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Re: Roger's water


On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, James Purchase wrote:

> Weird water! What kind of geology provides that kind of water, or what does
> the treatment plant do to the source water to screw things up so completely?
> Given the problems and the ions involved, I don't know if my recommendation
> of a Kold Ser-il System from Poly-Bio-Marine would work in your situation.
> you may need to resort to de-ionization columns.

The water comes out of the ground that way.  It has a very high ratio of
Na to Ca+Mg because it is pumped from a sandstone aquifer where it has
flowed for miles and (by recent estimates) 10's of thousands of years.
The water is softened by ion exchange on clays and natural zeolites in the
aquifer.  This same process occurs in other places and isn't really
unique.  The high silica content is probably from dissolution of volcanic
glass in the aquifer and from reactions of feldspar minerals to form
clays.  The high arsenic content originates from volcanic material in the
aquifer and is released into the water as the volcanic material weathers.

> On the subject of trading Canadian water for New Mexican tumbleweed...
>
> > I can't speak for the state as a whole, but I think we might be able to
> > arrange a trade.  We can send you all the dust and tumble weeds you ever
> > needed and you can send us some of that water.
>
> Mmmmm, I'd have to think about that.... maybe if you you were willing to
> give us Hawaii, we could talk. Oh yea, you'd have to agree to take the
> Reform Party and the Parti Quebecois as part of the deal. We'll place both
> in jute bags (bio-degradeable) complete with chunks of granite from the
> Canadian Shield, so they should sink pretty fast once immersed in the
> American melting pot.

Hmmm.  I think the Parti Quebecois might mix into Louisiana politics
fairly well, but I'm worried that your Reform Party and our Reform Party
might clash.  Ross Perot would throw a fit.

> On a more serious note, last year I, and quite a few others, had to take my
> local Member of Parliament to task for his backing of a proposal to dam off
> James Bay, which is situated off the southern end of Hudson's Bay, in
> northern Canada. This would have the effect of turning James Bay from a body
> of saltwater into one of freshwater. The proposal suggested diverting this
> new freshwater supply southward, changing the course of several rivers along
> the way, and the construction of a canal system and a pipeline, to deliver
> the water to American customers. I don't know if the MP has recovered from
> the shock his system got over that one.
>
> We Canadians tend to get really touchy these days when the subject of water
> sales to the U.S. comes up. But I still think that if you would agree to
> give up Hawaii, we could be persuaded.

Ok.  I guess you can keep the water, and we'll just go on exporting our
dust and tumble weeds to Texas like we always have.


Roger Miller