remineralization of potable water 1

[ubrunjes]

Hi list,

after treating the water with lime, recarbonating it and filtering the resulting bicarbonates (plus other stuff), I would like to remineralize it with a "good" mix of minerals. What comes to mind is calcium, phosphorus, fluoride, trace amounts of selenium, etc., but I have no clue when it comes to selecting the right minerals, concentration, etc. Any ideas?

Uwe

 

[kenvlach]

I’m no drinking water expert, but nobody else has commented, & I have some ideas:
1) First, you may need approval from the EPA, FDA, Dept. of Health, etc. or your respective govt. bureaus in order to make additions to drinking water.
2) It seems inefficient to remove things and then add them back. I’m not sure of all the things you are removing, but maybe you could instead treat a portion of your incoming water with KMnO4 (if removing Fe & color) and then blend the 2 portions. Or, treat a portion with GAC if removing chlorine, or use a heavy metal selective cation resin if you are removing heavy metals. In any case, try some more selective techniques and blending of water to get the desired concentrations.

 

[ubrunjes]

Hi kenvlach,

thanks for your reply! In a way I expected a similar advice, as it makes sense most of the times (like when you only have too much of the "good stuff&quot. Problems arise when we are talking about substances you don't want at all, and that's my case! Though in the meantime I realized that I might be better off, using solar distillation. It is very "soft", only evaporates water from the surface, and therefore the resulting drinking water has a much better taste than water distilled fast - perhaps with an electrical heating coil.

By the way, is there a different word for distillation from the surface, opposed to from the whole volume of the liquid? As the result is so different, I would like to have an easy way to express what I want to do.

Uwe

 

[BobPE]

ubrjunes:

You really don't want to start the process of midicating the water which is in effect what you are proposing. kenvlach is right is saying you don't really want to add stuff since you will ultimately be responsible for overdosing when the equipment goes bad.

As a side note, fluoride is not "good stuff" despite what you may hear from the mainstream press. I have been in water engineering now for over 15 years and have fought every step of the way to eliminate this hazardous waste from being put in public water systems. There is a long and sorted history to fluoride, but it is clear in the science that it is a bad thing.

Treat you water in accordance with accepted engineering practice and your customers will be fine.

BobPE

 

[ubrunjes]

Hi BobPE,

I fully agree with you, especially in the fluoride part. For some reason I didn't express very well what I want to do now: just distill the water with the help of solar energy, and forget about remineralizing.

Extremely pure distilled water is supposed to go directly into the blood stream via osmosis, and that happens in the mouth and throat (people can choke on that), but with the water I would produce, there is no such worry. On the other hand, how many minerals could I possibly provide to the body with mineralized water? In what health and nutrition are concerned, a person can easily get all the required minerals from the food. So you and kenvlach are right, I better not fool around with that remineralization!

Uwe

 

[kenvlach]

Uwe,
Re: "is there a different word for distillation from the surface, opposed to from the whole volume of the liquid?"

I suppose that you can say you are evaporating water by a non-boiling process.

 

[ubrunjes]

Hi Ken,

that sounds good to me! Thanks a lot!

Uwe

 

[25362]

It is generally accepted that "purified" drinking water refers to water that has been treated in one of four ways: distilled by boiling or evaporated as you propose, disinfected with ozone, filtered through active carbon, or filtered by reverse osmosis. These waters are more protected from -but not totally immune to - agricultural and industrial runoffs and contaminants.

Apart from an ozone treat not generally done as home remediation, lead, chlorine and petroleum compounds are trapped by active carbon and normally removed. Distillation removes some manmade contaminants, reverse osmosis removes large man-made molecules and a variety of minerals.

Besides, there are good filter makes in the market (Brita, Everpure, Pur, to name just a few) but always should be remembered to carefully follow manufacturers' instructions since a poorly maintained filter could be worse to health than drinking tap water. I think in the USA you have a nonprofit trade organization named NSF International that evaluates filters to see how they measure up to makers' claims. Its good advice to test -by experts- drinking water regularly.