Author: Advanced Water Treatment Solutions Michigan

Squirt is our official company mascot! He can be seen at many local events in Livingston, Oakland and Genesee County. Kids and adults both seem to really get a kick out of him, so he will be appearing at many upcoming trade shows, parades, etc. A lot of these events cater mostly to adults. It is important to us that we are able to provide entertainment for the children in attendance, all while offering good, sound education about water treatment to their parents.

His official debut was back in October at the Novi Home Remodeler’s Show at the Suburban Collection Showplace. We realized very quickly that taking him to all future events would be a must!

The next event that we took him to was another event at the Suburban Collection Showplace in January…the Novi Home Improvement Show. Again, adults and kids alike were eager to ask questions about the giant water drop, as well as snap a ton of great photos with him.

Another local event that Squirt appeared at was the 2015 Pinckney Business Expo, which benefited the Pinckney Instrumental Music Program. The day was filled with music played by Pinckney students. A spaghetti dinner was offered to all who attended as well. Squirt was a hit once again with all of the kids. He even ran into a few fellow mascots…Rick Beaudin, aka The Pinckney Pirate and Ricky RE/MAX.

We took part in the 2015 Fenton Community Expo this past weekend. The event was held at the Fenton High School and yielded a great turnout. Folks from Genesee County and many surrounding areas came to watch the entertainment that was provided continuously through the show. People were also able to talk to many local vendors about a multitude of different services. Squirt spent most of his time in the Kid’s Zone taking pictures and hanging out with other mascots In the meantime, we all kept busy at our booth talking with people many cities from Fenton, Linden, Holly, Hartland, Clio, and Grand Blanc…just to name a few.

Squirt will be with us at the Novi Home & Garden Show March 27-29 at the Suburban Collection Showplace. He will be with us at the Livingston County Home & Garden Show April 10-12. We look forward to seeing everyone at both of these fantastic shows!

Squirt also has his own Facebook page. Like it so that you can keep up on where he will be next!

Squirt on Facebook

The age old statement that I hear regularly is, “I remember growing up and drinking water right out of the garden hose and I am not dead.” This statement holds true for most people. However, as we have learned in many other situations and we have all said at one point or another is, “If I only knew then what I know now.” Well, fortunately for you, we do know.

There are many ways of purifying water these days and many reasons to do so. The fact of the matter is, if you don’t buy or filter your water before consuming it, your body will filter it for you. The easiest and most healthy way to purify your water for most residential applications is with a reverse osmosis unit. For some, this is an economical and convenient method because you get continuous treated water at your tap. If this is a solution that you would like to explore, Advanced Water Treatment can educate you on the many options that we have available to clean up your water. We will discuss the maintenance associated with all of these options, along with all of their pros and cons. We offer reverse osmosis water with remineralization so the all of the bad stuff like arsenic, nitrates, chlorine, lead, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals are removed. But then we add the good stuff that your body needs such as magnesium and calcium back to the water.

If a POU drinking water filtration solution is not right for you, we also offer bottled water for delivery. This water is bottled weekly to ensure that you get superior purified water that exceeds the state’s guidelines for water quality standards. The best is that we deliver the water right to your door! This water undergoes a 12 step process, starting with city water and ending with only the freshest best tasting water possible. This solution is a great one when pretreatment is not possible or the water quality is not desirable for a reverse osmosis unit. In industrial or factory applications, jugged water is ideal because the water cooler may not be placed in a location by the water supply. We can also maintain a consistent quality and provide perfect water no matter what the location or application may be.

We would appreciate the opportunity to quote all of your water needs, now including now bottled water. We offer to keep full routes including salt, water, water cups and cooler rental.

Call us today for a free in-home water treatment evaluation. You deserve GREAT water: 1-800-273-9978.

Sherlock Holmes mysteries have always been one of my favorite reads and recently I received a set of DVD’s of the newest British television series of Sherlock Holmes. I immediately sat down and watched the whole series in one weekend. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How? The seven major questions every journalist asks when developing a new story. That’s really what Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson do with every investigation.

I was half asleep the other night, mind racing as usual. When I realized that these seven questions are exactly what I have to ask myself every single day when I am in a customer’s home helping them solve their water treatment problems, answer their water treatment concerns, design a water treatment system that will solve these problems and give them the water quality they are looking for.

• Who initiated the call?
• What are their concerns with their water, what is the water chemistry, what is it going to take to fix it, and what does it cost? There are many What’s.
• When did they start noticing the problems?
• Where is the problem most evident?
• Why? There are many Why’s.
• How can it be corrected, How many people in the home?
• There are many questions to each that need to be taken into consideration.

All these questions need to be addressed. A proper water analysis needs to be done in the home and at times third party lab testing may be necessary for a more comprehensive water analysis if any other water problems may be suspected. Such as Arsenic, Iron bacteria, Coli-form bacteria and so forth.

When all these questions have been addressed and the puzzle of the water problems solved, only then can we figure out what it takes to correct the water, how much it will cost and the options available.

So the next time you have a bad, rusty, smelly water problem remember it takes the right investigator to properly diagnose the situation and come to a conclusion that others may not have seen. Or may not have even thought to look for!

Good Water to you!

When drilling a new well it is required by the health department to chlorinate/sanitize the well when it is finished to make sure no harmful bacteria are present, such as Coli-form and E Coli, and the well has a potable water supply. Every well drilling company will sanitize the well when it is completed. The well then needs to sit for approximately 24 hours before it can be flushed of chlorine and a sample taken for bacteria testing. It is not uncommon to have the well sanitized several times before a negative test result for bacteria comes back meaning the well has passed inspection.

When the water lab tests the sample and a positive result for coliform bacteria occurs this prompts a test for the presence of e-coli. E-Coli does not exist without the presence of Coli-form bacteria, hence the testing for e-coli when coliform bacteria is present.

Recently we had a customer that was having problems with coliform bacteria from a new well that was drilled. The well had been chlorinated after it was installed and a positive test for coliform bacteria came back after the well had been chlorinated and flushed completely. A second chlorination / sanitizing, flushing of the well was done and another positive test occurred.

The dilemma here is the positive result for coliform bacteria may not necessarily be coming from the well itself. When sanitizing a well it is imperative to sanitize the entire home plumbing system in that same 24 hour period as the well is being sanitized. It is very common to have bacteria introduced into the household plumbing system just from washing our hands and this can cross contaminate the sample and even the well supply. This is another reason why it is suggested to have your water tested every few years. After the well has been chlorinated/sanitized it needs to be flushed completely of any chlorine residual before a water sample can be drawn. Flushing the well until it is free of chlorine can take over 24 hours before a chlorine-free sample can be drawn.

When taking a water sample for testing it is imperative to sanitize the area where the water is drawn just before you take the sample. Such as a kitchen sink faucet or an outside spigot. First of all, if using any inside faucet, remove the aerator before drawing any sample. Sanitizing the sampling point can be done in several ways.

1. Use a lighter to run a flame for a short time under the faucet spout. A few seconds is fine.
2. Use a cotton ball with either bleach or alcohol on it to wipe the spout area thoroughly then run the faucet for several minutes before drawing the sample.
3. You can also use a small bowl with bleach or alcohol in it to “dip” the faucet spout into it for a few seconds then run the faucet for several minutes to make sure any chlorine residual is gone before drawing the sample.
4. It is also imperative to NOT touch any of the rim of the water sample bottle when drawing the sample. This can also cause a cross-contamination of the water sample.

Sanitizing any well should be done by a professional

There are many problems that can occur when sanitizing a well. If the well casing is an older steel casing there are certain procedures that need to be followed to prevent scale, rust, and sediment from coming off the inside wall of the well casing and potentially causing problems with the well pump. Broken well caps, a plugged or broken vent, wellheads buried in planting beds can all be issues that need to be resolved. The well itself may need to be power flushed by the drilling company to clean it first before chlorinating/sanitizing can be started. These are one of many reasons why sanitizing a well should be left to a professional that is experienced in the proper procedures.

There are several water labs in Livingston, Washtenaw, and Oakland counties that provide testing and the materials needed. Water testing is also available through your county health department. For your families health, well being and peace of mind have your water tested every few years.

Good days and good water to you!

All of us have hard water, to one degree or another, whether we live in a home with a private well, community well or city water. The problem is each one of these water supplies has their own particular water quality issues.

The water chemistry from a private well supply can vary greatly even during the course of one year. The change of seasons at times brings heavy rains, spring runoff from winter snows and drought conditions. Any and all of these conditions will have an impact on the water chemistry and water quality of your well water supply. Typically the shallower the well supply the more susceptible it is to these changing water conditions but all wells experience changing water tables and consequently a change in the water chemistry. Usually for the worse, unfortunately.

This year (2013) has been a perfect example of this occurring in many wells throughout southeast Michigan. With the drought conditions we experienced two years ago the water table dropped significantly causing many people to put in new wells. Last winter we had a heavier snowfall then recent winters past and spring brought almost daily rain showers well into the summer bringing the water tables up to levels we have not seen in many years. This “Water Cycle” brought a significant change to our water tables and in many cases a drastic change in the quality of the water from private and community well supplies.

When such a Water Cycle occurs it is common to have higher Iron, Manganese, Hydrogen Sulfide and even harder water (Calcium/Magnesium) coming from the well supply. Because of the natural cycle of water, it is recommended to have your water supply tested every few years to see if the water chemistry has changed. If so, what, if any, steps need to be taken to address new water problems that may be found. Private well supplies are also susceptible to bacterial contamination from many sources so it is also recommended to do a Bacteria test on your well supply every few years to assure no bacterial contaminants have entered the well. If a positive test for Bacteria occurs the well can usually be treated to eliminate the problem.

The BIG picture of all this water stuff? Is it overblown at times? Yes. Are there genuine concerns about what is in our water and how it affects us? Yes!

But reassuring ourselves we have good water and it is safe for our families brings us peace of mind, makes our lives easier, healthier and that we can all use a lot more of!

Good days and Good water to you.

Water quality and water chemistry from private wells vary greatly from one region to the next and from one well to another even when they may only be sixty feet apart. Some of the many challenges, as water treatment professionals, we face when treating well water supplies are high iron content, ferric iron, iron bacteria, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, bacteria, arsenic, the list goes on and on. Point being the water chemistry from a private well can vary a great deal from one house to the next.

It is true there are areas in Hartland, Howell, Whitmore Lake, Pinckney, White Lake (Oakland County) and certain neighborhoods throughout Livingston, Washtenaw, and Oakland counties that are known for having “BAD” water problems. But we can never go by the rule of thumb or our personal experience treating water in these areas. Every well has to be tested to find the specific problems and the correct methods to treat them.

Livingston County is a perfect example of this as we frequently treat private wells with iron bacteria. Iron Bacteria is not a health hazard but it certainly causes a big problem in the home. It really is exactly as it sounds. Bacteria in the water feed off the iron present in the water supply and multiply causing a buildup in the well itself. You commonly notice Iron Bacteria in the back of toilet tanks where, if the problem is extreme, a thick matt of bacterial growth will build up in the toilet tank at the water line. It can be difficult to diagnose iron bacteria in a water supply. That is why Advanced Water Treatment recommends having the water tested by a certified water lab. As mentioned above there are signs and symptoms in the home that will indicate the presence of iron bacteria, slimy growth in the toilet tank, bits of what looks like algae streaming off parts in the toilet tank and air bubbles on top of the water, which the algae give off as they die. There are several schools of thought on how to treat this. “Shocking” the well with high amounts of chlorine will help for a period of time but these little bacteria, as most bacteria are, are pretty hardy and always manage to re-colonize the well in time. The Evolve Series EV2 Conditioner is designed to treat wells with iron bacteria, hardness, manganese and hard water with one system without having to shock, which could potentially cause a number of problems.

High Iron content is becoming more and more of an issue in all of southeast Michigan. It only takes trace amounts of iron to cause problems in the home and the iron from wells in Livingston County alone can be from 0ppm (parts per million) to over 15ppm. Even relatively low amounts of iron (1-2ppm) can have, and frequently do have, combinations of different types of iron such as Iron Bacteria, Ferric Iron (Oxidized iron) and Tannins (Iron bound up by organics in the water). It really can be quite fascinating to see all these water problems that occur. We take a lot of pride in the fact we can fix these problems and give homeowners the quality of water they are looking for.

Good days and good water to you!

In light of the problem recently with the city of Toledo’s water supply, I thought it might be prudent to address some potential problems that can occur with private wells. Recently we had a customer in Brighton in the process of selling their home. With the potential sale, a home inspection was done and water testing revealed the well was contaminated with Coli-Form bacteria. This is actually a rather common problem with private wells. Having Coli-Form bacteria in the water supply is a genuine concern for your health. It is also an indicator that E-Coli may be present in the water supply, which is a serious health concern. When a positive test for Coli-Form bacteria occurs this prompts the lab to test for E-Coli also. Whenever Coli-Form bacteria are found in the well supply the well needs to be shocked with high levels of chlorine to sanitize it and the home also needs to be sanitized during the well shocking process to sanitize the plumbing and assure no re-contamination or cross-contamination from the household plumbing afterword. If any water treatment equipment is present in the home it must be by-passed and sanitized separately to remove any bacteria.

A number of issues arose in the process of sanitizing this particular well. The well had the wrong cap on it allowing bugs and other debris into the well. The well cap had no seal (to keep out bugs and debris) and it was not vented properly. All these things contributed to this well showing positive for bacteria.

After sanitizing the well, and letting it sit for 24 hours, we began flushing the well of chlorine through the outside hose bibs. The switch for the well stopped working and we had no water. The cap needed to be replaced so a well company came out to replace the switch and well cap and in the process “blew out the well” with compressed air to flush any debris out because they suspected the screen on the submersible pump may be plugged also. This created a sludge which promptly plugged everything up including the household plumbing. #1 rule “NEVER” turn the water back on to the house after blowing out the well until the well has been completely flushed, the water is running clear and is free of chlorine. This opened up a whole new batch of problems when it was discovered the household copper plumbing was corroded and pitted, causing many pinhole leaks throughout the house. This home may need to be totally re-plumbed!

The well needs to be free of chlorine before drawing another sample for bacteria testing. Flushing the well before it is free of chlorine can take from eight to twenty-four hours depending on the flow rate from the well and how much chlorine was added. If you would like to have your well water tested the Livingston County Health Department can provide water sample bottles for testing. There are also several local labs that can help you through the process of gathering the sample for them to test. I would also suggest doing nitrate and arsenic testing at the same time.

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has many helpful tip and fact sheets regarding all these issues, the care and maintenance of your home’s water well and hiring a well contractor. Here are several DEQ links related to the issues addressed in this article.

• Coli-Form Bacteria
• Your water well
• Insects in your well
• Hiring a well contractor

Good days and good water to you!

In a past blog post (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) we talked about how it takes the right investigator to properly diagnose water problems, find the best solutions to treat the water, provide the customer the quality of water they are expecting and have a permanent solution to their water problem. We have had two such problems recently that we helped homeowners resolve.

Here are the scenarios with each customer:

Customer #1: They have been living in their home in Hartland, MI for 18 years, 2 adults, 2 teenagers (now). When they moved into the home eighteen years ago they had a new water softener installed with a pre-filter and a new well tank at the same time. Their water was always discolored and rusty, causing many problems in the home, laundry staining, rusty toilets, hated the taste of the water, etc. They were told by many water treatment companies that they had “Tannins” (dissolved organic matter) in their water and there was nothing that could be done about it. Meanwhile, they are changing the pre-filter every month for 18 years because it gets so plugged up with gunk the water pressure in the house drops dramatically.

Customer #2: Longtime customers of ours. They just bought a home on a lake in Chelsea, MI and had well issues (positive test for Coli-form bacteria) before they closed on the house so the well was chlorinated by a well contractor, the water was re-tested and passed inspection. In the process of moving into the home, they discover the water is really bad, hard, rusty, very discolored and even smells weird. They have the company come out who installed the water treatment equipment seven years ago to look it all over and see what needs to be done to rectify the problem. As it turns out they have “Tannins” in their water (which is not uncommon living on a lake). They also have high iron content and hard water. The service tech explains the softener is not working properly and the head needs to be rebuilt and the tannin unit needs new tannin resin also. The homeowner was rather suspect at this diagnosis because he said the tech hardly spent any time at all diagnosing the problem before suggesting a solution. By the way, I forgot to mention the well tank was bad (waterlogged) and needed to be replaced, the homeowner knew that. So they called us out to look at the system and give our opinion as to the solution.

Now we are going to tie both of these water problems together and figure out the proper solutions. The MOST important thing and FIRST THING done when diagnosing a water treatment problem is to “Listen to the Customer” before you do anything! Let them describe the problems (as they see it) and ASK questions relating to the problems they have described. This can many times point us in the right direction from the beginning. At the very least it will help us address the problem as the customer sees it and provide them the answers to their questions and concerns.

In neither of these situations were questions asked of the homeowners by the other water treatment companies, nor was a proper water analysis done to determine the water chemistry or look for potential water problems. With the proper investigation both of these problems were diagnosed correctly, a complete water analysis/evaluation was done on-site and proper / permanent solutions were presented within a half hour of our visit with each homeowner.

Water Evaluation Diagnosis:

Customer #1: No Tannins. 5 parts per million of iron and a series of well tanks going bad (5 in 18 years) the bladders kept going out in them (cheap well tanks), causing them to get water logged and in the process oxidizing most of the iron in the well tank. So the iron falls out of solution (Ferric iron/ Rust), plugs up the filter and rusty discolored water passes through the water softener causing many problems in the home. The water was extremely discolored every morning after it set in the well tank all night!

Solution: New well tank, switch and gauge (The proper well tank) and an Evolve Series EVFE iron filtration system

Customer #2: Tannins, 9 parts per million of iron, softener and tannin unit not working. When the well was shock chlorinated, none of the water treatment equipment was by-passed and the resin in both units was ruined by the high chlorine. Also with the 9ppm of iron about 2ppm of the iron was ferric iron (oxidized) so it had already fouled out the tannin resin with iron.

Solution: New well tank, Evolve EVFE iron filter, Evolve EVRS softener and re-bed of the tannin system.

Results: Happy customers! Great water! The proper solutions to their water treatment problems and feeling great that we could help solve their water problems and give them the quality of water they were looking for! Previous Angst over their water problems, the wives love us, hence the Arrhythmia and we have solved their troubled waters problem.

So the next time you are experiencing Angst and Arrhythmia over your Troubled Waters. Remember it takes the right investigator to properly diagnose the perceived, potential and actual water treatment problems along with the proper solutions to give you great water!

Below are some links regarding issues discussed in this article:

Evolve Series Water Treatment

Advanced Water Treatment

Is Tannic Acid in Water Harmful?

Good Days and Good Water to You!

An Analysis of City Water and Community Water Supplies

In this series of Blogs we will be discussing water quality for city and community water supplies in southeast Michigan, particularly in Livingston, Washtenaw, Oakland and Genesee counties. From city water to community water supplies all have their own water quality issues, concerns and methods to treat particular water problems. These city and community water supplies are heavily regulated by the state and federal government for the disinfectants used, how much is used, the processes used, along with an ever evolving list of drinking water standards that have to be met.

First of all, let’s clarify exactly what is meant by the terms City Water and Community Water Supply. Municipal /City water supplies typically get their water from a surface supply such as a Lake, Reservoir or River. Community water supplies are generally from a private water source which usually is a ground water well. Depending on the number of people a community well has to service there may be one to several wells in use to supply enough water to service that community and usually there is a “back up” well to supply water in case of well issues or in an emergency.

With this first Water and Our Health blog we will be discussing the city of South Lyon, Michigan and its community well water supply.

The South Lyon, Michigan community well water system services approximately 11,000 residents and have three groundwater wells that supply the community. The first concern when delivering customers water from either a city water supply or community water supply is for it to be protected, free of bacteria and assure every customer has “Potable Water”. To assure the water delivered to every home is free of bacteria treatment plants add chlorine to the water as it leaves the plant. The chlorine reacts with organics and bacteria in the water to sanitize the water system helping to prevent bacterial growth and protect against any outside intrusion such as a broken water main.

There is one issue with chlorine and its many forms that treatment plants use. Chlorine is very unstable and tends to break down fairly rapidly in the water treatment system depending on the size of the water system and how much reaction chlorine has with possible contaminants in the water supply. The more contaminants the faster chlorine residuals are used and the weaker the protection becomes as it reaches further out into the community. To counteract this problem the chlorine levels are constantly monitored to assure there is enough residual at the end user.

Because Community Water supplies are drawn from groundwater sources the water tends to be very high in calcium and magnesium (hardness). Many wells also have high iron levels (which causes staining and rust buildup). Hard water scale and iron can cause many problems in the household, ruining appliances, water heaters, staining plumbing fixtures and clothes. As chlorine, from the water system, enters the home it has served its purpose and needs to be removed at the point of entry. The byproducts created as chlorine reacts with organics and bacteria in the water (trihalomethanes) are known carcinogens so the household water should have the chlorine removed at the point of entry for water along with a conditioning system to remove hardness (scale) and iron (rust) to assure your home is operating as efficiently as possible. Advanced Water Treatment Inc. has several water treatment options to help you achieve the quality of water your family requires.

Below are several links regarding the topics discussed in this article and water treatment options.

• Health Risk of the Trihalomethanes Found in Drinking Water Carcinogenic Activity and Interactions
• What are Trihalomethanes?
• Drinking Water Contaminants – Standards and Regulations
• Advanced Water Treatment: Water Softeners
• Advanced Water Treatment: Reverse Osmosis

Good Days and Good Water to you!