Passion, Pigments and Clean Water?

by Joe Naylor, Marketing Manager
AdEdge Technologies Inc.

Recently, I was on a flight out of town and the man in the seat next to me, bored with his airline magazine, finally spoke up and asked "where ya headed"? A small town outside Newark I replied. Then, after a brief pause and feeling a little obligated, I asked him...what's your destination? Immediately he exploded with life as he answered "I'm going to a pigment show".

Surprised at his sudden change of character and enthusiasm about going to a pigment show, I responded...really!.. and what kind of pigments are exhibited at this show? All kinds, he said. There are plant pigments, chemical pigments, dry pigments, liquid pigments, pigments for cosmetics, pigments for printing, organic pigments, and even fluorescent pigments. He continued on, enthusiastically proceeding through a rather long list of facts and information. After about 10 minutes I felt like an expert on pigments, and that I had just attended the entire show he was on his way to attend.

Ok, so what does this story really have to do with clean water? Everything!

Eventually we were re-entering our silent flight mode. I thought about how impressed I was with his excitement and enthusiasm about pigments, and more important, how passionate he was about pigments, and... how we in the water treatment industry have to be passionate about clean water.

The world's population grows while the natural supply of potable water remains constant. It's our industry that keeps it safe. We all need to be the person on the plane who can't wait to talk about our passion for clean water. Ask any employee at AdEdge, and they'll tell you what's on top of our Company's Core Values list.

Are Residential RO Drinking Water Systems Effective for Arsenic Removal? Not Really.

by Beth Thomas CWS VI, Business Development Manager, AdEdge Technologies Inc.

While continuing to be sold as a good method for removing arsenic from potable water in homes, Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology is not effective in treating arsenic in residential applications. In fact, The Water Quality Association and the American Water Works Association changed their recommendation for this application as not acceptable several years ago when it was determined that reverse osmosis membranes do not remove both forms of arsenic. While arsenic V is removed, arsenic III is not effectively removed. Most groundwater supplies are higher in arsenic III than in arsenic V.

Another concern with the use of RO for arsenic removal is that the arsenic rejected by the membrane is concentrated in the waste stream. This reject stream is then discharged back to the environment through the sewer, septic system, or leach field. Consequently, residential RO systems waste water. Most systems use about 8-9 gallons of water for every gallon of treated water produced. Larger commercial and municipal systems have a much better efficiency rating.

The good news is that residential systems are available to the public that are efficient, environmentally friendly and effectively remove arsenic. AdVantEdge™ residential drinking water systems by AdEdge Technologies, use arsenic filtration cartridges. These systems do not have a reject stream. They remove both arsenic III and arsenic V. In fact, these cartridges can be also be used as pretreatment to an RO membrane to remove arsenic so there is none in the waste stream, or as in-line cartridges used after the RO to remove the arsenic III not removed by the membrane.