Put that bottle of water down and back away slowly…

How many times have you reached for bottled water when out and about, or at work or even at home?  I suspect more than you might even realize.  OK so you’re drinking water instead of sodas or some other stuff, that’s great, but bottled water isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 

I have to admit that bottled water is one of the best examples of cleaver marketing that I’ve ever seen.  The bottled water folks play on both your conscious and subconscious minds when they try to get you to pick up a bottle. 

First, and in some cases rightly so, they lead you to believe that bottled water is better than the water in the tap.  You were lead to think that its safe, healthy and makes you a little better person because you’ve stayed away from the sugary drinks.  That’s a solid angle to play by them.  Unfortunately for many years bottled water wasn’t regulated like the water in your home.  It wasn’t required to meet EPA regulations, but rather the FDA rules for food.  So, that basically meant as long as it didn’t kill you or give you E. coli exposure that might make you sick right out the bottle it was ok to sell.  At this point, there are a few more standards on bottled water, but they pale in comparison to the standards for drinking water that comes out your tap.

Next, you’ve been told that its “mountain water” or maybe “spring water” or some such other nonsense.  Either of those sources MUST be way better than my tap, right?  Yeah sorry kids, you’ve been lied to.  There are a few definitions that define what “spring” water is and none that I know of that define what “mountain” source water really is.  In the case of spring water, if the source water was somehow, someway at least part groundwater, that had a spring output, then it could be marketed as spring water.  A team of lawyers made a heck of a lot of money on that definition I’m sure.  Now, I’ve simplified it some, but it’s pretty ambiguous.  Its ambiguous because that makes it easier to use by the manufacturers.  So, you’re probably thinking, well if it’s not fresh out of the mountain or stream then where is my bottled water from?  Simple, the local water utility.  For instance, in a past life I worked on water quality for the City of Waco, and the water system there was source water for a Coke bottling plant there.  That plant bottled water as well as sodas, and if you read the back of the panel on the bottle carefully you will see that the Waco Water System is listed as the supply if the bottle you are holding came from there.  Same goes in Dallas and numerous other large water systems around the country.  You better have your glasses on, because it’s some mighty fine print.  The only thing that was done to the water in that plant, at that time, was to run it through a carbon stack, which removed the chlorine and took any taste out of the water. 

Finally, bottled water manufactures always quietly avoided the bottle problem.  After that cold tasty water is gone, what happened to the bottle?  In a lot of cases it ended up in the trash, or on the side of the road.  Those bottles make their way down the creeks, rivers and ultimately into our bays and oceans.  Sadly, this issue could be an entire post on to itself, guess I know what my next one will be.  Water bottles make up a large portion of the plastic floating around the oceans.  A few of the key facts are these however, first plastic is indeed entering our oceans at alarming levels.  Next, it isn’t breaking down completely, it breaks down into small fibers, and patches which in turn have coalesced through the years, into any number of large ocean plastic flows that travel the world’s oceans in primary ocean currents.  The plastic has entered the food chain is being found in fish and there are indications that while it may not kill fish immediately, it does harm their health and it seems that some of the chemicals used in the plastics are bioaccumulating in certain organisms. 

So now that I’ve made you give that bottle of Evian the side eye, what do you do?  First, drink the water from your tap.  I get it, you may not like the taste, OK, then run it through one of those nifty little water pitchers with the filter in them.  They all use carbon in the filter, which will take out the odor.  Next, if you are out and about and need that bottle of water, and didn’t bring it from home in a reusable bottle, then go ahead and get a bottle off the shelve.  When you finish though, make certain to recycle the bottle.  Don’t leave it laying around behind you and certainly don’t just pitch it out the window when its empty.

Until next time –

Flush that hot water heater!

It really doesn’t matter where in the country you live, you WILL have some deposits of lime, scale, grit, etc. in you hot water heater.  And if you’re lucky enough to have some bacterial buildup in it, you’re going to be glad you flushed it out.

I recommend to my customers to flush their hot water heater tanks at least once per year.  If you have bad odors from the hot water, you’ll want to flush more often.  The bad odors are related to bacteria in the tank.  They are harmless but stink something fierce.

OK so if you’ve never flushed your hot water heater before, you will likely want to see a professional do it at least once.  If you are a fairly “handy” sort of person it will be easy to do.  Hot water heaters come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but the basics of flushing are all the same.

Step one, turn off the heating elements if its electric, and if its gas you’ll want to turn off the pilot and heater by turning off the gas flow.

Step two, hook up a garden hose to the spigot on the bottom portion of the tank.  Most of them are plastic, so do be careful not to be rough with the connection or the handle.

Step three, take the end of the hose out into the yard or driveway.

Step four, open the spigot on the tank and let it flow as fast as it can.

Step five, flush for at least 10 minutes.

Step six, close the spigot and disconnect the hose.

Do not turn on the heating system for at least 1 hour.  This allows the chlorine in your water supply to work on any bacteria that might be present in the tank.  If you have your own water well, or do not have chlorine or other disinfectants in your water supply you can immediately turn the heating system back on after you’ve closed the spigot.

Step seven, after one hour go to the nearest hot water tap in the home to the heater, and flush the hot water only side for a minute or two to be sure the water is clean and clear, as well as free of color.  Be sure to turn the heating system back on.

There you go, a simple DIY project that can help prolong the life of your water heater and improve its water quality.

Until next time…