Water Supply

[Smigo]

Hi to all. I have some questions please in regards to water supply treatment. Where I live our water supply is a large reservoir. But our rainfall totals are low which means we only get full fills that overflow if we are lucky 3 times every 20 yrs. You can imagine then our water supply does not get a regular flush out. This being the case it is often subject to toxic blue green algae outbreaks which occurs 2 out of every 3 years. Yeah, less than ideal is an understatement.
So it is piped to a large holding dam and then highly treated. We dont drink it as it is horrible to drink. And we have for drinking, consuming, a rain water tank. But, we dont in our home have the capacity to catch enough to do everything like wash clothes or for a hot water service. For years the washing was and still kind of is ok. But over the past 10 ish months we have noticed an increasing amount of skin irritant to the point we tried different soaps and shampoos but now are convinced it is our water. We only have a shower to wash. And as a shower works, the water falls first on your head. Also the skin on our heads is amongst the most sensitive, scalp, face, neck, or so I was told.
Now my showers leave me feeling like the skin on these areas are burning and for about 20 minutes after are visibly red and inflamed. Now we have decided to only wash our hair and heads with our limited tank water.
I contacted our water supplier who, what a joke, said that nothing in the treatment was a known irritant.
I did a search and these are 100% in our water. A number I found are an irritant and cause issues.
How bad does anyone else know these are to human health please. There are a few that I saw are no big deal but these below I would like a bit of feed back please. Our water is becoming quite an issue.
Coagulation/Flocculation
Reverse Osmisis
Lime, Soda Ash, Sodium Hydroxide
Potassium Permanganate
Chloramination

 

[JuicyLucy]

I would suggest installing an inline with 1 micron filter to your home at minimum if you use this water for anything - cheapest, easiest fix

I lived off a private well for over 20 years and now live off grid and rely heavily on rain water catchment from the roof of the house and am also a complete alternative health fanatic - I am as concerned about what goes into my body as what touches it. Your skin is a slow acting sponge

Coagulation/Flocculation

Can't help you there, I know nothing about it

Reverse Osmisis

Very costly, complex, high maintenance and you need a HUGE holding tank to meet even a low demand for water

Lime, Soda Ash, Sodium Hydroxide
Potassium Permanganate
Chloramination

While these can kill bacteria and other contaminants, they cannot actually remove contaminants, and as you are not positive what all is in your water, I would not waste my money as they can also cause other health issues

 

[JuicyLucy]

Had some further thoughts - it is not just the water supply itself that can supply contaminates - old pipes can be lethal as heavy metals, etc build up in aging systems

Slight variations in water contaminates can also cause pipes to release built up heavy metals or other organic and/or manmade pollutants

A multi-unit inline filter system - beginning with a 10 micron, going to a 5 micron then 1 micron filter housing

Am hoping others chime in with knowledge or creative ideas to help you get cleaner water

I ran these inline filters to use creek water for tropical fish breeding in Alaska

The housing units were under $20 US, are smaller than a bread box and intended to be able to service a whole house

The filters about $10 - $15 US each and the filters last about 6 months, depending on how much water is run through them and how contaminated the water actually is

 

[Smigo]

Had some further thoughts - it is not just the water supply itself that can supply contaminates - old pipes can be lethal as heavy metals, etc build up in aging systems

Slight variations in water contaminates can also cause pipes to release built up heavy metals or other organic and/or manmade pollutants

A multi-unit inline filter system - beginning with a 10 micron, going to a 5 micron then 1 micron filter housing

Am hoping others chime in with knowledge or creative ideas to help you get cleaner water

I ran these inline filters to use creek water for tropical fish breeding in Alaska

The housing units were under $20 US, are smaller than a bread box and intended to be able to service a whole house

The filters about $10 - $15 US each and the filters last about 6 months, depending on how much water is run through them and how contaminated the water actually is

Thanks, I'll look that up and see what we have or can get here. Appreciated.