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The proper way to treat Arsenic in Drinking Water

Written by Falk Herd on July 7, 2010 — Leave a Comment

The proper Way to remove Arsenic from Drinking Water

In one of our prior newsletters we have provided information on Arsenic (see article published on our web page) in general.

Since we feel there are still some misconceptions about the proper treatment of arsenic, we would like to take this space to explain some crucial considerations.

The first thing to notice is there are 2 types of arsenic, called Arsenic III (type 3 or arsenite) and Arsenic V (type 5 or arsenate). Arsenic V is basically oxidized Arsenic III and it is important to remember this for later! As well, when it comes to arsenic, on-site testing can provide some indication but in terms of a clear result, we would always recommend involving a lab for testing purposes. Read more »

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Posted in Arsenic, Drinking Water Contaminants, Laboratory, Water Facts, Water Sample

Facts: Sampling Water Properly

Written by Falk Herd on April 3, 2010 — Leave a Comment

There is a large variety of different containers and bottles for sampling water and other substances available and the laboratories do have their distinct requirements along those lines. Amber Glass, Teflon Lined, No Head-Space, Clear Glass (Jar) and Plastic Bottle are just a few and they all serve a very specific purpose.

For the evaluation of water and respective treatment systems, based on the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines, a lab usually requires two types of containers with regularly resulting in 3 containers used.

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Posted in Drinking Water Contaminants, Laboratory, Water Facts, Water Sample | Tagged ,

Facts: Aluminum and Drinking Water

Written by Falk Herd on March 24, 2010 — Leave a Comment

Aluminum makes up about 8% of our earth’s surface. Aluminum has numerous areas of applications in the construction industry because of its very beneficial weight-to-strengths-ratio.

Unfortunately there are many negative side effects as well, especially when ingested. Aluminum is very hard to get rid of, once it is in our bodies. The good news is that from the average amount of 5mg (5 milligrams or parts per million) ingested by the average person per day, usually just 10 parts per billion will be absorbed.

But once it is in our bodies it just keeps piling up. In order to dissolve aluminum effectively, the pH-level – the acidic concentration within a fluid – needs to be at 4.5 or lower. This is definitely not what we are looking for inside our bodies.

So what are associated risks of ingesting aluminum at higher dosages? Read more »

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Posted in Aluminum, Drinking Water Contaminants, Water Facts | Tagged ,

Facts: Uranium and Drinking Water

Written by Falk Herd on February 9, 2010 — Leave a Comment

A pretty unspectacular way of looking at uranium is to display it as a radioactive metallic element, existing in anionic complexes, found naturally only in combination with other substances, with U-238 being the most common form.

But that is boring, is it not? Uranium has a fascinating history and here are some interesting things about uranium, which you possibly have not heard of yet and hopefully enjoy reading about.

Uranium is at position 54 of the table showing the abundance of elements, which means it naturally exists more often than gold, silver and mercury and I am sure we in Nova Scotia have no problem to believe this fact.

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Posted in Drinking Water Contaminants, Water Facts | Tagged ,

Facts: pH and Alkalinity Part 1

Written by Falk Herd on January 9, 2010 — Leave a Comment

Historically pH is an abbreviation from Latin language and stands for “potentia hydrogenii” (those who had Latin at school might remember the double “i” referring to the genitive of the neutral gender – gee I am getting old, this is over 30 years ago now?) and could be translated as the power of hydrogen. Over the years and in order to keep the abbreviation in its genuine form alive, it has developed into “Potential of Hydrogen.”

PH is automatically linked to other components on which I will touch a little later and which will make the whole connection very interesting. The most important one is alkalinity.

PH displays how acidic or basic water is. On a scale from 0-14 you can test the respective levels with 7 being considered neutral, anything below meaning acidic and anything above meaning basic.

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Posted in Water Facts | Tagged , ,
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