Larry wrote:
wrote in
:
snip
My offer still stands to put sterile jars of your RO water and my
distiller water on the dock for the summer then we'll both drink what's
in it the last day of August.....
But, the reality is this is irrelevant as a test, and totally
meaningless as any form of standard. The air you breathe is not
sterile, nor is the food you eat, nor is the finger you pick your nose
with. RO water is *not* guaranteed (nor likely) sterile...so what? The
container you store it in, and the glass you drink it from is not
sterile either. That's why you chlorinate water that's going to be
stored, because it will always have some baseline bioburden, and stored
under ideal conditions, without a biocide or preservative, will grow
out. When your fecal matter comes out sterile, then you can start
worrying about making sure your drinking water is always *sterile* (of
course, you'll be dead at that point, but...)
I'm sure DoD has some superbugs in their illegal arsenal of biological
warfare agents no distiller can kill.....But, when it comes to purifying
hose water from the sewage the city delivers as drinking
water....Distillers work much better than anything available, including
RO.
These are not superbugs, or DoD creations. G. stearothermophilus is
common in hot springs, and is used routinely for qualification of moist
heat sterilization processes. In fact, it won't even grow at all below
about 125°F. B. subtilis/atrophaeus is a common bacillus
species/subspecies (found in soils, grasses, and even used in gardens as
a fungicide), used routinely for qualification of dry heat and gamma
irradiation sterilization processes. Neither is considered a human
pathogen, which is why they are used as bioindicator (challenge) organisms.
Distillation works fine, and other than energy usage, doesn't have too
many downsides. But you need a lot more specificity when it comes to
defining "better" relative to drinking water production. Tens of
millions of people worldwide drink RO water without an issue. High
temperature distillate will typically have a lower bioburden *from the
still* than RO. But, when coupled with the charcoal bed needed to
remove volatile organics that carryover from the distillation process,
you have the same type of bioburden issues. Carbon beds are perfect
incubators, providing a marvelous substrate, far better than RO
membranes in fact, as well as a ready carbon source for bacterial growth.
The point is, both systems work fine for drinking water, as long as the
process is understood by the user, and the inherent process risks are
addressed through routine maintenance and sensible use. Long term
storage of water, without a suitable growth inhibitor, is just bad
practice irrespective of the purification process used.
And I *still* say you must have been bitten by an RO unit as a child... :-)
Keith Hughes