As the water crisis looms larger, Water Talk dedicates this episode to exploring sustainable solutions. Discover the ins and outs of Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems and their effectiveness against various contaminants. Learn about the growth of communities, the strain on water resources, and the role of technology in providing cleaner and safer drinking water. Listen in to get empowered with information that can help protect your family’s health and the environment.
Announcer :
Welcome to Water Talk with Paul the Waterman brought to you by Water Pros. Paul the Waterman is Colorado’s expert on all things related to the water we use and drink in our homes. Have you ever thought about where your water actually comes from? Is it safe to drink? Is it harmful to my health, my skin, or my hair? Paul the Waterman knows water and he has the answers. So get ready to talk to the Waterman yourself right now. Call in with your questions to talk with your host, Paul the Waterman.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Water Talk. I’m Paul the Waterman. Glad to be here with you today. Holy cow. Did I get the virus? Man, that’s a mean, wicked virus that’s going on out there, isn’t it? One thing that I found… is when I started drinking pure H2O from my reverse osmosis system, that’s really made a difference. You know, when you’re cold, they say, you know, keep hydrated, keep fluids in you. And so, you know, first thing you want to do is drink juice, right? Everybody wants to drink juice. But when I went to straight pure H2O, I noticed that my mouth, even though I was drinking, felt dry. So that told me, man, I’m dehydrated. And so even though I was drinking juices, it doesn’t mean that my body was hydrated. Think of that. So I kept drinking water and more water, and eventually my mouth didn’t feel dry anymore. But then I noticed that I was able to build up those secretions that were able to expel all that junk out of your body. Not to be gross, but I just wanted to share with you. So Pure H2O is my recommendation to help get through this virus. So today we have a lot of things I want to talk about. First thing I want to go is inform you that waterpros.net is your place for all this perfect information. I call it perfect information because something that we need to learn about regarding our water. You know, water quality and water is life. Water is health. And without water, we don’t have, you know, we don’t have health. We don’t have a good quality of life. So if you go to waterpros.net, All the information that we talk about, we share with you, is available. And one of the things that we posted, I want to bring to everybody’s attention, is we have an arsenic problem. Arsenic above safe levels in large percentage of Colorado well water. The EPA safe level for arsenic in drinking water is below 10 parts per billion. Unfortunately, recent data shows that huge percentage of Colorado well water is above EPA level, safe level. Wells in western slope like Delta, Pueblo, and Montrose are particularly of concern because they’re at extremely high levels. One part in a sample taken in Montrose had a sample of 1,422 parts per billion of arsenic. Now, long-term arsenic exposure can create serious health issues, and they recommend that it should be removed as soon as possible. I mean, you know, cancer is absolutely a factor in this with high arsenic level. And so if you look at the map, and again, this is on our website. Go to waterpros.net, and the bottom of the page, you’ll see the article. You can click on it on the left, and you’ll see the map, and it’s all over the state. arsenic levels above the recommended EPA levels, pretty much all over the state. Now, there are some counties, believe it or not, that collected no data. I find that pretty fascinating. What is arsenic? Well, we know what arsenic is, right? Arsenic is basically radioactive material in a sense. Arsenic is a natural occurring element found in the Earth’s crust. It’s widely distributed in soil, rock, and water, often as parts of minerals. It’s a dissolved solid, so it’s something that’s in the water that you don’t see it. It’s invisible. It’s so tiny. While arsenic is sometimes used in industry and agricultural, its presence in drinking waters is a significant concern due to its toxicity. Arsenic exists in two main forms, organic and inorganic. with organic arsenic being a more toxic form when it’s found in well water. Exposure to arsenic in water occurs primarily through ingestion, but inhalation and skin contact can also pose risk. Arsenic contamination is particularly concerning because it’s colorless, tasteless, and odorless, making it difficult to detect without proper testing. So arsenic is something that we’ve talked about before. We wanted to bring this to your attention only because I think arsenic is going to become more common because of the growth. Colorado has a lot of growth, and so a lot of population, a lot of new communities, and we’re drawing from the same water resource. So think about this. Before all the growth and new subdivisions, that popped as far as I can see. I mean, think about the new subdivision that’s in Aurora off of C470. That’s brand spanking new and it’s growing and it’s big. Think about all the growth in Douglas County. Highlands Ranch back in the day, in the early 90s, was the fastest growing community I think it was the early 90s in the United States, and now look at it. It’s its own city. Really, it’s big. And Highlands Ranch is now touching the new community that’s off of Santa Fe, and that’s out there outside of not quite Sedalia. I’m going to lose my train of thought here. Is it called Sterling Ranch? That new community subdivision out there, look how big that’s grown. And that goes all the way to Douglas County to the far edge by Lockheed Martin. And so with all these communities out there, they’re drawing from the same water resource. And communities like Castle Rock are just huge. Castle Rock, think how big Castle Rock is. 2015 Castle Rock was a fraction of the size as it is in less than 10 years. It’s boomed. And now, you know, as we go into 2025, you know, Castle Rock has so many subdivisions of different growth, and I wonder how much population Castle Rock has added. So all those people, all those populations are drawing from the same water source. My point, what I’m getting to, is that I think the concentration of arsenic could increase as the water level goes down. So well water, ground water, Case in point, new house outside of Wolfensberger. So that’s 25 to go to Castle Rock, the Wolfensberger exit, take that all the way down just before Prairie Park Road. They’ve got these new homes being built, multimillion dollar homes. And I know for a fact that one home, you know, is going to, you know, permitted for well use. They want to use 20,000 gallons of water a month just on irrigation. 20,000. Now, that’s a lot. So we’re not talking about water conservation. We’re talking about water usage. And so when you get that much water usage and you’re just going to blow it on irrigation, understand people want to have nice, you know, grass and trees. But when we’re talking about a population growth, we don’t have a plan for water usage. Nobody thinks about water usage. Case in point, Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s a desert. And look at all the growth that’s happened in Las Vegas over the last 30 years. Las Vegas is a desert, and they’re implanting palm trees and vegetation that don’t grow in the desert, and it requires tons of water. Well, Colorado, technically, you know, we can say the plains is, you know, they say is a desert, really. We don’t get much rain, especially in the last 20 years. I remember Colorado used to, you know, in the summertime, you know, you could set your watch at 3 o’clock in the afternoon because you knew you were going to get that afternoon thunderstorm. So… Back to my point. With all the usage and all the growth, there’s only so much water that goes around. So you think of a bathtub full of water. And then on top of that bathtub, think of the slope sides as the land and all the housing growth. So you got all this, you know, the slope sides represent the land and the housing development. But underneath, it’s the same amount of water. So the more water you use, what’s going to happen? Right? The water table goes lower and lower. And that’s where I think… the concentration of contaminants is going to get higher and higher and higher because there’s less water. So thus, we’re going to have higher readings of arsenic and arsenic in our water. So with well water, I sincerely recommend that people do annual testing. Now, when you buy a home and you’re going to, you know, go hunt well water, I would definitely recommend that you get your realtor and you get along with the buyer. You know, the buyer and seller should get together and they should agree to do a water test. And arsenic should be one of the items that they test for. If you have any questions for us here in studio. feel free to give me a call at 303-477-5600. That’s 303-477-5600. One of the things to think about when we’re talking about arsenic and its exposure, long-term exposure problems, as I mentioned, cancer, arsenic is classified as a carcinogen and has been linked to skin, bladder, lung, and kidney cancer. It can create cardiovascular problems. High arsenic levels can contribute to heart disease and high blood pressure. It can have neurological effects. Chronic exposure can lead to congenitive impairment and developmental issues in children. Skin disorders. Prolonged exposure can cause pigment changes and hardening patches on the skin. Weaken immunity systems. Arsenic can compromise immune function making individuals more susceptible to infections. Digestive issues. Chronic exposure can be linked to gastrointestinal problems, including nausea and abdominal pain. So, you know, I just encourage everybody who lives in a well, especially, you know, if you’re If you’re in Elizabeth, Franktown, if you’re Parker, East Parker, in that vicinity, I would absolutely recommend that you guys get an arsenic test. Now, how do we remove arsenic from well water? That’s something that WaterPros absolutely specializes in. And one of the things that we do is an anion exchange. The process replaces arsenic ions with safer ions such as chloride to purify the water. So anion resin can remove arsenic. Activated aluminum filters is a way to go. Oxidization filtration I’m not a fan of. Of course, you know, reverse osmosis, point of use reverse osmosis is also effective. But when you have an anion resin system and you can remove, see anion resin, that is a media that’s really a great polisher. So you have to start with a cation, basic cation ion exchange water softener, because anion resin, remember, anion resin is very effective, but it doesn’t like hardness in iron. So the first thing you have to do is make sure that there’s no water hardness or iron content. Then that anion resin, not only can it remove arsenic, but uranium and fluoride, nitrates, So that’s a really good effective filtration media, and thus that’s why I call it a polishing filter. The other thing that I want everybody out there to chew the bubble gum on is I think the most effective way in today’s world with all the water contaminants that we have, we should really consider whole house reverse osmosis filtration. Whole house reverse osmosis filtration is going to make sure that no matter what faucet you draw water from, you’re going to get the best possible bottle, better than bottle quality water at every single faucet. Because we have a lot of contamination going on. I’m going to talk to you today about a topic that we’ve mentioned before. But one of the things that we’re going to get into is unregulated pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. I don’t think we really pay attention and understand about how bad pharmaceutical contamination really is in our drinking water supply. Folks, we got a lot of problems with our water. PFAS, forever chemicals. I mean, that’s a huge problem, and that’s been going on since the 1970s. And my concern is PFAS is, you know, it’s contaminated our farmland. I think PFAS is a huge problem, and it’s going to be so scary once they open the curtain and expose how bad PFAS contamination really is. And then we’ve got the nanoplastics, microplastics. But pharmaceuticals is something that I’m going to cover next after this break. We’ll be right back.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
The EPA is making changes in regulations for water safety because of elevated levels of lead, Gen X, and forever chemicals in water supplies. Locally owned and operated WaterPros has home treatment solutions ready to install today. WaterPros employs the latest technologies and an expertly trained staff to help you with hard water, lead in your water, and mitigating forever chemicals. Book your complimentary test and consultation now, WaterPros.net.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
With Forever Chemicals in your water, it’s crucial to think about the quality of your water. Paul the Waterman here for WaterPros. Be sure your water is safe with affordable solutions from WaterPros. Visit WaterPros.net today.
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Forever Chemicals, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and total chlorine are real contaminants in our water. Clean water is essential for our everyday life. Water is the best flushing agent our bodies can use. We cook with water, we bathe in water, and we grow our food with water. Call Water Pros for your free in-home evaluation. Water Pros can educate you about the concerns of forever chemicals, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and total chlorine, and discuss ways to remove these contaminants from your family’s water supply. Call 303-862-5554 and request your free evaluation, or go to waterpros.net to request your free in-home consultation. Water Pros is a family-owned, veteran-owned business dedicated to offering the best solutions to meet the needs of the water concerns we have today. Call 303-862-5554 today or www.waterpros.net. This is 560 KLZ, your home station.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
Welcome back to Water Talk. So pharmaceuticals, There are unregulated pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. And that’s something that, as I mentioned before the break, we really need to start thinking about this. And here’s the reason. The persistence of pharmaceuticals in water can impact aquatic life. And we’re approaching Lent, so everybody’s going to be eating fish. potential for human health issues, and also in developing antibiotic resistance. So you’re going to hear and you have heard that the aquatic life of the fish that we eat can have the microplastic contamination, the PFAS contamination, and antibiotic contamination. So we have a list. commonly used pharmaceuticals that are ending up in our water supply one as acetaminophen that’s you know it’s a pain reliever it’s found in 24% of the water samples that we that were taken the other one Is caffeine. Of course, everybody drinks caffeine. That’s a stimulant. See, we all assume that when we take a medication or, you know, we take caffeine every day. I mean, I cannot start my day without a cup of caffeine. But then am I stopping to think that the amount of caffeine intake I have is I’m going to contaminate somebody else because it’s going to end up in the water supply? That’s what’s happening, and this is something that we all have to come to that realization. So there’s a sulfamethazole. I’m not pronouncing this properly, and forgive me for that, so I’m going to spell it. It’s S-U-L-F-A-M-E-T-H-O-X-A-Z-O-L-E. That’s an antibiotic, and it’s marketed under the brand name Bactrium. And it’s used in treating UTIs, bronchitis, middle ear infections. So I know for a fact that I’ve taken a Bactrium. And think about everybody else out there in the flu season that’s got a virus that could lead to an infection that’s taken a bacterium and it’s in our water supply. 31% of all water samples had this antibiotic in it. So that means that when we use the restroom and we flush the toilet, the antibiotics and the medication that we take is converted to a metabolic and it’s expelled right outside our body and it’s going right into the water supply. It’s there. Ibuprofen has been detected in drinking water samples. 14% of the drinking water samples detected ibuprofen. Triclosin is an antimicrobial, and it’s found in toothpaste, mouthwashes, soap, shampoos, surgical scrubs, and cleaning products. I’ll spell it for you. T-R-I-C-L-O-S-A-N. and antimicrobial. Do you guys remember in the news a while back, maybe three, four years ago, they told us, I think it was during COVID, stop using those antibacterial soaps. Remember that? That was suggested. So this was found in 57% of all water samples. And this is where we get a concern because it’s contributed to the development of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And that, to me, is what’s most concerning right there. How many superbugs have we heard about? And so what’s going on is that, remember, I mentioned this before, if you can test for a virus in the waste treatment plant, that means that the virus is living in the wastewater, and that’s scary because the wastewater also carries disinfectants. One of the disinfectants that are in wastewater is total chlorine, which is a chlorine and ammonia, and that’s put in the water to sanitize the water. Another major contaminant that’s found in water. Now, these are all unregulated pharmaceuticals. That means they’re pharmaceuticals that are absolutely in the water supply that the EPA is doing nothing about. Estrogen. Estrone. It’s a type of estrogen. It’s hormone. It’s detected in about 13% of the water samples. Long-term risk with this contaminant is cancer. Nearly 100 million Americans are served by public water systems with detectable levels of unregulated pharmaceuticals. This is a contaminant that we just broke about a year ago. And we brought it to everybody’s attention. And this is called 1,4-dioxane. 1,4-Dioxazine is a common contaminant. It’s suspected it’s a carcinogen that we ingest, inhale in dermal exposure because it’s in our soap and shampoos. So that gets into our wastewater very easily. It’s in our soaps and shampoos, conditioners. household cleaning products, and that’s 1,4-dioxane. So when we do laundry, when we use shampoos, we use certain cosmetics that has 1,4-dioxane, not only is it potentially harmful for us, but then it’s added to our water supply by simply being washed down the drain. 1,4-Dioxane has been in use since the 1940s. It’s not easily removed by conventional water treatment processing, so it’s a persistent contaminant. You can put that, in my personal opinion, in the PFAS-PFAS family. It’s a forever contaminant. Now, this was surprising to me, is that one of the recommendation methods of removing 1,4-doxin is ultraviolet radiation combined with hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and reverse osmosis. So an ultraviolet light… which is UV filtration, I have one in my home, can basically start to degrade the 1,4-dioxin. Reverse osmosis, because it’s nanofiltration, you’ll find is one of the most common methods, effective methods in water treatment across the board, because it’s a 0.001 micron. And that’s why I mentioned at the top of the show where I think the most effective way going forward, and I really truly believe, you know, down the road it’s going to be more of a necessity than a luxury, but whole house reverse osmosis units. We’re going to have to be at that level of nanofiltration. Now, you can have the point of use, and that works great. It’s underneath the kitchen sink. It has to be properly maintained. Filters need to be properly changed. But with that whole house reverse osmosis, that’s something that you can effectively, you know, use. And we just set one up the other day, you know, where every single aspect of the home is covered through the reverse osmosis. They are coming out, good news, in a good news sense, let’s talk about good news. They are coming out with biodegradation of microorganisms to attack PFAS and also, which is the forever chemicals, and also they can help degrade the 1,4-dioxin. Other contaminants. that are in our water supply is high levels of HCFC-221, which is primarily used as a refrigerant. It’s a carcinogen. It’s an endocrine disruptor. 4.7% of public water systems have detectable levels of dichlorothene. This is used as a solvent for plastic oils and fats. Of course, we have the PFAS contamination, which we all know about that. Increased, you know, PFAS are responsible for increased levels of, we talked about this cholesterol, immune system, you know, affects the immune system, cancer, liver damage, thyroid disease, asthma. So if you think about it, over the last 30 years, I think cancer rates have really increased. And now we’ve had cancer rates increase among youngsters. And you just can’t help but wonder if that is not because of our drinking water. Something to chew the bubble gum on, isn’t it? You know, one of the things we try to do is bring, you know, concerns, you know, to everybody, you know, to the forefront. Get people to think about their water because water is life. Water is everything. I mean, we need water to grow plants and we eat the plants. We need water to grow the steak and the chicken and the eggs so we can eat those. We need water to, you know, our body, you know, what is it, 80% of our body is H2O? And so this is something that I just want to bring to everybody’s attention. Hey, think about your water. Think about what we’re drinking. Hey, let’s take a quick break. We’ll be right back.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
Forever Chemicals in our water is now a part of our life. Forever Chemicals means that these chemicals don’t break down. Call Water Pros for your free in-home evaluation of the concerns of Forever Chemicals and the ways to remove Forever Chemicals from your family’s water supply. Call 303-862-5554 and request your free evaluation or go to waterpros.net.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
What’s in your water? Are you unknowingly drinking hormones, antibiotics, or dangerous chemicals? Paul the Waterman here from WaterPros. Now is the time to have our professionals help you with affordable solutions to be sure your water is free from those contaminants. Call WaterPros today and visit WaterPros.net. Toxic chemicals and bacteria last forever in your water if untreated. It’s a crucial time to think about the quality of your water to be sure it’s safe for you and your family. Call WaterPros today or go to WaterPros.net.
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Paul The Water Man (Host) :
Welcome back to Water Talk. I’m Paul the Water Man. It’s Titan Road I was thinking about earlier. You take Santa Fe to Titan Road and you head west and all those new subdivisions that it just came out of nowhere and how fast they developed and it goes all the way to the park. You know, new housing and same water resources. The water resources haven’t increased, but the housing and urban growth has. And so I think that’s something that we really need to start thinking about. And my concern is that certain contamination levels are going to increase as the water levels go down. So we’ve been fortunate enough to basically have high aquifer levels and not worry about water contamination. But the bigger the growth, the more water usage we’re going to have, that’s all going to change. I think we also have to consider reusable water. Reusable water is something that Castle Rock is going to jump into. They’re at 35% right now of reusable water. So what does all that mean? So what that means is that the contaminants that we talked about, the pharmaceuticals that we talked about, the rubber chemicals that we talked about, could be potentially provided back to the homeowner at higher concentration levels when you go through a reusable water stage. We know right now that water treatment plants do not remove pharmaceuticals. Water treatment plants do not remove PFAS. Water treatment plants do not remove microplastics. So what they do do, and this is the next one we want to get into, is they do add disinfectant byproducts that also can affect our health. One of them… And this is something that the World Health Organization has been screaming about for the last 35 to 40 years, and it’s called trihalomethanes. Trihalomethanes, known as THMS, is a group of chemical compounds that are formed by byproducts of water disinfection process. So basically, as they sanitize the water, bam, we have trihalomethanes. Hey, do you guys remember a couple weeks ago I first talked about private companies buying up water districts? Do you remember that? Do you think these private entities, and I think that’s something that’s going to hopefully it’ll stall. But if that’s something that takes off, then the quality of the water, that’s going to open up another whole big can of worms because clearly they have to follow the EPA guidelines. But what are their reporting regulations going to be compared to what a municipality is? And do you think the municipality follows the EPA guidelines? And I ask this not to get off topic here, but I ask this because of the water quality report, that we’re all supposed to get, and that when we do get, basically tells us nothing. The EPA has mandated that we get a water quality report. And that water quality report is supposed to be a truthful statement about the quality of water so us, the consumer, can determine how much water we use or how much water we want to drink and cook with. We can’t take for granted the safety and the quality water coming out of our tap. So if these private entities are going to purchase and start taking over water districts, it’s going to be, well, think what’s happening when they do with these toll roads, right? Private companies are buying and improving roads and creating these toll lanes. And then the tolls that they charge go to pay for the expense of creating the toll lane. So that charge is basically never going to end. Remember the toll road that goes to the airport, Pena? That was not supposed to be forever. And so my concern is, is that if a private entity starts taking over municipal water companies, I’m worried about the quality, and I’m worried about the reporting, and I’m worried about the checks and balances. Because water, again, is everything. Water is health. So try all the mad things. That’s from the process of adding chlorine to the drinking water. So when you add chlorine to the drinking water, that’s a disinfectant. But there are organics in the water. There’s our plant material in the water, so there are organics. When you mix that with chlorine, it creates the carcinogen trihalomethanes. And so the question, one of the questions is, do trihalomethanes form when chloramine is used instead of chlorine? Now, chloramine is chlorine mixed with ammonia. That’s a chloramine. And why do they do that? For longer contact times. Chlorine by itself is a gas that dissipates. It disappears. The chloramine stays. We’ve gone to homes and done a total chlorine test in hot water. And the test comes out higher, the total chlorine levels, than the cold water because chloramine builds up in the hot water heater because the hot water heater is a big container. And so I want to point that out to folks because that’s something that we’re breathing in in the steam when we take the shower. There’s a chloramine. That’s not healthy. Not at one bit. So chloramine is needed so it doesn’t dissipate, but they need that longer contact time to what? To kill viruses and bacteria. So do chloramines… Excuse me. Do trihalomethanes form when chloramine is used instead of chlorine? Yes. Trihalomethanes can still form when chloramine is used as an alternative disinfectant. However, the amount of trihalomethanes produced tends to be lower compared to the chlorine-based disinfectant. So chloramines, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, are less effective. reactive with organic material, reducing the likelihood of concentrations of trihalomethane formation. Despite this, other disinfectant byproducts may still emerge, necessitating comprehensive water quality monitoring. So what this means, long of it short, is the disinfectant byproducts that we use to sanitize our water create harmful carcinogens that will affect our health. So no matter which way you shake it, water quality from a municipal water source and by the disinfection process itself is harmful to our health. How do we fix this? Well, it’s going to be up to us. The water quality is absolutely up to us. You can’t right now treat water effectively at a grand scale. The technology does not exist. Not for large water resources that we have to have. Not for a large-scale community water source like Denver Water. It’s not going to happen. So point of use reverse osmosis is outstanding technology. It’s recommended by the EPA to remove PFAS. It’s recommended to remove the trihalomethanes and the total chlorine, and it’s also very effective at removing the pharmaceuticals. So number one is a point of use reverse osmosis. The reverse osmosis, because it’s nanofiltration, can remove PFAS. total dissolved solids. It’s abbreviation of a TDS. TDS equals stands for total dissolved solids. However, extreme hard water, water hardness, it’s over seven grains per gallon, is going to affect the operational contamination reduction level of a reverse osmosis because hardness is a liquid. And as it oxidizes, as water sits, and as it oxidizes, then that’s where the hardness precipitates out of the water. I was at a home this morning where the water hardness at the kitchen sink was 46 grains per gallon. 46! On a scale of 0, which is soft, and 10, which is extremely hard water, they’re at a 46. You can see the calcium precipitate out of the joints. Their house was plumbed with PEX crimping tool. It’s PEX pipe, but instead of an expansion tool, modern-day technology, They had the crimps, and what these crimps were, it took a special tool, and you had this metal o-ring that fit on the joint, and you had to squeeze it really tight. Used a lot of muscles to get it, get that joint crimped tight enough that it would seal. Well, the water was hard enough where the calcium was protruding off of those joints. You could see the hardness powder, and if you went to the kitchen sink, and you turned the sink upside down, you could see the calcium all over the faucet. And water that hard would destroy a reverse osmosis membrane. Think of a reverse osmosis membrane as a roll of paper towels that’s wrapped in layers. And every layer that the water goes through, the greater the contaminant reduction is achieved. But when you have hard water and hard water builds up on that membrane, it’s a thin film membrane. It’s like a roll of camera film back in the day. Those who are as old as me will understand what a roll of film was. Luke probably doesn’t know what it is. But a roll of camera film is a good visual for what a reverse osmosis is. So, you know, it’s wrapped in layers like a roll of paper towels, but then it’s basically like a roll of film. And so hardness, as it oxidizes, it scratches… the reverse osmosis membrane, eventually that reverse osmosis membrane swells and you’re not going to get any water to penetrate the membrane because it’s expanded to the point where water won’t move. And then the membrane has to be replaced. But before that happens, you start to get degradation of that membrane and rips and tears and so water passes through so you’re not getting the filtration that you think you are. That’s why we say filtration starts with water softening. A point of use reverse osmosis functions ideally when it’s supported with soft water. And then that anion filtration media that we were talking about, anion resin, which is really effective at removing a lot of contaminants. That needs soft water. So, you know, a water softener is really is the baseline to all filtration. Think about this. And I’ve mentioned this before. But this is really true. If we cared about our water environment. then everybody, you know, it would be all over the place. It would be recommended. I think the federal government would step in and give rebates for people to purchase a water softener because a water softener cuts down a lot of the chemicals that we use to clean up after hard water. That’s right. A water softener eliminates the need, number one, for all those acids that and harsh chemicals that are used to dissolve hard water. What’s one of the things that it’s used right now that you go out and buy? That’s an acid that you have to work rubber gloves, pardon me, and goggles to dissolve hardness. CLR. It’s an acid that basically you’re dissolving rock. But think about that. Then that gets into our water supply. And if pharmaceuticals get into our water supply, 1,4-dioxin, we just mentioned it. That’s, you know, in soap. That’s in our water supply. These chemical contaminations are from household products that have been used for generations and generations. And they’re building up and they’re not disappearing. Years ago, in the 60s, When people started thinking about this, and even in the 70s, the first thought that came out of their mind was, well, it’s such a minute amount, that diluted amount that is untraceable, it’s no big deal. Well, wasn’t that a mistake? Because guess what we found out and heard on this show? That at one part per billion is enough to contaminate With PFAS, one part per billion. How small is a part per billion? Anybody out there know how small a part per billion is? One drop in an Olympic-sized swimming pool is one part per billion. And then what happened? A couple months down the road, they said, okay, now it goes from one part per billion to four parts per trillion. So this means that it doesn’t take a large number to have a contamination issue. And that’s why I say about hard water, you don’t have to have a large number of hardness to have an issue with hard water. Water hardness can start affecting your fixtures and your appliances at seven grains per gallon. Majority of your modern day appliances, if you read the warranty, will be voided on water hardness at seven grains per gallon or above. And that’s pretty much almost all the metro area, except if you live in Louisville and they have naturally soft water. There are some communities out east of us that have naturally soft water, but they do also in Payton, Colorado. You can have naturally soft water, but you have silica, which looks like hard water, acts like hard water, but it’s silica. I’ve always said Colorado water quality is a mixed bag of nuts. It’s all over the place. Let’s take our last break.
Paul The Water Man (Host) :
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Paul The Water Man (Host) :
Hello, Paul the Waterman here for WaterPros. In the last six months, you’ve received letters from your local water company regarding the dangerous forever chemicals in your water. Several local news television outlets have done segments on the dangers in our drinking water. Trust me when I say pharmaceuticals are the next issue. WaterPros employs the latest technology and an expertly trained staff to help you with hard water and mitigating forever chemicals. Book your complimentary water test now at WaterPros.net. That’s WaterPros.net.
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Paul The Water Man (Host) :
Welcome back to Water Talk. Paul the Waterman here. Hey, if you have any questions, I have the answers, 303-477-5600. You can reach me at paul.douting, D-O-W-D-I-N-G, at waterprose.net. Go to waterprose.net and also find all this information that I’m sharing with you today. If you go to YouTube and you type in Paul the Waterman, We’ve got some videos and you can listen to, you know, we have our show posted. And under Paul the Waterman on any podcast, you can, you know, listen to past shows. So feel free. And we love your comments. So another concern, as there are many when it comes to our water quality, is this using plastic straws. I love Donald Trump. I do. Yeah, that’s my wife. But this plastic straw thing, I totally disagree with. And they just don’t understand microplastics, nanoplastics, and how big of a concern this is. And it’s in every aspect of our water supply. And they said, did you see in the news that now they’re finding microplastics in our brain? And they said at some point people could have as much microplastics microplastics in their body as the size of a credit card and a yearly intake? Was it a year? Did you see that story, Luke? Was it a year? No, Luke didn’t see it. Plastic in the brain. That can describe the whole Democratic Party, in my opinion. Plastic on the brain. So we have to, seriously, we have to think about when you take a glass of water, what’s in your water? You really do. What am I drinking? And we each have to take our own responsibility. So I think everybody agrees that it’s our health is our own responsibility. Everybody agree to that? Okay. And so what do we do? We’re supposed to eat healthy. By the way, on a side note, did you see all the contaminants in Girl Scout cookies? Joe Rogan did a podcast, and Girl Scout cookies, I mean, just look at that. I mean, when you can’t trust the quality of Girl Scout cookies, I mean, what the heck is the world coming to? Probably came from China. Anyway. Water quality is our responsibility as our health is our responsibility. Right? So we have to watch what we eat. No more Girl Scout cookies. We have to watch what we drink. Right? Too much of anything is not healthy except water. And so that’s why I think we have to take, you know, water as a major point, first stage in our health. So remember, I shared with you in the very beginning, when I was fighting this virus, I call it the Rock Falls virus. I had to go back to Rock Falls, Illinois. And that’s where I think I picked it up. So I’m calling mine the Rock Falls virus. And man, when I got home, the body aches for something that I can’t even imagine. pain the drain but when i started drinking pure h2o that’s when i really noticed the the turnaround but you know because water basically is a flushing agent and water good quality h2o helps basically create everything that we need to expel all the junk that builds up in our body so i want everybody to think about that water should be the first stage we’ll come out and do a free water test We’ll come out and go over all the options that we have to offer for you. For our radio listeners here, everybody still has the option of that 3195 special, reverse osmosis with the base water softener, so that’s still good. You can call us at 303-862-5554 and go to our website. But waterpros.net, just for the last couple minutes we have here, We definitely have some really good information. I’ve got a team that puts together some great blogs. And feel free to, you know, you’ll find this resources. That’s where, you know, I was reading information on trihalomethanes in water. We also have one that says, why do you need to remove TDS in water, which is total dissolved solids. That’s a really good article. Talks about eczema and what happens with eczema conditions. YOU KNOW, THE PFAS LEVELS, AND THAT’S SOMETHING THAT, YOU KNOW, WE DEFINITELY NEED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT. SO PFAS LEVELS, LAST COUPLE MINUTES, LET’S DO THIS. MY CONCERN WITH PFAS IS HOW MUCH FARMLAND HAS BEEN CONTAMINATED BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT PFAS ARE IN HUMAN WASTE, AND HUMAN WASTE THAT IS REMOVED FROM THE WATER TREATMENT PLANT, THE WASTE TREATMENT PLANT, THAT HAS TO GO SOMEWHERE. So what do they do? They’re giving it to farmers to farmers spread on the fields as fertilizer. And they’re not testing it. for PFAS levels, so it’s contaminating farmlands. We shared with you stories out east where farmlands were greatly contaminated, and they had to kill livestock and a whole herd of milk cows. Remember that? A Christmas tree farm where a family, husband and wife, developed cancer. The husband died, and the wife had PFAS levels higher than they’d ever seen before detected in her body. So we have a huge amount of issues. We can tackle it. We can filter it. We have to start at one home at a time. But this is something we can manage, but we just have to really pay attention to. So I want to thank… Brittany, who does a lot of great work, and she, you know, helps me with all, you know, the information for the show, and I’d like to thank Lindsay for putting together our blog and some great information, and go to waterprose.net. Everything that we talk about in the show is there, and again, you know, check out our podcast at Paul the Waterman. Look for Paul the Waterman, and you’ll see my, you know, handsome face and get to listen to past shows, and so… I want to thank you all for being here. God bless you all, and we’ll talk to you next week.
Announcer :
Remember to reach out to Paul the Waterman with your questions and water filtration needs, and be sure to tune in to Water Talk Thursdays at 2 p.m. to talk with Paul. And for more information, find him on the programming page at klzradio.com.
