Abbey Spring has always contended that the plumbed, bottleless water cooler held several real advantages over bottled water. Savings of 60% to 80% is just one of several. Stated in this article is one other that we have always held, that being, the health and safety issue of lifting 40 pound bottles of water. The risk of back injury is a serious concern for many businesses and has been the main reason, many of our customers state to us, for converting to the bottle free solution. The European market is fast growing and the Mideast is also an emerging market. Abbey Spring has made many sales to the Mideast. Our international customers often state that water quality in the point of use cooler is a major deciding point for them. In other words they perceive the higher quality water is found in the bottleless water cooler. This goes contrary to the long held perception that bottled water is higher quality. It seems like there is a growing awareness that there is no mystery to bottled water and that a similar or better quality of water can be made on your site, either home or business, by using a bottleless water cooler outfitted with a well designed filtration system. We believe a major reason for this perception change is the popularity of the Desani and Aquafina brands of bottled water. Both brands use municipal water to make their bottled water. They use huge filtration systems to process city water to put in their bottles, and people are seeing that they can use the same process, only much smaller, to do the same thing Coke and Pepsi do.

Here is the article:

“Market volumes for water coolers are holding steady, despite difficult market conditions, delegates to the industry’s annual conference have heard. Addressing the BWCA’s Water Cooler Industry Annual Conference, whose theme was ‘Competing To Win’, Michael Barnett delivered a presentation on behalf of Michael Gell of Hullbrook, an independent strategy consultancy, revealed that, whilst the overall market was stable, figures showed an increased bias in favour of Point-?of-?Use (POU) coolers as against Bottled Water Coolers (BWC). However this decline for BWCs is expected to slow over the coming year. Market value in 2009 was £160m for the whole cooler market, a decline from the peak in 2005 but still showing some £20m growth taking as a whole the decade since2001. The migration of customers to POU systems was driven by financial need, environment perceptions and health & safety concerns about lifting bottles. The public sector in particular has driven change for this mix of reasons. However, average pricing for both cooler types has declined in the past 3–4 years and this has helped the market’s stability. Others in the public sector, however, felt it was best for staff working in large offices to have ready access to water and for this reason BWCs can provide a more flexible option. In the private sector, too, smaller companies and those, for example on construction sites, who need ready supply of water, choose the bottled variety. Barnett said: “The key drivers are expected to remain flat but there are some issues that may affect the market. One of these is that the UK population still under-?estimates how much water should be consumed. Weather is also a factor as are environmental impact concerns.” Source: BWCA”

Seems like with the recent anniversary of the sunami and nuclear disaster in Japan has brought the issue of radiation back into the news. This post relates to our two previous posts on this issue. One thing that can be learned from the recent news is that the problem Japan has faced is not over for them and with today’s post it may not be over for us either. Vigilance not fear is what is needed from each of us. It has always been the policy of Abbey Spring to avoid creating fear about water issues in order to make sales. Fear is usually more damaging and dangerous to you than the water issues we face. We want you to be aware and educated so you can make conscious decisions for you and your family.

“Posted by Graham_Land in Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, 10 Apr 2012 About a month after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, radioactive particles were detected in giant kelp samples off the California coast. The level 7 nuclear incident resulted from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region around Fukushima, Japan in March of 2011. In a recent study California State University marine biologists tested giant kelp up and down the coastline of the state, from Laguna Beach to Santa Cruz, and found radioactive iodine, suggesting that radiation that leaked from the damaged Fukushima reactors had reached California. Levels 250 times higher than previous measurements were found in one sample. From the San Francisco Chronicle: Basically, we saw it in all the California kelp blades we sampled. [Iodine 131] has an eight-day half-life, so it’s pretty much all gone, but this shows what happens half a world away does effect what happens here. I don’t think these levels are harmful, but it’s better if we don’t have it at all. –Steven Manley, CSU Long Beach biology professor Kelp is among the fastest growing organisms on Earth and is the largest species of algae. Because it absorbs iodine, fish that feed on kelp could have experienced risk, though there is no published relevant research on how iodine 131 at these levels might affect fish. From the Los Angeles Times: The levels, while most likely not harmful to humans, were significantly higher than measurements prior to the explosion and comparable to those found in British Columbia, Canada, and northern Washington state following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, according to the study published in March in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The radioactive iodine likely entered the ocean due to heavy rains that followed the meltdown at Fukushima.”

Just a short note to add to our last post about radiation in drinking water and the solutions. We forgot to add that a bottleless water cooler can have a reverse osmosis filter installed in it and therefore can be effective in removing radioactive substances from the drinking water.

Here is the link to our web site where you can see the water coolers we have available: http://www.abbeyspring.com/products-purewatercoolers-fs.html

Here is a short note about what is being done by the government and NSF one year after the disaster in Japan especially concerning radioactive matter showing up in the drinking water supply. We noted before that during the disaster the requests for solutions to remove radioactive materials from water rose greatly. This was from Japan and from the USA. Generally speaking a reverse osmosis filter can remove/reduce these items from the water. Here is the post from Water Quality Products, an industry magazine:

Radioactivity & Drinking Water

March marked the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Japanese coast and led to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daichii Nuclear Power Plant. In the wake of the quake, the world worried about the effects the nuclear disaster could have around the world. Although federal agencies reported that no radioactive elements were present in U.S. rain or water supplies at levels that would affect human health, it brought up a question: What remedies are available if radioactive elements ever are found in water?

In light of these concerns, NSF Intl. worked with the Japan Water Purification Assn. to develop a protocol to certify water treatment systems that reduce iodine, including radioactive iodine. In the future we can expect to see systems certified to this the protocol—and although we hope we do not have need for them, they will certainly provide reassurance in the event of a nuclear incident.

Here is the link to our web site where we have several reverse osmosis systems available for residential use: http://www.abbeyspring.com/under-filters.html

Here is the link to our light commercial systems: http://www.abbeyspring.com/restaurant_lc.html

 

So all of a sudden the Vertex water cooler is not making hot water. What do you do. Call us is what you can do. We have repair manuals and extensive knowledge of the Vertex water coolers AND we stock most patrs needed to repair a water cooler.

Just call and give us the model of the water cooler, PWC1000, PWC2000, etc and we will help you diagnose the issue and needed repairs. It could be a sensor, the hot tank itself or something as simple as the hot tank got turned off by accident. Even if you did not buy the cooler from us we can help. If you need a repair manual we will email one to you. These are not the simple manual that came with the cooler when you bought it. These are extensive repair manuals with photos and detailed explanations of how to do a repair. These were intended for techs in the field but are very easy to use and get the idea from.

Call Abbey Spring at 800-844-0448

This is another post in our effort to keep you informed of the many situations that can arise with our drinking water. It is also our hope to steer you in the direction of a solution to whatever problem is before you.

 

Here is a short article about this situation:

RESTON, VA, March 9, 2012 (Water Tech)  — A new model predicts that atrazine, plus its breakdown product deethylatrazine, has less than a 10 percent chance of exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for public drinking water supplies in shallow groundwater in about 95 percent of the nation’s agricultural areas, according to a press release. 

 

Atrazine is a commonly used herbicide for weed control in corn and sorghum production, noted the release. 

 

“With the intensive, widespread use of the herbicide atrazine in agricultural production, some communities will need to carefully monitor the risk to groundwater and human health from this contaminant and its residues,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt. “The advantage of this new research is that it reveals the spatial variability of risk for atrazine contamination in groundwater across the United States, allowing communities to make wise decisions on allocating scarce financial resources for water quality testing.”

Since Atrazine, is a VOC (volitile organic chemical) it can be reduced greatly by the use of a carbon filter. Of course a reverse osmosis filter will do the same since an RO system usually have one to three carbon filters in the system.

 

Here is a link to our web site where we have several choices for you to consider such as the DF-2 or DF-3 or any of the reverse osmosis or UV filters there:

 

http://www.abbeyspring.com/under-filters.html

 

 

This is another post in our effort to keep you informed of the many situations that can arise with our drinking water. It is also our hope to steer you in the direction of a solution to whatever problem is before you.

Here is a short article about this situation in Ozark, MO:

OZARK, MO, March 5, 2012 (Water Tech)  — A dye trace test is currently being performed in the Smallin Cave northeast of Ozark, Mo. to try and find a link to why trichloroethane (TCE) was found in the groundwater last year, according to the News-Leader. 

 

Doug Ferguson, on-scene coordinator for the EPA, said that it is difficult to get a reading in this particular area because the underground water flows in different directions, noted the release. 

 

“It’s a bit of a stretch, but the dye could possibly come out in Smallin Cave,” Ferguson said. “Chances are the dye will go the other way (east) but it’s important for us to know where the dye doesn’t go as much as where it does go.”

Since Trichloroethane (TCE), is a VOC (volitile organic chemical) it can be reduced greatly by the use of a carbon filter. Of course a reverse osmosis filter will do the same since an RO system usually have one to three carbon filters in the system.

Here is a link to our web site where we have several choices for you to consider such as the DF-2 or DF-3 or any of the reverse osmosis or UV filters there.

http://www.abbeyspring.com/under-filters.html

 

Here is another California water problem. This is a growing issue especially around military bases and anywhere there is manufacture or use of explosives:

WEST COVINA, Calif. — Residents in the Baldwin Park and La Puente areas of Calif. were left without water for over a day after a groundwater treatment facility was contaminated with perchlorate, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

 

President Bob Nicholson notified residents that the water is now clean and safe to drink, but they are unsure how long the high level of the chemical was in the city’s water, stated the article.

 

Perchlorate is a rocket fuel additive and cannot be reduced by boiling, freezing or filtering, noted the article.

A problem that can be faced is when the chemical, in this case perchlorate, gets into the ground water, then it can travel or expand the area that is contaminated. Once again the best home remidy is a revers osmosis filter system. The link at our web site is:

http://www.abbeyspring.com/under-filters.html

Look this over and if you have any questions please call at 800-844-0448

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In our continuing effort to make you aware of the problems occuring with our countries drinking water and solutions available to you we are posting this article from the Los Angeles area.

LOS ANGELES — More than 250,000 residents in the southern San Joaquin and Salinas valleys could be in danger of drinking water that has been contaminated by nitrates from local farming regions, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 

The contamination has spread throughout the years and researchers say it will only continue to get worse, noted the article.

 

Scientists from UC Davis examined the groundwater in the region and determined that even if farming operations were halted, nitrates would continue to spread for years, stated the article.

If you are concerned about this same problem in your area… usually this happens in agricultural areas… then know that there is an answer for the problem. In this case it is a reverse osmosis filter. Here is the link to our web site where you can consider what we have to offer in reverse osmosis systems:

http://www.abbeyspring.com/under-filters.html

 

 

Here is an informational post to help you see what is going on across the country and what are the possible things that can happen to the water used for drinking. At the end we will give you some ways to correct this situation if you find yourself with this problem.

RESTON, VA, February 16, 2012 (Water Tech) — Groundwater in aquifers on the East Coast and in the Central U.S. has the highest risk of contamination from radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element and known carcinogen, according to a press release.

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), radium was detected in concentrations that equaled or exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards in more than one in five wells tested in the Mid-Continent and Ozark Plateau Cambro-Ordovician aquifer systems, underlying parts of Ark., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Mich., Minn., Mo. and Wis.; and the North Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system, underlying parts of Del., Md., N.J., N.Y., N.C. and Va., stated the release. 

“Radium is a troubling contaminant in groundwater because it cannot be readily detected by taste or smell, nor are the analytical methods for measurement easily applied by non-experts,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt. “This new-found correlation between radium contamination and low oxygen or low pH allows very simple tests to determine which groundwater sources are at risk from radium, and why.”

A reverse osmosis water filter will address this problem. Abbey Spring sells several models and you can see them at this link: