water quality

[mega-schmega.livejournal.com]

I had a household water-filter installed in my house (population: two adults, one toddler, two cats).  I live near Tufts. The filter was a beautiful white color (like the housing). Here is what it looks like after 48hrs of normal life:


Here is what it looks like after a week of normal life:


So next time somebody tells you that Somerville water quality is some of the best in the country... well, you know...

Comments

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Do you expect the water to be entirely free of minerals in order to be high quality? Looks like it's got some iron in it. I have no idea how much from the color, but is there any reason to suppose that it's significant?

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Two things:
Starting from white, adding any pigment will make a huge difference (think mixing paint. Or making chocolate milk, starting with a pint of milk you add a couple teaspoons of mostly sugar and a little bit of chocolate and you get a dark brown color. Note that you get diminishing returns by adding much more)

The 2 day vs 7 day shots look remarkably similar. This is because of the above and because when you depressurize your water line (for installing the water filter for instance) and then repressurize it you will release all kinds of crap in your water lines that was lightly attached to the pipe walls. Whenever you do this you typically have to run the tap for a minute or so before the water is clear. Often times you'll have to open up your tap to clear the aerator of particulate matter (mostly iron/rust) because this can clog your faucet. I'm guessing that when you change your filter the next time this won't happen because you can probably just change the filter without depressurizing significant portions of the water line.

This really is just normal.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

You are doing science wrong.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Somerville can have okay water and crappy, old pipes, FWIW.

[spatch]

We've secretly replaced mega_schmega's water filter with a Coke Slurpee. Let's see what happens!

[mrboboto.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of those people who buy the foot pads that change color when exposed to sweat, then try to tell me how many "toxins" were released. "BUT LOOK AT HOW DIRTY IT IS!"

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

http://www.mwra.com/04water/html/qual4concerns.htm#yellowish

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Marry me!

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

MMMM COKE SLURPEE

I could totally go for that right now

(I'd mix a little cherry in).

[xuth.livejournal.com]

I think the next section on the page (rusty water) is a bit more relevent. Not that they aren't mostly the same thing, just in different quantities of iron/rust. What's in the filter was caused by the very localized "change in water flow" when the filter was installed.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Curse you both for instilling the desire for cherry coke slurpee in me! *runs down to 7-11*

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who thinks those two pictures look the same?

[whaler.livejournal.com]

Hah that's exactly what it looks like.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

At dawn, on a beach, someplace awesome.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

Nope.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Have you crazy kids seen how filthy the ocean is???

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Hmm. This is going to sound like an odd comparison, but I know that the oil and oil filter in a new motorcycle should be replaced at the 25-400 mile mark (depending on the manufacturer and the person telling you this ;P) because things shift around and bits of excess metal come off and such as you run an engine that's never been run before, so you want to get that new-engine crud out of the system. I'm guessing this is a similar principle in action - the installation of the filtration system loosen up gunk in your house pipes and that crud got stuck in the filter (as it should ;). Does the manual suggest changing the first filter in a much shorter interval than later filter changes?

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Very different, apples and oranges, in fact.

Presumably this house, and its water system, have been in existence for a while.

"New house crud" should already be out of there, the filter system wouldn't loosen anything up, it's just stopping what was always there, as the water system isn't a mostly closed loop like an engine is.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

from all the loud planes flying over, amiright?

[http://users.livejournal.com/deviant_/]

So next time somebody tells you that Somerville water quality is some of the best in the country... well, you know...

You've really mastered the false dichotomy here. Just because it's got some particulate matter in it doesn't mean it isn't "some of the best in the country".

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was thinking less about the newness and more about the existance of gunk in the hardware (rather than in the water) being the point of comparison. I should have made that more clear.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Back when I moved to Somerville, my household installed a faucet-mounted filter in the kitchen sink. It worked great for about 2 weeks, after which only a trickle of water emerged no matter what. We replaced the filter a couple of times and got the same results. Finally, we called the manufacturer to ask WTF, and they asked us where we lived. When we said Somerville, they said, "Ohhhhhhhh. Yeah. We've heard this before. Use the pitcher filters instead."

The water quality is fine, and the high concentration of particulate matter is just a feature of the water here. But hey, that's what your house filter is for. It's doing its job. :-}

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

dude, when i was younger i'd stay with relatives in pennsylvania for our annual family reunion and you know what the saying was there?

if it's brown, drink it down, if it's black, send it back.

the fact that i can drink the tap water from my friends' homes that live in somerville, and it's clear, well, that's a nice thing :)

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Interesting discussions. I have had my water tested in 2 Somerville locations (its about $75 to have the test done, well worth it if you have kids and plan to stay put for a while, and want to know how important filtering is.)

What I found is that the pipes leading into the house seem to have a much larger impact than the water that comes to the pipes. We didn't have it tested for everything under the sun, but lead, iron, etc. were higher when you first turn the water on in the morning than when you let it run. That means its the house's pipes that give things off, not the MWRA water.

Anyway, the levels of everything we tested for were all fairly low, at least in the two houses I tested. As a result, I still filter for taste but I'm not that worried about contamination.

All this talk about Slurpees is making me thirsty, tho.

[artguychris.livejournal.com]

I've had one of these filters for a few years. When I first got it I installed one of the very fine (15 micron?) filters and it was fine for months. At some point I found I had to switch to the coarser filters to keep them from clogging up every couple of weeks. I've tried going back, but the fine ones still clog up quick.

I ended up keeping the coarse filter on the main coming into the house and a fine one on the supply to my kitchen faucet which accounts for pretty much all the water I drink or use to cook.

To everyone saying the iron was released when the filter was installed, mine always looks like this.