How Clean is Your Water?

As you might guess from the title, I was a non-believer for a while.

Growing up in Southern Alberta, drinking water has come along way. I recall fowl tasting, over-chlorinated, water from the taps as a kid. Over time, water quality improved quietly. When it’s decent, clean water goes by un-noticed. We had cousins who grew up on a farm so visiting them made us appreciate good potable water in the Lethbridge. In fact I can’t recall the last time we experienced substandard tap water? We also take comfort in knowing the country we live has this as a priority. Being an Architect, not a mechanical engineer, this topic is a little out of scope. Because of this, we’re approaching the topic as informed citzens with an aptitude for construction.

Drinking water quality in Canada is governed by the Provinces (Alberta Health Services in Alberta) that dovetail with the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health. Both organizations work towards base standards set by the Federal Government, who have created the ‘Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Standards’. These guidelines have maximum standards of Microbiological Contents(protozoa), Bacterial contents (Coliforms and pathogens), allowable presence of harmful Chemicals and Compounds (90+), as well as radiological parameters.Furthermore, the City of Lethbridge in 2016 ‘Best of the Best Water Taste Test Award by Western Canada Water (WCWWA), so one would think it’s near perfect. We should also note there was a news story in 2019 about the Edmonton City residents being exposed to higher concentrations of lead and heavy chemicals in their water. I am fully confident Edmonton has resolved this issue but might highlight the improvements in the industry. Canada ranks 2nd for the quality of the unfiltered water quality, 2nd to Sweeden. So while it is always noble to try to improve, overall Canada is starting at a higher benchmark.

So why is everyone needing home Reverse Osmosis systems? We had no inclination in installing a R.O. system until recently.

Notable American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright coined many notable sayings. "Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities” is a mantra I seemed to have based my life around. Relatedly we tell our kids “if there is any money left over when we die, it will be only due to pure miscalculation”. So when we purchased a LaMorzocco Commercial espresso machine in order to indulge(a decision we thank to this day)-we had no idea of it’s requirements. Brewing espresso needs high heat to brew properly and subsequently espresso machines need Reverse Osmosis filtered water (to prevent scaling on the internal workings that come into contact with water).

In the fall of 2020 we installed a Reverse Osmosis system(RO) in out house. We went with the ‘HERO’ Reverse Osmosis System available at Emco as recommended by our trusted expert-Phil. There are some good 1-stop water experts in town. We went the DIY route as we know our way around construction, and dabble with modest plumbing fixes around the house. We also saw the DIY route to offer more learning. Phil liked and recommended the HERO because it recycles the lower grade water back to your toilets and showers. The product claims that it recycles 4-12 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of R.O. water. We understand this is an uncommon feature among Reverse Osmosis Systems.

The concept of their operation is simple. Source water is pre-filtered for sediment, passes through a carbon filters to remove the small impurities, and any remaining unwanted matter is not able to pass by the last Reverse Osmosis membrane(this requires low-voltage current to work against osmosis), and finally back through a second carbon filter. It should be noted that while the treated City water might leave the plant clean, the cleaned water can be subjected to harm through the piping system between the residence and treatment plant.

We estimate that we go through 700 litres of water per year in our household of 4. We use it for coffee and cooking. It tastes like nothing. How would we know if it’s working? The visual inspection is obvious.

We have not subjected our water or filters to 3rd party testing, because we don’t think we need to. Visually inspecting the pre-filters, and 2 carbon filters tells enough of the story. The yellowing of the filters diminishes and follows the sequential placement of the filter. As downstream areas of the filters remain white, we can only assume the yellowing indicates the presence of impurities-and the diminishing yellow and indication of effluence water purity. This is starting with Lethbridge water, which we have all ready acknowledged has a high base quality.

The pre-filter relies on snagging physically large particles. Water is forced through layers of super fine fabric. The holes in the pre-filter are designed to catch particles 5 microns or larger. The fabric is made from an undisclosed number of polypropylene, and too hard to determine the number. The coloration is a bit more on the outer layer, but consistent throughout its section. We believe this is catching any fine dirt or rust in the domestic water infrastructure in the City.

Water is channelled through the carbon filter. Carbon filters rely on the porosity of the carbon, with the impurities being trapped on a micro level by the carbon filtration. We live in the Historic London Road District, and suspect there might be a higher concentration of lead in the source water. This is due to the materials and construction practices we assume were used when our house was constructed in 1908. A neighbour 6 houses away had some of their external piping tested and replaced for this concern. Our solution instead was to install the R.O. System.

In closing, we found the HERO Reverse Osmosis System to be very positive. Our only criticism might be the storage storage tank would be undersized for our home usage by 1/3. We estimate a 5 gallon might be more suited for our needs. We are willing to accept some of our issue might be not fully understanding our household needs. This said the small tank not a terrible imposition as it seems to take 5 minutes or less to fully recharge the tank. Secondly the installation instructions are not so clear given my understanding of plumbing. Phil recommended this youtube video-it’s way more clear.Our endorsement of this product comes without receiving any remuneration or returned benefits. We purchased both the original product and the replacement filters. No freebies!

Update January 6, 2022.

While we were satisfied our R.O. System was working well based on the bi-products and sediment left in the filters, we felt the base observations might not be satisfactory to some people. So we approached Down to Earth Labs Inc to help us with some data. They had two tests we could try: 1. A potable water test that analyses pH, EC, TDS, Cl, F, Ca, K, Mg, Na, Fe, NO3N, SO4S, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, TSS, P, Cu, Mn, Zn, Carbonates, and Bicarbonates. While I am curious about these, I know the City of Lethbridge in their treatment process has all ready paid attention to these. I also think these are more critical to test for if you have well water or a cistern system.

2. Heavy Metal analysis. This was the test we opted for as it is more likely to affect the health of our family. In a perfect world we’d undertake both, but well money doesn’t grow on trees and again the visual scale on the used filters is tell-tall.

The test water was submitted on January 6, 2022. We are awaiting findings.

Update January 15, 2022.

See the Full Test Data, H.E.R.O. data.