24 Apr 14
Originally posted by RBHILLWater varies greatly in quality. I distill my own drinking and cooking water. In years to come quality drinking water will become perhaps a bigger issue than fossil fuels are today.
Cool, I have had water from Canada before it was very good compared to Fresno water.
I fail to see why public water for such purposes as car washing, laundry and even bathing need to be drinking quality. The cost has to be enormous, and for many people like me, public water isn't fit to drink or cook with anyway.
24 Apr 14
1 edit
Originally posted by RBHILLMy water comes from a Welsh reservoir - Lake Vyrnwy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vyrnwy
This is what 1 gallon cost in my city 0.0024, so that makes 1000 gallons $2.40 is yours about the same?
The UK privatised its water suppliers years ago and there are many private companies selling us our own rainwater. Old houses in England do not have water meters and pay in a different way for water. Newer ones (and others that request it) do have meters. I do not have a meter so I googled out of interest. Here is one answer:
Water charges vary greatly across the country.Answer is in litres and not gallons but I think one UK gallon is 4.54 litres, one US gallon is 3.78 litres but I may be wrong. 3.78 x 0.108p would be 0.408 pence per US gallon.
Some have high standing charges and lower water/sewerage charges and others low standing charges and higher water/sewerage charges.
I live in the Severn Trent area which has low standing charges and pay 108.77p per cubic metre for water and 77.23p per cubic metre for sewerage.
So as a cubic metre is 1,000 litres I pay 0.108p per litre for water and the combined figure is 0.184p per liter - i.e. 5 litres costs just less than 1 pence.
Now we need that in US currency which might be 0.0033 of a dollar. Compared with your 0.0024.
My maths is laughable!!! But the result is not as insane as might be expected.
Allegedly, water costs more because water companies are required to make huge investments bringing the supply system up to a very high standard. Alternatively it might be because privatisation was a complete rip off. Either way, water is perfectly pleasant to drink from the tap and indeed, at least one famous drinks company was selling bottled tap water until it got exposed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3523303.stm
And these lot also:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2190027/Asda-Tesco-selling-tap-water-bottled-water-confusing-customers.html
Enjoyed this silly but spot on video about manufactured demand for bottled water.
http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-bottled-water/
It identifies American companies selling tap water, among other features.
24 Apr 14
3 edits
Originally posted by normbenignwhy dont you try a carbon filter or if you want to splash out on some atomic grade resin, deionised water? its gotta be cheaper than distilling it, unless of course you use some kind of natural method for gathering water from the air, like a rope mesh. Man if I was going to the trouble of distilling water, id make whisky instead.
Water varies greatly in quality. I distill my own drinking and cooking water. In years to come quality drinking water will become perhaps a bigger issue than fossil fuels are today.
I fail to see why public water for such purposes as car washing, laundry and even bathing need to be drinking quality. The cost has to be enormous, and for many people like me, public water isn't fit to drink or cook with anyway.
http://www.wired.com/2014/03/warka-water-africa/
25 Apr 14
Originally posted by robbie carrobieThere are some filtration systems which leave water almost as clean as distilled but those I've seen are quite a bit more costly than my still, and I don't drink whiskey.
why dont you try a carbon filter or if you want to splash out on some atomic grade resin, deionised water? its gotta be cheaper than distilling it, unless of course you use some kind of natural method for gathering water from the air, like a rope mesh. Man if I was going to the trouble of distilling water, id make whisky instead.
http://www.wired.com/2014/03/warka-water-africa/
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25 Apr 14
1 edit
Originally posted by normbenignExtensive dual water supply and waste water systems would be a huge capital expense. Some developments, golf courses, etc. can do it.
Water varies greatly in quality. I distill my own drinking and cooking water. In years to come quality drinking water will become perhaps a bigger issue than fossil fuels are today.
I fail to see why public water for such purposes as car washing, laundry and even bathing need to be drinking quality. The cost has to be enormous, and for many people like me, public water isn't fit to drink or cook with anyway.
Here is an informative report from San Francisco. Note that our latte liberals demand distilled water, too. 🙂
http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=100
25 Apr 14
5 edits
Originally posted by normbenignyou dont drink whisky? why not? I dont believe filtering water through a mixed bed resin can be more expensive than distilling it, unless you are chopping your wood down for free and using that to fire your still. You can buy 25kg bag that would produces gallons and gallons of pure deionised water for £60, carbon filtration would be even cheaper.
There are some filtration systems which leave water almost as clean as distilled but those I've seen are quite a bit more costly than my still, and I don't drink whiskey.
25 Apr 14
3 edits
Originally posted by JS357can you not bore a deep hole in your yard and try to get access to the water table? via a pump? when i was living in Pakistan that's what we did, the government water was intolerable. Sometimes it was pink! or peach!
In my northern California county the rate is tiered by volume.The first tier, which I don't exceed, is $0.0036/gal.
26 Apr 14
1 edit
Originally posted by robbie carrobieI just don't. I also don't make or design water purification systems, but have checked all of them produced commercially. My still is electric and produces a gallon of water in about 4 hours.
you dont drink whisky? why not? I dont believe filtering water through a mixed bed resin can be more expensive than distilling it, unless you are chopping your wood down for free and using that to fire your still. You can buy 25kg bag that would produces gallons and gallons of pure deionised water for £60, carbon filtration would be even cheaper.
The tap water here isn't horrible but to me coffee and tea made with it smell and taste awful. Every few gallons I clean out the bottom of my still and clean out all the heavy metals left by the distillation process, all the stuff I would have otherwise consumed.
For some time I naively sold Distilled water in 2.5 gallon dispensers, until my distributor was busted for mislabelling tap water. Double stage filtration is the only method close to distillation in removing harmful solids.
26 Apr 14
Originally posted by robbie carrobieWhen I lived in Northern Massachusetts, the drinking water there was really terrible. So much chlorine it was like drinking pool water.
can you not bore a deep hole in your yard and try to get access to the water table? via a pump? when i was living in Pakistan that's what we did, the government water was intolerable. Sometimes it was pink! or peach!
26 Apr 14
Originally posted by robbie carrobieThat's quite interesting, but distillation removes all solids that don't go with steam, and everything on the downside goes through a charcoal filter as well. My water for drinking and cooking is gloriously pure, and for my bipap machine which requires distilled. And I know it is distilled because I did it. I certainly don't trust bottled water labelled distilled.
http://www.lenntech.com/Data-sheets/Ion-Exchange-for-Dummies-RH.pdf
My point, and I suppose yours as well is that there are relatively inexpensive ways for individuals to purify drinking water. In Metro Detroit, the water system is ageing and in disrepair. A tri-county group refused to take it over due to the extensive costs of upgrading.
A question worth considering is why are we charging people drinking water prices to water their lawns, or wash their cars, when they could inexpensively be responsible for their own fresh, clean drinking water. Again, another failure of socialism.