I have been meaning to install a reverse osmosis under-sink water purifier for years now, ever since they became cheap and compact commodity items instead of the bulky expensive things that needed a plumber for installation back in 1986 when this house was built. We seem to have one of the world's worst public water systems, high in sodium and now I understand in arsenic!
I have been stalling due to not yet understanding what installation will require in the way of electrical and plumbing connections - I might still need a plumber, but at least the unit itself is small and inexpensive. Plus it is just one of those low priority niggling expenses, paying $3.69 or so every week or so for a jug of water versus laboring to install this bear and worrying about it afterwards. But now that my wife informed me that she is using bottled water for tea, coffee, and maybe even cooking since hearing about the arsenic, there is much more incentive. Sure it will have operating costs but it has to pay off pretty quickly.
So what low cost quick payback investments are on your hit list?
Small investments with quick paybacks - under-sink reverse osmosis water treater
December 30th, 2007 at 09:51 pm
December 30th, 2007 at 09:59 pm 1199051964
December 30th, 2007 at 10:40 pm 1199054401
OK, after a little more research it appears that the big drawback to reverse osmosis (RO) is that it wastes about 5-10 gallons per gallon purified AND it needs an air gap to prevent potential water contamination. Even so, it seems to have lower operating costs than a distiller, maybe $.02 /gal vs. $.09. A filter would probably remove the arsenic but not the sodium, which still leaves the water undrinkable. The filter advertising says it leaves the fluoride in, but distillation and RO would probably remove it. Dang, NOTHING is cut and dried!
December 30th, 2007 at 11:11 pm 1199056303
If you truly have significant levels of arsenic in your water, you might want to get good info from your health department, a family doctor who understands the issue, or perhaps even a university biologist. As I understand it, there can actually be grim health issues associated with suddenly stopping intake of arsenic once it is established. It has to do with arsenic having replaced other metal ions in your body's proteins. Some of your body's enzymes can go haywire when the arsenic is suddenly stopped. Arsenic affects the very shape and therefor the functionality of the enzymes. Weird, huh? Anyway, something to look into.
December 30th, 2007 at 11:29 pm 1199057349
Anyway, now we have these built-in water filters on our fridges, but I must admit, I am addicted! No more tap for me, especially seeing how much red sediment tends to seep out in our tap.
I wonder if it's worth collecting my own rainwater and distilling it passively for my own use??? I'll have to give that a try some day....
December 31st, 2007 at 02:58 am 1199069895
December 31st, 2007 at 11:22 pm 1199143374
January 1st, 2008 at 01:06 pm 1199192763