling is required, water should be boiled for 3-5 minutes and then cooled before consuming.

Although boiling water does kill bacteria in the water there are some contaminants such as Nitrate which boiling will not eliminate. Small amounts of Nitrate is found in most drinking water and is normally monitored on an annual basis. If nitrate levels get to high treatment to the water system and more frequent testing may be required.
Bacteria such as coliform, E coli or Fecal material should always be absent in the water (E coli and Fecal are much more harmful than Coliform, which is mainly used as an indicator of other more harmful bacteria). If these bacteria are found present in the water after repeat samples are taken and come back positive, treatment to the entire system is then required to eliminate the contaminants.
Thank you so much for your interest in my blog, I hope to see you in my comments section in the future. J

[J Trout]

Thank you for your interest in my blog. As I understand it there is a chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA) which is used in certain products such as water bottles, baby bottles, dental sealants, food liners, etc. Evidently it mimics the hormone estrogen. There is controversy over the health risks, some say there are none, others say it may increase the risk of cancer, or possibly cause risks to an unborn fetus. To be safe, use a plastic known to be safe, (there are several websites which discuss the topic, just punch in "safe plastic water bottles"), or use some other type of container to transport your tap water which you said you are treating with an RO system at home and it is water that you trust. Also there have been tests which have shown more bacteria to be found in some bottled water than water straight from the tap. I'm sure it greatly varies by brand. If you are on public water you can be fairly sure that your water is safe. Another thing to consider is that any time you are filtering water you want to make sure you change the filters regularly according to the recommended schedule. Those filters themselves can breed bacteria after their life span is used up.

Please visit me again on my blog, and I would welcome any comments or suggestions there. Thanks again. J