NSW question

[mps9506]

I've been using filtered NSW from the coast here in NC for a few years now. Not because it is better or worse than synthetic ro mixed saltwater, but because I'm cheap and lazy (two bad attributes for the reefer)and the university's mariculture facility provides it for free and it's easier than mixing for my personal tanks.
Recently with the thousands of people moving to our area and lack of money given to the maintenance of city/county sewar system we have had lots of sewage leaks getting into our waterways (the last small one was 75,000gallons of raw sewage). The water I get is UV filtered and goes through a huge sand filter, which I'm not sure what that does to the water. Is there anything I should be testing the water for now with all these sewage spills? I already test with hobby level test kits for the regular stuff, phosphate, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, ca, alk. I figure the EPA hasn't put out a warning to stay outta the beach yet, although they did close oyster harvesting again due to fecal coliform. Should I be worried about this?

[Boomer]

Nope Mike there is not much you can do, unless you want me to spend a few grand of your money on some new test equipment Let me know


Ooooww, Sandiflters are the greatest thing since bread and butter. They make the water clean. Almost all municipal water supply departments use sand filters. Do they take out everything no.

Sand Filter

The first two are are used extensively in the water industry and the third is used in water supply as a cheap and effective way of removing pathogens and solids from raw drinking water.

Passing flocculated water through a rapid gravity sand filter strains out the floc and the particles trapped within it. The medium of the filter is sand of varying grades. As water flows through the sand, impurities such as solids precipitate and in some cases even bacterial particles are filtered out, reducing turbidity. Where taste and odour may be a problem (organoleptic impacts), the sand filter may include a layer of activated carbon to remove the taste and odour. Sand filters may become clogged with floc after a period in use and they are then backwashed or pressure washed to remove the floc. This backwash water is run into special settling tanks so that the floc can precipitate out and is then disposed of as waste material. In some countries this may be used as a soil conditioner. Inadequate filter maintenance has been the cause of occasional drinking water contamination. A good source of information is the American Water Works Association (AWWA).

A different type of sand filter is sometimes used for sewage treatment as well. The sand traps suspended material and bacteria living in the sand decompose ammonia and nitrates into nitrogen gas.