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Almost the same here in the Netherlands. I guess the north of Europe has enough money for nice water filtration. One big thing is that we use the clean drinkin

by tiku 9y ago

Almost the same here in the Netherlands. I guess the north of Europe has enough money for nice water filtration. One big thing is that we use the clean drinking water for showering and flushing our toilet also, this could be a great water saver for the future if we could have a substream of lesser quality water to use for these purposes.

blubb-fish 9y ago
> Almost the same here in the Netherlands. I guess the north of Europe has enough money for nice water filtration. I doubt that water filtration is particularly expensive compared to stuff like defense expenses or buying out banks. It's more about whether a government cares about providing an egalitarian long term solution for clean water. The US government doesn't care about black people being unjustly shot dead by police or for providing health care. Of course they don't care about something as abstract as clean water.
- teekert 9y ago
  I think it is also about the insanely large network in the US compared to tiny Netherlands (Netherlands is about 300 km by 150 km). Water has more time to go bad in those long pipes. to see how small the Netherlands is: https://mapfight.appspot.com/texas-vs-nl/texas-netherlands-size-comparison https://mapfight.appspot.com/texas-vs-nl/texas-netherlands-s...
  - kbart 9y ago
    Usually, even small towns have their own water extraction and purification facilities, so the size of a country doesn't have any influence (at least directly). Bar rare occasions with extreme climates, where no local water source is available.
phicoh 9y ago
The practical problem with having two qualities of water in a home is that the contractors who are working on water installations are not careful enough. Obviously you want to have zero risk that drinking water gets contaminated with less clean water. So in some projects where they started out with such a dual water quality setup, they have revered to only drinking water.
misja111 9y ago
Not everywhere in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam there are even a couple of specialized Water Shops. Which is really a lot like selling air if you think about it, considering that tap water is almost free and has often a better quality than what is sold in those bottles.
Someone 9y ago
I see that as a way to clean up rivers. If you’re environmentally conscious, let your tap run 24 hours a day :-) Seriously: I don’t think separate quality sources makes much sense. Firstly, citizens would have to be aware that there is tap water they cannot drink (where can you safely use it, and be sure kids wouldn’t drink it? Showers and garden hoses definitely are out. Farming and industry probably are the only use cases that make sense, and those already can have separate lower quality feeds, if they want it), and secondly, the effort needed to keep the streams separate and the impact of that going awry would make it difficult. On the exit side, there is discussion about keeping runoff water separate from more contaminated water (greywater vs blackwater. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(waste) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(waste)). That already is done a bit in new neighborhoods by having separate pipes for rainwater runoff and sewage. Possible problem there is that adding rainwater to sewage helps it flow through the system. Also, again, constructors would have to conscious about never feeding blackwater into a greywater pipe.
- aplummer 9y ago
  My old school used grey water for sprinkler systemss It was like 99% clean but not “drinkable”. Big red signs everywhere, seems fine. I would think golf courses must do something similar but don’t know

by tiku 9y ago

blubb-fish 9y ago

> Almost the same here in the Netherlands. I guess the north of Europe has enough money for nice water filtration. I doubt that water filtration is particularly expensive compared to stuff like defense expenses or buying out banks. It's more about whether a government cares about providing an egalitarian long term solution for clean water. The US government doesn't care about black people being unjustly shot dead by police or for providing health care. Of course they don't care about something as abstract as clean water.

teekert 9y ago
I think it is also about the insanely large network in the US compared to tiny Netherlands (Netherlands is about 300 km by 150 km). Water has more time to go bad in those long pipes. to see how small the Netherlands is: https://mapfight.appspot.com/texas-vs-nl/texas-netherlands-size-comparison https://mapfight.appspot.com/texas-vs-nl/texas-netherlands-s...
- kbart 9y ago
  Usually, even small towns have their own water extraction and purification facilities, so the size of a country doesn't have any influence (at least directly). Bar rare occasions with extreme climates, where no local water source is available.

phicoh 9y ago

The practical problem with having two qualities of water in a home is that the contractors who are working on water installations are not careful enough. Obviously you want to have zero risk that drinking water gets contaminated with less clean water. So in some projects where they started out with such a dual water quality setup, they have revered to only drinking water.

misja111 9y ago

Not everywhere in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam there are even a couple of specialized Water Shops. Which is really a lot like selling air if you think about it, considering that tap water is almost free and has often a better quality than what is sold in those bottles.

Someone 9y ago

I see that as a way to clean up rivers. If you’re environmentally conscious, let your tap run 24 hours a day :-) Seriously: I don’t think separate quality sources makes much sense. Firstly, citizens would have to be aware that there is tap water they cannot drink (where can you safely use it, and be sure kids wouldn’t drink it? Showers and garden hoses definitely are out. Farming and industry probably are the only use cases that make sense, and those already can have separate lower quality feeds, if they want it), and secondly, the effort needed to keep the streams separate and the impact of that going awry would make it difficult. On the exit side, there is discussion about keeping runoff water separate from more contaminated water (greywater vs blackwater. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(waste) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(waste)). That already is done a bit in new neighborhoods by having separate pipes for rainwater runoff and sewage. Possible problem there is that adding rainwater to sewage helps it flow through the system. Also, again, constructors would have to conscious about never feeding blackwater into a greywater pipe.

aplummer 9y ago
My old school used grey water for sprinkler systemss It was like 99% clean but not “drinkable”. Big red signs everywhere, seems fine. I would think golf courses must do something similar but don’t know