Water, water, water

My Aunt Jen sent us an alkaline water system for Christmas. It was a lovely gesture, and one we appreciate, since we know she is looking out for us and our health. It did get us started down the path and thinking about the water we drink, and that combined with the stories about hexavalent chromium found in drinking water in the recent news convinced me to install a reverse osmosis system in our home this weekend. Reverse Osmosis is the only way available to remove hexavalent chromium from drinking water.

We went to Costco on Saturday, and I picked up a reverse osmosis system manufactured by Watts Premier, the RO-Pure model. It didn't take too long to install, but required three tank flushes (with 4 to 6 hours of waiting between flushes) before you can start drinking water from the separate faucet that it comes with, so it wasn't until late Sunday that we could start using our new reverse osmosis system.

While we were waiting to use our new filtered water, I did some research on reverse osmosis system, and was surprised to find out how much water is wasted in producing the clean water. It can be as much as 8 or 9 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of filtered water that's produced. It's also a little difficult for us to use the faucet on the sink, as we often get water and ice from the refrigerator.

It turns out there's a solution to both of these problems. There's something called a "permeate pump" that helps reduce the amount of waste water generated, and there's an ice maker line kit for the reverse osmosis system. Both of these are items I'm now in the market for, and will likely have another weekend project installing them in a future weekend coming up soon.

As for the alkaline water system that my aunt provided us with? It may still go in one of the bathrooms, I haven't figured out which yet, and provide us with cleaner water there.

For the remainder of the weekend, we spent Sunday night driving to Fremont, to meet Marie and her family, so the girls could get some play time together. We ended up meeting at Dickey's Barbeque Restaurant, and it was good choice, since it was kids eat free night there. After a great dinner, we went next door to The Prolific Oven, where we grabbed coffee and dessert, and the girls got to play together some more.

In other more somber news, today, January 24, 2011 is the 2nd anniversary of my mom's funeral. We still miss her dearly, and wish she was still with us. Rest in peace, mom.