Hard Water

Jan 29

Current practical example, have moved to the “northern upper” region of Michigan which is adjacent to a beautiful body of crystal clear water (Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan). Have leased a home in a more rural environment which has well water. Home is 50 years old, and all water appliances have visible mineral deposits. Bathtub has prominent orange rings that are the size of a coaster, bathroom sink drains have more whitish to faint green discoloration throughout, washing machine has deep rust staining of the enamel wash tub to the water fill line, two toilet fixtures have just been replaced with new, kitchen sink is stainless and drains are free of overt deposits but slight “dulling” of the finish noted. In the shower, washing my hair, I notice no difference in how my Pert shampoo lathers or rinses. The bar soap does feel slightly different on my skin, but liquid soap and sponge (is it luffa or loofah? either way it comes from a cucumber) feel unchanged. A clear plastic 1/2 pitcher full of tap water has a slight turbidity and color like a drop each of orange juice and milk has been added and thoroughly mixed. So what gives, is the water safe to drink and what can be done?

Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbonates and sulfates.

Hard drinking water may have moderate health benefits, but can pose critical problems in industrial settings, where water hardness is monitored to avoid costly breakdowns in boilers, cooling towers, and other equipment that handles water. In domestic settings, hard water is often indicated by a lack of foam formation when soap is agitated in water, and by the formation of limescale in kettles and water heaters. Wherever water hardness is a concern, water softening is commonly used to reduce hard water's adverse effects. (Wiki copy)

So to highlight two important points #1) is the well water potentially better for me?, my initial assessment is that it represents a risk. #2) is a water softener a good idea? as a clinician I have experience with health concerns secondary to softened water.

Before sending a water sample for testing, let’s expand our knowledge. Started with Gov’t EPA website:

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-11/documents/2005_09_14_faq_fs_homewatertesting.pdf

This has helped me to narrow my focus and to start collecting some data.

Does my water taste bad? Not really, this would raise concerns about organic chemistry.

Does my water make me sick and cause diarrhea? No, not so far. This would raise concerns involving microbiology or bacteria often described on tests as “coliforms”.

I guess my focused concern given the widespread “limescale” involves the possible presence of dangerous heavy metals like lead. The State of MI website suggests the cost to test a private well for “all” heavy metals including lead is $92. https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/DEQ-RRD-LSS-EQP2301_454667_7.pdf,

I guess one of the reasons i worry about lead involves the recent issues in Flint MI. The municipal source did not send out the lead, they sent out water that had altered pH and chemistry which was more corrosive and leached the lead from the outdated lead pipes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5353852/ (nice Flint summary article)

When I examine the pipes in the basement. I see a mixture of conduits, mostly copper, but some appear to be lead, and in a few spots PVC. Given that lead pipes were used in home construction until 1986, I am not alone in my concern about contaminated drinking water.

On to the topic of water softeners, in summary this is a chemical process the removes the heavy metals like calcium and exchanges them for sodium. (hard/calcium -> soft/sodium). These are common household appliances and cost roughly $1000 plus monthly salt bag purchases and tank filling. While the sodium increase in softened water is small (I heard nutritionists tell patients, distilled water has no sodium, soft water has the same amount of sodium as a slice of bread for 8 oz. glass) which is like 150mg. For patients on low sodium diets such as heart failure or renal patients and trying to keep their daily sodium <2000 mg/day, 150 mg per glass is too high and alternatives are required.

Given that I am in a rental, a whole house water softener is not an option, how about water filter.

First product that comes to mind is Brita which is very common in a variety formats. Went to supermarket to assess my options (Meijer), and in addition to numerous Brita options I found a brand of products from ZeroWater. Their claim was superiority over Brita, and the hook was to include a testing pen to measure dissolved solids (TDS). Bought the $30 unit which is 12-cup unit. Filter described to last for 25 gallons, replacement filter price as low as $10 when bought in bulk, meaning $0.25/gallon. Using TDS pen my tap water measured 246 typical hard water, after filtration value 000, instructions state to replace filter when readings rise above 006 after filtration. I am assuming that the water is now safer to drink. With regards to taste, the new filtered water has a sort of lack of taste compared with the tap which has mixture of mild flavors both pleasant and unpleasant. The only two major findings about use of the new filtered water, #1) better, less bitter coffee and #2)more clear ice cubes. The data comparing Brita and ZeroWater would suggest that ZeroWater has a more effective filter, and removes more impurities.

Brief side step about different water filtration types pros/cons. First a filter based on size, often measured in microns. These filters are used to eliminate larger biological contaminants, namely protozoa, bacteria and viruses. This limited cleaning function is ideal for a hiker who wants to drink from a relatively clean stream, a popular example used by most hikers on the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is the Sawyer squeeze

https://sawyer.com/products/all-in-one-water-filter/

This small cartridge can be used by screwing in on to the end of a bottle, and “catching” all the living “bad stuff” in its small filters. The filters gradually get plugged with debris and have to be back-flushed. Hiker reports that the smaller version often called the micro, gets clogged too easily and the “regular” model is favored. This $30 filter should be part of everyone’s disaster kit and day hike pack, but will not help with hard water and lead concerns. Also the flow rate can be quite slow limiting its effectiveness when large volumes are needed.

Next common category for filters is activated charcoal. While the sticky surface of charcoal will initially bind lead and other heavy metals, the bond is weak after a short while the lead will quickly breakthrough. The bond is much better for chlorine and organic chemicals like pesticides which are removed much more effectively by charcoal. From what I can tell Brita is more of carbon filter technology with a partial element of size filtration.

Third category are ion-exchange resin filters which use the electrical charge of molecules to trap them. Very effective for heavy metals like calcium, iron and lead, but once the resin becomes saturated, it either needs to be replaced (as in the ZeroWater unit) or regenerated with brine (salt) solution in the home water softener. Now the packaging from Zerowater states 5 step filtration, but I can see that really only uses the above 3 steps, size/carbon/ion-exchange, the other 2 steps appear to be marketing.

The forth filter category is a little harder to visualize and is never a part of small or portable units, is reverse osmosis. The pore size is so small that it can separate water from all salts (sodium as well as lead). The product of a reverse osmosis system is essentially the same as distilled water. Clean yes, pure yes, but a little expensive and energy intensive (both in terms of electricity and wasted water). These systems were recommended to the above low sodium diet patients. While not my starting plan which cost $30, I see that a quality under sink unit can be bought for around $200, this would be my next step for drinking water purification. (These under sink units will employ all 4 filter strategies).

So we can employ filtration strategies to remove elements from the water but some reports suggest that this pure water is unhealthy. In the sense that electrolytes are “micro-nutrients” the “pure” water is not harmful just lacking, not unhealthy. We may want to avoid lead, but calcium, iron, magnesium etc. are all desirable. The ingredients of “SmartWater” start with distilled water than add salts (CALCIUM CHLORIDE AND MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE AND POTASSIUM BICARBONATE) with 10 mg/l of potassium and calcium and 15 mg/l magnesium. Average tap water contains twice that much, and most spring or mineral waters, such as Evian or Perrier, contain at least 50 to 100 milligrams of each. Gatorade for comparison contains over 350 mg/l of sodium, 150 mg/l of potassium, and 135 mg/l of chloride. It only has 15 mg/l of magnesium and 9 mg/l of calcium. My major complaint with the original Gatorade is the 36 gm of sugar per 20 oz. bottle, only 8 in G2. My personal opinion is that the presence of the electrolytes/salts does affect the taste but any claim about the relative health merit of the liquids is unproven.

A related health category involves trying to change the heavy metal content inside the body using injected agents like EDTA, a therapy called chelation. While I remain open to the possibility of clinical benefit via chelation, the science is currently lacking, I will remain clinically optimistic and scientifically skeptical.