Water Contaminants

  Bacteria can be removed using a good water filter, but one needs to know some basic facts. This article from the Water Quality Association has a succinct and accurate summary of the methods used. Note that the article refers to chlorinated...

What is Chlorine? Chlorine is a chemical element with the symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them.  C...

Fluorite: Crystalline form of fluoride What is Fluoride? (Wikipedia) Fluoride (/ˈflʊəraɪd, ˈflɔːr-/) is an inorganic, monatomic anion with the chemical formula F−  (also written −), whose salts are typically white or colorless. F luoride salts typi...

Is Fluoridated Drinking Water Safe? Mineral fluoride in our community drinking water supply has been debated ever since it was introduced back in the mid-1940s with the aim to prevent tooth decay. The evidence is mounting that in an era of fluoridat...

A Simple Question about Fluoride. If, as my dentist friends tell me, their cavity business has plummeted due to the success of fluoride-enhanced toothpaste, why do we have to also have it in our drinking water? Eleven Facts You May Like to Consider: ...

Free Chlorine vs Total Chlorine: What’s the Difference? Chlorine is a standard chemical element that’s oftentimes used to provide people all over the world with clean drinking water. The reason that chlorine is highly effective and important for wat...

What are Heavy Metals? (Wikipedia) The earliest known metals—common metals such as iron, copper, and tin, and precious metals such as silver, gold, and platinum—are heavy metals. From 1809 onward, light metals, such as magnesium, aluminium, and titan...

First up, let's define what 'mineral water' is. As the name suggests, it's water with minerals dissolved in it. (Duh-Oh!) It isn't 'hard' or 'soft', so let's examine why anyone would be asking. 'Hard Water' is water with alkaline minerals in it, su...

Yes, we know. Everyone says their water filter is the best. And yes, there are many good ones. So how can we say the UltraStream is THE BEST? (and be believed?) We have many reasons and the purpose of this page isn’t to sell you on all of them. Its ...

What are Microplastics? Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic that pollute the environment. Microplastics are not a specific kind of plastic, but rather any type of plastic fragment that is less than 5mm in length according to the U.S. Natio...

Many water supplies in Australia are derived from groundwater or bore water. Groundwater often can contain a number of chemical compounds. When nitrogen fertilizers are used to enrich soils, nitrates may be carried by rain, irrigation, and other sur...

7 Fast Facts About Pesticides in Australia (and the world) With one of the Western world’s strongest agrarian economies, it will come as a little surprise to learn that Australia is a prolific producer and consumer of pesticides. Australia has ...

PFAS, PFOAS: What you need to know. Chemical contaminants called PFAS, toxic to humans at minuscule doses, are the peak of the iceberg in threats to groundwater internationally. Nitrates, industrial chemicals, and pathogens have been swept undergroun...

An enormous range of pharmaceuticals, from painkillers to chemotherapy drugs, is entering our rivers and waterways via wastewater. The concentrations are tiny, but drug pollution has had unexpected and at times devastating impacts on plants and...

Elevated levels At elevated levels, THMs have been associated with negative health effects such as cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes. Trihalomethanes (THM) are a group of four chemicals that are formed along with other disinfection byproducts...

What is alkaline? In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal chemical element. An alkali also can be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0....