In the recent Water Blog I discussed Working Water, Drinking water and Touched on Outdoor Water. This time I would like to expand more on Outdoor Water use. Entering into this new era of Green Construction most of the attention is being directed towards reducing the Consumption of Energy, although some credits are available for reducing the demand for water consumption. Outdoor Water use is the biggest abuser in the Potable Water category. Many of the solutions to today’s problems come from using answers from yesterday. Rain Barrels and Cisterns capture Rain that would otherwise be wasted. Landscapers are moving towards indigenous Shrubs, Perennials, and Trees that can survive in our ever changing New England environment.

An average Garden hose will deliver on average 8 Gallons Per Minute (gpm) where as an average household faucet will deliver 2 gpm. That is because the Faucets have flow restrictors in them to conserve water. In Outdoor use it is important to only restrict Water flow at the fixture itself. This is because every fixture is designed for different flows and pressures. To put this in better perspective a Garden Hose will deliver 240 gals. of water in a 1/2 hour and an average indoor Faucet only 60 gals. So if you have an irrigation system that runs for 2 hours to water the Lawn every morning that’s about 1000 gals a day or more. According to EPA calculations an average family of 4 only uses 200-300 gals of Water a day. For more information on water usage visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com.

When source Water is high in Metals it is not unusual to find Staining on Sidewalks, Granite Fixtures, and Siding. This Staining is best removed using an Acid based cleanser. It is possible to remove the Metals through Water Treatment Equipment. However, it will require a separate system than that which is currently treating the Working Water. Working Water systems are designed to treat the water at specific flows pressures and quantities. They backwash once the equipment reaches it’s capacity for Metals removal. If you are running 4-6 times more water through the irrigation system then it is very likely that your Water Water System is going to be under sized for the job of treating the Irrigation System. If you try to purchase a very large Water Treatment System to treat the Working Water and the Irrigation all in one, you will find yourself having a grossly over sized system during the 7-9 months when irrigation is not necessary. The system won’t clean itself often enough to keep itself fresh, unless it is adjusted to do so, and then it will use a ton of Salt to regenerate. That is why we recommend two systems in most cases. That way the Water Treatment System servicing the irrigation can be put in bypass in the Fall and then Serviced and sanitized in the Spring without any disruption to the Whole House Water System. More next time on Outdoor Water use!

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )

Choosing the right Water Treatment System can be simple when you are working with a Certified Water Specialist. It is even simpler when you understand the difference between Drinking Water and Working Water.

Working water is designed to perform many tasks around the house. Such as, laundry, dishes, showering flushing toilets, and washing things. It delivers clean water that will not leave behind staining from Mineral and Metal deposits. It’s also not acidic or corrosive on the plumbing fixtures. This water is perfect for most everything in the home, except for drinking.

Drinking water is not working water. Most Drinking Water Systems remove the Dissolved solids from the water down to extremely low levels. Drinking Water Systems also employ carbon filtration for taste and odor control. This extremely pure water will corrode plumbing fixtures and leach metals into the drinking water.For more information on Drinking Water Systems please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com.

In addition to working water and drinking water, there is outdoor water. This is used for irrigation, washing the car, cleaning down the siding, and such. Usually this water requires little or no treatment. In most situations it is best to have the outside hose bibs bypassed when installing a Water Treatment System. rainwater run off systems are becoming more popular these days. These systems reclaim the rainwater from the roofs of houses to be used in irrigation systems. This cuts down dramatically on the amount of water wasted every year.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )

So far in the last two Blogs titled Arsenic and old…. Media, we have discussed the removal of Arsenic using Adsorptive Medias and proper disposal practices for the media. There are other ways to remove Arsenic from Water. To find out the best way to treat your water, slow down, contact a WQA Certified Water Specialist near you, ask them to speciate the Arsenic for you, go over the options and decide which approach fits your life style and budget. For more information on Arsenic removal systems please visit our website at www.secondwindwatersystems.com. If you are not within two hours of Manchester New Hampshire go online to www.kinetico.com or www.wqa.org to find a Certified Water Specialist near you.

Whenever we solve for a primary contaminant at Secondwind we always recommend redundancy as part of the system. One of the most common used Point of Use Systems, that ads quick redundancy, is Reverse Osmosis (RO). Usually these smaller point of use Drinking Water Systems are installed below the Kitchen sink area in the basement. They will remove over 90% of Arsenic 5 (AS5), they will also reduce Arsenic 3 (AS3). Although the AS3 reduction may not be satisfactory for your needs.

It is also possible to upgrade your (RO). Adding a high pressure pumping system ahead of your RO will get you even better Arsenic reduction. There are also Arsenic Media Cartridges that can be installed following the RO. The addition of Arsenic Media Cartridges following an RO is made easy through the K5 Kinetico Drinking Water System. The K5 has the ability to accept a bayonet type Cartridge after the RO membrane with just a 1/4 turn to install. Although most RO systems only serve one faucet and a refrigerator it is possible to have RO water at several locations in the house if you choose the right size RO and storage for your needs and have access to run separate plastic tubing lines through the house.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )

In the last water Blog we discussed Arsenic Adsorption systems using a Lead/Lag design. Currently the NHDES is not controlling the disposal of Arsenic saturated media for Residential applications. You can take the used media to the town land fill and dispose of it there, unless your town has rules about the disposal of special waste.

For Public Water Systems (PWS) the NHDES is taking a more active role in enforcing the rules for the disposal of special waste. Currently when a PWS hires us to rebed their Arsenic Media we will sample the media and have a T-CLP test performed before having it incinerated. The T-CLP test proves that the Arsenic will not leach back off of the media during transportation or if it is buried in a land fill. Our preference is incineration because it is a final solution that will not come back to haunt anyone later if the rules change. The end customer is supplied with copies of the bill of lading, invoice for incineration and the T-CLP test for their records. It’s really a lot simpler than it sounds. In time this type of service may become necessary residentially, but not anytime soon.

So far we have discussed the removal of Arsenic from water using a Whole House approach through Adsorption. Next time I will cover the different types of point of use Drinking Water Systems for the removal of Arsenic from water.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )