Neutralize drinking water?

[TheYogi]

I don't know about you fine folks, but our catchment is quite acidic at present. What do you all add to your water to help neutralize it? Will the bags of coral (calcium carbonate) at Home Depot work?

Thanks

[JWFITZ]

Build a concrete tank.

http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/

[dakine]

we add.. as per the suggestion of don thomas, head of the center for the study of active volcanoes at uh hilo, who recently ran a study of the acidity of water in catchment systems in many communities around kilauea, a box of baking soda once in a while. small tank.. 2500 gallons.. was tested at a ph of 3.7.. and said to be one of the lowest results in the study. now it's a variable that is constantly floating around.. more vog.. more rain.. add more. less of this or that.. add less. one eventually just gets a sense of what neutral feels like.. how your hair feels after a shower etc. the trick is to dilute the backing soda in such a way as to get it to get mixed with the water, rather than just fall to the bottom of your tank, which is what happens if you try to just dump the whole box in at once. good luck

[David M]

and the bags of baking soda at Costco are more cost effective.

David

Ninole Resident

[Larry T]

We use soda as well, and I have a ph meter if you need us to test it. With out soda yours runs at about 5.5-6. but you are up the hill. Have you had it tested? bring a jar of it to the Party.
Bill

[rbonplaza]

The bags at Costco are 6.39 for 13.5 lbs. Cost-U-Less also sells bulk baking soda. The UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension office sells ph test kits at cost ($20 for 100 strips.) You can also pick up the "bible" on catchments at no cost (also available online): Guidelines on Raninwater Catchment Systems for Hawaii by Tricia Macomber. Lots of good info.

[tptplyr1]

Not sure if you're using a filtration system or not, but I just got replacement filters for my system that claims that it balances the pH to 7.0. I used to add baking soda and that did work, but with this new filter I don't have to. It seems to be working pretty well so far. I questioned them (Hawaii Catchment)as far as the 7.0 level since I would think that the pH it starts with would have something to do with the end result, but I'm no scientist, and it does seem to be getting it pretty close to 7.0

dean

[Daniel]

Soda ash comes in large bags, much more cost effective. You can get it at BEI, across waiakea villas.

Daniel R Diamond

[Larry T]

What is the cost of the filters that bring the PH up to 7?

[Jay Bondesen]

I think that mine was about $24. for the shorter size filter. It's actually a combo filter with the mineral product around a carbon inner core so it's placed after a 20 micron filter. I am watching to see how long it lasts.

Jay