Source:
Although acidic water (pH less than 7) can occur naturally in some parts of the country, acidic waters usually attain their acidity from the seepage of acid mine waters, or acidic industrial wastes. Acid mine waters are frequently too low in pH to provide suitable drinking water even after neutralization and treatment.
Acidic water can compound the difficulty in treating other contaminants with common removal methods such as oxidation, as the lower pH helps keep these contaminants in solution longer.
Treatment:
Acidic water can be corrected by injecting soda ash or caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) into the water supply to raise the pH. Utilization of these two chemicals slightly increases the alkalinity in direct proportion to the amount used. Acidic water can also be neutralized up to a point by running it through calcite, corosex, or a combination of the two.
Calcite and corosex both neutralize by dissolving, adding hardness to the water as neutralization takes place. Therefore, they both need to be replenished on a periodic basis.
In order to work effectively, calcite must be used on water with an initial hardness less than 10 GPG.
We commonly recommend our Calcite Filters to raise the pH on water before running it through an AIO filter in order to increase it's effectiveness.
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