We are back at Crow’s Plumbing Service with Service Manager Tory Crow to find out what Crow’s Knows.

Tory, water is super important to our health, and making sure we have clean quality water is critical to our families and our homes. So what is water treatment and why would it be something people should consider investing in?

“Great question, one thing that gets overlooked in our area pretty frequently is the quality of the water in our homes. There are a few different things we can do to address it, and it is a common fact that we plumbers regularly repair plumbing in homes that honestly failed because of water quality.”

“Things do wear out, but in most areas around this part of the state, water is very hard due to the limestone, and also requires elevated levels of the chemicals that suppliers have to use to sanitize the water in order for it to be safe. What results is premature failure and inefficiency of really any of the plumbing we use daily in our homes, and most importantly one thing that gets overlooked often is our physical health.”

You mentioned the water actually causes our plumbing to fail, would you elaborate on that a little for us?

“Absolutely, in most cases, the water we get is pumped up through a well then treated with some kind of disinfectant like bleach and stored in a large tank or water tower until people start using it. Most of the time there is not really much treatment other than that unless it is pumped from a lake aka surface water.”

“This minimal treatment is simply to make the water ‘safe’ although there are many contaminates that are allowed at certain levels before it is deemed unsafe. You can actually request a water quality report from any supplier in the state and it will tell you what is in the water you are getting. What happens is when the water travels through the ground it picks up dissolved minerals creating what we refer to as hard water.”

“A common example is a stalactite in a cave, these formations are created by the minerals in the water. This water, although safe, is extremely hard on the piping, faucets, and appliances in our homes due to the minerals in the water as well as the sanitizing chemicals that break down rubber and plastic in the plumbing system.”

“One big note as well is that this build-up will also drastically affect the energy efficiency and life of various appliances such as water heaters, dishwashers, and clothes washers. It’s important, although overlooked there are many benefits to taking the minerals and chemicals out of the water.”

You also mentioned that water affects our health, could you elaborate on that for us?

“For sure! We’ve discussed what ‘hard water’ is and how it affects our plumbing systems and that the water does have various chemicals put into and naturally occurring such as lead or fluoride. The hardness in the water does a couple of things: it will not react with soaps in the same ways as soft water, leading to build-up in drains and on what we’re trying to clean. It also reacts with the oils on our bodies by stripping them away.”

“I have heard many instances where softening the water can literally reduce or solve skin problems with folks that have them and drastically improve people’s hair, especially when it’s long! It makes a huge difference in your skin’s dryness and your laundry is cleaner as well because it will retain the minerals in hard water.”

“On the other side of things, we have things like containments, sanitizing chemicals i.e. bleach or a bleach/ammonia mixture, and of course the by-products of the sanitizing the water. All of these are not really good for our health and can be absorbed through our bodies in many ways including while we shower through our skin. If you do a little research on what’s in your water, you’ll quickly realize the need to filter the water with some kind of carbon filter to reduce this stuff and why bottled water is so prominent!”

Crow’s Plumbing Service is a family-owned and operated business and they are always prepared to deliver the results you need at prices you can afford. Give them a call at 512-88-CROWS or check them out online at CrowsPlumbing.com.

This segment is paid for by Crow’s Plumbing Service and is intended as an advertisement. Opinions expressed by the guest(s) on this program are solely those of the guest(s) and are not endorsed by this television station.