City water

[oneeye]

Hello friends, Heres a good question, whats in your water?

After working in greenhouses and using acid injectors to modify the water, I noticed that some tap water is not suited for indoor plants.

Big City water has to alter the pH of the drinking water with chemicals to keep heavy metals from leaching into the drinking water. If water is acidic, pipe or pipe solder will leach into the drinking water. My city water pH is 9 pH with a ppm of 500 making it very hard. When you put tap water on a plant or on a yard over an extended time it will temporarily raise the pH locking out iron. When the rains come the pH drops back to a normal range but using tap water temporarily raises the pH. In late Summer I could see a lot of chlorosis from the altered pH. People generally thought it was from drought and put extra tap water on problem area. I have to use it in the hot Summer on my pecan trees but they don't do well with it.

 

[oneeye]

Synthetic lawn fertilizers often contain acid, particularly in the form of ammonium-based nitrogen compounds, because of the high pH that tap water has on the soil. The green up is mostly more from the acid rather than the ammonium. Soil pH is extremely important when it come to micronutrients diagnosis of problems in the soil.

 

[Meadowlark]

That is one of the primary benefits of living and gardening in the Country away from suburbia. When you get away from City Water for a period, you can really see how it makes a difference in growing veggies.

Imagine, if it affects plants that way, wouldn't it also stand to reason that City water would affect us Humans? The combo of City Water with the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, etc. has to add up, and I certainly believe it does. For those within cities who never raise their own veggies...the "that's what the stores are for" attitude...the combo with City water has to make a difference.

I have gotten to the point that I save as much rainwater as possible and use that in preference over even well water on the garden. My well water is hard stuff, certainly superior to City water, but not as optimum as rainwater. Unfortunately, my system of catching rainwater is limited due to my own lack of effort in making it better. My current capacity is about 350-400 gallons and that is fine for most of the year except late summer periods which can get really dry. I really should improve my capacity and transport mechanism but just don't seem to have the time...or make the time to do it right.

 

[redback]

Good topic. Water is high on the agenda for those who want to stay healthy. I use a Brita filter jug to keep my drinking water clean.
I do have a 20,000-gallon (90,000 liter) rainwater tank that captures all the roof water. Unfortunately, it's no use when the rain stops for months in the growing season.

 

[MiTmite9]

This post reminds me of the time many many years ago, when I was telling some friends about how all of my fruit trees and veggies are always organically grown. Without missing a beat, my one pal deadpanned: "You use City water?" Hahaha.

 

[Meadowlark]

..."You use City water?" Hahaha.

To me, not using city water is very high on the list of things I don't want on my tomato plants.

 

[oneeye]

Here's an interesting article about tap water having poisons in the water. Heres 10 impurities that are common in tap and it's not all the of them only 10 of the major ones.

Top 10 Contaminants Found In Tap Water

An investigation of the country’s drinking water by the Environmental Working Group found that water flowing to about 85 percent of the population contains 316 contaminants

www.aquasana.com

 

[Meadowlark]

Not at all surprising to me to see herbicides and pesticides in that list.

To a large extent, Science does not know what the effects of these contaminants in tap water are on human health long term, but I observe the fatal effects on plants of herbicide residue and make my own conclusions.