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Message |
    
Spanky
Citizen
Username: Spanky
Post Number: 90
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 8, 2005 - 10:57 pm: | 
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According to the village website, the water in some parts of South Orange has changed from one provider to the East Orange water provider in the past year. Has anyone else noticed how awful the water has tasted in the past year? I have also notice more build up on my faucets and my dishes are tougher to clean. Two of my neighbors got new dishwashers thinking that was the problem! Anyway, I called the public works department about this today, just to see if I was the only one complaining, and I guess I am. The woman on the phone said that she has never heard anyone calling to say the water is a problem. In fact, she didn't even know that the water had changed to a new water source (in fact she told me I was wrong even though it is clearly written on the website.) Am I crazy? Maybe I should just get a water softener?? |
something witty
Citizen
Username: Buckneja
Post Number: 179
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 8, 2005 - 11:42 pm: |
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We are having a time with our own dishwasher. We received a notice in the mail about the switch... and yes, the water is different in taste, too. I'll call tomorrow, too, to add to the awareness. |
snshirsch
Citizen
Username: Snshirsch
Post Number: 383
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 10:41 am: |
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Definitely not crazy. SO water has always been VERY hard, and it recently has gotten worse due to the change in resevoirs that you noted. Unfortunately not everyone in SO gets their water from this new resevoir so it may not be noticed by everyone.
There was another thread regarding this earlier this year. Dishwashers seem to be having quite a time getting things clean, or at least not leaving mineral deposits all over everything.
We played with our setting and determined that the hot water wash and no heat drying was the best to alleviate the problem. We also load up on the jet dry a lot more often.
We haven't drank SO water for years now. It just really sucks. |
Southorangemom
Citizen
Username: Southorangemom
Post Number: 204
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 11:10 am: |
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I have noticed an increase in the water hardness. Glasses come out of the dishwasher looking cloudy. Considering how much we pay for water, I would like it to be of better quality.
SouthOrangeMom |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 76
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 11:10 am: |
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Tip, try Trader Joe's powdered dishwasher detergent. It was highly rated by consumer reports to get dishes really clean, is fairly economical and in my experience causes no etching on the glasses (of course, I have a water softener, but even with the water softener, Cascade and Electrosol both permently clouded my glasses - now no troubles so far) I also never heat dry as I find opening the washer after it is done causes most of the wetness to quickly evaporate. (just watch out for the initial steam - yow!) |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 265
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 11:44 am: |
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Water softeners, filters, special detergents, etc only mask the fact that the water quality here has deteriorated significantly and currently quality is completely unacceptable.
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wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 266
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 11:49 am: |
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Water softeners, filters, special detergents, etc only mask the fact that the water quality here has deteriorated significantly and currently quality is completely unacceptable.
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Madden 11
Citizen
Username: Madden_11
Post Number: 657
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 11:58 am: |
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We had the same problem, and have been using Glass Magic in the dishwasher. Can't recommend it highly enough. King's has it. |
Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 82
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 12:32 pm: |
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WNB - complain away, the reality is here and not likely to change any time soon. Just trying to help a bit by offering suggestions to lesson your torment...
PS. If you're willing to endure another suggestion, I have installed a water filtering faucet on my kitchen sink for cooking/coffee (Moen makes a good one) and use a bottled dispenser (from BJ's where I buy 6 gal. bottles of water) for drinking. It's the most economical way of drinking bottled water. I figure/hope the water we drink from the bathroom taps at night won't kill us. |
Pizzaz
Supporter
Username: Pizzaz
Post Number: 2216
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 8:03 pm: |
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My tap water doesn't taste bad, but I was over a friend's house this past weekend in South Orange and decided to have a glass of tap water with ice. The water out of the tap was disgusting in taste! This issue needs to be addressed by the water utility which delivers a product to our homes. It makes no sense for us to each provide for filtration systems to safeguard our use. If they can't address the problem, the village needs to get rid of the service. |
wnb
Citizen
Username: Wnb
Post Number: 267
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 9:35 pm: |
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Pdg, why not? We're just supposed to live with this? It's literally destroying our fixtures and virtually anything that comes in regular contact with water. It has gotten tremendously worse in a rather short period of time, why should I not expect it could get tremendously better if enough people actually care enough to do something about it?
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Pdg
Citizen
Username: Pdg
Post Number: 87
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - 10:02 pm: |
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Be my guest and complain away - I wouldn't try to stop it.
But, in the meanwhile, if you want relief now from the current situation, see the suggestions above. Just trying to help out in the short term.
And bless you if you get the water quality changed for the better, though I'll be shocked and amazed if you are able to. |
Spanky
Citizen
Username: Spanky
Post Number: 91
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 11:57 pm: |
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Thanks for all the tips. I agree wtih you wnb, why should we all have to live with this-especially since it seems only a portion of South Orange even has the problem. It really is awful. I try to buy bottled water, but on the off chance I take a sip from the tap my mouth is engulfed in a wave of metallic disgust. I appreciate the calls to the town. It can't hurt! |
Howard Levison
Citizen
Username: Levisonh
Post Number: 357
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 11:01 am: |
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I would suggest that you send or call Eric DeVaris. He chairs DPW and is responsive - he posted the following on another thread:
"Anyone wishing to contact me can do so: eric@ericdevaris.com or 973.378.8531"
We have in the past discussed with the administration East Orange Water Commission issues/problems but have been told that they are under negotiations so they cannot make comment.
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hariseldon
Citizen
Username: Hariseldon
Post Number: 392
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 - 12:11 am: |
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Not only does the water taste bad and leave spots, it is ruining expensive applicances. Several faucets are crudded up and can not be cleaned up. I had to replace a dishwaher not long ago because the impeller and all the internal parts had deposits on them.
SO always had hard water, but since East Orange is the supplier things are noticeably worse.
It's time to go back to town ownership of the water company. |
doulamomma
Citizen
Username: Doulamomma
Post Number: 539
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 - 8:49 am: |
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hariseldon,
do you have a water softener? I'm meeting with the Culligan man today...really hoping to head off what you describe - that's terrible. |
Daniel M. Jacobs, PP, AICP
Supporter
Username: Conrail
Post Number: 58
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 - 9:12 am: |
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I really don't know the details, but here is the story I was told about the water supply. The village used to own and operate its own water supply. The water came from a well-field located near the current "recycling center." In the mid-1960's, the village's master plan projected that with "current" growth in population and consumption, the village water supply would be insufficient within 20 years and the village would need to link up with one of the regional suppliers. As is all to common, the village did nothing (it is easier). Then disaster struck. In the 1970's, the village discovered that gasoline had leaked from the two gas stations on SO Avenue into the well-field, permanently polluting it. Only the well in Grove Park remained clean (i.e. usable). The village quickly negotiated a deal to link the northern part of the village to the EO Water District and the southern part of the village to North American Water, with the remaining well-field supplementing regional supplies. The contract prices for water are reportedly very good as compared to what could be obtained today under simuilar circumstances (though I wouldn't know). Of course, like so much MOL stuff, this is mostly legend, except for the part about the Village Master Plan, which I saw myself in print in the library. . . |
gotcha
Citizen
Username: Gotcha
Post Number: 67
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 - 9:35 am: |
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Doula, once you reach a "certain age" you really can't use a water softener cause it puts too much salt in the water. Not good at all for high blood pressure. |
mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 753
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 - 9:59 am: |
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If you use the softened for everything except drinking and cooking, it saves the appliances (dishwasher, washing machine, faucets) but doesn't get into your diet. To avoid dealing with bottled water, I believe my in-laws had their softener hooked up to hot water lines only.
In addition to sparing the appliances, soft water is so much easier to clean up from counters, etc., plus less spotting of dishes and silverware. |
doulamomma
Citizen
Username: Doulamomma
Post Number: 541
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 8:52 am: |
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Thanks for the info, gotcha & mjc...hadn't thought about that...I wonder how the washing machine handles cold water washes & whether a refigerator water line for filtered water & ice could be hooked up seperately so as not to get salty.
I'm going to check to see if any other places do softeners...Culligan seems expensive - $1600+ |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 1413
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 1:08 pm: |
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doula, go to sears or home depot. They have decent water softeners, and should be under $1000 installed. We got one for around $600, plus $150 to install it. |
doulamomma
Citizen
Username: Doulamomma
Post Number: 543
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 1:39 pm: |
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cool - much better price - thanks Rastro |
hariseldon
Citizen
Username: Hariseldon
Post Number: 397
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 4:36 pm: |
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Water softeners have the sodium issue, but also the mess and expense of periodically replacing the filter material. If you water your lawn, you might want to bypass that water supply around the softener, so you have plumbing expense and a complex system.
All of the water-using devices in your house are subject to expensive degradation because of excess mineral buildup: boilers, water heaters, pipes themselves, faucets, dishwashers, and so on. So the tacky water is not only unfit to drink but it has surreptitious costs due to premature damage to appliances. A somewhat higher price for the water itself would be preferable. |
doulamomma
Citizen
Username: Doulamomma
Post Number: 544
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 7:08 pm: |
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huh? So the softened water damages appliances/pipes too? Oh man - should I regret leaving maplewood for SO?
Also, does hard (or softened) water mean bad hair days forever? i recall visiting the north fork of Long Island & found the water weird & my hair feeling gross & looking unusually bad...hope this isn't the case at my new home...not that I think anyone's hair in SO looks bad! |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 1415
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, August 13, 2005 - 10:35 pm: |
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doula,
I believe Hari was talking about hard water, not soft. Soft water does not damage appliances, hard water does. Hard water is "hard" because of dissolved minerals in it. The minerals get deposited within the appliances, usually and junctions (such as where a hose attaches, or a fitting hooks in), and they gunk up the water flow.
A water softener removes those minerals (I believe mostly calcium), but it uses sodium to do it, so soft water has a higher concentration of sodium in it. not enough to make the water taste of sodium, but enough that it you have blood pressure issues, you should talk to your doctor first (or so I'm told).
Personally, I never found that replacing the softening "salts" was difficult or messy. And at <$5 for 40 pounds, it's not that expensive over time. Certainly less expensive than replacing a dishwasher, washing machine, or refrigerator water line.
But I do agree with Hari that this should be handled at the source. if East Orange water doesn't want to fix the problem, the town should find another source. |
JMK
Citizen
Username: Jmk
Post Number: 1
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, August 21, 2005 - 8:05 pm: |
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Hi,
Thoughts re solutions:
-We used a product called Dishwasher Magic TWICE and completely cleaned our dishwasher.
-Since then, we've used the 3-in-1 Electrosol/Jet Dry combo, and that seems to get rid of the cloudiness.
Best of luck. |
runon
Citizen
Username: Runon
Post Number: 109
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 22, 2005 - 7:10 am: |
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For residue left on glasses in the dishwasher, we have success with Lemishine (lemishine.come), used about 1/2 and 1/2 with regular dishwasher detergent. |
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