|
Water
Dec 14, 2007 10:35:54 GMT 12.75
Post by Mars on Dec 14, 2007 10:35:54 GMT 12.75
We have skipped over the #1 basic cooking item, water. Yes, there are differences in water from area to area and city to city. I have well water and it is fed by an aquifer that also feeds the creek in the backyard and flows from the National Forest. About as good as it gets around here. City water with it's added chemicals imparts unwanted flavor into foods and I kinda feel sorry for city dwellers because most don't know the difference. What do you have and or use?
|
|
|
Water
Dec 14, 2007 12:40:16 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Dec 14, 2007 12:40:16 GMT 12.75
Our local water is a private owned supplier who owns the water rights outright to a couple of reservoirs and a lot of wells that they have installed. They are known as Lee Alexander Water Distribution or as I prefer to call Lee AXE Brown and that ain't no jazz singer! A water heater lasts an average of four years here vice the ten to fifteen normally expected. Washers, dishwashers and refers with water lines have about the same relative life expectancy. When a boil order is posted, everybody boils without exception. Some of the folk refuse to drink or cook with the water but the real problem is with the sediment rather any biological problems. Iron and calcium are the biggest problems with the occasional infiltration of plain old sand. I always use cold water to start. Even when a dish calls for hot water I'll start it cold and heat in in a tea kettel. Cofee water is usually filtered or bottled. Usually filtered and aerated to remove the chlorine too.
|
|
|
Water
Dec 14, 2007 17:25:48 GMT 12.75
Post by Two Tales on Dec 14, 2007 17:25:48 GMT 12.75
I have well water..but unlike most folks our area share between at any given time 6 to 15 wells...the water authority operates and maintainer's the pumps and filtration systems... a bit on the hard side but not bad..they also monitor biologic and chemical levels weekly...in the 18 years I have lived here we have had chlorine added only 3 times...all three time were during dry periods...and the water levels were low..a couple of deer got in to one of the wells and fell into a pit well and drowned...it was in there for less than a day before it was found,,,the water didn't test bad but they ordered the chlorine as a precautionary...
Growing up in and around Bellefontaine we had the lime/calcium, iron and black sulfur...once in a while we would get some sand, but that was rare..because of the sulfer, water was drawn and left to air out before use...then it was strained thru cheese cloth or a piece of musslin...this would keep most of the lime and rust sediment out...was actually pretty good if ya did the prep work...
|
|
|
Water
Dec 14, 2007 23:45:40 GMT 12.75
Post by Snake Eyes on Dec 14, 2007 23:45:40 GMT 12.75
Hmm Well being a city dweller I am afforded city water.I use it to bathe,in the dishwasher,and for laundry and water the lawn. As to cooking,drinking or watering the dog I use one of the PUR water filtration systems.There is a definite difference.I can even smell the difference. snake-eyes
|
|
|
Water
Dec 15, 2007 5:15:27 GMT 12.75
Post by brittonfaith on Dec 15, 2007 5:15:27 GMT 12.75
I don't use a lot of water to cook with. Only if I'm making pasta, boiling taters/vegetables, or canning. I use the pressure canner or "waterless" double skillet most often. I try to save broth and drippings to cook foods requiring liquid. For baking, water is kept to am bare minimum and only when absolutely required. I prefer to use milk, beer, and fruit juices.
When I was a little tyke at Plain City, we had well water that came from an aquifer along Big Darby Creek. Somewhat hard water, but not as bad as some wells further down stream. It did leave water spots all over the dishes. West Jeff., and Georgesville water just plain STUNK and you could watch black sludge rolling down the inside of your water glass. I remember going to my cousins house and seeing barnacles growing around the water line of the toilet. The Plain City trailer park where Mike and I started house keeping had it's own water treatment system. They also had numerous coliform and giardia outbreaks. Real fun when you have three babies.
After we moved to Beallsville, we had a dug well and cistern at the house and drilled well and cistern at the barn. Water wasn't quite as hard as Plain City. Tasted a whole lot better. We always considered all those minerals in the water as "extra nutrients". Of the well and cistern, the cistern - which was 75% roof runoff - tasted best. That is, until dad lifted the lid on the barn cistern one day to swap out the pump. That thing was full of big rats and moccasins. Didn't keep up from drinking from the calf barn hose, though. During dry spells, we'd pump water from our ponds and the stream across the road into the cistern. Figured if it was good enough for those big bass, snappers, and deer to drink from, it was good enough for us too.
At Barnesville, we had "city" water. It got the clothes a whole lot cleaner, but tasted and smelled like a jug of industrial strength Clorox. Ironically, Barnesville used to be known as having one of the cleanest water supply reservoirs in the nation.
Water at Guysville (Tuppers Plains - Chester Water) was OK. That's all I can say about that.
For the time being, we're using a combination of store bought drinking water, rain water, water from the neighbors well, and water from another neighbors city tap. Rain water is by far the best! Local water is loaded with iron. Gal up the hill says that they replace the elements in the water heater about 2X a year. We all collect rain water for every day use, but take our laundry to Oak Hill laundromat. Clothes don't come clean at all. I thought it was just the machines there. Cheryl says it's the water around here. She also warned me not to hook up my nice washing machine unless I plan on buying a new one ever two or three years. The rust and other minerals eats them up. Before too long, we'll have the cistern going. I'm thinking Dale hauls water from either Portsmouth or Hecla.
I guess though, after a good decent days physical work it doesn't matter a whole lot to me where the water comes from. As long as there's some kind of water for a cup of coffee or a pitcher of tea to enjoy when I finally decide to park it for the day. A little extra for washing off doesn't hurt either.
|
|
|
Water
Dec 15, 2007 5:18:52 GMT 12.75
Post by gsoflittledove on Dec 15, 2007 5:18:52 GMT 12.75
Back in 1965. 75 of us formed a coop and got a FHA loan, We had a 750 ft 12 inch well dug and now we have 4 deep wells and 800 meters. and the Federal control out testing and we have to maintain a certain chlorine level. We do have a Superior Rating. But I maintain a cartage system for our cooking and drinking, that charcoal filter works wonders. our old water well was laced with iron, alum, copper, and sometimes jip. coffee and beans were all ways black (good) and hand drowned. yea I remember getting run out of s worm bed to draw mom a fresh bucket of water, Them cold morning with a wet frozen well rope, and bleeding hands The good old days
|
|
|
Water
Dec 15, 2007 5:33:21 GMT 12.75
Post by raingauge on Dec 15, 2007 5:33:21 GMT 12.75
I'm on well water. If I remember right, the well is 33 ft deep, the stock well was 11 ft, we're still in a drought. The water here is good, sweet tasting, not too heavy in minerals, nor too hard. Most of the water in SW Montana is great, we do have the occasional well that gets drilled into the geothermal "streams," we do have several hotsprings in the area. I do like cool, sweet, water, straight from the tap, I consider myself fortunate. Almost sounds like and old Sons of the Pioneers song, doesn't it?
|
|
|
Water
Dec 15, 2007 15:11:20 GMT 12.75
Post by Mars on Dec 15, 2007 15:11:20 GMT 12.75
We had a well up in Indiana but the water from it was nasty. It tasted fine but the smell was horrible even though it went through a water softner. We had it tested several times and got answers that it was sulphur one time and iron the next test. We did what they recomended but it still stank so we ended up buying bottled water for drinking and cooking. The city water was even worse and came from Center Lake which as it's name suggests, was in the center of town. The pumphouse was next to the swimming area for kids. Add the oil and gas from boats,runoff from septic systems and city roads and you end up with, YUCK! Our water here tested right on the border line for ecoli. They said that may be because the house was empty for six months prior to our buying it. They suggested we run the water for a month then add bleach to the well and have it retested after another month. The retest came back with no ecoli present. Nothing but pure,soft water. Our nieghbors all have city water and sewer but this house was grandfathered in so we can remain on a well and septic system. It's amazing the difference in food taste even if the food is just steamed. I ran an outside spicket directly from the well just so my nieghbors and friends can get water any time they want.
|
|
|
Water
Dec 15, 2007 15:48:25 GMT 12.75
Post by Toby Benoit on Dec 15, 2007 15:48:25 GMT 12.75
I grew up with a private well dropped into the underground aquifer that Zephyrhills Water is drawn from. It was rated 99.888 percent pure. Here in Inverness, our wells are sunk in the same underground aquifer that Crystal Springs bottled water comes from. Supposed to be 98.955 percent pure. Nothing like a tall glass of water! I visit folks in the city often enough and Mar's is right, you can definitely taste a difference in their cooking and everything.
|
|
|
Water
Dec 16, 2007 9:37:09 GMT 12.75
Post by Mars on Dec 16, 2007 9:37:09 GMT 12.75
Seems bottled water is most peoples solution to bad water from any source. Kinda ironic that we pollute the water in order to make money but then have to pay to get unpolluted water. By the posts, I think the local water supply may be why some restaurants food tastes better then the same restaurants in other places. Sulfur,iron,copper,lead,chlorine,fluoride and other minerals and chemicals that occur naturaly and added have to effect the final outcome in a meal. Not just taste but aroma and texture. To me, it would be like cooking with pure water then adding a drop of bleach or a pinch of sulfur and not expect anything to change.
|
|
|
Water
Dec 16, 2007 12:11:22 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Dec 16, 2007 12:11:22 GMT 12.75
In Nelsonville, less than 20 miles North, there is a Sonic and a Mickey D's and a Burger King within a mile of the sewage plant!
|
|