Dear Editor:
You do the water treatment industry a real disservice when you publish articles such as “Making the Case for Distillation” by Dr. Brian J. Carpenter which appeared in your November issue. The article is poorly written, cites questionable references, makes preposterous claims about human health and the environment and contains such doozies as the following:
“We do not need to accept the effects of this insidious chronic toxification if we detoxify.”
This article is just the kind of thing that gives the industry a bad name and it goes against all the steps the water treatment industry claims it’s taking to improve its image problem.
Your journal normally provides articles that are instructive and worth taking the time spent reading. If I wanted to hear about insidious chronic toxification, I’d read the Greenpeace Journal.
Peter J. Lusardi, P.E.
Author’s Response: After receiving only compliments for the article, it’s appropriate to receive criticism as well. However, the attitude displayed in this “Letter to the Editor” only reemphasizes the need for this type of article.
One gets the impression from comments like “… the water treatment industry claims it’s taking steps to improve the image problem” that there is cynicism and attitude more in line with the problem than the solution. The references obviously included general information (rather than scientific journals) such as the Southam Environmental Project, “the result of more than six months of intensive work by a team of science writers and editors from the Southam newspapers.” I personally found this large project to be the best piece of unbiased, objective journalism available on this important and relevant issue.
With regard to claims about health and toxification / detoxification, it’s hard to believe someone would consider these are “claims”! These are not “claims” not “fringe element” theories, but rather basic biology. Toxification /detoxification’s effect on health, and specifically water’s role, is very important to all water industry professionals. For those interested in more information on this subject, “Choose to Live” by Dr. Joseph Weissman is a well-referenced, easy-to-read book available now in most book stores.
Consumers are realizing that they are responsible for their own health, it is their choice and there is no free lunch. Central water treatment plants provide general purpose safe water very economically which all taxpayers should appreciate. POU drinking water purification technologies now have the respect warranted after it was rightfully earned.
Rather than allowing the “status quo” types to impugn the objectivity of consumers searching for better quality water, the water treatment industry is not just “claiming” to improve its image but has truly made great strides in the last few years. Obviously, to suggest that Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine shouldn’t allow articles with comments about the environment and its effect on health is ridiculous.
-Dr. Brian J. Carpenter
Mr. David Martin
Associate Editor, WC&P
Dear Mr. Martin:
I read with interest your article in the November issue titled, “Clean Water At What Price?” I take issue with several points of your article.
Water Technologies Corporation (WTC) considers itself a professional in the water purification industry. Our technology, PentaPureTM resin, is used by NASA on all Space Shuttle flights and is being geared for the Space Station.
We produce systems as small as the pencil-sized “Straw” (4 oz. per minute), now being used in Saudi Arabia, to a four-stage system (4,000 gallons per hour) being installed in a bottling plant in Beijing, China. In between are a variety of systems for home and industrial uses.
I disagree that consumers who purchase a Puri-JugTM, intended for travel and camping, remove themselves from the market. The Puri-Jug is not a device we promote for home use. It is designed to allow the consumer to feel secure drinking water away from home, anywhere they are unsure of the quality of the water.
It is not fair, in my judgment, to compare systems which provide potable water away from home (from an unknown water source) to those designed for in-home use.
I think one of the biggest hurdles we have to overcome is the lack of consumer knowledge regarding the difference between “purifying” and “filtering” water.
Worldwide, the major concern is to make water microbiologically safe to drink.
For your information, I am enclosing material regarding WTC, our product line and the revolutionary PentaPure technology.
Your comments are welcome.
Sheldon A. Vermes, Chairman, CEO
Water Technologies Corp.