[GSBN] Off topic question about water filtration

[Art Ludwig/ Oasis]

Chris, 

I'd suggest inexpensive, whole-house carbon for chlorine-free showers, etc., then expensive r/o for drinking only. Note that the preferred membrane filter for r/o is different for Cl-free water vs Cl-containing water.

~~~~~~~~~

BTW, I like making a cascade of uses with the r/o drain water (4 gallons for every gallon of drinking water; often a few thousand gallons a year.

 For example, we've used it to top off a700 gallon covered redwood cold plunge (=eco swimming pool, emergency water), the overflow from which went down a fountain that made a nice sound (no pump needed…the hotter it is the more you drink and the more it drips), then a small pool for birds and wildlife, which overflows to irrigate fruit trees. Use mosquito fish in the cold plunge and pool. 

The r/o drain water ("clearwater") can be easily moved through 1/4" tubing to a pool quite some distance away. Last one of these I did (in Spain) we ran the water 100' to a join spring, well, rooftop and road runoff in a 365 m3 stone cistern for swimming and irrigation. We used the clearwater line to feed a level indicator that showed the 4 meters variation in water depth between full and empty with 1mm accuracy--you could see one bucket of water change the level of a square pool 10x10 meters in extent.

Art


On Dec 7, 2014, at 6:30 PM, Graeme North <graeme at ecodesign.co.nz> wrote:

> Chris
> 
> Some in-line carbon filters seem to be pretty good at getting rid of a whole lot of nasties including lead - worth looking into at least for drinking water. For 100% pure then you may need to look at distillation, and there I suspect that there may be some nifty solar jobs around now.  
> 
> Graeme
> 
> 
> 
> On 8/12/2014, at 5:30 AM, Chris Magwood <chris at endeavourcentre.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I know this isn't really a straw bale question, but I thought all the excellently researched brains on this list might have some thoughts on the issue...
>> 
>> We're looking for advice on a good, whole house water filtration setup specifically to deal with municipal water. So we want to be removing flouride, chlorine, lead & other pipework metals, plus (if it's possible), the pharmaceuticals that are showing up in municipal water.
>> 
>> I know about reverse osmosis, but am wondering if there are other paths that anybody has researched or experienced?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Chris
>> 
>> -- 
>> Chris Magwood
>> Director, Endeavour Centre
>> www.endeavourcentre.org
>> 
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