Poll of the Day > BOIL YOUR WATER, ok?

(+) Yeah! (+)

seriously, do it, ok?
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Boils are mostly pus
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Ill just microwave it
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no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine
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Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"
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Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Ya, how do they not have water yet? If that happened in Canada it woulda been fixed within 6 months
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Lokarin posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Ya, how do they not have water yet? If that happened in Canada it woulda been fixed within 6 months

Because the lead is already stuck in the pipes.
Currently the problem is erratic and pocketed, some parts got hit harder than the other.
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shadowsword87 posted...

Lokarin posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Ya, how do they not have water yet? If that happened in Canada it woulda been fixed within 6 months

Because the lead is already stuck in the pipes.
Currently the problem is erratic and pocketed, some parts got hit harder than the other.

Ya, replace the pipes.

Unless the lead is in the groundwater in which case the town should be evacuated and forgotten
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only if i'm making pasta
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NO. REPLACE NOTHING. BOIL DAT WATER, ok?
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Lokarin posted...

Ya, replace the pipes.
Unless the lead is in the groundwater in which case the town should be evacuated and forgotten

So... how much would that cost? To replace all of the pipes?
I'm willing to bet even Canada wouldn't do that.

Lokarin posted...

Unless the lead is in the groundwater in which case the town should be evacuated and forgotten

The problem was that they switched out from Detroit's watersupply, to use a different supply. They then went back to Detroit's water. But once again, lead stained the pipes.
So... the groundwater is irrelevant.
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If a little bad water kills you then you weren't meant to live
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Andromicus posted...

If a little bad water kills you then you weren't meant to live

This post makes you seem super smart I promise
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Far-Queue posted...

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Flint, Michigan is within the urban orbit of Detroit, which basically IS a third-world country.

Most of the old steel towns and auto manufacture towns in the US are more or less post-apocalyptic wasteland at this point.


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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Flint, Michigan is within the urban orbit of Detroit, which basically IS a third-world country.

Most of the old steel towns and auto manufacture towns in the US are more or less post-apocalyptic wasteland at this point.

I don't believe that you have ever been to Flint.
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Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Boiling would not help in Flint, you can't boil off lead.

Lokarin posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Ya, how do they not have water yet? If that happened in Canada it woulda been fixed within 6 months

Canada is full of plenty of places that lack clean drinking water
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Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?
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darkknight109 posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?

Kills the lead germs
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darkknight109 posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?

Steam distillation will remove the heavy metal contaminates.
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darkknight109 posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?

Are...what? You can't be serious.

SunWuKung420 posted...

darkknight109 posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?

Steam distillation will remove the heavy metal contaminates.

Wow that sounds so much easier than just using a filter great point sunny
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Mead posted...

SunWuKung420 posted...

darkknight109 posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?

Steam distillation will remove the heavy metal contaminates.

Wow that sounds so much easier than just using a filter great point sunny

I can build a steam trap easier than a heavy metal filter. I'm just saying.
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Lokarin posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Ya, how do they not have water yet? If that happened in Canada it woulda been fixed within 6 months

Tell that to the reserves that haven't had potable water for over 20 years.

_AdjI_ posted...

Lokarin posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

Ya, how do they not have water yet? If that happened in Canada it woulda been fixed within 6 months

Tell that to the reserves that haven't had potable water for over 20 years.

Nope. Someone else can do it.

SunWuKung420 posted...

Steam distillation will remove the heavy metal contaminates.

We're talking boiling water, not steam distillation.

IronicFool posted...

Are...what? You can't be serious.

.....you don't seriously think that you can fix lead contamination by boiling water, do you?

Boiling water kills most bacteria and germs. If your water source is contaminated by potential biological contaminates (as frequently happens during natural disasters), the risk can largely be mitigated by boiling it. If, on the other hand, your water source is chemically contaminated (particularly if the contaminates are heavy metals like lead or mercury), boiling water frequently does not help and can potentially make the situation worse (by boiling off some of the water and ensuring that the contaminates are more concentrated in what remains).

If you want to get rid of chemical contamination, you need to filter and purify the water; boiling won't cut it. Even the steam distillation Sun was talking about up there won't solve the issue for some chemicals.
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darkknight109 posted...

.....you don't seriously think that you can fix lead contamination by boiling water, do you?

Unless you are saying you can boil lead, then yes. Which...I guess you can but it would have to be intentional.

No one who knows what they are doing will drink boiled water. You capture the steam as is condenses and drink that. Boiling water will only work if you take the steamed water. You don't drink the water that was full of contaminants.

SunWuKung420 posted...

Mead posted...

SunWuKung420 posted...

darkknight109 posted...

Far-Queue posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

no because i live in a first world place where the water is fine

Flint, MI says "Hi"

And how, exactly, do you figure that boiling water will fix lead contamination?

Steam distillation will remove the heavy metal contaminates.

Wow that sounds so much easier than just using a filter great point sunny

I can build a steam trap easier than a heavy metal filter. I'm just saying.

Im sure you can fill a champagne flute with your own smug farts even faster than that
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@darkknight109 @rjsilverthorn

Point out where I said anything about boiling water.

I was responding to Muff's assumption that safe drinking water is a given in the first world. Said nothing of boiling leadened water.
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shadowsword87 posted...

I don't believe that you have ever been to Flint.

I don't need to go to a place to have a fairly in-depth knowledge of it. That's the magical wonder of the Internet.

I actually knew about Flint before it became major news for everyone else, because it was always tied strongly to General Motors, and I have multiple family members that used to work for the company. And it's basically been in economic freefall for longer than I've been alive. Much like Detroit, it's entire economy has been gutted, its population has hemorrhaged more than 50% to the point of feeling like a ghost town in some neighborhoods, and it consistently ranks among the most dangerous cities in the US due to crime. It was stone-cold fucked long before they realized the water was a problem.

If you went there and somehow fixed the water system to the point where it had the most delicious and healthy water on the face of the Earth, you still couldn't pay me enough to live there.

The "Rust Belt" in general tends to correlate to economic depression and rising crime rates as jobs vanish. Whether it's Flint or Detroit or Gary, Indiana or some of the steel towns in Pennsylvania, standard of living is significantly decreased below what you'd expect from American cities. Some cities have managed to shift to a stronger service economy to offset the loss (ie, the reason why we don't currently think of Pittsburgh as a blasted wasteland), but Flint isn't one of them.


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IronicFool posted...

You capture the steam as is condenses and drink that.

No, you don't. That's called steam distillation and it's what I explained above. That's different from what people refer to when their water systems are under a boil water advisory.

And, as mentioned, even that won't work for everything. If you try it with water contaminated with, say, benzene, your re-condensed water will be just as contaminated as it was before you made the attempt.

IronicFool posted...

Boiling water will only work if you take the steamed water

Water that has merely been boiled works just fine if the contaminant is biological in nature. The number of harmful germs and bacteria that can survive boiling temperatures are exceedingly small and none of the ones that can are particularly common.
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darkknight109 posted...

No, you don't. That's called steam distillation and it's what I explained above. That's different from what people refer to when their water systems are under a boil water advisory.

Yeah.

darkknight109 posted...

Water that has merely been boiled works just fine if the contaminant is biological in nature. The number of harmful germs and bacteria that can survive boiling temperatures are exceedingly small and none of the ones that can are particularly common.

Are you saying you would ever drink boiled water without steam distillation? Depending on the circumstance you might be fine, but why risk it?

Man, this topic got really pretentious and out of hand really fast. Bottom line is if you live in pretty much any other city in the 49 other states, you're probably good to drink the water

OhhhJa posted...

Man, this topic got really pretentious and out of hand really fast. Bottom line is if you live in pretty much any other city in the 49 other states, you're probably good to drink the water

What? dark and I might be arguing, but I think we agree steaming water is a better policy.

my city currently has a boil order in effect
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IronicFool posted...

Are you saying you would ever drink boiled water without steam distillation? Depending on the circumstance you might be fine, but why risk it?

Depends on the nature of the contamination. Boiling water in a pot is much easier than setting up a steam distillation unit.

For instance, around here if there's flooding the water supply sometimes gets mud and dirt swept into it. That soil isn't contaminated with any forms of chemicals or heavy metals, so the only risk is from biological agents getting into the water. In that case, simply boiling the water removes the risk.

If I was out in the wild somewhere and uncertain of the water source I was drinking from, then yes, I would prefer to steam distill it if at all possible. But usually that precaution is unnecessary unless you know you're near chemically-contaminated water.
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darkknight109 posted...

Depends on the nature of the contamination. Boiling water in a pot is much easier than setting up a steam distillation unit.

Well...yes. But you can capture steam relatively easily. All you need is a lid, you'll lose most water but it's...better? You don't need to make it complex unless you want to capture as much water as possible.

To boil whatever chemical you're thinking of out of your water it has to have a lower evaporation point.

Just buy a filter, the condensation trick is really only useful when stranded on an island. It's going to waste a hell of a lot of energy evaporating your water.

Also, we can't afford to fix this. We can afford to pay for a new military base in Niger. Shut up and quit being greedy, we have brown people to fry. Stop being mean to Trump, bullies!

helIy posted...

my city currently has a boil order in effect

u in austin?
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darkknight109 posted...

We're talking boiling water, not steam distillation.

You need to boil water to get steam.

darkknight109 posted...

And, as mentioned, even that won't work for everything. If you try it with water contaminated with, say, benzene, your re-condensed water will be just as contaminated as it was before you made the attempt.

Since benzene has a lower boiling point (80c compared 100c for water) using distillation to remove benzene is more than practical. Even a simple boil will remove most solvent contaminants.
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Is it just me or does sunny seem really dumb
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Mead posted...

Is it just me or does sunny seem really dumb

it's amazing how he's able to post something dumb, smug and lame in every single topic he's in, ok?
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I live in denver though. My tap water is cleaner than your bottled water.

IronicFool posted...

darkknight109 posted...

Depends on the nature of the contamination. Boiling water in a pot is much easier than setting up a steam distillation unit.

Well...yes. But you can capture steam relatively easily. All you need is a lid, you'll lose most water but it's...better? You don't need to make it complex unless you want to capture as much water as possible.

Sure, but then you're wasting both time and energy. If you're boiling water at home, that amounts to an increased bill; in the wild, that's more time spent gathering fuel for a fire. Either way, boiling water is substantially easier and, in most cases, sufficient to deal with the hazards of whatever you're drinking.
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Noop_Noop posted...

I live in denver though. My tap water is cleaner than your bottled water.

i've been to denver and can confirm this is 100% true, ok?
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SunWuKung420 posted...

darkknight109 posted...

We're talking boiling water, not steam distillation.

You need to boil water to get steam.

darkknight109 posted...

And, as mentioned, even that won't work for everything. If you try it with water contaminated with, say, benzene, your re-condensed water will be just as contaminated as it was before you made the attempt.

Since benzene has a lower boiling point (80c compared 100c for water) using distillation to remove benzene is more than practical. Even a simple boil will remove most solvent contaminants.

....you can't seriously be this obtuse.
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darkknight109 posted...

Sure, but then you're wasting both time and energy. If you're boiling water at home, that amounts to an increased bill; in the wild, that's more time spent gathering fuel for a fire. Either way, boiling water is substantially easier and, in most cases, sufficient to deal with the hazards of whatever you're drinking.

In most cases. But why take the risk? Unless you're about to die from thirst.

darkknight109 posted...

SunWuKung420 posted...

darkknight109 posted...

We're talking boiling water, not steam distillation.

You need to boil water to get steam.

darkknight109 posted...

And, as mentioned, even that won't work for everything. If you try it with water contaminated with, say, benzene, your re-condensed water will be just as contaminated as it was before you made the attempt.

Since benzene has a lower boiling point (80c compared 100c for water) using distillation to remove benzene is more than practical. Even a simple boil will remove most solvent contaminants.

....you can't seriously be this obtuse.

obtuse af
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SunWuKung420 posted...

Since benzene has a lower boiling point (80c compared 100c for water) using distillation to remove benzene is more than practical. Even a simple boil will remove most solvent contaminants.

sunny

distillation doesn't work if the thing you're trying to remove has a boiling point lower than water. it just turns into steam with the water.

your water is still contaminated.

distillation only works if the chemicals you want to remove have a boiling point higher than water. that way the water boils off into steam you can recapture, and the chemicals go nowhere since they aren't able to turn to steam.
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helIy posted...

SunWuKung420 posted...

Since benzene has a lower boiling point (80c compared 100c for water) using distillation to remove benzene is more than practical. Even a simple boil will remove most solvent contaminants.

sunny

distillation doesn't work if the thing you're trying to remove has a boiling point lower than water. it just turns into steam with the water.

your water is still contaminated.

distillation only works if the chemicals you want to remove have a boiling point higher than water. that way the water boils off into steam you can recapture, and the chemicals go nowhere since they aren't able to turn to steam. it doesn't work the other way around

Contaminants Not Removed from Water by Distillation
No one piece of treatment equipment manages all contaminants. All treatment methods have limitations, and, often, situations require a combination of treatment processes to effectively treat the water. Distilled water may still contain trace amounts of the original water impurities after distillation.

Removal of organic compounds by distillation can vary depending on chemical properties of the contaminant. Certain pesticides, volatile solvents, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as benzene and toluene, with boiling points close to or below that of water will vaporize along with the water as it is boiled in the distiller. Such compounds will not be completely removed unless another process is used prior to condensation. See the section in this NebGuide on treatment principles for further discussion of ways distillers may remove VOCs.

The boiling process during distillation generally inactivates microorganisms. However, if the distiller is idle for an extended period, bacteria can be reintroduced from the outlet spigot and may recontaminate the water.

http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/html/g1493/build/g1493.htm#target2

Glad I checked the topic. Beat me to it.
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