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Re: Snow off the waters
Well, I'm far from being an expert, but Las Vegas (where I live) has some of the hardest water in a US metropolitan area, so I'll use that as a accreditation. Water can have a lot of crap in it, and what you do about it depends on what you're going to use it for. Water softening replaces 'hard' salts in the water (magnesium and calcium salts) with 'soft' salts (usually sodium, aka table salt, occasionally potassium). An explanation of the process can be found here: http://hermes.ecn.purdue.edu/cgi/convwqtest?fs-8.me.ascii The advantages of softening your water include not getting that hard white 'scale' buildup in your plumbing and appliances (especially the water heater and dishwasher), which will save you money in the long run (reduced energy costs and wear), especially if your local water supply is very hard. Hard water can also increase your chances of kidney stones if you have kidney problems, but softened water has extra sodium, so that may not be any better for you if you need to reduce your sodium intake for your heart. A softening system that uses potassium salt instead supposedly doesn't have this problem. If you're going to install an RO system as well as a water softening system, make sure your kitchen sink cold water bypasses the softening system. Using reverse osmosis as well as a water softener on the same water is kind of pointless and wasteful. Now, your water likely also has plenty of other stuff in it, such as chlorine, microorganisms, organic compounds, heavy metals and who knows what else. None of these are removed by a water softener. That's where various types of filtration systems come in, usually a reverse osmosis (RO) system of some kind, perhaps along with an active carbon filter as well (note: some water softening systems *do* include active carbon filtration). Reverse Osmosis systems remove contaminants by using a heck of a lot more water flowing past a semi-permeable membrane. Between 7 to 20 gallons of waste water will be thrown away for every gallon of filtered water the system produces. For this reason an RO system should really only be used for creating drinking water. The other filters in a filtration system will have to be replaced at various intervals, and you might want to check whether a standard sized filter canister you can buy at Home Depot will fit, or whether you will be stuck buying proprietary filter replacements from the company. More on RO systems here: http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/h2oqual/watsys/ae1047w.htm RO filtration systems are expensive, and may not pay for themselves over buying bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes. Also, they won't deliver water very quickly, so if (for example) you're in the habit of cooking up large batches of pasta, trying to fill the pot from an RO system will require patience. Non-RO filtration systems don't remove as many contaminants, or require far more frequent replacement of the filter, but don't restrict the water flow. As I mentioned earlier, some water softeners (generally the more expensive ones) also include a carbon filter. These generally trap organic compounds (such as benzene or gasoline) and chlorine. Since you probably don't want to drink the softened water anyway, and it doesn't matter to your appliances, you would mostly care about these while showering (when you would be breathing these in from the steam), You can get carbon filters for your showerhead instead of getting a more expensive water softener that includes a carbon filter. I couldn't find any particularly good sources of information on your local water (http://ci.santa-barbara.ca.us/departments/public_works/water_resources/), but maybe you will find my local resources helpful: Main water quality page: http://www.snwa.com/html/wq_index.html Especially a 1997 Consumer Report on water filtration systems: http://www.snwa.com/html/wq_home_cons_reprt.html Ultimately, more specific advice depends on what exactly is in your home's water, so you'll need to get it tested by an independent company. Some contaminants may get into your water locally, where it can't be detected by the water company. I hope this helped some.
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