We’re back at Crow’s Plumbing Service with Service Manager Tory Crow to find out what Crow’s knows.
Tory, water is very important to our health and having clean, quality water is vital to our families and homes. So what is water treatment and why should people consider investing in it?
“Great question, one thing that gets pretty often overlooked in our area is the quality of the water in our homes. There are a few different things we can do to fix it and it’s a common fact that we plumbers regularly fix the plumbing in homes that are frankly down due to water quality.”
“Things are wearing off, but in most areas in this part of the state, the water is very hard because of the limestone and also requires increased levels of chemicals that suppliers have to use to sanitize the water to make it safe.” The result is premature failure and inefficiency of virtually every wire we use every day in our homes, and most importantly, one thing that is often overlooked is our physical health.”
You mentioned that the water actually causes our pipes to fail, could you explain that a bit for us?
“Absolutely, in most cases the water we get is pumped through a well, then treated with some kind of disinfectant like bleach and stored in a big tank or water tower until people start using it. Most of the time there’s not really much other treatment unless it’s being pumped from a lake, aka surface water.”
“This minimal treatment is only to make the water ‘safe’, although there are many contaminants that are allowable at certain levels before being considered unsafe. In fact, you can request a water quality report from any provider in the state that will tell you what’s in the water you receive. What’s happening is that as the water flows through the ground, it picks up dissolved minerals, creating what we call hard water.”
“A common example is a stalactite in a cave, these formations are formed by the minerals in the water. This water, while safe, is extremely harsh on the plumbing, faucets and appliances in our homes due to the minerals in the water and the sanitizing chemicals that break down rubber and plastic in the plumbing.”
“Also, a big note is that this accumulation will also drastically affect the energy efficiency and lifespan of various appliances such as water heaters, dishwashers and washing machines. It’s important, although overlooked, that there are many benefits to removing the minerals and chemicals from the water.”
You also mentioned that water affects our health, could you elaborate on that for us?
“Certainly! We’ve discussed what ‘hard water’ is and how it affects our plumbing systems and that there are various chemicals added to the water and naturally occurring ones like lead and fluoride. The hardness of the water does a couple of things: It reacts doesn’t interact with soaps in the same way as soft water does, leading to build-up in drains and on what we’re trying to clean. It also reacts with the oils on our bodies, removing them.”
“I’ve heard many cases where softening the water can literally reduce or solve skin problems in people who have them and drastically improve people’s hair, especially when it’s long! It makes a big difference in how dry your skin is and your laundry will also be cleaner as the minerals are retained in hard water.”
“On the other hand we have things like containment, disinfection chemicals, ie bleach or a mixture of bleach and ammonia, and of course the by-products of water disinfection. All of this is not really good for our health and can be absorbed by our body in many ways, even when we shower through our skin. If you do a little research into what’s in your water, you’ll quickly see that the water needs to be filtered with some sort of carbon filter to reduce this stuff, and why bottled water is so popular!”
Crow’s Plumbing Service is a family run business always ready to deliver the results you need at prices you can afford. Call them at 512-88-CROWS or check them out online at CrowsPlumbing.com.
This segment is paid for by Crow’s Plumbing Service and is intended as an advertisement. The opinions of the guests on this show are solely those of the guests and are not endorsed by this television channel.
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