California’s Aggressive Water Problem.

You live in California and notice that all your neighbors are having the pipes leaking. Your home has been leak-free for the most part, what are you to do to keep it that way? Well first you need to understand WHY your neighbors are having leak issues.

Southern Californians get their water from many places some of which includes the L.A. basin, local ground water, recycled clean water, and many other reservoirs in the area. Luckily, Orange County has some of the best water treatment facilities in the world. Which is a great! But, as with all water treatment, there are chemicals used. Most of these chemicals are safe and rarely cause any problems when it comes to human consumption, except for a few in very specific circumstances.. But, these chemicals can wreak havoc on your pipes, especially Chloramines. Chloramines are the safer and more preferred method of sanitizing your water over chlorine.

What Are Chloramines?

Chloramine is a combination of ammonia with chlorine. They have been used for over a century to protect drinking water supplies from bacteria, viruses, and other harmful byproducts that can be found in water. Chloramine, unlike other disinfectants stays longer in the water because it is more stable and mixes well. Having them stay longer in the water and stable allows Chloramines to clean the water more efficiently and have less reactions than chlorine and other disinfectants.

Some bacterias such as coliform bacteria can pollute your drinking water, they also can cause biofilm. Biofilm is a slimy build up that can also pollute drinking water inside the pipes, Chloramines are able to minimize that. Chloramines are effective in creating lower concentrations of disinfection byproducts in the water supply unlike its cousin, chlorine. Chloramine is also not used alone, combined with other safe disinfectants; it maximizes disinfectant residuals in water distribution systems.

California created the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act in 1986 to protect Californian Residents against harmful water. It was created to protect public water supplies and identify known cancer causing chemicals. Luckily, Chloramine has not been identified as a cancer-causing agent in the medical field. According to officials from several counties, there are no known records of any individual having increased cancer risks due to Chloramine.

What Do They Do To Your Pipes?

Here is where the bad news is, Chlorimines, when put in the right environment can increase damage to copper and cast iron pipes. These chemicals can erode the pipes quicker than normal. In fact many companies now are switching their piping to newer technologies like aquapex and pushing for customers to purchase water purifiers to help elongate the life of their older pipes. Southern Californian residents now see increases in both pin-hole and slab leaks due to California’s water properties.

What Can You Do To Stop Aggressive California Water?

While you cannot and should not wish to have these disinfectants taken out of your water, there are several things that you can do to lessen their impact on your homes pipes.

Look into purchasing whole home water filtration systems. These are amazing products that clean and purify the water before it reaches any of your fixtures. It is like drinking, bathing, and having water bottle quality water in your entire home.
Repiping your home. Repiping your home in newer types of pipe, like plastic aquapex, can save you from costly small repairs later by changing everything out at once and trying to minimize the chance for leaks.
Having routine plumbing inspections on an annual basis to see where problems are developing and try to minimize their impact. This is only temporary and eventually something more long term would need to happen.
Unsure what to do? Give us a Call Today for peace of mind and more information.