Water We Thinking?

  When snowbirds and tourists flock to Florida, they see numerous lakes and ponds doting the landscape and experience the torrential thunderstorms in the summer - as well as Category 4 hurricanes that slam into the coastal areas, dumping ten to twenty inches of rain in twenty-four hours. Under those circumstances, most out-of-staters believe that Florida has an overabundance of fresh water for human consumption.

  The reality is that Floridians face the same water shortages found in other regions of the country, despite the fact that our state receives 54 inches of rain-fall per year on average. The trouble is the Floridians use more water per capita than residents of any other state except California.

  Our water-management districts, in the interest of public safety, must treat our freshwater before releasing it into the municipal domestic-water pipeline. The first step involves adding chlorine or the chlorine alternative, chloramine, which is required by federal law, to kill disease-causing bacteria.

  Water treatment is a complex process. here's what happens to water before it reaches our taps:

1. coagulation of contaminants using ferric sulfate and sulfuric acid to reduce naturally occurring organic matter

2. flocculation (making small particles stick together into larger lumps) with polymer additives to reduce naturally occurring organics

3. sedimentation to settle the flocculated particles

4. stabilization

5. ozonation of the clear settled water (ozone is a strong oxidant that destroys harmful bacteria and viruses such as Giardia and Crypto sporidium as well as taste-and odor-causing compounds)

6. addition of lime to the water to stabilize the PH of the treated water

7. fluoridation (adding fluoride), which supposedly provides dental health benefits to water drinkers (though this has been the subject of much debate within the natural health community)

8. disinfection by filtering through mixed-bed filters containing sand and activated carbon coal to remove remaining particles

9.filtration, then addition of a chlorine-and-ammonia combination that produces a disinfectant called monocloramine, to "finish" the water and prepare it for storage

10. addition of sodium hydroxide to produce the final desired drinking-water PH before storage in large cement underground tanks called "clear wells"

  Excuse me while I reach for a sip of Trinity Springs water, a bottled water that comes from a natural spring lacking the chemistry of municipal tap water!

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