Here's a good reason not to use tap water - Page 2

LoudBlunts · #11 05-20-2008, 05:36 PM

1000 ppms....fucking wow!

Al B. Fuct · #12 05-21-2008, 04:04 AM

There's something amiss. If I dipped tapwater and saw 1000ppm, I'd be checking that meter against a known value calibration solution. If there were 1000ppm of Ca in tapwater, a water heater would last about a year before the heating element was crusted in lime deposits.

From Virginia Tech Univ, Virginia Cooperative Extension:

Quote:

Household Water Quality - Water Hardness

Authors: Amber Wilson, Extension Associate, Management, Housing and Consumer Education; Kathleen Parrott, Extension Specialist, Housing; Blake Ross, Extension Specialist, Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech

Publication Number 356-490, posted June 1999

Hardness in water is the most common water quality problem reported by U.S. consumers. In fact, hard water is found in more than 85 percent of the United States. Hard water occurs when excess minerals in the water create certain nuisance problems. While these water problems can be frustrating, water hardness is not a safety issue. Hard water is safe for drinking, cooking, and other household uses.

Hard water can cause several problems for consumers including decreased life of household plumbing and water-using appliances, increased difficulty in cleaning and laundering tasks, decreased efficiency of water heaters, and white/chalky deposits on items such as plumbing, tubs, sinks, and pots and pans. Consequently, it is no surprise that according to the 1997 National Water Quality Survey, one out of five Americans surveyed is dissatisfied with the quality of his/her household water supply.

Causes of Hard Water
Approximately 22 percent of the earth's fresh water is ground water, and naturally, as it flows through soil and rock, it picks up minerals. Hard water results when an excessive amount of calcium and magnesium are present. Total hardness is measured in grains per gallonof water (gpg) or milligrams per liter (mg/l). Grains per gallon (gpg) is a unit of weight for a volume of water, as is milligrams per liter (mg/l). Sometimes hardness is measured in parts per million (ppm). Parts per million (ppm) measures the unit(s) of a substance for every one million units of water. Milligrams per liter (mg/l) and parts per million (ppm) are roughly equal in water analysis. One gpg (1gpg) is equivalent to 17.1 ppm or mg/l. When conducting chemical analysis, laboratories usually measure hardness minerals in either grains per gallon (gpg) or milligrams per liter (mg/l). You can evaluate the hardness of your water supply by referring to the following chart.

Parts Per
Million
(ppm) Rating

less than 17.1 Soft
17.1 - 60 Slightly Hard
60 - 120 Moderately Hard
120 - 180 Hard
over 180 Very Hard

1000ppm would nearly have rocks falling out of the taps.

Al B. Fuct · #13 05-21-2008, 04:32 AM

Here's a great read about water quality and the quackery that often surrounds it.

Water pseudoscience and quackery

Al B. Fuct · #14 05-21-2008, 05:06 AM

whoa, water info goldmine for Aussie growers!

http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Public...sis.pdf#Page=1
http://www.melbournewater.com.au/con...r_for_2006.asp
Current water quality in Queensland - EPA/QPWS
The water supply in Perth, Australia
Water Consumption in Urban Settlements - Quality of Mains Water Assessed Against Water Quality Criteria

Everything down to the recorded TDS & pH.

Your local water utility probably publishes these figures too. Google "water quality [city name]".

Mr Green Man · #15 05-21-2008, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al B. Fuct

There's something amiss. If I dipped tapwater and saw 1000ppm, I'd be checking that meter against a known value calibration solution. If there were 1000ppm of Ca in tapwater, a water heater would last about a year before the heating element was crusted in lime deposits.

From Virginia Tech Univ, Virginia Cooperative Extension:

1000ppm would nearly have rocks falling out of the taps.

Yep, thats what it's like in my local village, luckly for me I live abour 10 meters above where the water comes from so I my own well. the water is better, but still not great around 200ppm. seems to do the job, mostly calcum so I will buy Hardwater nutes next time around.

Al B. Fuct · #16 05-21-2008, 11:50 AM

I don't think I'd call you lucky. I'd much rather have water from a modern treatment plant than straight out of my own bore.

Mr Green Man · #17 05-21-2008, 12:03 PM

Really?

I would rather drink from a shallow water well than the town water that is full of clorien and floride. As it happens out water is deep, very deep, and having drunk it for a good while, I don't even like getting a cup of coffie in town beacuse of the taste of the water.

Still each to there own.

Al B. Fuct · #18 05-21-2008, 01:12 PM

heh, chlorine and fluoride won't hurt either YOU or your plants! If you believe these are hazards, you may be a victim of water pseudoscience and quackery.

Fluoridation and chlorination provide significant benefits to public health at near-nil risk. There's a reason why people in areas with fluoridation have better teeth- and it's not phases of the moon. There's also a reason why waterborne disease is nonexistent in areas with chlorinated municipal water supplies.

Chlorination is the gardener's friend. It suppresses pathogens while the water is in the pipes on the way to you and will protect an open tank of nute solution against colonisation by fungi, bacteria etc for a couple of days until the chlorine evaporates. After that, you need to apply an anti-pathogen agent like H2O2 periodically or your nutrient soup is fair game for any passing microbe which finds it tasty.

Some have argued that chlorination kills beneficial microbes in soil. Bullshit.

Here's my 12 ft tall cherry tomato plant, grown organically in soil & compost- and a nearly straight diet of chlorinated water from the garden hose. It does not look very dead.

From a human health perspective, I'd far and away prefer municipal water. Down at the water treatment plant, there's some very well-educated people monitoring water quality 24/7/365. Most water utils publish periodic water testing results openly and transparently.

Unless you're a sucker for conspiracy theories, that ought to be enough to make you fairly confident about municipal water, certainly much more so than about water of completely unknown composition from a hole in your yard- and just how far is that bore from the nearest septic tank's drainfield, hm?

Mr Green Man · #19 05-21-2008, 03:07 PM

Well it goes down over 200Feet.

And as for town water, it's okay here but in two of the major citys in my country the water is unsafe to drink even when boiled. a lot of people get very sick from drinking it.

Any way, That not my piont, i'm not buying into water pseudoscience and quackery
. The town water is crap, it will break you kettle, washing machean and hot water tank and tastes like crap.
On the other hand my well water, is clean, safe and doesn't get cut off every month for "rapairs to the system".

ViRedd · #20 05-21-2008, 03:21 PM

1000 ppm? Damn, as the famed blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon said: "I'd rather drink muddy water out of a hollow log."

Vi