I've just read this article from the Coastrider Online. It is long, but worth reading.
What's in your water?
A water purification firm, based in Elche, claims that tap water and some bottled water contains high levels of chlorine and limestone. Not a particularly surprising statement from a company whose only line of business is installing water purification systems. However, I was invited by the owners of Uniagua, brothers Martin and Juan Gallego, and their local representative for the southern Costa Blanca and Costa Calida, Ian Morrison, to experience for myself a number of tests on tap and bottled water. I couldn’t resist the temptation to discover what I was really drinking, and I was in for the shock of my life.
Uniagua is an ISO9001 accredited company and has been established for 15 years, with its headquarters on the outskirts of Elche. The company imports purification devices and decalcifiers for household and commercial use from the USA. There is no sideline operation which keeps the team focused on the subject it knows best: water, and how to remove the harmful particles contained within it.
Sparkling water best from glass bottles
I was asked to bring to the testing station a sample of the tap water from my home, and a sample of my usual bottled water. These were to be tested alongside local tap water from Elche, and water purified using the Uniagua Reverse Osmosis water purification system. My bottle of sparkling water, bought from a local supermarket, was ruled out of the test at the outset, as Ian Morrison told me: “Sparkling water has already been processed and this will remove a lot of the impurities. Your chosen brand has previously scored well in our tests, but the same cannot be said for other brands, even sparkling varieties. The optimum way to enjoy sparkling water is to buy it in a glass bottle. Plastic bottles leech particles into the water, particularly if they become warm.”
Pleased that my brand of sparkling water had already been given a thumbs up, we went ahead with tests for the two tap water samples, and the purified sample.
The first test involved placing each sample in a test tube and adding five drops of a special chemical to test for the presence of chlorine. Ian did not need to remind me that chlorine is carcinogenic, but he also added that it was the easiest substance to take out of water, if it is done properly.
The presence of chlorine in water is thought to be responsible for diseases such as bladder cancer, which causes more than 600 deaths in Spain every year. I was not surprised to see the sample of my water turn a very distinctive yellow, with the Elche water turning a lighter shade of the same colour which confirmed the high levels of chlorine. The purified water remained clear.
Water can make kidney stones a lot worse
The second test went through the same process, but this time using five drops of a different chemical to test for limestone in new test tubes using fresh samples. With the worst result for chlorine, I expected my Orihuela Costa tap water to turn milky white, which it did, thicker than the Elche tap water, and of course, the purified water once again remained clear. We all know the damage limestone can do to household appliances, but I knew little about what it does to our insides. Ian explained: “Lime can cause and exacerbate kidney stones. It is bizarre that when you have kidney stones, you’re told to drink a lot of water to flush them through, when the water itself could make the condition a lot worse.”
Our third test was to take a reading of the number of Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS, in each sample, using a sensitive probe and counter. TDS is the sum total of all of the dissolved things in a given body of water. The Spanish Government’s own guidelines on TDS is set at a maximum of 150 parts per million. The Elche tap water was tested first, and gave a TDS reading of 446. My Orihuela Costa tap water showed a reading of 548. The purified sample came out at just 25. The two tap water samples were not just slightly over the maximum Government guideline, but massively so. This was worrying. Ian said: “It is not surprising. In 2006, the OCU or Organizacion de Consumidores y Usarios declared the tap water in the Murcia region undrinkable.
What should be of greater concern is that some brands of still, bottled water, give the same reading as the Elche tap water. I can perform the same test in people’s homes, and have taken readings of over 800 TDS on their tap water.”
Now for the fourth test which makes the particles in the water visible. Larger quantities of the water were placed in see-through plastic cups, and two electrodes, causing an electrical current to stimulate the particles, were inserted into each sample. The purified sample was tested using this method first, and the water changed to a golden colour. Ian said: “This is good. The gold colour represents all the goodness, such as minerals, that have remained in the water.
The water is also the same temperature as it was before the electrodes were inserted.”
The water had turned black
Now it was time to conduct the same experiment on my home tap water. The electrodes were supposed to remain in the water for 45 seconds. However, due to the high numbers of particles in the sample, the water became too hot and the probes had to be removed prematurely.
That was after the water had turned black and the particles became clear. Ian said: “Now you can see what you ingest if you drink this water. Even boiling it for coffee and tea doesn’t take away the particles of lime and chlorine.” It was a horrifying sight. The Elche water had similar results, although didn’t overheat.
Ian Morrison got into the business of water just two years ago, and is not only passionate about the health implications of water, but also water conservation. He told me: “I didn’t really get interested until I reached my 40s, and then started to do some research when we moved to Spain eight years ago. My reading on the subject of water quality and conservation led me to Uniagua, and then I became the first English representative to work for the company.
I discovered that many purification installations in people’s homes don’t work. Not only do many systems leak, causing gallons of water to literally go down the drain, and this is mainly because many are not maintained and filters have not been changed, but often the same systems fail to extract the harmful substances. There is no such thing as a filter for life, or a lifetime guarantee on these appliances. I liked the fact that Uniagua only sources the best purification systems, and that the water passing through the Uniagua system only comes into contact with stainless steel which is non corrosive. When I have tested other systems in people’s homes, it is clear that harmful particles are often not being removed. With many of these appliances, people turn on a tap and the water comes rushing through. It may pass through a filter but it is not purification, which takes longer. The Uniagua Reverse Osmosis water purifier takes half an hour to produce eight litres of drinking water in one go.”
Ian showed me what is nicknamed ‘the graveyard’ at Uniagua’s headquarters, a heap of appliances that have been removed from people’s homes, all of which were made of plastic or rusting metals.
De-calcifier can aid energy efficiency and cut costs
In addition to purification, Uniagua also has a de-calcifier among its range of systems, which can remove lime from the entire household water system. Ian showed me a cross section of a water pipe coated in lime scale. He said: “Elements in a boiler coated with lime scale will take longer to heat up, thus wasting more energy and costing more to the consumer. The same goes for washing machines and dishwashers which have a longer lifespan if their elements are free of lime. It is not only about the cost savings on appliances in the home, but we also shower in this water. Only recently, I went to the opticians for an eye test, and found I have tiny crystal formations on my eyes, which could be particles of lime caused by the water.” The de-calcifier is state-ofthe- art and comes equipped with a device onto which you place your telephone if there is a problem, which somehow communicates with a centre in Madrid, detailing where you are and what the nature of the problem is. Quite amazing.
Ian practices what he preaches and has strived to make his family home as energy and water efficient as possible. He said: “I wouldn’t use any other purification system, for my own health and my wife and children’s.”
Ian has a home-testing kit which he takes with him everywhere. He said: “Once I tested household water which gave a reading of 875 TDS, which was staggering. I fitted the Uniagua system but the reading went down to 200 TDS, which is not good enough. I had to bring the appliance back to our testing station at Elche and find a solution. Let’s just say we added something to the standard appliance which brought the reading to a much more satisfactory 80 TDS. My customer took the precautionary step of getting his newly purified water tested at an independent laboratory, whose results confirmed my own.”
I asked if Ian thought the Uniagua system could provide a solution to the people of El Galan, who have lived for years with a toxic water supply. Ian said: “I really don’t know, but I would be willing to try and find out.”
I shall try to find a ‘guinea pig’ household in El Galan and keep Ian to his word in what I suspect will be a rather more complex experiment, for residents of El Galan do not just have chlorine and lime scale to worry about. I shall also be talking in greater detail with Ian about water conservation, and how important it is that we all do our bit in Spain.
As for the bottled brands to avoid and the best buys, I have received a recommendation from Uniagua, but I would be required to get a second opinion at an independent testing facility before being able to publish results for any brand name.