Hi
We recently got our water bill and the results of the water tests they conducted in 2020.
1 of 5 of the samples were outside the bacterial quantity limits, 10 of 134 samples exceeded the pesticide limit and the water also falls outside the PH limits with a pH of 6.1.
I am in 23, and I imagine there are other districts with the same issues - it is very localised since nearby villages do not have this problem except for the acidic water.
You can check the water quality here
What is the solution except for approaching the Mairie? I am not keen on buying bottles of water. Environmentally it is a disaster shipping heavy water around in plastic bottles.
The pesticides and bacteriological exceedances I guess have to be addressed by the treatment works.
As for the acidic water. Rainwater falling through the atmosphere is naturally acidic due to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We have very soft water so no calcium to neutralise the acidity. However the problem is it corrodes the copper pipe work, leaving blue stains on the white surfaces and has a metallic taste. Is there anyway to treat this other than to replace all the pipes with plastic pipes?
Buy your own filtration kit, reverse osmosis fiters are widely available in Brico sheds, look for a silver sterilising filter, personally I would add a UV treatment to that setup. After removing the contaminates then re test for pH and that could be adjusted by aeration if sufficient carbonates are present if not an alkalinity mix to correct it.
Why are you discounting an approach to the Mairie…??
That place would be my first port of call and then the Water Supplier.
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I’ve read that reverse osmosis filters remove the (beneficial) minerals from the water. When you drink this water, it then absorbs the minerals from your body. If this is true, it’s maybe not so good?
Maybe, but if trying to remove more harmful pesticides then possibly necessary. Far more minerals will come from consuming food so nothing to worry over.
Yes, I think the WHO has issued a report to say this is an issue for long term consumption. That is why I was originally wary of reverse osmosis. I have since had a look and some reverse osmosis systems have an extra cartridge to remineralise the water. More costly however.
Yes demineralised water is not the best. The issues of consumption of pesticides also not good so the real issues should be tackled at source via the Mairie.
An activated carbon filter will remove some contamination or look at selective nano filtration. Advanced oxidation process via titanium catalysts and UV can breakdown some compounds but you would be experimenting with this technology, I have looked into this for swimming pools as it can breakdown body oils and sun creams etc that chlorine has a tough time with.