Municipal Water

Question: Are there any good ecoli case examples dealing with municipal water supply? Doing some reasearch on ecoli cases that started in municipal water supplies. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer: Pathogenic E coli is really more of a food-borne problem. That said, however, E coli is one of a class of bacteria known as "coliform bacteria" that serve as in indicator of fecal contamination of water. E coli is generally found only within the digestive tracts of various animals. Thus, any time you find E coli (or other coliform bacteria) in a water source, it can be assumed that some type of fecal contamination of the water has occured. While the E coli itself usually isn't going to make you sick (some strains of E coli can, but not most), other water-borne pathogens spread from fecal contamination of water supply like Cholera, Typhoid, or Dysentary can be life-threatening. When we find E coli or other coliforms in a water sample, we ASSUME that it's dangerous and take appropriate cautionary measures. In this way E coli and other coliforms serve as "indicator organisms" used by local environmental health jurisdictions to determine if a water supply is safe to drink, swim in, etc. I don't work in the water supply element of environmental health, so my knowledge is a little hazy. But this should give you a start. Try searching not only for E coli, but also for drinking and/or recreational water quality on the web.

Question: How do I get nearest municipal water company to supply to our street? We (all 9 families on our street) have wells dug on our properties. The city water comes to the highway about 1.5 miles away from our homes. Where do I start in getting the service to be placed down our road?

Answer: Where I live you have to pay the utility company to run the water lines and place a meter. If all 9 families are will to share the costs it my not be to bad. Then you have to pay a plumber to run the water lines from the meter to the house. Contact your utility company.

Question: Is a municipal water department water required to charge a rate which covers it's actual costs? Our town commission has always set water rates that resulted in a large deficit for the water department. The deficit has been paid out of the general fund. The expressed rationale is that water bills can not be deducted for income tax purposes, but property taxes can. Is there anything improper about a municipality intentionally operating to generate a loss? Does the expressed purpose of converting the non-deductable expense into a deductable tax raise ant red flags?

Answer: Whether it is improper or not, sounds to me like they're trying to do a favor for the property owners of the town. Don't think I'd look a gift horse in the mouth.

Question: How to STOP my Borough Council from Fluoridating the Municipal Water Supply? I have heard from health activists that my local borough council in the UK, are considering fluoridating the water supply! Most of the sheeple at the last meeting at the town hall, went along with the BS of fluoride being good for teeth. I did not know about this meeting, their is another one coming up, How can I stop them...

Answer: That's a tough one. On the one hand, fluoride does harden tooth enamel and help prevent decay. But it should never be swallowed due to it's high toxicity. The problem is, enlightening your neighbours sufficiently enough to where they have the balls to tell the town council to shove it. In order to do that, it will require the involvement of the local media. Otherwise, it's a door to door campaign on the part of you and your fellow enlightened folks.

Question: Municipal water-treatment plants don't use distillation to purify water. Why? I did a lab in my chemistry class and we purified nasty gross water and used many ways to purify this water, distillation being one of them. but why don't municipal treatment plants use it?

Answer: I think its because we can't drink too much distilled water. It is completely free of solutes, so when it goes into us, the amount of solute outside our cells is lower than inside them. So the water outside our cells moves into them (hypotonic) causing the cells to grow too large and burst.

Question: Studies have found that some bottled water comes from municipal water supplies and that bottled water? frequently contains contaminants. Considering also waste and energy associated with bottling, under what conditions does it make sense to drink bottled water or to avoid drinking it? Please Help! Thanks in advance!

Answer: I have heard the same thing. I just think it is probably better than drinking Coke. If you drink bottled water, I would think it would be best to buy a brand you trust. I noticed that Dasani which is made by Coke, puts sodium in their water. I also read an article on that brand that doesn't sound good at all... http://www.naturalnews.com/001028.html

Question: How is it that pharmaceuticals are making it into municipal water supplies? Doesn't chlorine titration take care of that seeing as most (all?) drugs are organics? Synthetic means made by humans, synthesized. Organic in this sense means molecules made up partly of element carbon.

Answer: It gets flushed in to the water system via waste water .. Ie when you go to the loo. It gets pumped in to the air, and ends up in the water system. People flush unused medication down the toilet.. Straight in the water supply. Pharmaceutical companys also pump there waste into the water system. Puts you off drinking water doesnt it.

Question: should i assume that because we have well water,rather than municipal water that it is safe to drink? i dont drink it because it tastes gross,but in the event of the city water somehow being contaminated,do you think that well water is safe?

Answer: Just test it. Buy an Aquarium Water Tester and go to work. My well water sits at 7.0 ph (perfect) , no sulfur, no ammonia or other harmful chemicals. I'll take Western NC Well Water over any cities' sewage 'purified' crap.

Question: Residents of the town of Maple Grove who are connected to the municipal water supply are billed a fixed amount? How would i find the amount charged per cubic foot?

Answer: divide the fixed amount by the volume (in cubic feet) of water used.

Question: why dont municipal water treatment plants used distillation to purify water?

Answer: I can think of a couple of good reasons. 1. Distillation would require too much energy to heat the water: expensive and wasteful. 2. Trace elements in fresh water would be lost to us.

Question: I was wondering what the municipal water rate in Tel Aviv is? I'm doning an assignment and, any information would be helpful, Best regards. Matt. I'm doing an assignment and, any information would be helpful, Best regards. Matt.

Answer: for the first 16 cubic meters a month (for a family of up to 4) is about 1 dollar (3.47 NIS) a cubic meter (1 ton). for the next 14 cubic meters: 4.78, then it jumps to 6.58. (this is the rate in jerusalem, but the water rates are still fixed throughout the country. they might have to pay different rates for sewage and municipal rates.

Question: Why don't municipal water-treatment plants use distillation to purify the water? ???

Answer: Takes too much energy. Secondly, it'd take too many steps. Lots of chemicals in water have similar boiling points, so you'd basically have to use a setup identical to that of an oil refinery after settling took place.

Question: what can i do about pressure spikes in the municipal water supply, that cause my plumbing to rattle? this ratting in the pipes happens even when the taps are not on!

Answer: you could install a water hammer or a pressure reducing valve

Question: Is it worth it to use a Brita filter with municipal tap water? I live in Toronto where the water is soft (106 to 127 parts per million). Would a Brita filter really do anything for my water?

Answer: it filters only heavy metals and inorganic materials. if your municipal tastes good already, I probably wouldnt' invest in a brita. What you could do is borrow one or find a person who uses a brita near you and see if the water tastes different. When I bought mine, I did a taste test with my dad and we both picked the brita water as tasting better.

Question: How safe is municipal water in toronto? Some people say that public supply drinking water causes rashs to their children.some people afraid of turbidity in public supply water.Genuine answer

Answer: Unless there is any particular publicly admitted reason to distrust the Toronto water supply, it is probably utterly safe. The rash is most likely from some other cause, maybe a minor viral infection not carried by the water but going about schools, kindergartens and child minding centres. Turbidity is more in the eye than anything else unless it is really bad. This is quite likely a case of communal reinforcement of an unfounded rumour. http://www.toronto.ca/water/index.htm

Question: how do I find colorado revised statues pertaining to municipal water deposits and the return of them?

Answer: Try here: http://www2.michie.com/colorado/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=fs-main.htm&2.0