"Raw" water

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#1935974 11-Jan-2018 08:21

Geektastic:

kryptonjohn:

clevedon:

kingdragonfly: In the Massey report, they mentioned a lot of rain water drinkers didn't always go to the doctor when they got a tummy bug.

Their theory is if you're using rain water to drink, you're likely rural, and further away from your GP.

They concluded sickness due to rainwater collection was vastly under-reported, as proved by their actual testing of the water people were drinking.

Or maybe they have hardier immune systems and don't puke at the just the thought of "raw" water.

I'm certain that immunity does form from exposure to untreated water. My kids and I are always water-skiing in the Waikato river at Tuakau and the water there is kinda disgusting. We never seem to get sick but a few friends who have come along have caught the Delhi belly.

I have to ask...why deliberately water ski (or do anything else) in a body of water you describe as "kinda disgusting"?!

Because it's the only body of water nearby that is flat. Gotta be pretty glassy for barefoot skiing, and otherwise flat for waterskiing. No use going out in the harbour where it's always choppy.

I wouldn't go there for a swim.

Geektastic

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#1936056 11-Jan-2018 10:25

Aredwood: @geektastic There are plenty of areas in NZ where the mineral content of the water is high enough to cause the problems you describe. Unsure if those minerals meet the definition of Chalk though.

You can get low watts density hot water cylinder elements to help manage the scale buildup. And when I install new hot water cylinders, I have to install the pressure control valves so where possible they stay cold as part of normal operation. As they can and do fail due to mineral buildup. Even Auckland council public water has enough mineral content that I still have to allow for it as part of system design. As Watercare maintain a min mineral content to extend the life of all of the cast iron, galv steel, asbestos cement and cement lined steel pipes that they have in use. Other areas of NZ can be far worse.

It also causes urinal drain pipes to block up. As the minerals in the water mixed with urine causes hard deposits to build up inside the pipes. Not fun trying to unblock pipes which are completely filled with what is basicly dried urine.

HWC are an area that is much larger than I had previously assumed. We wanted mains (pumped) pressure in our HW system instead of gravity and the options were interesting. We ended up with one that has a giant copper coil inside a hot water jacket. Water enters from the pump at the bottom cold and is warmed as it passed up the coil, immersed in hot water, leaving as hot water at the top. We had a second element installed as an option so we can recover quickly if we have a high use period.

gzt

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#1936059 11-Jan-2018 10:41

kryptonjohn:
Hmmm, not sure that herd immunity was that great in the days that polio and smallpox existed (in the wild).

Yeah but there were no antivaxxers then so because science and stuff it was much better in those days and nobody died at all it was just like a bad cold except for the people that died and then it was like because of the aura and karma and stuff. Science has a lot to learn..

Geektastic

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#1936108 11-Jan-2018 11:42

kryptonjohn:

Geektastic:

kryptonjohn:

clevedon:

kingdragonfly: In the Massey report, they mentioned a lot of rain water drinkers didn't always go to the doctor when they got a tummy bug.

Their theory is if you're using rain water to drink, you're likely rural, and further away from your GP.

They concluded sickness due to rainwater collection was vastly under-reported, as proved by their actual testing of the water people were drinking.

Or maybe they have hardier immune systems and don't puke at the just the thought of "raw" water.

I'm certain that immunity does form from exposure to untreated water. My kids and I are always water-skiing in the Waikato river at Tuakau and the water there is kinda disgusting. We never seem to get sick but a few friends who have come along have caught the Delhi belly.

I have to ask...why deliberately water ski (or do anything else) in a body of water you describe as "kinda disgusting"?!

Because it's the only body of water nearby that is flat. Gotta be pretty glassy for barefoot skiing, and otherwise flat for waterskiing. No use going out in the harbour where it's always choppy.

I wouldn't go there for a swim.

Not sure about the logic there. I just wouldn't ski in it if it was that bad - after all, if you fall over, you're swimming...! Do they fill worked-out quarries with water and turn them into water parks here?

Aredwood

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#1936123 11-Jan-2018 11:54

Geektastic: HWC are an area that is much larger than I had previously assumed. We wanted mains (pumped) pressure in our HW system instead of gravity and the options were interesting. We ended up with one that has a giant copper coil inside a hot water jacket. Water enters from the pump at the bottom cold and is warmed as it passed up the coil, immersed in hot water, leaving as hot water at the top. We had a second element installed as an option so we can recover quickly if we have a high use period.

Curious as to why you chose that particular system. Do you have a wetback fire or solar heating connected to the cylinder? As a problem with your setup is possible mineral buildup on the coil. Then you end up with nice hot water at low flow rates, and only warmish water at high flow rates. Although not likely assuming that you only use rainwater in your house.

kryptonjohn

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#1936135 11-Jan-2018 11:56

I think if you were a skier you'd understand me. You swim with your face in the water and ski with your face out of the water (unless you crash!) When I say it's disgusting it's mostly the turbidity. You can't see the bottom in knee deep water. There's a water outtake there that pumps out water, filters it, chlorinates it and injects into the Auckland water supply! It's rare that they put up 'don't swim' signs there and when they do it's usually blue/green algae blooms.

I did ski in old quarries in the UK - both outside Manchester and down near Leicester. They were quite good and the ones in Leicester we often had all to ourselves. Never seen such a thing in NZ but I do know of a group north of Wellington that built their own ski lake.

[add]

We also ski in the same river near it's source towards Lake Taupo. What a difference! The water there is gin-clear. Have skied many locations along the river and it's not too bad all the way downstream to where the Waipa delta joins near Ngaurawahia. At that point the river goes from greenish to brown :-(

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#1936234 11-Jan-2018 13:46

Geektastic:

Do they fill worked-out quarries with water and turn them into water parks here?

Kinda happened by accident in Warkworth when the lime quarry dug down to a crack that connects with the river 50m away. Awesome swimming spot now.

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kryptonjohn

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#1936239 11-Jan-2018 13:54

Indeed! https://tinyurl.com/y7ocxl6y

UHD

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#1937286 11-Jan-2018 16:10

kryptonjohn:

Indeed! https://tinyurl.com/y7ocxl6y

Hot tip, Google shorten their maps links automatically if you click share from any page.

gzt

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#1937349 11-Jan-2018 20:18

Article: Or, put another way, in order to ingest 'raw water,' the cause of 20 percent of child deaths worldwide, rich Americans have taken to spending more than most people in the world earn in a week.

In doing so, not only are they rejecting millennia of widely understood science, but they are putting their lives and the lives of those around them at risk, in order to indulge in a patronizing play-act of poverty that puts even so-called slum tourism to shame."

I find the article somewhat ridiculous. It presents no evidence at all that any product marketed as raw water has caused harm. It incorrectly compares raw water to something like water from a polluted river or polluted well. It also assumes these products undergo zero safety testing for legionnaires and things like that. I'm guessing under nz regs at least - that would be incorrect.

There are any number of unnecessary products that cost $36usd.

At that price they could add $5 for clean water access in the 3rd world and do some good. Or like um like 10c and a big marketing sticker..

Edit: Those areas will need the help of course because of all the plastic and packaging and transport contributing to the warming effect.