Water Softener & Reverse Osmosis Filter

Mr Marlow, the quality of the water we use is a very important issue as it affects our lifes and our living standard. Water and its quality is one of the biggest challenges humanity will face in the future.

It is very important for me to provide for my family and to ensure a certain living standard, which is not measured in $$ but in basic quality of life factors: Safety, water, air, cleanliness, education, healthcare, etc.

Moving to Saudi Arabia is a big decision. We are well travelled people and are open and willing to accept the cultural differences and the fact that life as we know it in the US or Western Europe cannot and it is not going to be the same in the KSA. This and my knowledge/experience is what the money we will be paid is for. But no amount of money is going to make me compromise the basic quality of life factors for my family I mentioned above.

Aramco can provide almost all of the key factors: Education, safety, cleanliness, healthcare, etc. The one I do know it cannot provide is water quality as I experienced it first hand in DHA last year. And other people currently living in Saudi posted to confirm this. For me it is only a matter of finding a solution to a technical problem staying within the rules, that simple. And this Forum did help me to understand the rules and to find a solution I am comfortable with.

I do understand and respect the fact that someone decides to ignore the issue of water quality, it is their choice and at the end it is their health and that of their families, but I do find distasteful and out of place your efforts to ridicule a serious point.

It is scientifically proven that high chlorine contend in the shower/tub water (together with other harmful chemicals like fluoride, etc.) causes hair loss and skin irritation, not to mention the dramatic effects of heavy chlorinated water on asthmatic people/children. Please contact Texas Children Hospital in Houston and they will be glad to provide you a detailed guide and all the data you might desire. I assure you I do know as the father of an asthmatic child who was in need of adrenaline shots in an ambulance after swimming in a heated indoor pool with heavily chlorinated water last year.

I apologize for the rant.

Hi Carolina,

I tried to send you a PM, but it is stuck in my outbox. Is there anything special setting that I need to do?

Thanks

o Katanga

I did in fact receive your PM and I have answered it - all the houses here in Ras Tanura are going through major checking of water lines etc.

Carolina

At high levels - 0.5-3PPM is not by any definition high.

If your position is that Chlorination of water at levels typically encountered in public utility water systems (including Aramco) routinely causes these problems then perhaps you could back this up with some links to peer reviewed scientific journals supporting your case?

By all means fit a shower head if this makes you happy. I am the last person in the World to stand in the way of any man and his water filters however I reserve the right to challenge factually incorrect information posted in public forums as I see fit.

I wouldn't know about chlorine, but hard water is generally held to exacerbate skin problems.

The reason for this is normally given as follows:

"The build-up or "hardening" of minerals in hard water makes it very difficult for other substances to dissolve in that water, including soaps and detergents. The various undissolved substances can leave a surface residue on the washing machine, your clothing, your plumbing, tub, or shower — and your hair and skin. With that, bathing and washing our clothes in hard water can lead to increased skin irritation.

The soap residue left behind on your skin clogs the pores and irritates the skin, making it itchy, flaky, and dry. The minerals in the hard water itself can also clog skin pores, which can be especially harmful to more sensitive areas like the face. Facial skin or other areas that are thin, reddened, or irritated from associated dry skin conditions may worsen, with flushing from damage to the blood vessels."

Documents supporting this view are:

Forrest, L. 2007. Hard water hard on your skin?
URL: ezinearticles.com/?Hard-Water-Ha ... &id=477009

Warren, et al. 1996. The influence of hard water (calcium) and surfactants on irritant contact dermais. Contact Dermais, 35 (6), 337-343.
URL (abstract): www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7962781

Skipton, S. & Dvorak, B. 1996. Drinking Water: Hard Water (Calcium and Magnesium).
URL: elkhorn.unl.edu/epublic/pages/pu ... tionId=175

o Katanga,

I hope your relocation has been successful and ease on the family.

You started quite an @trail here - I must say very very informative and useful, so THANKS.
I have moved in about a month ago and will be traveling to the US for among other things, pick up the wife and boys and wonder if the results were positive so I can bring some of the filters with me.

I wonder how the tests with the Culligam shower heads went

I would highly appreciate your comments - tried to send you a PM but I must be doing something wrong ;(.

Thanks in advance