Glacier RO water from Randalls/Safeway

[djconn]

Well, after 1 1/2 years of fighting Houston traffic and driving 10-12 miles to my LFS to get simple RO/DI topoff water, I finally got smart. I've been reading how people use ordinary water from those Glacier vending machines at the supermarket and finally gave it a try. It says its RO water right on the unit and then it goes through some micronfiltration and finally UV sterilization. I checked to see if a technician had actually been by in a while and his initals and a date from 4 days ago was on a sticker right on the machine . I found this on their website:
How often do Glacier technicians inspect the filters in the machines, and how often are the filters replaced?

The vast majority of Glacier Water's equipment is serviced on a weekly basis. Glacier technicians clean the exterior of the machine and routinely inspect the various filters inside every machine. Each filter is designed for a specific purpose. For that reason, each filter has a different replacement period as specified by the filter manufacturer.

For .25 cents a gallon (the sign said .30 cents but I only put in .25 each time), I'm really glad I got smart and I'm sure this water will be just fine.

If it means that I can get water any time I want (at 9pm like tonight) and don't have to fight traffic, I don't see how you could go wrong. I'm intereted to find out if anyone else from our site is using it? Anyone?

 

[djconn]

Some more info from www.glacierwater.com:

Glacier’s multi-stage filtration/treatment process with reverse osmosis reduces the levels of chlorine, gases and odors, bacteria, salts, lead, and other contaminants that can be found in ordinary tap water.

Reverse Osmosis:

A reverse osmosis filtration system significantly reduces the levels of minerals and dissolved solids like calcium, sodium, arsenic, lead and mercury from water. In this system, water is pumped through a semi-permeable membrane, which looks like plastic wrap, but actually has millions of tiny pores. These pores are so small that they cannot be seen even with a scanning electron microscope. They let water pass, but restrict the flow of almost anything else.

Reverse osmosis filtration has proven to be extremely effective in significantly lowering the total dissolved solids (TDS) count in water. This filtration process produces sodium-free water.

Total Dissolved Solids:
Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measurement of the mineral content of water. A TDS reading is stated in parts per million (ppm).

The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends that municipal water be filtered to 500 ppm TDS. However, depending on the location, the water coming out of the tap can exceed this level. Approximately 15 percent of TDS is sodium. Water with a TDS level of 500 typically has the equivalent of 75 ppm of sodium, or 18.3 milligrams per 8 ounce serving.

Parts per Million (PPM):
Parts per million is equivalent to milligrams per liter, and parts per billion is the same as micrograms per liter.