Finally, something older than dirt.
We know how important water is to us…but where did it come from? The conclusions of a University of Michigan team, recently published in Science magazine, state that up to 50% of the water now on Earth may have existed before the birth of the sun, 4.5 billion years ago. The article states “water is […]
Third Party Certification of Water Treatment Products
L. Heiden has been in the water treatment business for more than 25 years. Currently, she is a National Account Executive for UL and is an active member of the Water Quality Association. Several years ago, I happened to be traveling in Mexico to do some product training. I was out and about one day […]
Tiny Bubbles—The Chemistry of Carbonation
If you read the title and started humming the song, then you are probably at least as old as I am. If you don’t know what I am talking about, then you will have to wait till the end of this blog post to find out. Chemically speaking, the term “carbonation” is somewhat misleading in […]
Understanding the In-Home Water Test
Kinetico Dealers offer free in-home water tests. Many people call Kinetico Consumer Relations to ask why we require a representative in their home to test the water. Some are concerned that they will be subjected to a hard-sell salesman who won’t leave until the homeowner makes a purchase. Some view the water test as hocus-pocus […]
How does a carbon filter work?
Most drinking water applications involve a carbon filter, either by itself or as part of a more complex system. As I said in a previous post, many reverse osmosis system have a carbon filter as the post filter. There are many stand-alone carbon filters too—think about the water coming out of your fridge or the […]
Cyanobacteria and Microcystins
Recently nearly half a million people using Lake Erie for drinking water were warned not to use it. The reason for this is increasingly common in Lake Erie and other surface waters. By the time fall and late summer have rolled around, enough excess nutrients have washed into our waterways that the natural balance can be upset. […]
Kids and Drinking Water
Ew, Yuck! That is the commentary I received from my five year-old when he tasted the contents of the bedtime cup of water I brought for him. I filled it from the new state-of-the-art carbon filter I recently installed in our upstairs bathroom. We have a Kinetico reverse-osmosis drinking water system downstairs in the kitchen, […]
Reverse Osmosis system & pH of your water?
pH Scale First, it is important to understand that liquids are measured on the pH scale. A value of 7 on the scale is considered neutral (neither acidic nor basic). Values lower than 7 are considered acidic whereas values higher than 7 are considered basic or alkaline. If you would like to learn more about […]
Helping Kids Explore Water Treatment with Fab Lab
Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a rather unique project called the “Fab Lab”. The Fab Lab, short for Fabrication Laboratory, was developed by MIT’s Center for Bits & Atoms. It is basically a large van which contains high-tech production equipment to assist students with their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects. […]
Water Contaminant: Nitrates
Nitrate is the anionic part of a salt that commonly occurs with sodium or potassium. Traditionally it was used in the manufacture of gunpowder and munitions where it was originally extracted from urine and was then mined. Today nitrates are also employed as a source of nitrogen in inorganic fertilizers. Nitrate is limited in drinking […]
