Treatment and testing
Test the water first, then decide what it needs
Water for a garden hose and water for a drinking glass are two different jobs.
We don't call any water safe to drink. A lab test and your county health office decide that. What we do is collect the sample, send it off, read the report with you in plain words and build the treatment the result calls for. You keep the report for the next owner.
The stages
What each stage is for
The lab test
It tells us what is in the water before we draw a filter. We choose the panel with you and the county.
Sediment filter
It catches grit and silt so the stages behind it can do their work.
Carbon filter
It works on taste and odor. It has to be changed on a schedule.
UV lamp
A lamp that treats bacteria in clear water, so the filters go ahead of it. It needs power and a yearly new lamp.
One tap
Drinking water gets its own tap
Rather than treat every gallon to the highest level, we usually put drinking and cooking water on one tap and send the rest of the house, the garden and the laundry on a simpler line. It costs less to keep up, and you know which tap the report is about.
What stays with you
A lab report for that tap
A filter-change calendar on paper
Replacement filters you can buy locally
Treatment
About drinking, upkeep and mosquitoes
Can I drink rainwater from the tank?
Some households do, but we don't call any water safe to drink. It depends on your roof, your tank and a lab test, and your county health office has the final say. We install the treatment a result calls for and hand you the lab report.
How much upkeep does a system need?
Plan on clearing screens and the first-flush diverter a few times a year, and changing filters on the schedule we write for your system. We leave a one-page maintenance sheet at the tank.
What about mosquitoes and algae?
Every opening gets a fine screen, and the tank is opaque so light can't grow algae. The overflow is screened too.
Start with a sample
Tell us where the water comes from and which tap you want to drink from.