Michael Rosenthal

(7/2021) I’ve written more than once before about water-related topics, but there is always something new to discuss. Many references are made daily to "hard water". Hard water refers to the amount of magnesium and calcium dissolved in the water in question. A recent Washington Post article written by Helen Carefoot had an interesting and useful discussion of the problems caused by and the effects of hard water, and it prompted me to choose the topic of hard water this month.

First of all, magnesium and calcium are elements in the 2A column of the periodic table of the elements. Magnesium has 12 protons and 12 electrons while calcium has 20 protons and 20 electrons. Each has two valence electrons which leads to their compounds commonly dissolving in water as +2 cations. The good news is that hard water is not a health hazard, but large quantities of these elements in your water can be troublesome. These elements form compounds that can clog up water pipes, and leave sink and toilet stains that are an aesthetic drawback. Hard water can also lead to dishes that are unsightly due to limestone buildup.

The United States Geological Survey considers that water with 0 to 60 milligrams per liter of calcium carbonate as soft water, 61 to 120 milligrams as moderately hard water, and 121 to 180 milligrams as hard water. One of the most obvious effects of hard water is buildup of deposits in the pipes leading to lesser water flow. Water can be "softened" by removing the magnesium and calcium minerals and replacing them with sodium ions, which are chemical ions that are much more soluble. Hardness is more common in well water. My family lived once in a home supported with well water. I found that kind of scary, because you never knew what might seep into your well.

An alternative solution, albeit expensive, is to buy bottled water for drinking and cooking. The whole-home systems are what are called ion exchange systems that replace the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium. The sodium is not present in large enough quantity to make the water taste salty. Filters will remove insoluble minerals from the water, but the water remains hard because calcium and magnesium are quite soluble. There is one positive thing about water that is a little hard. It has more taste. The goal is to find a balance that allows for taste but does not build up in and damage the water system. Hard water can also cause stains in sinks and toilet bowls, which is an eyesore. Distilled white vinegar will dissolve these stains without doing damage. There are commercial products one can purchase that will accomplish this.

If you are interested in learning more about local water quality, specifically the water at Mt. St. Mary’s University, look at the excellent 2020 Mt. St. Mary’s University Treated Water Quality Report in the June 2021 issue of this newspaper.

The report was prepared by Maryland Environmental Service, an agency of the State of Maryland who operates the treatment facility.

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I wrote previously about the potential development of power generation by offshore wind turbines on the east coast. Construction of such energy sources is harder on the west coast because of deeper coastal waters and the use of these waters by the U.S. military for training and maneuvers. However, under our new federal administration, plans are now developing for such areas in the Pacific. One area is a 3999 square mile patch of the Pacific Ocean northwest of Morro Bay on the California Central Coast.

The second area of attention is what is known as the Humboldt Call Area in Northern California near the Oregon border. Together these areas can potentially produce 4.6 gigawatts of electricity, together powering 1.6 million homes. These projects have been in mind locally for many years, but the Trump Administration did not move the projects forward. Proponents say that this project would have no significant negative impact, but would produce "clean, green energy benefitting diverse communities all up and down the state of California."

Unlike the planned East Coast turbines that will be affixed to the seafloor, the deeper waters would best support floating turbines. The first of this kind began producing energy off the coast of Scotland in 2017. Cooperation from the military is now forthcoming, as they recognize the need for energy production that takes the climate crisis into account. Initially the military was concerned that these structures would interfere with military needs.

There are now two pilot offshore wind farms operating, one in Rhode Island, and one in Virginia, about which we previously wrote. Offshore wind farms require facing a lot of issues that, I believe, are resolvable, and that construction of these farms represents a major step in our conversion to the production of clean energy.

A lot of controversy has risen over facial recognition, about which we wrote in this column recently. The Washington Post in a recent editorial urges us to develop rules now that would make it efficient and effective. I fully agree. The Post urges that a moratorium should be imposed on facial recognition until guardrails can be developed that would prevent abuse by error. The editorial points out that errors are easily made without very careful use. The Post is a believer in the potential of the technology, but it proposed that the technology should be regulated, and worries that without proper refinement, the wrong people will be sought by errors in identification.

Cicada season is here, and many articles have been written about them. At my house, I have seen very few cicadas, mostly dead on the sidewalks. Willie the Poodle sniffs them but hasn’t tried to eat any. I hear them in the woods next to the house, but I really haven’t seen as many as I remember in the Hudson Valley of New York when we lived there on the Bard College campus.

Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places.

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