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Batteries, again, sorry
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 |
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