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Water News!
This
Page Is Designed to Showcase Different Topics Related to Water.
R.O.
Trivia
Reverse Osmosis Systems provide
relatively high quality water with a little bit of maintenance. Here are some
facts about R.O's that not everyone knows.
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Do you have a
Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) system? When did you last change your membrane and
pre-filters? Some people are surprised to find out that most manufacturers
recommend that they be changed every 12 months.
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R.O. Units require
a steady source of pressure, many rural water systems with pressure tanks do
not provide this.
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R.O. units may
produce more water if the feed water is lukewarm instead of cold.
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Not all membranes
are designed to handle water containing chlorine.
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Is
All Bottled Water Equal?
Depending on where you live, there
may be very little regulation for bottled water. Do some research, you might be
surprised what you find! There
are a number of different labels you might find on a water bottle, following is
a glossary of terms:
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Spring Water:
Captured from a natural or man made "spring". This water can
contain just about anything, and quality depends on it's source, and how it
is treated after it is collected.
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Purified
Water: Water that is purified, usually by a R.O. unit, usually collected
from municipal water supply.
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Filtered
Water: Water collected usually from municipal supply, or well/spring and
passed through one or a series of filters, to remove taste, odour and
sediment. Not to be confused with R.O., or Purified water.
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Distilled
Water: Water that has been collected from a municipal or well/spring
water supply, and distilled.
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Glacier
Water: Water that is collected from glaciers, usually in the form of
glacial run-off. Makeup depends on where the water has run.
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Ozonated/Ozonized:
Water that has been treated with Ozone (O3), an unstable molecule
that reverts to oxygen. This treatment is very effective in preventing
bacterial/biological contamination of water.
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Ozone: An
unstable Oxygen molecule (O3). The most common method of
producing ozone is through cold spark corona discharge (applying a very high
voltage spark through Oxygen). Ozone is found in nature after a lightning
storm, and causes the "fresh" smell of the air afterwards.
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PPM:
Parts Per Million of total dissolved solids. These can include anything.
Most municipal water is between 150-300ppm, well water may be as much as
double that amount, distilled is less than 1ppm, and RO is usually between
5-15ppm with a new membrane. See TDS below.
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TDS:
Total Dissolved Solids, the amount substance dissolved in the water. This
can include minerals, metals, salts, and other solids. Usually measured in
PPM, or mg/l. See PPM above. This is the stuff you flush out of the boiler
of your water distiller.
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