Peace of Mind Starts with Your Water Supply

It's no understatement to say that I am deeply into water. As a water professional, I think about water all the time. I stay current on the technologies that help keep our water supply safe. I am an avid student of the history of water systems. I grew up in New York City, home to the best-tasting water in the world, and I'm fortunate to live in the United States, which has a high national standard for water quality, safeguarded by the colleagues I saw recently at the American Water Works Association's ACE conference in Toronto.

So when Laurie Lauria and I got ready to move into our new home in Napa, California, it probably comes as no surprise that one of the first things I looked into—before new window treatments and flooring options—was our water.

As Sivan Zamir ??? head of Xylem's Water Innovation Labs summed up on the "Water We Talking About?" podcast I host with Adam Tank in the motto she'd fly behind an imaginary plane: "Take an interest in where your water comes from."

Yes. Absolutely.

The Basics

Put me near a sink and I go into sensory mode like a sommelier walking past a wine bar. A reconnoiter of my new bathroom revealed a chlorine nose and a faint mineral residue on the shower doors. Porcelain was bright and white. Not a bad start.

A quick visit to the local water utility's website gave me the basics. The City of Napa Water Division draws the municipal water for me, Laurie and 86,998 other ratepayers from a surface supply, a pair of reservoirs nearby. I got a quick rundown of the latest water quality data: nice and low on manganese, a little on the hard side, alkalinity toward the higher side. The report lists treatments (they had me at "ozone," and also listed alum, caustic, floc aids and a couple of other tools) and was—if you'll excuse the pun—delightfully transparent.

That was reassuring, but as Ronald Reagan famously said during the nuclear arms talks with the Soviet Union, "trust but verify."

Test, Test, Test

I called Megan Casey Glover , founder of 120Water, for a workup of a water sample. Megan has also been a guest on "Water We Talking About?" and was one of the water entrepreneurs I spotlighted in a WaterOnline feature titled "Are You A Water Player? Be The Brand." She has built her company around the need to know what's in community water. The 120Water test came back: no lead, no arsenic. Good news.

With data in hand, I reached out to three water treatment companies. That's when things got interesting.

I went to a local plumbing supply company and met a knowledgeable salesperson who has been in the business a long time and was clearly well-versed in installing home systems. He ran a test on a sample I provided from my tap and followed up promptly with numbers indicating high chlorine and low hardness.

OK. Let's do some comparison shopping.

A Bazooka

A national water treatment company really shook my confidence. Their test came back with low levels of chlorine and high hardness—opposite of the local provider—which can be addressed with a system regenerated with salt or potassium. Then the representative went straight for the nuclear option: potassium permanganate.

If you're done with your latest Steven King horror novel, check out the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for potassium permanganate. May intensify fire. Oxidizer. Harmful if swallowed. Causes damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure. Very toxic to aquatic life.

I've had more than a passing acquaintance with potassium permanganate. One my first jobs as a young environmental engineer was to dispose of a warehouse full of chemicals that were no longer used in our sugar refining process. Nothing in that warehouse gave me more problems than disposing of four drums of potassium permanganate. Finally, they were accepted by a hazardous waste facility that handled the most toxic substances. (Today, it's an EPA Superfund site.)

In the hands of water treatment professionals at a commercial facility, potassium permanganate can be a very helpful tool for managing water quality. But for a homeowner? No thank you.

Different Results

My final stop was a national DIY company. They recommended an independent water systems supplier who came back with a report—following the Water Quality Association (WQA) test protocol—that my sample had high chlorine and high hardness: probably closest to what the utility's monthly report and my sensory evaluation suggested. The salesperson was probably most knowledgeable of the three about my water treatment options, and though the cost was probably about 10% higher than the other two, it turned out to be the most comfortable choice for me and Laurie.

So now you'll catch us in Napa enjoying not just the wine, but a nice glass of tap water. And as I sit on the deck, I might just be contemplating another blog that helps consumers decide on the right water treatment system for their home. Of course, the answer can vary from house to house and water supply to water supply—that's why it's so necessary for all of us to have access to good data and a strong understanding of what it means.?