Granules from water filters

[Mike Vogel]

We live in a hard water area and use Brita water filters, changing the cartridge once a month. I am thinking of using granules from spent cartridges to aerate compost for sowing seeds. Does anyone out there know of any reason why I should not do this?

mike

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
I know that your motto is 'never throw anything away' but feel that this is one you should, maybe not throw, but dispose of calmly.
Although you have hard water you will also have other impurities such as metals that the Brita has filtered out. Having taken them out you now proposing to reintroduce them. Do you really think that this is a wise move?
JB.

[Mike Vogel]

Well, JB, that's really my question, put another way. Are the metals you mention harmful to the plants? After all, they'd be in ordinary tap water, wouldn't they, which we are being so encouraged to drink these days?

mike

[John]

Hello Mike
I don't think the granules will do any harm. They are made of an inert ion exchange resin that works buy removing ions like calcium, magnesium, chloride and so on from the water and replacing them with hydrogen ions. Eventually they become exhausted and unlike some water softener resins can't be recharged so they're chucked out.
In your compost I think that they would only have a physical effect in improving drainage and aeration much in the way that, say, sand would and this is what you're after doing. They're not like those water retaining granules that you can get.

John

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
I appreciate what John has said but, are the chemicals such as Lead, Copper and the likes are actually concentrated, still present? Perhaps you could verify that for us John.
It's alright in saying that we use tap water, which is of course true, but the way I view it, until we hear from John, is that you have contained in these crystal a concentration much more than the normal water supply.
Perhaps for once I can be accused of being a 'Purist'! Must be a blue moon or something!
Sincerely,
JB.

[richard p]

hi jb, youre right the granules from a used filter must contain all the stuff thats been filtered out. (plus any bacteria that have been breeding?) whether these are in a high enough concentration to harm the plants is debatable, personally i wouldnt reuse the granules in any sort of seed compost, though scattering on the garden probably wouldnt do much harm, but probably wouldnt be any benefit either.

[Johnboy]

Hi Richard,
The thing is that I do not have Chlorinated water as my supply comes direct from the Elan Valley Aquifer that feeds Birmingham some 60 miles away instead we have Peat and Sheeps 'Whatsit'. The water is so soft that if you put too much soap on your hands it takes about a quater of an hour to get rid of it. We rely on an Ultra Violet filter that removes the nasties.
This has to be back flushed every month and send the rubbish on to B'ham where they sort it all out there.
I agree with you that you could use it on the flower beds but is it really worth it? In my eyes it is not worth the bother.
JB.

[Stephen]

Mike
Recycle them - this is not throwing them away.
Option 1 - you will need to scroll down towards the bottom of the page
http://www.recyclenow.com/what_more_can_i_do/top_tips/at_home.html
Option 2 -
http://www.brita.net/uk/promotion_recycling.html?&L=1

[John]

As you live in a hard water area Mike, lead in your water will not be a problem. It is only when there is a soft water supply and the supply pipes are made of lead that lead slowly dissolves in the water. Hard water protects against this action. Copper is insoluble in water whatever type it is. Aluminium salts are used in water treatment and traces will be present in your supply but the main ions will be the naturally occurring calcium and magnesium. The only other metallic ion likely to be in your water (and also the filter resin) is iron from supply pipes. Drinking water is produced to extremely high standards so don't think that there is any risk of harmful ions accumulating in the resin. Your water company website probably has information on water quality.
Your filter may also contain a section of activated charcoal and this could be a problem. It will filter bacteria and adsorb organic matter so there might well be harmful stuff here. In the more expensive filters the charcoal is treated to inhibit the growth of bacteria.

At the end of the day though is it really worth the trouble of breaking open one these canisters just to get out a bit of resin to add to potting compost? As I said before the resin not the same as the water retaining granules you can get for compost so it's not going to improve water retention.
Personally I rather like the taste of tap water, especially hard water, unless its got a lot of chlorine in it and I never bother with these filters or ridiculously priced bottled water.

John

[Mike Vogel]

Thanks a lot everyone for your interest and trouble over this. I'll look long and hard at all your contributions again when I'm more awake, but I'm beginning to feel it's safer not to do what I was thinking. I have emailed Brita over this, and am awaiting their reply, if there is any.

mike

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
Reading the website Stephen kindly posted it would appear that the way to recycle is to return the cartridges back to Brita where they do whatever is necessary. There is no mention of breaking them open and disposing of the contents.
Hi John,
As previously mentioned my water is very soft and a few years back I had to spend out a fortune out to renew my water service which was made of copper because our bathroom tiles and the bath basin and loo were steadily changing to blue. It looked as though the place was being sprayed with Copper Sulphate. The water meter is just over half a mile away from the house so you can appreciate the cost.
Why was the copper deteriorating? I gather from this that copper in one form or another does get into the water we use from the main even it is from the main itself.
As an aside; I left the old water service in situ and with price of scrap copper it may well be worth trying to pull it out of the ground. I am trying to calculate how heavy half a mile of 1" heavy duty underground copper will weigh. Certainly some is quite close to the surface and I think I can easily take out a 3' length and weigh it tomorrow.
JB.

[John]

Hello Johnboy
I've done a bit of homework on this as my answer was based on distant memories of 6th form chemistry! The textbook answer is that in the laboratory pure water and pure copper don't react but, as you have found out, things are a bit different in the real world.
Reactions with copper will occur apparently with soft water of low pH and where the water contains dissolved gases such as CO2. The problem is worse where there are long (copper) pipe runs and the water stands in the pipes for a long time. Water companies treat their water to avoid these problems but you have untreated soft water supplied through a long pipe so I think we have an answer to the problem.

John

[Johnboy]

Hi John,
Very grateful for the explanation. I tried very hard to get a sensible answer out of Severn Trent Water when it was occurring but got fobbed off all the time. It is they who put the supply in because when they put the last main pipe through they so seriously affected the water table the well supplying this property, for over 200 years, went dry.
I suspect they thought I was after compensation so just stalled me all the time.
Thanks again.
JB.

[Geoff]

When we first converted the barn we were on spring water. It rotted through two hot water tanks in less than 10 years. The spring gradually failed - I think the farmers who organised it years ago knew more about maintaining the pick up than we did and I think rabbits had played havoc with the banking where it originated. That water was actually slightly acid rather than just soft and I think that was the problem. We changed to a borehole but we have to treat the water for iron which involves limestone chippings so it is now slightly alkaline but the copper tank and pipes have stopped rotting.

[retropants]

this has reminded me.... my grandparents house in Jersey uses a supply from a borehole. Back in the 70's, when my aunties began highlighting their hair, the blonde bits after a while washing in this water, started to go green!!!!