Modern drinking water originates from surface and groundwater sources that are presumed clean but are increasingly shaped by legacy contamination, delayed exposure, and system design.
I also worry about the psych meds, heart meds, abortion pills and birth control that's peed into wastewater. Pur advertises one of their filters can remove atenolol, a beta blocker. Maybe it's at "trace" levels. But I'm forced to face the fact that we're all in this together.
Love to see a deep dive cost analysis for various Aurmina processes; straight tap/well water, with distilled & RO put in the mix.
If we are going to be using this daily for the rest of our lives, costs may change based on elec rates, etc but may be instructive for some questioning high Aurmina costs, lower long-term with higher upfront (equipment).
Water tap or well = roughly ~20% loss through decanting
Distillers use roughly 3.2 (Scott's) to 3 6kw (mine) to make a gallon of distilled. Ohio elec rate last month ~$0.10 all in, so $0.35/gal to distill.
Electric rates are projected to markedly increase going forward (data centers).
Aurmina plus shipping $160
1qt has 192tsp
1tsp = $0.83, decant adjusted ~20% waste = $1.04
2tsp = $1.66, decant adjusted ~20% waste = $2.08
Tap/well water costs
Time - 48-72hrs, plus decant & filter time
Filter cost & consumables (not included)
Aurmina Midpoint 1.5tsp = $1.56/gal
I get the idea of 3 canisters on countertop as great visuals at the start, or for testing various sources, then filtration, realistic long-term, normal kitchen real estate metrics call for a cost/space & time efficient process.
Distilled & RO = no decant waste
Distilled
Time = 4 to 6hrs distil time
1/2 to 1tsp = midpoint 3/4tsp = $0.63
Distilled elec = ~$0.35 plus $0.63 = $0.98/gal
RO filter life ~500 gal (varies on input water quality)
Typical filter set (unit I'm looking at) =$100
RO elec cost = minimal
RO filter $100 / 500gal life = $0.20 gal
RO gal $0.20 (filter) plus $0.63 (Aur) = $0.83 / gal
RO time per gal plus Aurmina treatment < 10 minutes.
RO seems the hands down long-term solution, so an effort should be made to source the best most efficient undercounter & countertop units, with best cost per gallons metrics.
I know Pierre spoke of high RO waste water ratios in a post, though some countertop units pure to waste ratios approach 2:1 (33% waste), as opposed to 3-400%.
Unless one has excess solar capacity and can make free distilled water, we should be researching RO.
(There are distillers that run from woodstove heat as well, for the preppers or pure grain enthusiasts in the crowd)
efficient undercounter & countertop units, with best cost per gallons metrics.
I know Pierre spoke of high RO waste water ratios in a post, though some countertop units pure to waste ratios approach 2:1 (33% waste), as opposed to 3-400%.
Unless one has excess solar capacity and can make free distilled water, we should be researching RO.
(There are distillers that run from woodstove heat as well, for the preppers or pure grain enthusiasts in the crowd)
Before last June I used a Pur pitcher filter for several years, but after moving to a rural area I bought a counter top Reverse Osmosis filter, and all of my drinking and cooking water comes from it. If you saw the ugly brownish-reddish-blackish water stains the tap water leaves on porcelain, you wouldn't want to drink it either. My filter uses re-mineralizing filters that mount on the pitchers the water goes into, and also has a UV part that hits the water with UV light to kill organism. Filters will be about $120 a year, 4 big filters and one small re-mineralization filter. It's just me and my dog, and we now only drink RO water. Bottled water, even generic store brand RO water costs too much, even by the gallon. Works great for me. Like you said it has become an individual decision now, because you can not trust the water that comes out of your faucet to be safe to drink. I haven't looked at Aurmina yet, so I don't know what or how it works. I collect rain water from the 2 gutters on my back roof, each one is 2 55 gallon barrels, but we are having a very dry fall/winter, and they run out quickly in the summer when I use it to water my garden and trees, so I end up having to use tap water after June. And in the winter I have to make sure they don't get too full, only about 3/4 full in case it freezes, which is not a constant in TX winters. They fill up in less than 15 minutes of a good rain. My garden hasn't shown any signs of suffering from the tap water, but I am growing fruits and vegetables I will consume. I try to use rain water as much as I can though. I also keep a half ounce pure silver coin in my big insulated water mug that I keep constantly full of ice water. I also use a countertop ice maker, that only gets fed RO water for ice making. Does no good to clean the water if you put straight tap water in the ice maker. If I ever have to use the rain water for drinking, that means there will most likely be no electricity, I'll start by putting about 10 ounces of pure silver coins in each barrel to keep organisms from multiplying. All depends on if I have to use the silver for money.
I'm just completing my first Aurmina treatment cycle using our municipal water system--am doing the final filtering using a Berkey system (black filters only). Will do another cycle from our 100-foot well next.
QUESTION: Why doesn't the Berkey system also filter out the good minerals contained in Armina along with the precipitated "bad stuff?"
I lived in the CO mountains in the 70's and 80's and our house was at 10,000ft elevation. Our well was 90feet deep which is very deep for our area and provided ample water for the 2 homes built there. There were not many homes back then built in our area. Our water was exceptional! In taste and clarity it was the best water I have ever had, outside of Silverton which is in CO at 9300ft. elevation. It was incredibly delicious and cold and cleaned clothes and dishes with no spots and no residues!! No calcium build up either. I miss our water. I drank lots of it and when I moved to CA I quit drinking much water, as it is so horrible tasting and at that time bottled water was not the thing yet. It is so disheartening to have to have such constant surveillance of our environment just so we are not poisoned. Much of the medical practices as well, poisoning us with their drugs and lack of real care to help except by easy drugs. Very discouraging and depressing.
When driving around I sometimes see these signs saying "Drinking water protection area" and I find that rather odd -- shouldn't everywhere be a drinking water protection area??
When we moved to northern KY, we picked up a countertop RO system as our water is sourced from the Ohio river via Cincinnati. The system has a remineralization cartridge in the carafe that supposedly adds back calcium, potassium, zinc, magnesium and sodium. Water tastes great. Really can smell the chlorine that is left in the tank when we dump and refill it.
Thank you for Aurmina! We are in a condominium complex with RO water coming through the pipes, but who knows what the pipes contain. Everyone assumes that the water will be wonderful to drink right out of the faucet, and it tastes pretty good, but the thin, yellow sediment at the bottom of the pitcher with a teaspoon of Aurmina in it proved otherwise by the next morning. My question is how to filter the remaining few cups at the bottom of the pitcher, then I read "Maha's" post below about using a paper coffee cone. I imagine that I could use the gold coffee filter instead? Since the toxic junk in the water is now separated into sediment, it's big enough for the eye to see, so unless you, Dr. Kory, advise to the contrary, the tight weave of the gold filter should work. When I get down to the last few cups in today's pitcher, I'll try it and see.
I wish you would have addressed natural spring water. We get almost all the water we drink from a surface spring in forested hill country. We like it, think it's probably the way to go, but would appreciate any informed opinion, although spring water is of course highly variable. We run it through a Berkey filter, but drank it for years without filtering and nothing bad happened we know of. Tastes better than any other water, including commercially sold spring water.
I learned a lot I didn't know from this article - thank you!
I just started on my Aurmina water over the last few days. At 72 hours treatment time, our Grand Junction water presents as clear with a floccular precipitate along the bottom of the glass container. It must possess at relatively high specific gravity, as it is easy to decant all but the last 20% of the volume, and then filter through a paper coffee "cone".
The result is a great water that is not exactly tasteless. It is in no way salty, just a subtle "something" I can't identify.
Perhaps we can rack this up to placebo effect, but my chronic gut aliments have receded somewhat, in just 3 days of only drinking this water.
For more than 40 years I've been using Reverse Osmosis water for drinking and cooking. But I've also started with whole house activated charcoal filtration because I don't want to shower in chlorine! I have the same setup at work and have a very large aquaponics setup with thousands of Tilapia and can do complete tank water exchanges right from the tap since my system removes 100% of the chlorine (and almost all other contaminants). A system like this is not crazy expensive (around $250) and should be done by everyone IMHO. And yes, it makes sense to add minerals back into your drinking water...
Just ordered my first bottle of Aurmina - I'm excited to try it! I live in the Pacific NW, where the water has always tasted fine, so I'll be curious to see what happens. Thanks for all your work with this - great information!
https://substack.com/@lancenormine/note/c-194103058?r=2u1w7u&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I also worry about the psych meds, heart meds, abortion pills and birth control that's peed into wastewater. Pur advertises one of their filters can remove atenolol, a beta blocker. Maybe it's at "trace" levels. But I'm forced to face the fact that we're all in this together.
Love to see a deep dive cost analysis for various Aurmina processes; straight tap/well water, with distilled & RO put in the mix.
If we are going to be using this daily for the rest of our lives, costs may change based on elec rates, etc but may be instructive for some questioning high Aurmina costs, lower long-term with higher upfront (equipment).
Water tap or well = roughly ~20% loss through decanting
Distillers use roughly 3.2 (Scott's) to 3 6kw (mine) to make a gallon of distilled. Ohio elec rate last month ~$0.10 all in, so $0.35/gal to distill.
Electric rates are projected to markedly increase going forward (data centers).
Aurmina plus shipping $160
1qt has 192tsp
1tsp = $0.83, decant adjusted ~20% waste = $1.04
2tsp = $1.66, decant adjusted ~20% waste = $2.08
Tap/well water costs
Time - 48-72hrs, plus decant & filter time
Filter cost & consumables (not included)
Aurmina Midpoint 1.5tsp = $1.56/gal
I get the idea of 3 canisters on countertop as great visuals at the start, or for testing various sources, then filtration, realistic long-term, normal kitchen real estate metrics call for a cost/space & time efficient process.
Distilled & RO = no decant waste
Distilled
Time = 4 to 6hrs distil time
1/2 to 1tsp = midpoint 3/4tsp = $0.63
Distilled elec = ~$0.35 plus $0.63 = $0.98/gal
RO filter life ~500 gal (varies on input water quality)
Typical filter set (unit I'm looking at) =$100
RO elec cost = minimal
RO filter $100 / 500gal life = $0.20 gal
RO gal $0.20 (filter) plus $0.63 (Aur) = $0.83 / gal
RO time per gal plus Aurmina treatment < 10 minutes.
RO seems the hands down long-term solution, so an effort should be made to source the best most efficient undercounter & countertop units, with best cost per gallons metrics.
I know Pierre spoke of high RO waste water ratios in a post, though some countertop units pure to waste ratios approach 2:1 (33% waste), as opposed to 3-400%.
Unless one has excess solar capacity and can make free distilled water, we should be researching RO.
(There are distillers that run from woodstove heat as well, for the preppers or pure grain enthusiasts in the crowd)
efficient undercounter & countertop units, with best cost per gallons metrics.
I know Pierre spoke of high RO waste water ratios in a post, though some countertop units pure to waste ratios approach 2:1 (33% waste), as opposed to 3-400%.
Unless one has excess solar capacity and can make free distilled water, we should be researching RO.
(There are distillers that run from woodstove heat as well, for the preppers or pure grain enthusiasts in the crowd)
I wish I could tell you a story, but I cannot. Too many watchers. I Enjoy reading your writing.
Before last June I used a Pur pitcher filter for several years, but after moving to a rural area I bought a counter top Reverse Osmosis filter, and all of my drinking and cooking water comes from it. If you saw the ugly brownish-reddish-blackish water stains the tap water leaves on porcelain, you wouldn't want to drink it either. My filter uses re-mineralizing filters that mount on the pitchers the water goes into, and also has a UV part that hits the water with UV light to kill organism. Filters will be about $120 a year, 4 big filters and one small re-mineralization filter. It's just me and my dog, and we now only drink RO water. Bottled water, even generic store brand RO water costs too much, even by the gallon. Works great for me. Like you said it has become an individual decision now, because you can not trust the water that comes out of your faucet to be safe to drink. I haven't looked at Aurmina yet, so I don't know what or how it works. I collect rain water from the 2 gutters on my back roof, each one is 2 55 gallon barrels, but we are having a very dry fall/winter, and they run out quickly in the summer when I use it to water my garden and trees, so I end up having to use tap water after June. And in the winter I have to make sure they don't get too full, only about 3/4 full in case it freezes, which is not a constant in TX winters. They fill up in less than 15 minutes of a good rain. My garden hasn't shown any signs of suffering from the tap water, but I am growing fruits and vegetables I will consume. I try to use rain water as much as I can though. I also keep a half ounce pure silver coin in my big insulated water mug that I keep constantly full of ice water. I also use a countertop ice maker, that only gets fed RO water for ice making. Does no good to clean the water if you put straight tap water in the ice maker. If I ever have to use the rain water for drinking, that means there will most likely be no electricity, I'll start by putting about 10 ounces of pure silver coins in each barrel to keep organisms from multiplying. All depends on if I have to use the silver for money.
I'm just completing my first Aurmina treatment cycle using our municipal water system--am doing the final filtering using a Berkey system (black filters only). Will do another cycle from our 100-foot well next.
QUESTION: Why doesn't the Berkey system also filter out the good minerals contained in Armina along with the precipitated "bad stuff?"
I lived in the CO mountains in the 70's and 80's and our house was at 10,000ft elevation. Our well was 90feet deep which is very deep for our area and provided ample water for the 2 homes built there. There were not many homes back then built in our area. Our water was exceptional! In taste and clarity it was the best water I have ever had, outside of Silverton which is in CO at 9300ft. elevation. It was incredibly delicious and cold and cleaned clothes and dishes with no spots and no residues!! No calcium build up either. I miss our water. I drank lots of it and when I moved to CA I quit drinking much water, as it is so horrible tasting and at that time bottled water was not the thing yet. It is so disheartening to have to have such constant surveillance of our environment just so we are not poisoned. Much of the medical practices as well, poisoning us with their drugs and lack of real care to help except by easy drugs. Very discouraging and depressing.
When driving around I sometimes see these signs saying "Drinking water protection area" and I find that rather odd -- shouldn't everywhere be a drinking water protection area??
When we moved to northern KY, we picked up a countertop RO system as our water is sourced from the Ohio river via Cincinnati. The system has a remineralization cartridge in the carafe that supposedly adds back calcium, potassium, zinc, magnesium and sodium. Water tastes great. Really can smell the chlorine that is left in the tank when we dump and refill it.
When treating silica rich water approximately 100 ppm, does the Aurmina remove the silica?
When using my Waterwise distillation and Aurmina to mineralize, I see undetectable sediment in 15 gallons combined therefore I will not filter.
How do you verify the occurrence of structured water?
Sorry for the detailed inquiry but Aurmina is part of my water treatment now and forever.
Thank you for Aurmina! We are in a condominium complex with RO water coming through the pipes, but who knows what the pipes contain. Everyone assumes that the water will be wonderful to drink right out of the faucet, and it tastes pretty good, but the thin, yellow sediment at the bottom of the pitcher with a teaspoon of Aurmina in it proved otherwise by the next morning. My question is how to filter the remaining few cups at the bottom of the pitcher, then I read "Maha's" post below about using a paper coffee cone. I imagine that I could use the gold coffee filter instead? Since the toxic junk in the water is now separated into sediment, it's big enough for the eye to see, so unless you, Dr. Kory, advise to the contrary, the tight weave of the gold filter should work. When I get down to the last few cups in today's pitcher, I'll try it and see.
I wish you would have addressed natural spring water. We get almost all the water we drink from a surface spring in forested hill country. We like it, think it's probably the way to go, but would appreciate any informed opinion, although spring water is of course highly variable. We run it through a Berkey filter, but drank it for years without filtering and nothing bad happened we know of. Tastes better than any other water, including commercially sold spring water.
I learned a lot I didn't know from this article - thank you!
So we just add Aurmina to the water we drink and that solves the problem?
I just started on my Aurmina water over the last few days. At 72 hours treatment time, our Grand Junction water presents as clear with a floccular precipitate along the bottom of the glass container. It must possess at relatively high specific gravity, as it is easy to decant all but the last 20% of the volume, and then filter through a paper coffee "cone".
The result is a great water that is not exactly tasteless. It is in no way salty, just a subtle "something" I can't identify.
Perhaps we can rack this up to placebo effect, but my chronic gut aliments have receded somewhat, in just 3 days of only drinking this water.
For more than 40 years I've been using Reverse Osmosis water for drinking and cooking. But I've also started with whole house activated charcoal filtration because I don't want to shower in chlorine! I have the same setup at work and have a very large aquaponics setup with thousands of Tilapia and can do complete tank water exchanges right from the tap since my system removes 100% of the chlorine (and almost all other contaminants). A system like this is not crazy expensive (around $250) and should be done by everyone IMHO. And yes, it makes sense to add minerals back into your drinking water...
agreed. Like more than you will ever know.. until my book comes out!
Just ordered my first bottle of Aurmina - I'm excited to try it! I live in the Pacific NW, where the water has always tasted fine, so I'll be curious to see what happens. Thanks for all your work with this - great information!
let me know!