Well Water quality and what it contains. First there are a number of people who will not like what I will be saying because I am going to deal with the benign issues first and that is how most of the money is made in water treatment systems, treating what will not hurt you and may even be good for you.
Water hardness is the first issue and this area of New England is classified as moderate when it comes to water hardness. What is hardness? Basically, calcium and magnesium in your water. Calcium is actually something that you will actually get into your body drinking water and it is a good thing. Magnesium also has no health negative issues, so why treat it? If we were in the mid West, that would not be a question because levels out there are so high, they will clog pipes, but in Connecticut, that level of hardness is rare. I believe maybe 1% of the wells in Stamford face that problem. There is also a fight over even what is hard water, the USEPA says 200 mg/L is hard, Treatment people will say anywhere from 80 to 150 is hard. They also use the term grains, because that is how they sell softeners.
So hardness will not cause you harm and generally does not cause trouble for pipes in this area, why treat? Ascetics! The drops of water drying on shinny new fixtures dry white and when you boil water you will get a white residue in the pan and that means you have to spend time whipping them off or cleaning them out.
That is it, the entire reason.
The solution is you buy a softener which takes out most of the calcium and magnesium and replaces it with sodium of potassium. You also buy salt so that the stuff in the softener can be reused. You get slick, poor tasting water (I forgot to mention that calcium hardness makes the water taste good) that still leaves some residue in the pot and on those fixtures, but it is greatly reduced. Go Figure!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
So you want to buy a house? ... Part 3-well water
Well Water. Yes I promised and it is time. Did you know there are over 5,000 homes in Stamford that use a private well for their water source? There are a significant number of wells in Darien, more in Greenwich, still more in New Canaan and Pound Ridge.
The best news here is that the water from a well is basically very good and many times more desirable than even water company water. Having said that there are issues and some non-issues that a home with a well may have.
1) Quantity of water. Although most wells will not run dry and produce copious amounts of water, there are enough that may not support both an irrigation system and home use, may not produce enough for large households and may run dry in severe drought. There is a section in Northwest Stamford where wells 1,500 feet deep produced only a quart of water a minute. That is not sufficient for general use. On the other hand, three wells that produced only about 2 gallons a minute ran the Crystal Rock water company for years.
During the last water emergency, wells were mostly unaffected and there were reports of only 2 wells going dry.
So perhaps an explanation on how a well gets its water is in order. Basically it comes from water which is within a defined distance, maybe as much as 200 yards from the well. The distance varies based on the wells depth, yield (gallons per minute) and the make-up of the subsurface in the area, but 200 yards is a good average distance in lower Fairfield, eastern Westchester counties.
The draw is conical, meaning that the strongest pull is closest to the well. For most wells this obviously includes all the rain, any streams, ponds or lakes and yes, the septic system.
There is also a general movement in this area of the water from North to South, so you would expect a general migration of any contaminants in a well to come from a northerly position.
The cost of having a well, besides the initial drilling, is the electricity to run the pump and certain repairs that may need to be done. The pump should last for about 20 years and the repairs usually come only with floods, earthquakes (yes we have earthquakes in the area), heavy construction (using dynamite) and things directly associated with disturbing the rock and soil around the well. In general a well is cheaper to have than city water.
My next post will be on water quality and may be in several parts.
The best news here is that the water from a well is basically very good and many times more desirable than even water company water. Having said that there are issues and some non-issues that a home with a well may have.
1) Quantity of water. Although most wells will not run dry and produce copious amounts of water, there are enough that may not support both an irrigation system and home use, may not produce enough for large households and may run dry in severe drought. There is a section in Northwest Stamford where wells 1,500 feet deep produced only a quart of water a minute. That is not sufficient for general use. On the other hand, three wells that produced only about 2 gallons a minute ran the Crystal Rock water company for years.
During the last water emergency, wells were mostly unaffected and there were reports of only 2 wells going dry.
So perhaps an explanation on how a well gets its water is in order. Basically it comes from water which is within a defined distance, maybe as much as 200 yards from the well. The distance varies based on the wells depth, yield (gallons per minute) and the make-up of the subsurface in the area, but 200 yards is a good average distance in lower Fairfield, eastern Westchester counties.
The draw is conical, meaning that the strongest pull is closest to the well. For most wells this obviously includes all the rain, any streams, ponds or lakes and yes, the septic system.
There is also a general movement in this area of the water from North to South, so you would expect a general migration of any contaminants in a well to come from a northerly position.
The cost of having a well, besides the initial drilling, is the electricity to run the pump and certain repairs that may need to be done. The pump should last for about 20 years and the repairs usually come only with floods, earthquakes (yes we have earthquakes in the area), heavy construction (using dynamite) and things directly associated with disturbing the rock and soil around the well. In general a well is cheaper to have than city water.
My next post will be on water quality and may be in several parts.
Friday, January 2, 2009
If you are going to buy a house...part 2-water company water
So I am NOT an expert in home construction, electrical, plumbing (but I know some things), spetic (again, I know some things), lawn care (I know more here) and market value, but I am one of the experts in the water supply (and maybe the one with the most experience).
I have been in the employ of the Health Department for 29+ years, I have worked with water quality since 1975. I have seen a lot, analyzed a lot and talked to people even more knowledgeable than I over the years. I have kept a good rapport with well persons, home owners, the State of Connecticut experts and environmental groups. I am on a do not talk list with many people who sell treatment devices and have been involved in environmental investigations since 1975.
So much for my credentials.
The water being supplied by the water companies in the area, is generally good. Having said that, there are several things that you should know.
1) They are regulated by rules created by the USEPA (an agency that I usually have problems with, but in this case, the rules they have a quite thorough), some times made more stringent by the State of Connecticut Department of Health and required to report often to the State.
The water is taken from one of 2 reservoirs and one large well. They gross filter it (to get out leaves and fish, flocculate it ( to bring out natural organics), Chlorinate it and then sand bed filter it. I believe thay put it through a carbon filter also. The water is prety good, with no heavy metals or nasty organics and no bacteria or viruses.
The water is aggressive even tho there is an additive in the water to make it less so. The blue staining coming out of the faucets is copper because of this.
Chlorine and fluoride are also added. The chlorine to kill any bacteria, the fluoride to help our teeth.
In Stamford, there are no lead pipes, so lead is only a problem within the house plumbing.
They also deal with water main breaks and that will create discolored water (iron, manganese and dirt at non harmful levels. They generally over chlorinate the water when this happens, so the chance of having bacteria issues is non-existent.
Because chlorine is not a pleasant taste, you could carbon filter it or let it sit overnight in the fridge, but that is the only treatment I could think that you would need. A particle filter would deal with the water main break issues.
That is water company water and that is what most homes have,. the next post will deal with wells.
I have been in the employ of the Health Department for 29+ years, I have worked with water quality since 1975. I have seen a lot, analyzed a lot and talked to people even more knowledgeable than I over the years. I have kept a good rapport with well persons, home owners, the State of Connecticut experts and environmental groups. I am on a do not talk list with many people who sell treatment devices and have been involved in environmental investigations since 1975.
So much for my credentials.
The water being supplied by the water companies in the area, is generally good. Having said that, there are several things that you should know.
1) They are regulated by rules created by the USEPA (an agency that I usually have problems with, but in this case, the rules they have a quite thorough), some times made more stringent by the State of Connecticut Department of Health and required to report often to the State.
The water is taken from one of 2 reservoirs and one large well. They gross filter it (to get out leaves and fish, flocculate it ( to bring out natural organics), Chlorinate it and then sand bed filter it. I believe thay put it through a carbon filter also. The water is prety good, with no heavy metals or nasty organics and no bacteria or viruses.
The water is aggressive even tho there is an additive in the water to make it less so. The blue staining coming out of the faucets is copper because of this.
Chlorine and fluoride are also added. The chlorine to kill any bacteria, the fluoride to help our teeth.
In Stamford, there are no lead pipes, so lead is only a problem within the house plumbing.
They also deal with water main breaks and that will create discolored water (iron, manganese and dirt at non harmful levels. They generally over chlorinate the water when this happens, so the chance of having bacteria issues is non-existent.
Because chlorine is not a pleasant taste, you could carbon filter it or let it sit overnight in the fridge, but that is the only treatment I could think that you would need. A particle filter would deal with the water main break issues.
That is water company water and that is what most homes have,. the next post will deal with wells.
If you are going to buy a house...part 1-licenses
As a person working in the environmental side of a Health Depart6ment Lab, I have run into a lot of things that make me want to shout. There is a LOT of confusion out there, some I think is perpetuated by the government, or is assisted by scam artists and people wanting a quick buck. I will say there are people involved who do not have any consequences for handing the misinformation out. I will say that money is a BIG factor and fear is a great method of getting some.
So what am I going to talk about today? Certifications and licenses.
The real Estate business is full of licenses, meaning, they can not do something illegal with out consequences. That is a good thing, but they don't know everything and can not be expected to know everything. This means other people get involved.
So if you follow the link to construction, you find the normal categories and then there is Special trades contractor. This is where many of the people who assist including home inspectors, who are a 'Jack of all trades' type inspector. You will note that there are some really specified inspectors, who would be excellent if a problem was thought to be found by a home inspector. I do not think a home inspector is an end and I really do not believe that have any chance of knowing or seeing everything, but they might find some glaring things. I find that a person with an Environmental Professional license has a bit more experience and knowledge than a simple Home inspector.
For the people who are looking at a home with a well and that well is treated, I really want to point out that there are no licenses required for water treatment systems on private homes water supplies and there are many regulations, laws and plain common sense issues that are ignored in this area. I find this lack reprehensible and dangerous. Many scam artist sneak in and scare people. Please Note that well drillers are are licensed and many of them do provide treatment and so there is recourse. There is a professional society, but I could find no links to describe its purpose other than a group of people who install water treatment devices.
So this will be an issue for another post.
So what am I going to talk about today? Certifications and licenses.
The real Estate business is full of licenses, meaning, they can not do something illegal with out consequences. That is a good thing, but they don't know everything and can not be expected to know everything. This means other people get involved.
So if you follow the link to construction, you find the normal categories and then there is Special trades contractor. This is where many of the people who assist including home inspectors, who are a 'Jack of all trades' type inspector. You will note that there are some really specified inspectors, who would be excellent if a problem was thought to be found by a home inspector. I do not think a home inspector is an end and I really do not believe that have any chance of knowing or seeing everything, but they might find some glaring things. I find that a person with an Environmental Professional license has a bit more experience and knowledge than a simple Home inspector.
For the people who are looking at a home with a well and that well is treated, I really want to point out that there are no licenses required for water treatment systems on private homes water supplies and there are many regulations, laws and plain common sense issues that are ignored in this area. I find this lack reprehensible and dangerous. Many scam artist sneak in and scare people. Please Note that well drillers are are licensed and many of them do provide treatment and so there is recourse. There is a professional society, but I could find no links to describe its purpose other than a group of people who install water treatment devices.
So this will be an issue for another post.
Monday, December 22, 2008
So you want to by a House?...Part 6 - Radon
This is one of the craziest things with the USEPA I have ever dealt with and I as I said before, I could be wrong, but I think something stinks with this one (no radon has no odor). For many years the USEPA has been looking for a way to explain non-cigarette related lung cancers, they did this epidemiological study on lung cancer among uranium miners in Grand Junction, Colorado. They did this because there were a significant number of non- smokers in the mine (Native American, primarily). So in 1989 they began trying to establish regulation regarding radon and they have an established limit for radon in air of 4 picocurries per liter of air. What they finally did a couple of years ago was to pass the data off to the National Science Foundation who suggested that there could be a link to lung cancer, but that the main issue was still smoking. I have a hard copy of that review, I can not find it on the web any more since the USEPA has gone on their radon campaign. The USEPA passed the buck to the states and said you have to regulate water and gave them money to do so. There is a general guidance document that says 5,000 picocuries per liter of water is a recommended limit for private consumption and 300 in a municiple water supply. Up to last year, the state of Connecticut website had all the conflicting info concerning the issue. That has been removed since the USEPA money came down. One of the most interesting piece of epidimelogical work that I have seen was something done by the state of Washington which should and inverse relationship with the number of lung cancers and radon levels in water. The biggest issue I have is that the incidence of non-smoking lung cancers has not been related to actual radon exposure levels. As an environmental investigator, I find ths completely distasteful and wrong. Now it has started a whole new buisness of radon mitigation, but it has also put home buyers and homeowners in a difficult situation. If it is shown not to be a real issue, then homeowners will have pent useless money and new homebuyers can not take the chance that it will not be an issue for the future. Truth my not prevail in this case, but the recommendation that everyone get the level of radon in the air check is sound because it will allow a true epidemilogical study on tradons part in lung cancer.
Now radon is an item that does impart radioactive particles (Radon 222 releases alpha particles and Radon 224 releases beta) and so the chance that this is a carcigan exists, but the pulling scotch tape realeases X-rays and that is more significant.
So I say I could be wrong...
First the epidemiglogical study needs to be done and that will tell us everything. Next I have been wrong about things before. When?
Well when we had a very proactive Health director concerning lead, lead standards and abatement and he wanted to drop or level of lead in dry paint from the national level of 0.5% to 0.06%. I actually fought him on it because there was no evidence to support it. We then had a single case where the level of chewed paint was between those two numbers and the child's lead leval was significant. Now I realized that that was an acute situation and may not have had a lasting effect on the lead level in the child, but it did not matter, the level was high , even for a short time and I became an ardent supporter of that more stringent level.
So until the data supports the conclusions that have been drawn, I remain very skeptical.
Now radon is an item that does impart radioactive particles (Radon 222 releases alpha particles and Radon 224 releases beta) and so the chance that this is a carcigan exists, but the pulling scotch tape realeases X-rays and that is more significant.
So I say I could be wrong...
First the epidemiglogical study needs to be done and that will tell us everything. Next I have been wrong about things before. When?
Well when we had a very proactive Health director concerning lead, lead standards and abatement and he wanted to drop or level of lead in dry paint from the national level of 0.5% to 0.06%. I actually fought him on it because there was no evidence to support it. We then had a single case where the level of chewed paint was between those two numbers and the child's lead leval was significant. Now I realized that that was an acute situation and may not have had a lasting effect on the lead level in the child, but it did not matter, the level was high , even for a short time and I became an ardent supporter of that more stringent level.
So until the data supports the conclusions that have been drawn, I remain very skeptical.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sewage in the Environment! Bad or Good?
As I appear to get sharper and more on top of things, there are more things to talk about in the environment. The Greenwich sewage spill. Greenwich has a lot of problems with their infrastructure regarding the the sewer lines. They don't have some one like Stamford does in the person of Jennette Brown who is obsessed (in a very positive way) with treating sewage. Their problems (along with the towns upstream) have kept Byram Beach on a very precarious "open" status. But do I think this is necessarily bad, No! Truth is for many years, there was no swimming in the winter because the treatment plant just let the sewage flow out untreated into the Sound. Now I know everyone is going "yuck" right now, but it actually provided for the nutrient base for an incredible fishing hatchery in the sound and while this was going on, there was no hypoxia! The balancing act of nature absorbed all those nutrients and produced, surprise, fish! Now I will admit, according to the theory that I proposed a few posts ago, it also created the ground work for the problems we now have. anaerobic bacteria working full tine to produce the toxic H2S. So in light of my previous post concerning the late rain, there might be an added benefit from this sewer break and fisher people might have a positive surprise this coming spring. Of course I do not recommend releasing untreated sewage into the sound due to the disease issues, but there are ways to deal with the diseases before the stuff whits the fan, so to speak.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Rain and its effects
I actually loved the rain we got last night for many, many reasons.
1- this rain usually happened in the early fall, not the late and that means we might get a break for the winter.
2- there were still lots of leaves going into the gutters and storm drains.
why am I happy about this? To me it means lots of carbon and nitrogen going into the sound when it is cold, so the dissemination of food to the criters down in Long Island Sound will be a slow process and that is usually the best kind. There is one possible issue, something I discussed in the Eureka moment a few months back. The stuff won't be used for foo, instead the chemical decomposition will occur making it not food, but a poison, H2S. So am I write? If my Eureka moment is true , the Sound will be very dead this spring. I am waiting....
So I get to watch a discovery channel program yesterday and it completely verified everything Art Glowka and I have been saying in a round about way...The Long Island Sound part of the USEPA is killing the Long Island Sound by trying to clean it up.
The story was the testing of a theory, bringing up bottom nutrients from the ocean floor and suspending them in the area photosynthesis occurs. The purpose was to test a method of disposing of carbon, reducing the effects of CO2. The experiment worked for 18 hours before unraveling and failing, but in 18 hours it increased the level of plankton and therefore plankton eaters (IE. fish) by a huge proportion.
So by an inverse collalary, the more you stop nutrients from going into a body of water, the less plankton and plankton eater you will have. Meaning you will have less fish. And that really is what has happened in the Long Island Sound. Take notice USEPA, you have been 'busted' by the discovery channel!
1- this rain usually happened in the early fall, not the late and that means we might get a break for the winter.
2- there were still lots of leaves going into the gutters and storm drains.
why am I happy about this? To me it means lots of carbon and nitrogen going into the sound when it is cold, so the dissemination of food to the criters down in Long Island Sound will be a slow process and that is usually the best kind. There is one possible issue, something I discussed in the Eureka moment a few months back. The stuff won't be used for foo, instead the chemical decomposition will occur making it not food, but a poison, H2S. So am I write? If my Eureka moment is true , the Sound will be very dead this spring. I am waiting....
So I get to watch a discovery channel program yesterday and it completely verified everything Art Glowka and I have been saying in a round about way...The Long Island Sound part of the USEPA is killing the Long Island Sound by trying to clean it up.
The story was the testing of a theory, bringing up bottom nutrients from the ocean floor and suspending them in the area photosynthesis occurs. The purpose was to test a method of disposing of carbon, reducing the effects of CO2. The experiment worked for 18 hours before unraveling and failing, but in 18 hours it increased the level of plankton and therefore plankton eaters (IE. fish) by a huge proportion.
So by an inverse collalary, the more you stop nutrients from going into a body of water, the less plankton and plankton eater you will have. Meaning you will have less fish. And that really is what has happened in the Long Island Sound. Take notice USEPA, you have been 'busted' by the discovery channel!
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