Water filters

[AdrianF]

Anyone here had any experience with gravity fed water filters?
Bought one yesterday with a ceramic pre filter and an activated carbon filter and I cannot taste or see any difference in water quality still tastes disgusting still smells disgusting.

Wasted $130 and I still have to travel to Kilcoy for filtered water.

Adrian

[redbeard]

We just bought one from acompany called 'Waters' and it is the best ever. I have not drank tap water for 10 years and now it is better than the spring water in those 10 litre boxes.

At work now so don't have the details but have a lok online. I'll try to update with model number later

[AdrianF]

One I have is from WaterCo

Adrian

[AstralTraveller]

My guess is that activated carbon is the wrong type of filter for your water problem. AC is great for organics but will not remove other impurities such as hard water - including sulphates. For those you need ion exchange or reverse osmosis. The advice I've read is to first determine the cause of your water quality problem and then buy the appropriate filter. Unfortunately a quick google didn't find any good info on qld groundwater.

http://www.lenntech.com/sulfates.htm
http://www.msue.msu.edu/objects/content_revision/download.cfm/revision_id.499668/workspace_id.-4/01500610.html/

[AdrianF]

Was thinking about a reverse osmosis filter but from what I can make out they waste water. One I was looking at wasted 3 litres of water for every one litre of filtered water. Not good

Adrian

[AdrianF]

Was under the impression activated carbon was to reduce odour in the water.
The sales rep claimed the ceramic filter was a 0.5 micron filter to remove sediment and the AC filter to remove odours.
We have been using filtered water from Kilcoy to cook and make tea and coffee but it starts getting expensive driving from Yarraman to Kilcoy and back. So tried the town water and my cuppa had brown sludge form on the top, this was before the filter. After the filter was activated over night same problem. I cannot see taste or smell any difference in the water.

Adrian

[taminga16]

I do not have access to 'Town' water and am constantly repulsed when I am confronted with it. Buy a WATER TANK!
Greg.

[AstralTraveller]

Probably the best long-term solution if done well (first flush bypass and regularly remove the dead possums :D).



AC will (or should) remove certain classes of chemical, some of which are malodorous. However other smelly chemicals are not removed by AC. You need to determine the source of your problem and then arrange the right treatment.

According to the Toowoomba Council website 'Yarraman is supplied with water from the Ted Pukallus Weir' and 'all town water is treated and meets the Australian drinking water standard'. Also note:

'The Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 requires Toowoomba Regional Council, as a water service provider, to prepare and operate its drinking water schemes in accordance with a Drinking Water Quality Management Plan (DWQMP), which must be approved by the Queensland Government Office of the Water Supply Regulator (OWSR). Council’s DWQMP for the Toowoomba, Crows Nest, Hampton, Highfields, Perseverance and Cressbrook drinking water schemes was approved on 28 June 2011. A DWQMP covering the remaining Toowoomba Regional Council drinking water schemes has been prepared and submitted to the OWSR, and is awaiting approval.
The Act also requires drinking water service providers that hold approved DWQMPs to prepare an annual report on performance against the approved plan, and submit the report to the OWSR within 120 working days of the end of each financial year. Toowoomba Regional Council’s first annual report, covering the Toowoomba, Crows Nest, Hampton, Highfields, Perseverance and Cressbrook drinking water schemes was prepared and submitted to the OWSR on 19 November 2012.
Copies of the 2011-12 Drinking Water Quality Management Plan Annual Report are available for perusal at each of Council’s Customer Service Centres. Copies of the report may also be obtained in electronic or printed form, by contacting the Administration Officer, Water Operations, on telephone 131 872 or emailing council.' (http://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/about-council/contact-council/send-us-an-email)


So Yarraman is not yet covered by a DWQMP but its water should meet Australian standards and you may be able to get a copy of a report about its quality.



I would

1) Approach the Council and report that you have water quality problems and ask for a copy of any report(s) on the quality of the local water. Also ask for full details about the source of the water and its treatment. Don't worry if you don't understand the whole report,there are plenty of people on the forum who will.
2) Take the filter back and get a refund. If what others here have said on other threads is correct they have to take it back if it is unsuitable for the purpose for which it was sold. Obviously that is the case.



The environmental chemist I wanted to ask about this isn't here today so this is my guess FWIW. The water in the river is naturally fairly high in iron: this is normal. It also washes a fair amount of organic matter into the weir where it sinks to the bottom. If the weir is not mixing vertically (again quite normal) then the decomposition of the organic matter depletes the oxygen in the bottom water. This converts all the Fe to its ferrous form (Fe 2+) which is soluble. Apparently the water remains low in oxygen until it leaves your tap and gets into the kettle where it absorbs oxygen, thus turning the Fe ferric (Fe 3+), which is insoluble. So a precipitate of Fe2O3 and FeOOH forms and floats on the surface. It's harmless but unpleasant. The source of the odor is less clear. Perhaps it's from the decomposing organic matter. In particular any H2S formed will not be trapped by AC. Otherwise it's from the interaction of the precipitate with the tea. At various times I've made tea from river water and hard water and that tasted bad: worse than the straight water.


Let me know how you get on.

[AdrianF]

A water tank is next on my list of must haves. At least a 5000 gallon maybe 2

It never ceases to amaze me the wealth of knowledge available on this site just by asking.
I will call TRC on Monday and ask for a copy of the water quality report. I have tried to talk to our local councellor but unavailable.

Adrian

[Steffen]

I'm planning on getting a rain water tank as well, but certainly not for drinking from it. I'd be using it for gardening, hosing off the car etc. I've seen the sometimes foul stuff that comes out of my parents' water tank, it's not fit for human consumption.

I know that town water is something people love to hate, but it does vary from town to town. In western Sydney we have the blessing of surface water, which is very soft. It does have a certain taste to it, but at least its quality is constantly monitored and it's safe to drink (when it isn't they'll let you know and make a big fuss about it).

That said, for applications that require high quality water, such as tea and coffee, we buy Noble's Pureau, which is the best water I've yet tasted. At about 70-80 cents per litre in a 10l cask it's neither cheap nor expensive, but you have to go and buy it – they don't deliver. But it's totally worth it IMO, unfortunately not an option for most out-of-towners.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Larryp]

I have 5,500 litres of rain water storage I use for the garden, concrete cleaning or washing cars-but I would never drink it.

[redbeard]

The model we use is 'Waters' brand - 'Bio Mineral Pot 400' and as mentioned before, works really well. No smell, no taste, and super clear from tap water!

Read instructions carefully about initial setup re purging on first use etc.

[Poita]

If you approach the council, they will test the water for you, and will take action if there is a problem. I had stinky water in two different suburbs and both times I got a test done and after a few weeks a resolution was found.
Active carbon filters will remove a lot of smells, but not sulfates as far as I know.

[AstralTraveller]

Peter's idea is clearly the best. It's the council's responsibility so let them fix it.

I spoke to that enviro chemist today and he said that 'stink' is usually sulphides or perhaps some nitrogen compounds. Organo-sulphides and organic-ammonium compounds smell and, being quite volatile, don't tend to stick to filters. Both types of compound may be produced in the anoxic bottom waters of the reservoir. He wasn't too enthusiastic about my iron oxide/hydroxide idea but did point out that if that is the problem it should also be forming in the kettle. If you leave a class of water in the kitchen for a day or so it should also form a precipitate as oxygen is taken up into the water.

[AdrianF]

I have just spoken to the council and they are going to send someone out to check on water quality. I have to capture 2 X 1 litre containers of tap water for them to check. I asked if they could at least advise me of a water filter to use at home and was told they would need to check the water first.

Adrian

[AdrianF]

I don't use tap water to make a cup of tea anymore I use filtered water from a reverse osmosis machine.

Adrian

[Kunama]

I found the only treatment that makes water taste better is using hops, malt and yeast, that way you should be able to brew a flavour to suit your palate.

The problem with tank water I have found is the contaminants from roof tiles, oxidised paint, living critters getting into them.

[Barrykgerdes]

You do need to filter the water well if you want to flavour it with hops,yeast and malt.

But tank water needs all those goodies to make it taste good. That is the water we were brought up on and never had any bother.

These days we use water straight out of the tap for drinking, cooking etc.

Barry

[AdrianF]

I remember as a kid going to my aunts place along the Worcester/Birmingham canal. She used to get water from a well and you had to clench your teeth together to strain the wrigglers out.

Adrian

[Glenhuon]

What a waste of all that extra protein :)

I worked for the Water Corp here in Geraldton for 14 years before transferring to the Southwest. The water from the borefield was OK for drinking, Coffee etc. I even used to drink it straight from the well head. When I got back 12yrs later is was awful, seems they re-equipped the bores with bigger pumps and draw from a different source. I bought a Stefani Cristal gravity filter from Bunnings a couple of years back, does the job really well and only cost about $80. Capacity is about 6ltrs, adequate for my needs. We have an identical one in our Menshed, kindly donated by one of our members who also found the tap water undrinkable.

[AdrianF]

Had a good conversation with the water fellow from Toowoomba today he was very informative. We have manganese in the water at the moment and the council are/will be flushing the mains out soon. Also in the next few months council are going to be piping in water from lake barambah and wont be using the weir at Yarraman.

Adrian