Wednesday, February 27

Life Straws

Todays Water Tip: If ever in doubt "boil it"
If ever in doubt about a water source that you will be consuming from, the answer is simple, "boil it." It seems like a no brainer, but there are a lot of people who don't even think about it. If you have heard rumors, detect a bad taste, smell, or color that make you uncomfortable about the drinking water, boil it before you consume it. This will get rid of bacteria and microorganisms which could make you sick (certain contaminants can not be boiled away, like Nitrate which can have long term health effects if levels are high). Monthly water quality sampling is required in most states in this country, but you can never be completely sure of the source unless you actually read the reports yourself. Never drink or cook with stream, creek, river or lake water without boiling it first. Hotels and motels usually have microwaves which can be used to boil water, or you can simply use bottled water if it is available.

Life Straws
In my past life I was a beautician for 17 years.
I never really thought much about how dependent I was on water. God forbid that the water would be shut off while I was processing a perm or color. How happy would my client have been with fried hair? Not too tickled, I would suspect. There's not a lot that can be done in a situation like that (bottled water maybe, and lots of it), and ideally we would be warned in advance of such an event. That's the way it's supposed happen anyway.

My point is really more about our dependency on water. I know you may think I sound like a broken record, every week reminding you of things like this. I'm just hoping that along the way people will begin to think about how much water is wasted. And how much water is needed. What if we waste it all and have none? What if your on a private well and it runs dry. Now you have to cough up quite a bit of change to drill a new one, "if" the water is there, and "if" you have the money.

Do you ever see puddles in your yard. It's amazing how many people have leaks outside in the water pipes or sprinkler lines, and never seem to worry about it (many sprinkler systems are served by domestic drinking water sources). How about the people who irrigate with a hose and just let the water run down the street for several hours. We could serve a small community with water for months with what we waste in just one day.

There are people in the world that would give their eye teeth for a tiny bit of that clean wasted water. I was looking at a website the other day where children were drinking through something called "Life Straws" out of a body of murky surface water to get a drink. It made me shudder. It uses a process involving a pre-filter, an iodine layer and a granulated active carbon layer all wrapped up in a fat straw. Don't get me wrong, it's a blessing they have them, but can you imagine that being your main source of drinking water? I also saw that people in the states are ordering them for back woods use, but a caution was given in regards to Giardia lamblia infection (beaver fever) which is resistant to iodine.

Think about it folks. We could all be drinking with Life Straws in the local pond someday if we're not careful.

The wide spectrum of water uses, turn round and round, like a
water wheel.
I welcome your comments

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