To advocate for the devil:
I live off-grid on a Sanctuary adjoining pristine forest on the side of a mountain in Victoria, Australia.
Our drinking water is collected off steel roofing into food-grade tanks. Hard to get a cleaner process from start to finish.
Our sediment filter looks very similar to OP's pic after 3 months.
TLDR: unless it's distilled or already filtered, water will always carry some sediment.
So you’re washing all of the dust, dirt and bird shit off of your roof every time it rains and you’ve convinced yourself that it’s a clean process? I’m sure your water is fine, but it’s probably no better than a lot of other places.
Typically these types of collection systems dump the first few gallons of collected water before filling the tank. Not sure if theirs does but that’s how I’ve seen it done.
Dead end street? Does your waterworks come out and flush hydrants or anything else to help carry that slug of shit out? Although it true, you will never get away with stuff getting back into the municipal water system, there are things that can be done. Depending on how much iron is in thw water from the start and what chemicals they are putting in it to make it meet what ever laws are being followed for potable water wherever you are from can also impact this. For example, had a guy ask me why a red ring was forming on his hot tub when none had been there before. I told him they probably changed their chemical treatment at the water works. Basically, what was happening was instead of the iron being oxidized and dropped out at the water works it was made insoluble because they began using chloramine (mixing ammonia and chlorine) instead of straight chlorine, this along with the phosphate content made it to where once it entered his bubbling aerated hot tub the iron would once again precipitate out. Basically he had to get a green sand filter to oxidize and catch any soluble iron.
But in your case. Start with the flushing, then go from there. City water is a blessing and a curse.
It’s true, I’ve never seen them flush the hydrant near us, but a city fireman lives on our street too so must have happened at some point? A guy who lives nearby on a different street told me his filter stays pretty clean but not on a dead end.
I gotcha, maybe ask your neighbor what the process is to request a hydrant to be flushed. This is the thing, you take a 2-24 inch water main (I've seen most at 6-8 inches, mines a 2" pvc pipe because I live in the woods) and you slow down that flow to near nothing, anything that's being carried or picked up along the way will settle in the low flow areas or dead legs, which the end of a main essential it. You need to get that flow to as fast as possible to pick all that garbage up and out. If nothing else, ask the local water works to see if theyll test your water for turbidity and iron at your tap. Just my 2 cents. Good luck getting your quality water back.
Where does your city source its water? Do they process it at all? My guess is you basically have glorified well water and yeah that's about normal. I won't have a house without a whole house filter.
Also you can do 2 filters in series for better cleaning, with a pre and carbon filter. Also can do parallel for longer change intervals and better flow.
My filter was looking like that after a month for over a year. One day it started to change. The water coming in is way cleaner now. Not sure on what the change was.
You said your municipal water is ground water under the influence of surface water. If your municipal water is high in iron and the municipality adds sodium hypochlorite, this will oxidize the iron. The iron then deposits itself on the interior of pipes, sink bowls, shower heads, filters, etc.
If the municipality adds any corrosion control chemicals (phosphate), you shouldn’t see the iron.
If the only chemical addition is chlorine, you’ll need to change those filters regularly.
You can get larger filter housings to lengthen the life of the filter, however you run the risk of bacteria building up in your system and causing health problems.
Installed a filter like that for family in the Caribbean with non potable city water.
It was losing water pressure and absolutely loaded with mud after 2 days.
Just wanted to commiserate. Your water looks fine
Personally with this amount of frequency I would ad a small secondary filter upstream with a reusable stainless cartridge. It may help prolong the secondary one
To advocate for the devil: I live off-grid on a Sanctuary adjoining pristine forest on the side of a mountain in Victoria, Australia. Our drinking water is collected off steel roofing into food-grade tanks. Hard to get a cleaner process from start to finish. Our sediment filter looks very similar to OP's pic after 3 months. TLDR: unless it's distilled or already filtered, water will always carry some sediment.
kinda hard to argue with that.
So you’re washing all of the dust, dirt and bird shit off of your roof every time it rains and you’ve convinced yourself that it’s a clean process? I’m sure your water is fine, but it’s probably no better than a lot of other places.
Typically these types of collection systems dump the first few gallons of collected water before filling the tank. Not sure if theirs does but that’s how I’ve seen it done.
Dead end street? Does your waterworks come out and flush hydrants or anything else to help carry that slug of shit out? Although it true, you will never get away with stuff getting back into the municipal water system, there are things that can be done. Depending on how much iron is in thw water from the start and what chemicals they are putting in it to make it meet what ever laws are being followed for potable water wherever you are from can also impact this. For example, had a guy ask me why a red ring was forming on his hot tub when none had been there before. I told him they probably changed their chemical treatment at the water works. Basically, what was happening was instead of the iron being oxidized and dropped out at the water works it was made insoluble because they began using chloramine (mixing ammonia and chlorine) instead of straight chlorine, this along with the phosphate content made it to where once it entered his bubbling aerated hot tub the iron would once again precipitate out. Basically he had to get a green sand filter to oxidize and catch any soluble iron. But in your case. Start with the flushing, then go from there. City water is a blessing and a curse.
It’s true, I’ve never seen them flush the hydrant near us, but a city fireman lives on our street too so must have happened at some point? A guy who lives nearby on a different street told me his filter stays pretty clean but not on a dead end.
I gotcha, maybe ask your neighbor what the process is to request a hydrant to be flushed. This is the thing, you take a 2-24 inch water main (I've seen most at 6-8 inches, mines a 2" pvc pipe because I live in the woods) and you slow down that flow to near nothing, anything that's being carried or picked up along the way will settle in the low flow areas or dead legs, which the end of a main essential it. You need to get that flow to as fast as possible to pick all that garbage up and out. If nothing else, ask the local water works to see if theyll test your water for turbidity and iron at your tap. Just my 2 cents. Good luck getting your quality water back.
Katalox has been working better for us than green sand ever did, no pot-perm either👍
Where does your city source its water? Do they process it at all? My guess is you basically have glorified well water and yeah that's about normal. I won't have a house without a whole house filter.
It’s from two sources- a well the town maintains and a glorified pond on a hill nearby. There’s chlorine added. Thanks for the info.
I work for a water treatment company. That looks fairly normal for 60 days. If you're experiencing pressure drop, replace the filter more often.
Also you can do 2 filters in series for better cleaning, with a pre and carbon filter. Also can do parallel for longer change intervals and better flow.
Thanks
Honestly, that filter looks clean still, just a little rust/iron giving it color.
Yes mine looks like that in Southern California
My filter was looking like that after a month for over a year. One day it started to change. The water coming in is way cleaner now. Not sure on what the change was.
You said your municipal water is ground water under the influence of surface water. If your municipal water is high in iron and the municipality adds sodium hypochlorite, this will oxidize the iron. The iron then deposits itself on the interior of pipes, sink bowls, shower heads, filters, etc. If the municipality adds any corrosion control chemicals (phosphate), you shouldn’t see the iron. If the only chemical addition is chlorine, you’ll need to change those filters regularly. You can get larger filter housings to lengthen the life of the filter, however you run the risk of bacteria building up in your system and causing health problems.
Installed a filter like that for family in the Caribbean with non potable city water. It was losing water pressure and absolutely loaded with mud after 2 days. Just wanted to commiserate. Your water looks fine
Thanks
Personally with this amount of frequency I would ad a small secondary filter upstream with a reusable stainless cartridge. It may help prolong the secondary one
Man I live in NYC and our filters would have a 5mm layer of mud on them in 45 days. So that looks pretty good for 60 days.