Everyone uses water. We clean, manufacture, farm, garden, eat, drink, and bathe with water. That’s why water is considered a critical resource in commercial, industrial, and residential projects. As a result, people and businesses increasingly want —and demand—water that has been treated for a particular purpose. Whether residential or industrial, De Anza Water Conditioning has a solution.

Take whole house water treatment. It’s a very good idea. It means bathing in soft water. It means washing your clothes, dishes, flatware, crystal, and glassware in water that leaves no residue of soap or minerals. It means using less soap, cleaners, and muscle to keep the house and clothes clean. It means protecting your investments in appliances — dishwasher, washing machine, water heater — from the damage caused by a build-up of minerals and calcium. It means keeping your pipes clear throughout their lifetime, which in turn keeps pipes open and water pressure normal. Soft water means protecting your faucets, granite, marble, shower doors, and porcelain from mineral spots and build-up. For me, I learned that I needed a water softener when my five-year-old water heater, which was guaranteed for ten years, blew up. Continue reading →

It seems as if every week, we are learning of some new contaminant in our drinking water system.  The latest is fluoride, a mineral used to lower cavities in children.  It is found in toothpaste, dentists administer it to patients in the dental chair, and most municipalities across the country place it in the water supply.  Last Friday, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Health of Human Services may decide to lower the level of fluoride in most municipal drinking water throughout the country to minimize health problems.

Two out of five children have tooth streaking or spottiness because of excess fluoride.  In extreme cases, teeth can be pitted by the mineral, even though many cases are so mild that only dentists can detect it.  While the problem is generally considered cosmetic, people are taking notice.  The splotchy tooth condition, called fluorosis, is unexpectedly common on adolescents aged 12 through 15, and the problem has grown since the 1980s. Continue reading →

Last week, the first of several news stories emerged about contamination in our drinking water supply.  In the Washington Post, writer Lindsey Layton reported that The Environmental Working Group found the presence of hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen, in the drinking water of 31 U.S. cities (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121802810.html).  The Environmental Working Group undertook an analysis of 35 cities across the United States, including Bethesda and Washington, D.C.  This compound was a commonly used industrial chemical until the early 1990s.  It is still used in some industries, such as in chrome plating and manufacturing plastics and dyes.  The chemical can also leach into groundwater from natural ores. The highest level of the chemical was found in Norman, Oklahoma.  Hexavalent chromium has long been known to cause lung cancer when inhaled, and it has been linked in animals to liver and kidney damage as well as leukemia, stomach cancer, and other cancers. Continue reading →

Do you know what is in your drinking water?  Would you ever guess that a toxic chemical could find its way into your drinking water?

This morning, I read in the Los Angeles Times (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/11/barstow-water-contamination.html) that the city of Barstow, located in the southern California desert, warned its residents not to drink the water due to contamination by perchlorate.  An inorganic chemical, perchlorate interferes with the human thyroid gland, affecting hormones as well as prenatal growth during pregnancies.  Perchlorate is found in rocket propellant, fireworks, explosives, flares, matches, and industrial by-products.  Yikes! Perchlorate can be removed by compressed, activated carbon only if there is long contact time with the water — which precludes faucet or pitcher-type filters where water passes quickly through the carbon. Continue reading →