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Archive for January, 2011

Fluoride, For The Health Of Our Kids

Posted by Rayne Water

Parents will do anything to ensure the health and safety of their children. That’s why we do our best to make sure they’re staying healthy by eating a well-balanced diet and drinking water. But even after many years of pushing the 8 glasses a day routine, new research studies show that all tap water may not be as healthy of a choice as we had thought.

According to one online article, cavity-preventing and tooth-decay limiting fluoride may actually be having harmful effects on the teeth of our children when over the recommended limits, or even the limit set as “safe” by the government. The article states that too much fluoride in drinking water is actually causing spots on their teeth. The federal government, too, is aware of this discovery and has announced a reduction in the recommended levels found in water supplies. It is quoted that “about 2 out of 5 adolescents have tooth streaking or spottiness because of too much fluoride.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the spotty tooth condition, fluorosis, is actually quite common between the ages of 12 and 15 and has increased since the 1980s. Among the other government plans to prevent the condition is their other studies currently in progress which look at the ways Americans are exposed to fluoride and the other health effects it may have.

Fluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in the water and soil. According to this article, about 64% of Americans drink fluoridated water – either naturally occurring or from a municipally maintained system. And, for those who are not receiving fluoride in their water, doctors have been quick to prescribe fluoride supplements and schools have implemented swish-and-spit programs in the classrooms. In the past, water supplies were fluoridated because studies had shown that people who took in more fluoride had fewer cavities. But now this new research emerges and water supplies must go under new regulations yet again.

Oral health is important and while it may be a benefit of fluoride, knowing too much can harm our families is always a motivation to look into other options like water treatment systems for your residency. These may include water coolers, water filters, or reverse osmosis systems. All are eco-friendly and affordable solutions for eliminating unhealthy minerals or contaminants from the drinking water in your home. Clean and healthy water is not something we need to worry about – it will always keep our families healthy, we just need to make sure that it really is clean and healthy!

Being Green: Why We Do It

Posted by Rayne Water

Saying something is eco-friendly is common in this day and age, but really doing something to reduce energy consumption, reduce your carbon footprint, and follow environmental guidelines is truly being responsible. With so many water treatment options out there, the key is looking into those who are doing just that – going green. Being pro-active isn’t about following in everyone else’s footsteps. It is about being innovative and taking initiative – two important qualities in water systems, which for the most part have not changed very much at all in many decades.

In the past, hard water was fought with one simple solution – purchase a water softener. Hard water is high in dissolved minerals, which leave a film behind. Hard water will also cause buildup on pipes and in appliances, shortening their lifespan and causing financial burdens. Water softeners employ salt ions that change places with those minerals and after the contaminants build up inside the system, traditional water softeners wash out, dumping massive amounts of salt down the drain into what is thought of as wastewater. However, this wastewater is reused in many areas and after time, people realized that the salt was killing their golf courses, crops, and even marine life. Some areas in California put a ban on these traditional water softeners and some water treatment companies took the challenge head on.

Tank exchange services are the latest force in water softening, completely eliminating the salt-discharge. Likewise, these tank exchange services also save a lot of water from going to waste. With environmentally responsible water treatment companies, the tanks are regenerated and reused. When a tank becomes spent, their employees will replace it. The tanks are then taken back to a facility, emptied, and regenerated. The most important step comes next – which companies responsibly get rid of the spent resin and brine, preventing salt pollution and waste water. No salt discharge should be dumped down the drain by either the homeowner or the water treatment company, now that there are better options. If your home or business still uses an old water softening system, it may be time to look into a more eco-friendly water softener accompanied by a tank exchange service. Education, like this video, is the key to maintaining technologically-advanced systems which align themselves with an ever-changing environmentally-friendly world.

So how can water softeners be that eco-friendly? According to one online article, hard water can make appliances less effective and have to work harder, thus putting out more energy. So not only will a quality water softener save you money, it will save you energy and help save the environment. Quite a lot of work for such an affordable product!

 

Water a New Topic in Environmental Economics

Posted by Rayne Water

It seems everything these days is affected by the latest downturn in the economy. From the housing market, to consumer buying, to environmental and urban economics, the financial crisis has everyone looking for ways to save money in some way, shape, or form. A new article out from Matthew Kahn has those same consumers thinking about water as a basic need – and how it is slowly being threatened.

The Southwest United States is known to be a dry, arid region. Water supplies there are facing droughts, and therefore slowly being threatened of drying up. Water is such an important basic element of life that without the water supplies, the region couldn’t survive in a number of areas. The article discusses the growth in population and jobs in the Southwest. One economist quoted in the article states that “allowing water prices to reflect scarcity would take care of this problem.” The problem he refers to is the diminishing water there. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute says that “green lawns and unlimited swimming pools and inefficient irrigated agriculture can’t be sustained.”

The article states that one way of looking into this problem is to be creative in finding ways to use other water sources. One example would be to re-use wastewater. Other ideas are “policies to encourage more efficient water use” and “efforts to coordinate water policy at local, state and federal levels, and planning to help water utilities adapt to climate change.” The effort to use water efficiently and look into the newest water technologies for home and business may also be key. Raising the price on water will hurt the poor – and everyone needs water to survive. Perhaps the answer would be to better use and conserve the water we have.

One way to do this is to identify hidden – and obvious – water wastes. For example, traditional reverse osmosis systems waste an incredible amount of water for every gallon of drinking water they produce. The important thing will be to find and eliminate these wastes. For example, the Evolution water system can provide drinking water while reducing harmful contaminants. It uses electricity to exchange ions in the purification process rather than chemicals and wastes 90% less water than reverse osmosis. Just by making one pot of coffee, a traditional reverse osmosis system can waste almost 11 gallons of water according to one video. While refilling it’s tank, the Evolution system wastes no water. 90% less water waste is huge and would be a strong beginning to solving the problem facing our region.

Saving water means saving the environment from a threatening predicament. While the article mentioned above focuses on an economic impact from the disappearance of water sources, the health effects are even more worrisome. To read more on this topic, click here.

Study Unveils Natural Gas Drilling Waste in Waterways

Posted by Rayne Water

Most citizens assume agencies are being as careful and responsible as possible when it comes to waterways and water sources and what they are letting in them. Too many times in the past corporations and agencies have either accidentally or quietly disposed of waste into natural waterways. In today’s age, we have too many scientifically advanced methods of caring for our water too let it slip. We can protect our drinking water sources while continuing to pursue advanced experiments.

In one online article we read, Pennsylvania has quite a situation in front of them. The state is at the forefront of the natural gas rush and has recently increased drilling. There is a harsh by-product as a result – a wastewater extremely salty and so polluted with barium and strontium that usually it gets sent down thousands of feet into the earth. This hasn’t happened in Pennsylvania, and instead, the liquid is only partially treated for these substances and are dumped into local rivers and streams. It could potentially be environmentally harmful and these are the very natural water sources where residents get their drinking water. Pennsylvania is the only state who allows this disposal and from hydraulic fracturing or fracking. And with new regulations in place for newer drillers, existing operations continue to be allowed. While the Environmental Protection Agency has begun to look into the matter, residents have to deal with brine leaking into their drinking water and potentially harmful contaminants invading their once-safe water.

Other states have been making similar changes – some to protect residents and others to protect operations. Most of the larger corporations state that they are eliminating most of the waste, but if history repeats itself, we may find more contaminants than we want in the water sources. According to the article, “Fracking involves injecting millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals and sand deep into the rock, shattering the shale and releasing the gas trapped inside. When the gas comes to the surface, some of the water comes back, too, along with underground brine that exists naturally. It can be several times saltier than sea water and tainted with fracking chemicals, some of which can be carcinogenic if swallowed at high enough levels over time.”

With the potential risks and downfalls of fracking in Pennsylvania and several other states in the country, residents are beginning to find alternatives for protecting their family’s drinking water to eliminate potential risks. The top recommended way to keep your family’s drinking water safe is to look into a water treatment system like a reverse-osmosis system, water filters, or water coolers. Each has various benefits that are good for your water and are good for the environment. They are eco-friendly and affordable solutions to remove or provide safe, clean drinking water during times when you aren’t sure it is.