Current Western Drought Determined To Be Worst In 1,200 Years

by Peter Chawaga

Even as the acute drought gripping the Western U.S. breaks new records at an alarming rate, its latest historic milestone is jarring.

“The extreme dryness that has ravaged the American West for more than two decades now ranks as the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years, and scientists have found that this megadrought is being intensified by humanity’s heating of the planet,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “The authors of the study also concluded that dry conditions will likely continue through this year and, judging from the past, may persist for years.”

This ongoing water scarcity has already intensified many unpleasant trends, including an emergency declaration by San Francisco, the potential complete disappearance of a critical source-water body and water rights battles between states.

Using the growth rings of trees, scientists have now compared the current climate to megadroughts that occurred between the 800s and 1500s to confirm that this one is historically dire and that additional action to mitigate it and better prepare for the future is called for.

“Some scientists describe the trend in the West as ‘aridification’ and say the region must prepare for the drying to continue as temperatures continue to climb,” per the Times. “[Lead Author Park Williams] said the West is prone to extreme variability from dry periods to wet periods, like a yo-yo going up and down, but these variations are now ‘superimposed on a serious drying trend’ with climate change.”

Though such a historically unprecedented situation may seem too large to address, there is still reason for hope. Water managers are taking equally historic action to curb the demand put on stressed supplies, exemplified by Los Angeles’ ambitious plans to supply 70 percent of the city’s water from local sources by 2035, for instance.

“Knowing is half the battle,” Jason Smerdon, a co-author of the study, told The Guardian. “We have a lot of challenges in front of us but we all have agency in the face of this. And there are pathways we can take that are much more sustainable and involve much less risk.”

Source: Water Online.

Whole House RO Is More Than An RO Unit

Think of residential whole house reverse osmosis as a three part system:

1. Pre-treatment to protect the RO unit.
2. The RO unit itself.
3. Post-Treatment to store the water and send it to the point of use.

Pre-treatment for well water is most commonly needed for iron, manganese, sediment, and hardness.  For city water that is chlorinated or treated with chloramine, the disinfectants must be removed. City water may also need treatment for hardness.  Iron and manganese normally require an iron filter, but in small amounts they can be treated with a water softener. Sediment filtration should be down to a least five microns. Hardness can be treated with a conventional water softener or with chemical injection.  With high amounts of hardness and with water with high sodium content, chemical injection to protect membranes from hardness scaling is preferred to softening.

The RO unit itself should be sized to meet the demand of the home.  Normally, even if the theoretical water use is 200 gpd or less, an RO unit smaller than 600 gpd should not be considered. Keep in mind that low water temperature and high dissolved solids readings will significantly lower RO output. For water savings, multi-membrane systems are more economical than single-membrane units.

Post-treatment. Whole house RO units usually produce into a non-pressurized storage tank, so a pump will be required to move the water into the home. Regardless of the pH of the water entering the RO unit, the product water will normally be acidic, so it is standard practice to include a neutralizing tank with a mineral like calcite to boost the pH. A final carbon filter to polish taste and odor is often used, as is an ultraviolet lamp to assure that the water is free of bacteria.

A single-membrane 2200 gallon per day RO unit with sediment prefilter. Pre- and Post-treatment for hardness, iron, manganese, pH, and bacteria are not part of the RO unit itself. This is a straightforward RO unit that includes gauges for inlet water pressure and post-pump pressure, a TDS tester, flow meters to measure gpm flow of both the brine (reject water) and the permeate (treated water). Simple manual control knobs regulate the brine flow and the amount of brine that is recycled through the unit.

Pandemic Relief Has Benefited America’s Water Infrastructure

The American Rescue Plan Act — the relief bill that President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11, 2021 — set aside $350 billion to assist states, tribes, territories, and local governments in responding to financial challenges wrought by the pandemic. Water infrastructure improvements  are one of four broad spending categories authorized by the act.

Already at least $10.1 billion in ARPA funds have been dedicated  to water systems.

Here is how some states have applied the funds:

• California used $301 million to pay off the water bills of low-income residents who fell behind during the pandemic. The state set aside as much as $985 million to forgive customer debt and it is now accepting applications from wastewater utilities.
• Montana allocated $462.7 million to water and sewer infrastructure.
• Louisiana allocated $300 million.
• Kentucky and Ohio allocated $250 million.

Source Reference:  Circle of Blue.

A Familiar Story: Military Pollutes Water and Denies Responsibility

The following is from a Water Online report by Peter Chawaga:

After a military branch’s fuel storage facility was found to be contaminating some of the world’s most pristine waters, a local utility chief refused to mince words.

“The Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s manager and chief engineer said … that if the Navy refuses to drain its Red Hill fuel facility, the water utility is prepared to fight to protect the aquifer underneath it,” Honolulu Civil Beat reported. “Ernie Lau, whose longtime warnings about the fuel facility’s threat to drinking water were realized this year, said at a press conference that the Navy should follow an order from the Hawaii Department of Health to empty its fuel tanks.”

The tension stems from a recent revelation that a petroleum leak at the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility had contaminated Honolulu’s drinking water supply.

“Red Hill Shaft contained petroleum levels that were 350 times the level considered safe, and … some 3,000 military members and their families have been relocated to temporary housing,” NPR reported. “The Navy says it’s found the source of the gas leak, but state officials and environmental activists are still calling for the facility to be permanently shut down.”

Some of the 93,000 consumers impacted by the Navy’s water system have reported feeling ill and sought medical treatment. While everyone seems to agree that these safety concerns need to be addressed, a Department of Health order appeared to leave open the potential for the Navy to resume utilizing the fuel storage in the future. This is a point that Lau has disagreed with, calling for a double wall along the fuel tanks as well as the pipelines that transport the fuel.

For Lau, and many of those charged with keeping Honolulu’s drinking water safe, the battle with the Navy has been ongoing since at least 2014, when an administrative order on consent was administered to the military branch after 27,000 gallons of fuel leaked from one of its Red Hill tanks.

“We are in it for the long haul,” Lau said at the press conference, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. “We’ve been in this for eight years. We will not stop. I’m not trying to threaten the Navy, but understand that you are going to need to deal with us, whether you like it or not.”

Source Reference.

TAC Cartridge Units Available from Pure Water Products

In addition to the standard eight, twelve, and sixteen gallon per day tank-style whole house TAC units for scale prevention, Pure Water Products also offers small, cartridge-based units in standard housing sizes for use for smaller applications, like treating for a single appliance or a small home or recreational vehicle. These units are compact, inexpensive, easy to install, and easy to maintain.

Cartridge-Style TAC Units.  Pictured above is the mid-sized two-gpm TAC unit which includes a half liter of Watts OneFlow (ScaleNet) media in a 4.5″ X 9.75″ cartridge. All units consist of housing, mounting bracket, filter wrench, and one cartridge.

Note: Prices are not guaranteed and are subject to change. Phone orders only.

Replacement Cartridges for Units Shown Above. Cartridge life varies with usage and circumstances. In most cases, replace annually.

For more information, contact Pure Water Products at 888 382 3814,  or email pwp@purewaterproducts.com

How Air Gap Faucets Work

Air gap faucets are used with undersink reverse osmosis units. They are never used with filters because the air gap is not needed.

The purpose of the air gap faucet is not only to deliver drinking water from the RO unit, as all faucets do, but also to provide an “air gap” for the RO unit’s drain system.

An “air gap” is a siphon break to assure that drain water cannot flow backward from the household drain system into the reverse osmosis unit.

Note in the picture above that the tubes are of different diameters. The smaller tubes are 1/4″ and the larger tube is 3/8″.

The tube on the left in the picture delivers the “permeate” or purified water to the user via the tall spout when the faucet’s handle is pressed. The other two tubes are parts of the air gap drain systems.

Reverse osmosis units produce drain water called brine when they are in operation. This waste water comes up the center tube in the picture and is released into a small open trough inside the base of the faucet. The drain water flows along the open trough until it falls through a hole into the top of the larger tube on the right in the picture. The large tube connects to the undersink drain pipe. Water falls by force of gravity down the large tube and into the undersink drain pipe.

Classic Air Gap Design. The RO drain water goes up to the faucet in the red tube, then down to the sink’s drain pipe in the black. The permeate tube connects to the threaded metal stem. The hole in the faucet body serves as an overflow drain if the black tube is obstructed.

More about air gap faucets

If the air gap faucet leaks water through the hole in the faucet body onto the sink, it is usually because the drain line, the larger of the tubes, is stopped up. The drain hole, indicated with the arrow in the top picture, is an escape hole so that drain water can have a way out if the drain line stops up. The problem can usually be fixed by removing the drain line at the bottom end and clearing out the obstructions. Or, the obstruction may be in the drain saddle or the drain pipe itself.

Since the 3/8″ tube delivers water by force of gravity alone, any small obstruction (a small piece of food from the drain pipe, for example) can block it.

Since air gap faucets are often unpopular with homeowners because of noise and messes on the sink when the drain line blocks, some manufacturers provide reverse osmosis with standard faucets. A standard faucet has only the permeate line, the one that is attached to the threaded shaft. The RO drain line connects directly to the undersink drain.

Some RO builders use standard faucets but provide one or more one-way valves (called “check valves”) to guard against backflow from the drain.

Plumbing codes differ from place to place, but most still require the air gap faucet. It should be noted, however, that this is a provision of the plumbing code that is frequently overlooked.

An adapter that provides an easy way to get rid of the air gap feature.

How Countertop Water Filters Work

Countertop water filters are simple but effective devices. They require little in the way of installation, and they are easily moved from place to place.  They last for many years and require little upkeep.

Installation

The diverter valve (A) replaces the faucet’s aerator. That’s all there is to installation. Screw off the aerator, screw on the filter’s diverter valve and the filter is ready for service.

To operate the filter, turn on the cold water faucet and allow water to run into the sink. Then pull out the small knob on the diverter valve. This diverts water from the sink faucet through the small tube to the water filter housing(B). Inside the housing is a replaceable filter cartridge. Water passes through the filter cartridge, then leaves the filter through the spout (C), from which you fill your container. To turn off the filter, just turn off the cold water faucet. The diverter valve will pop back into place restoring your sink faucet to its normal operation.

More about countertop water filters

The classic countertop style shown above is quite versatile. It can be made into a double or even triple filter simply by attaching single units together.

Now almost all countertop units use replaceable filter cartridges, although a few of the old-style disposable units are still sold.

By far the most common application of the countertop filter is to provide high-quality drinking water by removing chlorine and other chemicals from city tap water.This is accomplished with a simple replaceable carbon cartridge. Carbon is a general purpose medium that removes disinfectants like chlorine and chloramines as well as a very wide range of chemical contaminants.  By providing the proper specialty cartridge,  a countertop unit can be made to reduce such diverse contaminants as cysts, lead and heavy metals, fluoride, nitrates, and even bacteria.

The countertop unit shown in the illustration above is the classic style which sits beside the sink and has its own spout.

There are other less popular styles. One, which uses the “return” diverter, has two hoses rather than one. The diverter valve sends the water to the filter then a second hose brings the filtered water back to the diverter valve to be dispensed into the user’s container. This style has no spout. Below is a countertop unit with a “return” diverter setup.

Technically, the tiny “end of faucet” filters sold in retail outlets and the pour-through pitcher-style filters are also countertops, but being purists, we’re going to confine our discussion to the two main styles described above.

The classy double countertop unit pictured above is a versatile tool that can be designed to cover a wide range of treatment issues.  It uses standard-sized cartridges, so many treatment options are possible.

More about countertop water filters.

What Is pH?

by Brian Campbell

Can AerMax Units Be Used to Treat Constant Pressure Well Systems?

Yes,  definitely, AerMax units work well with constant pressure wells, but there are a couple of things  you need to know.

First, the pump has to be controlled with a timer. There are no options. People often wire the pump and solenoid vent into the pump circuit of conventional wells, but this won’t work with a constant pressure well.

Second, since constant pressure systems usually maintain a higher pressure than conventional bladder tank systems, it’s best to use the upgrade CAP AerMax pump rather than the standard model. The CAP also needs an upgrade installation kit.  At current pricing, the pump/installation kit upgrade adds about $220 to the price of the standard 110 V. AerMax unit.  The other parts are all the same.

The standard air pump can be used, but with constant pressure wells, the upgrade pump works better and has shorter service runs.

Programming the unit, with either the standard pump or the CAP, for most residential applications means running the pump enough to do a complete turnover of the unit’s air pocket at least 3 times per week. This means running the standard pump 3 times per week at about 18 to 20 minutes per session or running the CAP unit about 2 minutes per session. (The CAP has about 10 times the air output capacity as compared with the standard pump.)

More information about the high capacity air pump with high flow AerMax systems.