Is Our Water Safe To Drink And Soak In?
By William Golden

According to the Washington Post, in June 1994 the EPA raised "skin absorption chlorine" to its Top 10 Carcinogens Watchlist. My assumption has been that that doesn't mean that drinking, breathing, and soaking in chlorine is necessarily going to cause cancer, but that it may contribute to it, or that if someone is marginal it could make the difference. I've also read that when water pressure is released at the shower head some of the chlorine off-gasses, so there is a concentration of it in the air of the shower stall. We tried several of the shower-head filters, and all of them broke open due to their plastic construction, hot water in the shower, and our high water pressure, which I like. I'll get back to our indoor water later.

Meanwhile, for about six years, John Cohen, who also lives in Topanga, helped me evolve non-chlorine systems for my pool and spa (the top photo on my Home page). He initially rescued me from the popular salt-water pool system, in which electrolysis splits salt (NaCl) into its two components, sodium and chlorine. So we were still soaking in chlorine, plus high sodium. John installed ozonators, and brought 55 gallon drums of 35% hydrogen peroxide, an oxidizer to be used as an occassional shock, and a 30 gallon drum of Pristine Blue, a copper solution to be poured in to maintain a stable residual of .4 to .7 ppm. We thus had a chlorine-free pool and spa, and could soak for hours in pure healing water.

However, it wasn't an easy to control system, and I wasn't happy with ozone, because I'd been injured by my ozone systems several times. Once when the cover of the UV light tubes was off while we were working on it, my eyes got so badly "sun-burned" that I was in agony all night. Another time when I accidentally inhaled the concentrated ozone bubbles while I was swimming laps, I felt an immediate searing of my bronchioles, and then had chest-cold-like symptoms for about a week. And one still night in the hot tub, relaxed with my nose near the water, I again damaged my airways and lungs because the ozone is heavier than atmosphere and is concentrated near the water. So I started researching ways to generate copper ions and oxygen in-line, as well as to inject CO2 for non-toxic pH control.

Over the ensuing years, in-line technology has advanced greatly, and through an on-going process of testing and evaluation I am now quite enthusiastic about offering a number of fine products through Pristine Water Company. The systems are the best on the market, and are currently being recommended by some of the Pool Industry's leading professionals. For instance, Don Goldstone of Ultimate Water Creations, whom I worked with in building my pool, and who builds mostly high-end pools in the quarter million dollar and up bracket, is now recommending my systems for all his new pools.

The way it works is: we replace 11 inches of the pool's return line with a clear chamber of the same diameter that contains two sets of electrodes: one is copper, and it generates copper ions, and the other is titanium coated with noble metals, and it separates water into its components, resulting in the formation of four excellent oxidizers: O, O2, OH, (hydroxyl ion), and H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide).. Each of these has a higher ORP (oxygen reduction potential) than the pool-chlorine or bromine usually used for that purpose. The titanium electrodes produce 20 to 80 grams of oxygen radicals per minute, as compared to Del's great Eclipse corona discharge ozone generators, which only produce 2 to 5 grams of ozone per hour. The bottom line is we now have an automated, sparkling clear pool and spa with no chlorine, bromine, salt, or ozone. All those components' purposes are now achieved more effectively by electrodes controlled by buttons. I love it -- ephemeralization of effort -- doing more and more with less and less, and getting better results.

In fact, my pool water is now much purer than what comes out of city taps - we have 20,000 gallons of excellent drinking water. The EPA standard for copper in municipal drinking water is "up to 1.3 parts per million," and there are numerous serious diseases caused by a lack of copper. In pools and spas, we maintain a copper level of between 0.4 and 0.7 ppm, and in the whole house system about 0.3 ppm. To consume the amount of copper contained in just one multivitamin/mineral tablet, we would have to drink about two gallons of the pool water.

To keep the pH down to the neutral level, where the copper is most effective at killing microorganisms, we now have an excellent, automated, pH sensor system that will control either a two-tank, auto-switch-over, carbon dioxide (CO2) injection system, or a safe and reliable acid pump system. When CO2 mixes with water, it creates carbonic acid, which is totally non-toxic, and reverts to CO2 and water. By keeping the pH at around neutral (7), the copper between 0.4 and 0.7 ppm, maintaining good oxidation and a clean filter, our pool and spa remain absolutely pristine, even with high bather loads.

The thing that most impresses me about this system is that after hours of people soaking in the hot tub, the water is still crystal clear, whereas it used to get cloudy with all the previous systems.

Once I became confident of the effectiveness of the pool/spa system from seeing it in action, I went ahead and installed a whole house and property system as well. It uses the same 5' tall by 10" diameter activated carbon filter that several other companies also use to remove 150 specific potential contaminants that could be in the water at any time, including chlorine, asbestos, and heavy metals, while leaving in the beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium. But unlike the other water systems, we then add the same two sets of electrodes used on the pool and spa systems. These electrodes do three things:
1. they add oxygen and other oxidizers to kill microbes that may not have been killed by the municipal water's chlorine, (such as cryptosporidium),
2. they add 0.3 ppm of copper ions so any water that stands unused does not grow pathogens,* and
3. they charge the carbonate ions so they do not bond with each other or form scale on fixtures. Thus the calcium deposits in pipes, water heaters, toilets and around faucets disappear and don't come back with our system.

The oxygenated, ionized water is also excellent for plants. While it kills single-celled animals, it is beneficial to most multi-celled life. Golf courses are installing our larger commercial systems because the softer, wetter water makes greener grass with less water. The copper also discourages slugs and snails. I was concerned that the big filter might cut down my excellent water pressure and flow, but it didn't. I still have the same strong, high pressure and flow. We also have different systems for wells, water cooling towers, fountains, above-ground pools, stand-alone spas, and even for boats on fresh water.

It is reassuring to know that if the terrorists (God forbid) were to use those municipal water facility plans they have, this system would handle anything they're likely to send through our pipes. The main thing though, is that it just feels good to be showering in water that is pristine, and to have the same quality as bottled drinking water coming out of any tap in the house. Also I figure that in the off-chance we prevent a case of cancer, the systems will have much more than paid for themselves, as well as giving us increased general health and peace of mind.

*I've heard compaints from people who have filters that, like ours, remove the chlorine but then do not replace it with a non-toxic, stable residual, that they can get odors coming from their faucets that smell like mould or sewer, evidently from microbes that are free to breed in their pipes after the filter has removed the chlorine. The stable residual of copper ions that we add remains indefinitely in the water, inhibiting such growth.