New Paltz Water Supply

Hello New Paltz! This post is for all of you who live or consumer water from the municipal water supply in the Village of New Paltz, and is in response the popular question, "Where is the water coming from when I turn on my tap?".

The village supplies water to 5500 people through 900 service connections and the water comes primarily from the Catskill Aqueduct. The Catskill Aqueduct consists of two reservoirs (Scholaire Reservoir and Ashokan Reservoir [pictured above]) and is part of the larger system supplying water to NYC. The main line to NYC basically T's off into our filtration facility on Mountain Rest Rd. In addition to water from the aqueduct, the filtration facility is supplied by several local surface water reservoirs. (Take a look at the map below).

Our treatment facility serves two primary functions. The first is to maintain the distribution of water from the reservoirs, and the second is to chlorinate the supply. Nothing is removed from the water and nothing besides the chlorine is added.

Water travels from the facility through a network of underground pipes ranging from 16" to 4" wide until it reaches your home or business and out of your tap.

The Village of New Paltz monitors the quality of the water to ensure contaminants are within the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency and distribute an annual report with their findings. You may be surprised to learn that heavy metals such as copper and lead, and radioactive elements like uranium were detected!

Here is a link to the 2009 report:
http://www.villageofnewpaltz.org/filemgmt_data/files/Water%20Quality%20Report%202010.pdf

Have questions? Just let me know and I'll try to find out for you.
Bottoms up! Kyle

Sulfur bacteria

Here's a picture of sulfur bacteria growing in a toilet bowl tank. This helps illustrate the difference between sulfur (which typically has no visual effects) and sulfur bacteria.
Sulfur is a gas that smells like rotten eggs and there are several ways to treat it. The most common (and cheapest) is with a greensand filter. Here, water flows through a media called greensand which oxidizes and filters the gas. Another option to remove sulfur is with an aerator. Basically, the water is forced through nozzles that sprays the water into a mist. During this process, the gas is released and the water collects in a retention tank. The third popular option is a chlorination system, which is also the most expensive. Here, chlorine is added to the water, then the chlorine/ water solution must sit to allow sufficient contact time, then the chlorine is removed. The problem with bacteria bearing sulfur is that the only option available is a chlorination system. Why? Because the bacteria needs to be eliminated and the neither the greensand filter nor the aerator will do it. So can you get away with ignoring the fact that your sulfur breeds bacteria? Not at all. If you ignore the sulfur all together, you're ingesting sulfur bacteria. If you treat it with another option, the sludge that you see in the picture will grow in the greensand tank or in the retention well of the aerator. One of the things that makes water treatment confusing is that each option I discussed here is affected by other contaminants in your well such as iron, methane or hardness. But if you have specific questions, feel free to post it and I'll try to address it. Good luck!

Dasani - under the gun

Opentappiness.org is a website designed to bring attention to the issue that Coke's Dasani bottled water brand misleads us by suggesting its product is pure mountain water when in reality it is bottled tap water. The campaign is sponsored by www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org. As a water "professional", it must be said that if you're going into the bottled water business, tap water is the best place to start. Why? Because it is already free of bacteria, iron, manganese and sulfur (unlike a typical well source). What opentappiness isn't telling you is that Dasani doesn't simply turn on the faucet straight into the bottle. They use an advanced reverse osmosis (RO) system to remove 99.99% of impurities. RO is our most advanced filtration method (it technically not even a filter but that is besides the point). Actually, what is the point?... here it is. I'm all for ditching bottled water because its a waste of fossil fuels to produce and distribute plastic bottled. And may prove to be unhealthy because of leaching chemicals from the plastic, and of course its expensive and empty bottles fill up land fills and...
But I'm here to say that Dasani is putting out a good product (Dasani: you can make your endorsement check out to Kyle Chapman). We can go green and shift demand from bottled to tap based on solid stats, not misleading and clever .org pages (aren't we give them shit for misleading us with pictures of mountains on their bottled water?)
You can buy RO systems to filter your own water at www.drink-your-tap-water.com.

How do chlorination systems work?

So I've finally got it figured out with chlorination systems. First, these types of systems aren't sold on my website (www.drink-your-tap-water.com) but its still water treatment so applied here.

A) The application: Chlorine is used in water treatment all over the world. Most commonly, we add chlorine to municipal water supplies to kill bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. Yup, bleach dumped right into the supply. Sounds unhealthy, but its better than the bacteria. There are ways to take out the residual chlorine if it bothers you. You can treat just your drinking water by installing a drinking water filtration system like the ones on my website. Each system has at least carbon filtration which removes the chlorine, and the cheapest one is http://www.drink-your-tap-water.com/ecdrwasy.html.
Okay, the other uses for chlorine are as an oxidizing agent. It oxidizes sulfur gas (rotten egg smell), ferrous iron (do you have iron stains on your porcelain, but your water runs clear), and manganese (is your dishwasher brown or inside of your toilet tank brown/black?) The oxidization chemically changes the contaminants so they can precipitate or be filtered out.

B) The System: You'd install a chlorination system at the water's "point of entry" into the home, usually in the basement after the pressure tank. The first part is the solution tank which holds the chlorine (usually diluted with water). The second part is the chemical feed pump which releases proportioned amounts of the mixture into the water. The third and most important part is the retention tank. The retention tank can be as large as 120 gallons (5 ft tall!) and is used to provide contact time with the water and chlorine mixture to ensure effectiveness. Finally, the fourth and optional stage is a carbon filter that removes the residual chlorine.

Thats it, good luck!

Reverse Osmosis

Quick info post on reverse osmosis (RO). An RO unit typically mounts under your sink and comes with a designated faucet that delivers the filtered water. You'll know when you see one... it mounts to the side of the main faucet and is a much skinnier and often stylish version of the main faucet. Here's the deal, the main part of the unit is the TFC membrane. You can picture it like a long sheet of cellophane with millions of tiny holes in it. Then the sheet is rolled up and water is pushed through it. Everything that isn't water is stopped by the membrane. The filter is effective down to the molecular level, and is used to remove lots of impurities including flouride, salt and dissolved solids. Bacteria and viruses are also unable to pass through the filter although its not industry standard to make that claim. (FYI: its also not industry standard to call it a filter... or to call water "pure" but that is besides the point.) Anyway, the water is pushed through the membrane and held it a storage tank (also under your sink) until you need it. And the water that doesn't make it through the membrane? Unfortunately, that goes down the drain. The "reject" water is rightfully the main criticism of reverse osmosis systems. Depending on the quality of the raw water, a RO can reject 4 times the amount it provides for drinking.
What determines the wild price variations for units online? One is obviously style, brand and marketing. But the other is that an RO unit often comes with other filters. The units are sold by the number of "stages", up to 5 stages, and the "RO" is only one of them. The others are a combination of dirt and sediment filters, and carbon filters (the same stuff in a brita filter).
The quality of the water is unbeatable, and because you only use the water for drinking, the reject water doesn't typically add up to on a given day.
And of course, we sell them and other drinking water systems on our site (www.drink-your-tap-water.com).

Brita Filters

I just saw a great new commercial by Brita that pictured miles and miles of empty water bottles lining the coasts and forests of the world. There were plenty of stats regarding waste and sustainability too. I've got to say that the Brita line of faucet attachments and filtration pitchers is top of the line. In fact, I used to have one. So my post today is about the stuff inside... activated carbon.

What is it? Basically its carbon (the natural element from the earth) that has been processed ("activated") to become extremely porous which increases its surface area. The media then acts like a sponge for contaminants (colors and odors) to adsorb to. If you looked at the stuff under a microscope, it would look like another world with huge black craters and valleys. The combined surface area of a tablespoon of activated carbon is the size of football field (according to the Water Quality Association). Anyway, the stuff is like magic. It can even take out chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). One of our common applications is to treat areas with gas spills. Gasoline had an additive called MTBE (which has been replaced with ethanol from corn... another post). Not only is MTBE a carcinogen, it is also soluble in water. That means that it can get into the ground water and flow straight into your well. Anyway, we put tons of carbon filtration units in homes and business around major gas spills in the Hudson Valley. Point is, AC is awesome and Brita found a way to get many people to give their water a clean taste and smell. And hears the downside. If you don't change you filters, they can breed bacteria. The monthly maintenance is constant and those filters aren't cheap. Also, I think the ones that screw onto your faucet are ugly. Another point is that they don't take out anywhere near all the potential contaminants of your water. The most advanced system for drinking water filtration is Reverse Osmosis, which I'll write about another time. A very popular alternative these days is the Aqua Flo two stage carbon filtration unit (http://www.drink-your-tap-water.com/ecdrwasy.html).

The unit mounts under your sink and comes with a designated tap just for your drinking water. The filter has two carbon filters (a carbon "block" and an activated carbon "cartridge"). The maintenance is annual and it looks very cool. Comment if you have one and let us know what you think!

Water Quality Association Trade Show

Last week I was in Orlando at the National Water Quality Association trade show. Although it rained the whole time, I learned a lot, talked to tons of industry insiders and gathered more brochures than I could possibly carry on the plane. Trends? Bottle-less coolers and ionizers. So yesterday? Distributors that selling the same old products and aren't adding any value to the supply chain.

The lesson was that this industry is poised for a new wave of relevance. Long gone is the independent water treatment professional whose going door to door selling water softeners (you can buy that stuff online and install it without a single solder). So what is the next "wave"? According to Tom Cartwright, CEO of PureOflow Inc., there is increasing demand for commercial filtration systems in restaurants, gas stations and convenient stores that sell coffee and soda. I found Tom to be incredibly insightful in his presentation and observation that Americans are demanding quality water as the foundation of their beverages. From observing the show room floor, we're also seeing a push for home drinking water systems, many with revamped designs and features. Most notably is the "green" angle. "Zero emissions" manufacturing, recyclable filter cartridges and Reverse Osmosis systems that divert reject water to the hot water line. Very smart.

Hello Cyberspace!

This is my first post on my first blog! My goal here is simple: to have a forum for discussion on residential drinking water quality. Why? Because I know about it, and what I don't know, my dad does. He's been running a water treatment company for over twenty years and its safe to say I "grew up" in the industry. My second goal is to promote my latest mission and website (www.drink-your-tap-water.com). Most people's tap water is either perfectly fine for drinking or a simple filtration system away from it. And yet we're spending tons of money, time and resources on buying bottles water. I'm suggesting we stop buying bottled water and drink our god given tap water! Okay, first post? check. Website plug? check. Second blog coming in 5 minutes.