Fancy drinking canal water?

[robtheplod]

This is interesting: 

 

[mrsmelly]

Hes in London. In nice parts of the country just travel a couple of hours and fill with water. Never had a problem in over thirty years.

[system 4-50]

I'm all for people going over to these systems, it'll leave the waterpoints free for me!

No qualified reference given for the quality of these systems.

No samples taken to a public health laboratory.

No mention of any process to remove dissolved chemicals as opposed to discrete material that can be filtered out.

No precise figures on how long it takes for the filters to block up.

Nasturtiums cast on Victorian pipework - just because they are old does not necessarily mean they are foul.

[Chewbacka]

It is a set of progressively finer filters and a couple for removing metals and hydrocarbons before going to an under sink filter that sounds like it is a seagull or similar.  If so I would drink the water but the washing water is taken off before the seagull and so will probably contain varying levels of bacteria depending on how many rats etc live in that area of canal.  I wouldn’t use it for washing.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Chewbacka

[TheBiscuits]

Some years ago, I spotted a chap from the EA who was doing water quality sampling at Eanam Wharf in Blackburn, so I asked him how bad the quality was these days.

 

His reply startled me - once you filter out the fine silt that makes it look horrible, it's actually cleaner and less contaminated than the stuff that flows into the local drinking water reservoirs!

[robtheplod]

If I had one I'd be paranoid about testing it....

[dor]

When I first moved to Cheshire over 30 years ago I noticed that the big water treatment plant at Hurleston was quite close to the canal.

”Hope they aren’t using the canal for our water supply ha ha” I thought.

 Little did I know ...

[GRLMK38]

Any idea who makes the filters in the above picture?  I have one like that plumbed in (in grey rather than white) and it occurred to me recently that after 4 years it might need checking, cleaning, removing or replacing.

 

I look forward to the next episode when they demonstrate the bespoke heating system for winter filtering!

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by GRLMK38

[Nobag]

Screwfix do the filter cartridges.

[GRLMK38]

1 minute ago, Nobag said:

Screwfix do the filter cartridges.

Thanks, it looks like they do a drop in replacement unit too....

[BEngo]

Jim Macdonald was treating canal water in Elizabeth in the late 70's  if not earlier.  He was particular about his intake though.

N

[dmr]

Do you need to get CRT permission and pay a fee to extract water from the canal?

 

...............Dave

[DHutch]

Makes some sense, and the right kit isn't mad money, but it appears just to be filters, as said not much detail about the specs of them, and no sign of an uv treatment or the like. You could use it for showering and washing with a lot less filtration, and have the tank running just the kitchen tap for drinking and cooking.

 

Daniel

[MtB]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

Do you need to get CRT permission and pay a fee to extract water from the canal?

 

...............Dave

 

Not if they don't catch you.....

 

 

 

[Chewbacka]

19 hours ago, dmr said:

Do you need to get CRT permission and pay a fee to extract water from the canal?

 

...............Dave

You are only borrowing it as most if not all ends up back in the canal.

[dmr]

3 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

You are only borrowing it as most if not all ends up back in the canal.

That's even worse, CRT charge for both extraction and disposal  ?

[Iain_S]

21 hours ago, GRLMK38 said:

Any idea who makes the filters in the above picture?  I have one like that plumbed in (in grey rather than white) and it occurred to me recently that after 4 years it might need checking, cleaning, removing or replacing.

 

I look forward to the next episode when they demonstrate the bespoke heating system for winter filtering!

 

After 4 years, it's likely to be introducing bacterial contamination, rather than removing it.

[GRLMK38]

2 hours ago, Iain_S said:

After 4 years, it's likely to be introducing bacterial contamination, rather than removing it.

Exactly ..... regular fresh water and Aquatabs are probably reducing the risk but it's not ideal.  We don't drink it.

Edited April 11, 2020 by GRLMK38

[Tony1]

Lots of very interesting takes on this system.

My take is that it looks as if this might be a fairly simple and genuinely affordable way of collecting a lot of washing water, maybe IF you add a UV treatment to the system.

And as someone said, there is a test kit, but is that enough of a safeguard for water you are washing in, or maybe drinking? 

Personally I'd use it just for the bathroom until its more established,and I do agree that it would be nice to know a bit more about what purity standards it conforms to, and how you ensure you are safe after a couple of years.  

That said, there is enough promise here to look more closely at this, surely?  

[StephenA]

So basically its just an expanded water filter system that you'd have if you were pumping from a well. Family members in the US have a similar set up in their basements between the jet pump / accumulator and the taps..

 

Having said that I don't think I'd want to use it for drinking / cooking or personal washing.  Could see it being OK for the toilet and if you had a washing machine

[Chewbacka]

18 minutes ago, StephenA said:

So basically its just an expanded water filter system that you'd have if you were pumping from a well. Family members in the US have a similar set up in their basements between the jet pump / accumulator and the taps..

 

Having said that I don't think I'd want to use it for drinking / cooking or personal washing.  Could see it being OK for the toilet and if you had a washing machine

Water pumped from a deep bored well has been fairly well filtered passing through the rocks, whereas this is from a canal where water quality will vary a lot and will be influenced by the numbers of cows and rats using it as a toilet, dead pets and sheep rotting and not to mention other boaters......

[StephenA]

6 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Water pumped from a deep bored well has been fairly well filtered passing through the rocks, whereas this is from a canal where water quality will vary a lot and will be influenced by the numbers of cows and rats using it as a toilet, dead pets and sheep rotting and not to mention other boaters......

Yes which is why I'd not want to actually drink it.

[eid]

They don't say on the video but these systems usually include a reverse osmosis filter. Anyone considering using one of these should look up the long term effects of drinking de-mineralised / reverse osmosis drinking water.

 

 

Quote

Among these complaints were cardiovascular disorders, tiredness, weakness or muscular cramps.” Again, serious side effects within just several weeks or months. However, it gets even worse. Because reverse osmosis water does not have enough minerals, when it is consumed, it also leaches minerals from the body.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by eid

[Alan de Enfield]

My water filter removes :

 

* The filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium...

* High performance filter fits in the palm of your hand, weighs 2 ounces and filters up to 100,000 gallons (30 times more than comparable filters)...

 

The Sawyer Water Filter is rated to 0.1 micron absolute

It will filter Bacteria but not the C19 Virus as that is only 40-70 Nanometre (the filter will only filter down to 100 Nanometre)

 

 

 

I then put an activated charcoal filter in line which :

 

 

Activated carbon is commonly used to adsorb natural organic compounds, taste and odour compounds, and synthetic organic chemicals in drinking water treatment. ... Activated carbon is an effective adsorbent because it is a highly porous material and provides a large surface area to which contaminants may adsorb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[eid]

18 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I then put an activated charcoal filter in line which :
 

 

 

Which product do you use for this?