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Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
ECOsmarte Water - I offer a Planet Friendly Whole House Filtration system that will eliminate your need for a water softener, yet will solve all your hard water problems. Enjoy clean, pure water from every faucet in your home. No more endless monthly service and bills - plus no harmful chlorides going into the environment. ECOsmarte Water offers ia complete clean water solution for your entire home. Plus, ECOsmarte Water is a very low maintenance system - no filters to change or softeners to recharge. No water waste, like R.O. that wastes 3-4 galons for every gallon it produces. No showering or bathing with toxic chlorination by-products. Get away from the softener/reverse osmosis choice - it is the worst choice for the planet.
ECOsmarte Water - Planet Friendly Purity. The best water solution for your home, your family and the planet.
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Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
That is interesting information about the connection between Chloride levels and sewage levels - I had no idea.
The sanitary aspect of the brine or the effluent isn't the issue with the Chloride problem, though from what you said it sounds like those measurements were tied together in the beginning. There are very real environmental reprecussions to elevated Chloride levels, as I mentioned before. From what I understand, you can have perfectly satisfactory water quality of effluent from a sanitary perspective and still have a problem with the chloride levels harming the environment.
These municipalities that have targeted brine discharge have indeed done studies and discovered that the vast majority of chlorides come from softeners, with incorrect application of fertilizers from farmers running a very distant second.
Out here in California, most people use whole house water softeners - Culligan has done a bangup job of convincing people they need them or dire consequences will result. From my experience - water with a hardness measurement below 7-8 grains is quite easy to live with and doesn't cause significant problems to warrant a softener. But sales people will do their fear-mongering and convince people otherwise, to the detriment of the environment.
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
Where I live SW CT, Culligan is definitely more of a sales company, than a water company, but they do a bang-up business.
My friend worked for them as a tank driver many years ago. He let me ride with him a few times and take water samples from a nice chunk of territory that I'd never have been able to get access to otherwise.
You hit the nail on the head, fear, is the great motivator for ~90% of the customers. The interesting thing is that I did discover a small sulfide island in the area that I could not account for using the macro geologic data I had at the time.
So aside from a few homes that had a *real* odor problem with their water the rest were just gullible. I happen to know that hard water make the best coffee, but H2S will ruin anything is comes in contact with.
Since it is New England and the strata is granite there were also some iron problems. But most were for hardness & turbitity control.
I just find it difficult to believe that a softener using even a few hundred lbs of salt per month has any significant impact when compared to a winter storm that might call for the spreading of 5,000 tons in the course of a few days.
The nature of chlorides it that most are soluble which is why most of it is in the sea. I wish more folks were aware of the salting-up of large areas of Calif that drain farmlands. But more important those toxic selenium ponds that have accumulated after decades of agricultural drainage and evaporation.
It seems to me that dumping a ton of fertilizer on every acre of farmland is a far bigger problem than 100lb of salt with the sewage.
So I'm hoping to learn something here, aside from the Chloride
connection I mentioined, and its obvious cause for revulsion, what
exactly if the effect of elevated Cl- ion in the settings you're
discussing?
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
ctyankee -
You might want to read how it works before you put forth opinions and assertions about effectiveness. ECOsmarte has been in business 14 years and we have a 99% customer satisfaction rate. Here is some detailed information about the science summary from our corporate website.
Copper ions are added. Oxidation is performed. Filtration is performed.
Minerals are not precipitated out. They are transformed to a softer bicarbonate state by the copper ions, eliminating the hard water issues that cause most people to seek out a water softener. No hard water scaling, maximum detergent effectivness. In fact the presence of the copper ions actually causes exisiting scale to go back into solution - effectively de-scaling the inside of your pipes.
GAC (granular activated carbon) in the media tank filters out the toxic by-products of chlorination as well as heavy metals and other contaminants. The GAC does not affect the naturally occurring minerals in the water. The healthy minerals stay in the water where your body can use them.
The World Health Organization did a study of the long term effects of drinking demineralized water and came to the conclusion that even the small amounts of minerals in hard water are a health benefit, and that drinking de-mineralized is connected to negative health consequences.
Our system is guaranteed up to 25 grains of hardness, which applies to the vast majority of people who are using water softeners. Imagine how much water could be saved! Talk about helping the Planet...
Wendy the Water Woman
www.ecosmartewater.com
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
Gotta defend my statements.
This was the 1st one I read and commented on, based on .pdf file. The How it works while the lesser hype is still more "wishful thinking" than definitive info.
The "Science Summary" is more "Saturday Night Live "Bass-o-Matic" than "running a code" back on "St. Elsewhere", actually that was Howie Mandel, but someone might appreciate the reference.
I think if you look at the time stamps you'll see that in the other thread I suggested (speculated) what you just mentioned. I'm glad you pointed out that there are toxic by-products from the oxidation. But they really aren't that much more toxic after than ther were before, so it's kind of a wash(no pun intended)
But given the errors, hype & dis-information in the science section "20-80 grams/minute of oxygen radicals..." I don't think so "milligrams", ok "per hour" that'd be ok too. Getting the units correct is just as important as getting the names of the ions correct.
the WHO Study is about micro nutrients in 3rd world countries. You can't compare people that add ground straw & sand to their diets to stop the gnawing in their stomachs, to excess consuming American diets. If we don't get enough calcium we go and buy boutique "Oyster Shell Calcium with Rose Hips". But that's a non issue.
Perhaps the system can make potable domestic water slightly more potable, but that's still snake oil in my book.
Show me a system that can desalinate non-potable water and I'll shout with you shoulder to shoulder!
BTW, excess Copper makes the water taste nasty, and copper is not 100% benign in the gut.
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
Incorrect - what you speculated is absolutely NOT how the system works. We do not precipitate out the minerals in any way shape or form.
Incorrect - there are not toxic by-products from oxidation (part of the ECOsmarte technology). I said there are toxic by-products from chlorination - you know, what our water treatment plants do to get us safe drinking water? I'm sure you have heard of chlorination.
Incorrect - Nowhere in that study, if you took the time to read it - does it say the study focused on 3rd world countries. In fact it's main focus was for the increased use of desalination plants and the resulting demineralized water.
Incorrect - You will never taste copper at the level added by ECOsmarte technology. Here is a study that shows the taste threshold for copper - it ranges from 2.4 to 3.8 mg/liter. ECOsmarte adds POINT 1 (0.1) to POINT 4 (0.4) mg/liter. If you drank 3-4 gallons of ECOsmarte water you would just satisfy your minimum daily requirement for copper. The action level for copper being toxic in drinking water is 4 parts per million - far, far above the level of ECOsmarte Water.
Taken directly from the WHO study "Copper - important in antioxidant function, iron utilization and cardiovascular health".
Can you please offer some facts/links/studies to defend your assertions? I offered many. Give me specifics on what is incorrect with the science summary...?
Wendy the Water Woman
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
OK fine, I hope you sell a million units. /sarcasm off
I'll go back to my 1st post:
nothing added + nothing taken away = nothing accomplished.
So which is it you use activated carbon or you don't?
You don't precipitate the minerals, yet if the water boils it still creates scale. How does the oxygen "know" which minerals that are already in their lowest energy state are to be oxidized?
We can agree that chloramines are nasty by-products of chlorination.
The WHO is one of those ultra socialist propaganda machines... Please don't be so naive as to think they're not discussing the 3rd world. Even though it doesn't say "3rd world" the document drips with 3rd world problems, sorry, no other conclusion is possible there.
Cu tasting 101 or how long can you suckle a penny? First let's agree that 1.0 mg/liter == 1 PPM (part per million). According to the study, (done in Chile BTW, perhaps not truly 3rd world, but parts are close) 50% detected Cu+2 ion (sulfate, chloride) in essentially pure water... 50% Untrained tasters... oh so no toxic levels of copper in the bulk water, but 0.4 ppm is well within my level of taste threshold, but I'm not gonna buy one so again that's not important.
Can I do your homework? No, I won't. But I did point out that the units on a primary claim are ridiculous... It could be a typo because it's off by 2-3 orders of magnitude. But if the "science" is that shoddy that a typo of 203 orders of magnitude can slip through I have to question *all* of the claims.
What of you actually put 40 PPM of Cu+2 in the water? You just went from micro-nutrient & mild biocide into strong emetic, and since the tongue can be desensitized to certain tastes...
All the "gonculator" claims of "Oxygen 1" claims are just as nauseating. It's called "Hydroxyl ion" OH- and is one of them "free radicals" (not like the deceased Che Guevara seen on so many tee shirts of mall rats).
Look I'm all for clean water, wasting less, conserving more, RO in the US is wasteful, no argument from me. But then it's necessary, it works, and it works well. Water softeners create brackish waste, yup, they do. But what do they save in terms of scaled pipes, replaced water heaters, extra detergent use etc???
Look the ECOsmarte folsk seem like that's exactly what they wanted to be eco "smartie"... as in Enron's "smartest men in ht room" claim.
I just have a very hard time keeping quiet when I see someone peddling false hopes to people with needs, real or imaginary, in the hopes of selling something that does virtually nothing.
CTYankee the Engineering Curmudgeon
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
Let me repeat. We add copper ions. We add oxidation. We filter out the contaminants. Here are the removal guidelines.
I believe I have very clearly stated that we have a filtration tank that uses GAC. After the water is filtered, it is treated in the chamber which adds copper ions and provides oxidation.
When the water boils, the minerals will precipitate out, yes. The breakpoint is 150 degrees F. But they do not cause the type of hard water scale you need to chip off with a chisel or use toxic chemicals to remove. The minerals precipitate out as a fine powder that wipes off easily. More to the point, since this is about appliance/plumbing protection - how many kitchen appliances do you know of that people are concerned about protecting from hard water that actually go above 150 degrees F? We advise hot water heaters be set at 140, which is medium for most. With very few exceptions, washing machines and dishwashers are well below that. So that leaves electric tea pots and coffee makers, which are easily cleaned. Here (scroll down) is a photo of a cross section of pipe before the ECOsmarte system and after. I'd say that's more than protection - that's reduction of existing scale, which the copper ions do very well.
The oxidation is more of a factor with our well systems than our municipal. For our well systems most of the iron and manganese (metals) will be oxidized out before the water goes through filtration. The oxidation does not remove or precipitate out the minerals. The minerals that were there before going through the system are exactly the same as the minerals there after going through the system. Hardness measurements will be identical before and after treatment of the water. The minerals have been transformed to bicarbonates.
Thanks for the Engineering Curmudgeon's opinion of the World Health Organization. Desalination is a rather expensive solution for third world countries.
I do not believe you read that correctly. It states "Copper-containing solutions (range 1.0-8.0 mg/l Cu) were prepared in
tap water, distilled deionized water and uncarbonated mineral water....The threshold was defined as the lowest copper concentration detected by 50% of the subjects assessed" It does not state that tests were performed with no copper in the water, which seems to be what you are implying.
I am not an engineer or chemist, nor do I pretend to be. So I cannot engage you in a discussion of the (in)accuracies of our science summary. you win on that one. That does not mean our technology does not work, only that I am not an engineer or a chemist.
The fountain that graces the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion/Mark Taper Forum was plagued by hard water scaling issues. They came to us and asked for help...we solved the problem.
The City of Burbank building that houses all its departments is entirely ECOsmarte Water. They are quite happy with it.
If this technology did not work - how can you explain the 99% satisfaction rate, the return customers and the very healthy growth of our company? We are in all 50 states and at least 46 countries. I know that I have, without exception, satisfied customers, including me. Personal experience: Showering in this water gives me softer hair and skin, I use less soap and detergents, I have no hard water scale and best of all, I am not wasting energy or water. I have no endless monthly service bills to pay (nor are trucks using gas driving to my house) and I'm not adding chlorides to the environment.
The salt industry controls much of the water industry - you can see evidence of that when arriving at the Pacific Water Quality Association show to see a huge banner hanging across the front "Sponsored by Morton Salt". They would like you to believe that poisoning the earth with chlorides (sodium or potassium) is the only answer to hard water problems - it is not. And for goodness sake, even if you must continue to clutch to your water softener for fear that a new technology can't possibly be real, get rid of the RO and get a whole house point of entry filtration system - stop wasting so much water!
Your tone, assertions and name-calling feel abrasive in a forum such as this. In my opinion, your assertions are based on nothing more than knee-jerk reactions to stay safely within your knowledge base. Just for a moment, open your mind a bit and consider that there may be another water solution than water waste and brine discharge. We offer a 60 day money back guarantee, which would be a really bad move for a company whose product does not work.
Wendy the Water Woman
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
I have to admit that you keep bringing on new and more revealing information. When I started, my criticism was based on the limited and useless info, but you have responded well to all of my criticisms.
I'm fortunate to live in an area with some of the best municipal water in the country. Others are not so fortunate. So while it's unlikely that you could do much for my water, the addition of activated carbon filtration would certainly benefit a lot of water users.
I would suggest the company hire a college chemistry student with a minor in literature to re-write some of the marketing hype, and ... less than solid claims.
I'm not saying what you claim is impossible, merely the way some of it is claimed is ... well... Ever hear some of those late night TV pitches...
It's not my goal to interfere with a product that works, and I believe that your system may have some beneficial effects, that's to say it's not a pure marketing scam or ripoff.
The "No Magnets" claim tells me that someone there does in fact recognize snake oil when it presents itself, and took steps to distance the product from nonsense.
The need to scale a system when radon contamination is an issue is also a very positive sign. A charlatan would simply claim to 'neutralize' radon with a one size fits all claim.
So, while it's not an endorsement, I will say thanks for the debate.
You should be aware though, that the salt industry does not control the water industry. They do make a big splash though (oops). And unless you're dumping the waste brine into a shallow pond, it's just not that much salt to worry about.
BTW, people who use whole house softeners are foolish wasters of resources, we agree on that too, I think.
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
ctyankee -
Thanks for the debate and for having an open mind. In my experience, engineers are the hardest to convince that our technology has validity. I appreciate your willingness to at least leave the door open.
As far as improving your water...Municipal water, no matter where you are, has toxic by-products from chlorination that can be absorbed through your skin or breathed in from steam when showering - in larger quantities than actually drinking the water. So we could help you with that. And if you have hard water - well, that's exactly what I've been talking about - we have that covered up to 25 grains of hardness.
I will pass your suggestions about the science summary on to our CEO. Unfortunately I am not in charge of our marketing...though I am always interested in passing on ways to improve our image and make our products more understandable. I do run the ECOsmarte Blog, where I get to voice my opinions, defend/explain our products and help troubleshoot once in a while. I have great fun with that.
As far as brine discharge - you may not be aware that many municipalities have serious chloride level issues in their rivers and lakes. It's not the sodium that is the problem as much as the chloride - so switching to potassium chloride isn't a viable solution. Some municipalities are concerned enough to ban brine discharge like Santa Clarita CA and Hamburg MI, and some are educating their customers like Paso Robles CA and Chilton WI, to name a very few of many across the country. Most states restrict the levels of chlorides in sewer treatment plant effluent, and will fine municipalities that exceed those levels. Resulting environmental damage is destruction of plant and aquatic species that are not chloride-resistant while non-native species that are resistant to chloride flourish, changing the entire balance of local ecosystems. In agricultural areas, chlorides can cause dramatic reduction of crop yields as well. Perhaps it is more environmentally harmful than you realize.
Thanks for all your input. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any more questions.
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
Interesting thing about the chloride levels in discharge... Long before home water softeners became popular, the measurement that was important was the levels of sewage from upstream sources. In the latter part of the 19th century, analytical techniques were developed for electrical measurements if several ionic species in fresh water.
When several scientists correlated the data they found a strong correlation between the chloride ion concentration and the diluted sewage levels. Since sewage was considered undesirable, yet more difficult to detect, the chloride level stood in as proxy.
Over the course of decades, and the influence of uninformed legislators the association of Cl- to contamination became less of an issue, and water quality was suddenly tied to the chloride level, not the sewage level. A clear case of institutional senility.
In the absence of softeners, the correlation still remains valid, but when the boot of Cl- from the brine is added to the effluent, the "sewage warnings" start to glow red; even though the brine is in fact sanitary.
Now the Calif sited may in fact be suffering from the salt load, but the river sites are probably mistakenly pointing blame, unless *everyone* is softening every gallon... but even then...
Take a look at the situation of seawater infiltrating the Rhode Island shoreline. Many wells have become too salty to drink.
Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet
Sounds like snake oil to me.
Nothing added + nothing taken away = nothing acomplished.