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Glacier Water Dispensers… Safe for CP’s?

joossa

Aklys
I always buy my drinking water from Glacier Water dispensers that are located outside grocery stores. I recently noticed that they have their filtration process labeled on the machine and it says that the water goes through reverse osmosis along with several other processes.
Here is the process on their website:
http://www.glacierwater.com/quality.htm

Does anyone use water from these machines to water their CP’s? If not, would you say (after looking at their water treatment process) that the water is safe for CP’s?
Now, the cost of a gallon of water from the Glacier machine is $0.25. Since I started growing my CP’s I have been buying gallons of distilled water from Wal-Mart for $0.66 each plus a $0.06 CRV (California Refund Value) deposit. So it’s a total of $0.72 per gallon from Wal-Mart. It would save me a bit of money…

Thanks!

-Joel
 
I use their machine water all the time. Just look at the nutritional label on the front of the machine - 0% sodium - which means it is safe for your CPs. Also the little LED display by the coin slot shows the last date it was serviced. They service the machines once a week always on the same day of the week. So just fill up on the same day it was serviced and the filters should be fresh or at least not exhausted.

If your concerned about the ozone, just put some of it in another bottle with some air in it, cap it and shake it up. Oxygenating the water before hand helps a bit anyway.

So save your Wal-Mart bottles and fill 'em up at the Glacier machine.

In the long run it is probably cheaper (and certainly more convenient) to buy a home RO filter which I'm looking into.
 
By reporting it as 0% sodium, the company is just saying sodium is 4,999 ppm or less. I have no doubt it's far less. But RO doesn't taste very good and I'd wonder whether anything is added back to the water after filtration. I remember a town in Maine that obtained its water from a softwater lake and added "minerals" during its treatment process. It needed to add some to raise and buffer the pH, but added even more to improve the flavor.
 
Look at the processing chart. Does it say any where anything is added?

This is California, the health food nut state. It's not going to sell unless it is sodium free. I have yet to see a bottle in any of the stores marked otherwise.

One of my friends who grows CPs tested it with his TDS meter and said it was safe.

Some of the news stations did exposés on the bottled water business in California and the dispensing machines rated amongst the highest for purity and cleanest bacteria-wise - provided the machines were well maintained.

There was a big stink because a lot of the bottled water were actually worse than the local tap water.

Since then the bottled water business has cleaned up their act and the machines and bottles get periodically tested.
 
The TDS is the important thing. Do you remember what the number was? I'm not saying they'd be adding cyanide and cadmium, not intentionally, anyway. But a little calcite, gypsum, etc can improve it.
 
RO doesnt taste good? I dunno where you get you water but the water that comes from my RO unit is the best water Ive ever drank... I keep a special 5 gallon cooler bottle just for drinking water that I fill off my RO all the time.

Before I got my RO I used the Glacier machine at my local grocery store for almost a year and none of my plants seemed to mind at all. As Not a Number said, they put the service date on the front of the machine so I tried to schedule my water purchases on those days.

Steve
 
I've tried it lol. Tastes flat and... it tastes the most watery of waters I've ever had lol. I like a little added sodium in my drinking water, thanks lol.
 
Sounds good! I’ll start filling up at the machine on their service dates.

Thanks for the info and tips!
 
Any Glacier water that I have tested on my TDS mete is 60 or less. I would use it if I only need a few gallons any more.
Lois
 
  • #10
RO doesnt taste good? I dunno where you get you water but the water that comes from my RO unit is the best water Ive ever drank... I keep a special 5 gallon cooler bottle just for drinking water that I fill off my RO all the time.

isn't Aquafina RO water? one of the walmart lines is too (the one with the green label, whichever that is).... i'd imagine it has to taste good to somebody! i prefer water that's been filtered within an inch of its life... i can barely drink the tap water here in western NY (darn limestone deposits all over this half of the state) when i grew up on uber-filtered long island water :)
 
  • #11
Up at the cabin out whole house is spring fed. BEST water in the world, I swear to God.

Maybe it's the 50 year old tube my grandparents put in back in the day? I like to think it's the minerals. Auctually come to think of it, I don't think there are any minerals since the sarracenia and sphagnum moss go crazy with it. It still tastes great!
 
  • #12
Aquafina and other national market waters that have multiple bottling plants use RO on the local water and then add their secret recipe of minerals so it tastes the same everywhere. Whether or not they admit it, I assume Glacier does too. But if the stuff stays below 60 on a TDS meter, it's good enough for most if not all CPs.
 
  • #13
The water from the Glacier Water dispenser should be fine. It would seem to me that if they put anything back in the water after filtering, they would have to say what and how much. So assuming the machine you use, uses the process diagramed on your link, the water should be fine. Wish I could find a dispenser around here that sells RO water for 25 cents. Cheapest I can find is 33 cents.
 
  • #14
I use aquafina. its fine. i do want to get a meter tho...
 
  • #15
isn't it alot cheaper just to buy a $100 r/o unit?
I like thetaste of r/o water I get from my filter and it reads 0-2 ppm
great for coffee and my fishtank also.
I gi through about 3-6 gallons a day and the filter has payed for itself several times over.
Peace,
zero
 
  • #16
isn't it alot cheaper just to buy a $100 r/o unit?
I like thetaste of r/o water I get from my filter and it reads 0-2 ppm
great for coffee and my fishtank also.
I gi through about 3-6 gallons a day and the filter has payed for itself several times over.
Peace,
zero
It depends on how much water you use. I just have a few plants and go through 10 gal./week. Which works out to $3.30/week for water. So an RO system wouldn't make sence for me.
 
  • #17
I only use about 5 gallons a week since the humidity is so high. It's worth it for the convenience of buying 5 gallons of water every friday and hauling them around.

Saves plastic, too.
 
  • #18
RO doesnt taste good? I dunno where you get you water but the water that comes from my RO unit is the best water Ive ever drank...

Ditto. The vast majority of water I drink comes from my RO system and I like the taste.

Like Bruce said though, the important thing is to test the TDS (which you've done and it appears the water is safe.) So I'd say go fir it. If you're still worried, use it on a "trial basis" on a few plants for a while and see how that works out for ya.
 
  • #19
Saves plastic, too.
When I first started, I was only using a gallon every week or two, so I was buying it in gallon bottles. Once I figured out what the RO dispenser was and how to use it (paying half the price/gallon of the one gallon jugs was a great incentive), I went to a five gallon jug. I still have it 4 years later plus three other 5 gal. jugs I bought shortly there-after. Definitely saves on trips to the plastic recycling bin.
 
  • #20
I agree with whoever said distilled water tastes great. It's tap water and mineral water that taste NASTY.
And I think I read somewhere that distilled or RO water absorbs minerals. So wouldn't that be bad, in theory, for your plants and you?
 
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