Category Archives: home building

Edmonton City Water Quality

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We performed a filter change service call on a reverse osmosis system this afternoon.  The "before" and "after" images really show the difference between filtered water and plain old city water.  It never ceases to amaze me how the government says the water supplied through the municipal system is clean and safe, "some of the best in the world" I keep hearing…

The image shown here shows what the filtration equipment does.  During the maintenance, I changed all the filter cartridges, the "pre" filter, a "post" filter and did some other service.  The "pre" filter is exposed to water coming directly from the city of Edmonton.  If the water is so good, what is all the gunk all over the filter?  The "post" filter is also shown – it was installed at the same time as the "pre" filter, the only difference is that the "post" filter only has water that has been treated by reverse osmosis running over and through it.

The difference?  As you can see, other than the fact it is wet and showing a little bit of the carbon block filter it is wrapped around (think of a wet, clingy t-shirt, and how it can become translucent) it is clearly still in like-new, "white" condition.  A brand new, still in the wrapper filter cartridge is shown in the middle for reference.

My question is simple – if the water quality in Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert and the entire Greater Edmonton Area is so good, why do the filters turn this horrible colour after being exposed to our pristine water supply?

Treatment is quick, efficient and easy to use, requires very little maintenance and gives peace of mind – we get rid of the gunk!

But Our Family Has Always Drank the Water Here

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When consulting with well water clients, I quite often hear people voicing concerns about iron staining or really hard water, maybe some colour staining or odour issues – but what I also hear is that families have lived on the property for years and years and if the water was good enough for grandpa to drink, why would I need some kind of purifier so I can drink it? 

"If it was good enough for my grandparents, it is good enough for me!"

While on the surface, this makes sense, when you dig a little deeper, it is easy to see we don't live in the same world our grandparents did.  There are thousands upon thousands of drugs, chemicals and additives we are forced to deal with every day – there's a good chance the grandpa drinking the well water didn't drink it from a plastic cup because plastic may not have been invented yet!

In a rural area, you may not be overly concerned with pharmaceuticals and those kind of chemicals – but… what about pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers?  There are thousands of types that weren't even imagined when grandpa drew water from your well.  We definitely live in a different world now and one thing we have to take seriously is our health.  (Grandpa probably didn't live in an era where he knew many people that got cancer either – that is a product of our unnatural environment!)

The fact is, when you draw water from a private well, there is no city scientist, no government agency – no one but you to ensure the water you drink is safe for your family.  Having pure, safe and clean water is not only easy, but also affordable.

250,000 people in farm areas in California were recently affected by excessive nitrate levels in the ground water.  This problem is new – it didn't exist there a few years ago – but with the increasing application of chemicals in their environment, unsafe drinking water is the result.  The problem has no taste, no odour, nor any colour – nitrate problems are is easily detectable with a field test kit, and easily removed with most of the drinking water systems we provide.  Once an on-site purification system is installed, you have protection from nitrates, arsenic, lead, and thousands and thousands of possible chemical threats to your family's health.

Considerations When Building a New Home

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Unfortunately, today’s topic comes about from a situation that probably could have been avoided. A colleague of mine had purchased an RO (reverse osmosis) system, but wanted us to wait to install it since she was moving.

Something about the way she said it lead me to believe she was moving into an already-built home, not waiting for the builder to complete a new project for her. Had I known, we could have very easily set up her RO system for installation in the basement and just run the lines to connect to the kitchen sink and to the refrigerator. We could have also worked with her granite installer to get them to pre-cut a hole for the RO’s separate faucet in her kitchen sink – typically at no additional charge…

That didn’t happen, so when she called to arrange the booking after taking possession, we now had to get the granite people out for a service call to make the faucet’s installation hole, and we now need to install the system and the storage tank under the sink, since the basement is finished and has a drywalled ceiling.

If it was a drop or “t-bar” style ceiling, we’d probably have been ok still, but there’s no way to run the plumbing connections through the drywall without damaging or probably removing a few sections – not something she was wanting to do on her BRAND NEW home….

When we test the water and find out what sort of treatment (if any) she’ll need for the whole-home, that is typically not too big a problem as connecting to the existing plumbing is quite straight forward. Only the drinking water system is causing problems. (It is a seperate system and uses its own plumbing connections.)

Too bad… But the lesson here is to always plan ahead. If you’re building a new home, it is SOOO easy to get your drinking water system installed during the construction phase and it can all be neatly tucked-away – even inside what will be finished ceilings and drywall. We can also more-easily run connections to second floor areas.

Quite often, people would like to have a drinking water faucet right in their ensuite, or upstairs bathrooms. If the master bedroom is upstairs and you get thirsty in the middle of the night, its a lot easier to just pop your glass under a nearby faucet rather than head downstairs….

It never hurts to ask – if you’re planning on building, or already in the construction phase, give us a call and see if there’s any shortcuts you can take for a seamless installation. This is a great time to quit the bottled water habit. You can get better quality, for WAY less money, and an almost endless supply right in your own home – all it takes is a little planning and it can be a perfect setup.