Mysterious substance in potable water
I had let my bathtub cold water run too long in my Mini Lite, ran out of water, and lost the prime on my pump. This happened on the last day driving back from my most recent trip, so I just stored the...
Forum Discussion
I am a retired US Navy Submariner.
On submarines, when at sea we make pure water of very high purity for use in the reactor plant. We use that same distilling plant to make water to store in large potable water tanks - while the purity specification is relaxed somewhat on the water sent to those potable water tanks, it is generally more pure than required.
When in port, potable water from the pier (City Water) is used to keep those potable water tanks full.
The tanks turn out to be a "trap" for contaminants. If the water going into the tank has miniscule amounts of ANYTHING in it, some of it will settle out in the tank and presumably some of it will exit the tank when potable water is used for cooking or other purposes... showering sometimes was a luxury. lol
The net result is that contaminents of all sorts accumulate in the tanks over time.
Over a period of years, the MINISCULE amount of "stuff" entering the tank will collect or "settle out" in the tank.
I have had occasion to "dive" (enter) a potable water tank for work or inspection that had been in use for a few years and it did not look much different that a sanitary tank (("black tank") - in sailor parlance, it looked as if it would choke a maggot.
BTW, those potable water tanks were routinely sampled and tested by our Medic - Corpsman - and in my experience never required chlorination as a result of that testing.
Go Navy, Beat Army!
On submarines, when at sea we make pure water of very high purity for use in the reactor plant. We use that same distilling plant to make water to store in large potable water tanks - while the purity specification is relaxed somewhat on the water sent to those potable water tanks, it is generally more pure than required.
When in port, potable water from the pier (City Water) is used to keep those potable water tanks full.
The tanks turn out to be a "trap" for contaminants. If the water going into the tank has miniscule amounts of ANYTHING in it, some of it will settle out in the tank and presumably some of it will exit the tank when potable water is used for cooking or other purposes... showering sometimes was a luxury. lol
The net result is that contaminents of all sorts accumulate in the tanks over time.
Over a period of years, the MINISCULE amount of "stuff" entering the tank will collect or "settle out" in the tank.
I have had occasion to "dive" (enter) a potable water tank for work or inspection that had been in use for a few years and it did not look much different that a sanitary tank (("black tank") - in sailor parlance, it looked as if it would choke a maggot.
BTW, those potable water tanks were routinely sampled and tested by our Medic - Corpsman - and in my experience never required chlorination as a result of that testing.
Go Navy, Beat Army!
