Total Dissolved Solids – TDS
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) are the total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts or metals dissolved in a given volume of water, expressed in units of mg per unit volume of water (mg/L), also referred to as parts per million (ppm). TDS is directly related to the purity and quality of water and water purification systems and affects everything that consumes, lives in, or uses water, whether organic or inorganic.
1. “Dissolved solids” refer to any minerals, salts, metals, cations or anions dissolved in water. This includes anything present in water other than the pure water (H20) molecule and suspended solids. (Suspended solids are any particles/substances that are neither dissolved nor settled in the water, such as wood pulp.)
2. In general, the total dissolved solids concentration is the sum of the cations (positively charged) and anions (negatively charged) ions in the water.
3. Parts per Million (ppm) is the weight-to-weight ratio of any ion to water.
4. TDS is based on the electrical conductivity (EC) of water. Pure H20 has virtually zero conductivity. Conductivity is usually about 100 times the total cations or anions expressed as equivalents. TDS is calculated by converting the EC by a factor of 0.5 to 1.0 times the EC, depending upon the levels. Typically, the higher the level of EC, the higher the conversion factor to determine the TDS.
The EPA advise a maximum contamination level(MCL) of 500mg/liter (500 parts per million (ppm)) for TDS. Numerous water supplies exceed this level. When TDS levels exceed 1000mg/L it is generally considered unfit for human consumption. A high level of TDS is an indicator of potential concerns, and warrants further investigation. Most often, high levels of TDS are caused by the presence of potassium, chlorides and sodium. These ions have little or no short-term effects, but toxic ions (lead arsenic, cadmium, nitrate and others) may also be dissolved in the water.
YOU WANT WATER WITH A LOW TDS
‘Water – The Shocking Truth by Paul C. Bragg (N.D.Ph.D) and Patricia Bragg (N.D.Ph.D)
Page 138 ‘TDS and chronic disease’
“In his study, “Relationship of Water to the Risk of Dying”, Dr. Sauer chronicled the relationship of Total Dissolved Solids to heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases (Total Dissolved Solids or TDS is the term for all the elements present in any water supply). It had been thought for centuries that the European mineral waters so very high in TDS were beneficial to health. But Dr. Sauer’s study found that as TDS increases in a water supply, so does the number of chronic diseases in the population using that supply.
(Author’s note: “At our home in Desert Hot Springs, one of California’s renowned hot mineral water resorts, our water pipes had to be replaced after only a few years due to mineral build up in the pipes. What this inorganic mineral-laced water does to the plumbing on buildings it also does to human pipes!)