Dossier Limestone

Classical Solution:
Ion exchange system based on salt (Water Softeners):
➔ Health & legal problems

Sustainable alternative: ➔ Treatment of Limescale purely physically with
Mam Nature^®
Water Treatment

1. Summary

   ➔ PDF Download

   Limescale is found in high concentrations in drinking water in many regions. As it appears in the structure of « Calcite », it forms deposits hard as stone, which leads up to complete usage disfunctions of household appliances sensitive to Limescale (washing machine, coffeemaker, iron etc.), water pipes of the sanitary installations etc. Since 1970, « Water Softeners » (Ion exchangers on base of salt), which allow to reduce the lime content down to O⁰ fH, became more and more popular. This however at a high price - paid by following disadvantages:
   • Drinking Water:
     Sodium, chemical substances (of the ion exchange resin) & Bacteria ¹⁾  get into a Drinking Water which has arrived at the water meter in an irreproachable state.
     With this significant health impairment of drinking water consumer
   • In buildings with Water Softeners, owners, plumbers, house building companies / architects and the producer of Water Softeners are legally ²⁾ responsible for the fact that the Drinking Water delivered to the water meter from water supply companies in at least bacteriologically impeccable quality arrives in the same impeccable quality (!) until the final consumer water taps in the apartments of the corresponding building – which is exactly in question regarding the constructive weakness of Water Softeners provoking bacterial charge ¹⁾ into drinking water !
   • Canalisation Water:
           - Salt (for regeneration of the resin): è Salinization of our drinking water
           - Calciumchloride (even harder than Limescale):
             ➔ Deposit problem (long term) in canalisations
   • Maintenance & costs: EUR 500.- p.a. (for a 1-family house)

   The above-mentioned problems require sustainable solutions, which are entirely covered with the purely physical limescale treatment of the Mam Nature ^® Water Treatment Technology.
     ¹⁾ Study of « Cantonal Laboratory Thurgau » (Switzerland)

     ²⁾ SVGW-SSIGE (Swiss Association for Gas & Water):
         Technical notice Water Softeners - Ion exchangers 2015

2. GIE vs. Water Softener:         Short Comparison
   ➔ PDF Download
   
3. GIE vs. Water Softener:         Detailed Comparison
   ➔ PDF Download
   
4. « Cantonal Laboratory Thurgau » (Switzerland)   
   Study « Bad Water by Water Softeners »
   ➔ PDF Download
   
5. Newspaper « St.Galler Tagblatt »: Article « Limescale out – germs in »
   ➔ PDF Download
   
6. SGWA (Swiss Gas and Water Industry Association): Technical notice Water Softeners - Ion exchangers 2015 (only available in official Swiss Languages: German, French and Italian):
   ➔ PDF Download
   Chapter 15:    Responsibilities:
   « The provider of a Water Softener is responsible for the perfect quality of the product. This can be the manufacturer, importer, seller or to the installation company. »
   « The house owner or his agent is responsible for the proper functioning of the device. He is required to conduct a self-check, which means that he must ensure that the Swiss food law requirements are met. »

• This means in the case of rental buildings, the property owner is legally responsible for the fact that the Drinking Water delivered from the corresponding water supply company in impeccable quality to the water meter remains in the same impeccable quality according to the « Directive of EDI on drinking water, spring water and mineral water » until the final consumer water taps.
• Guarantee this is difficult in the case of Water Softeners facing the following problem: sodium issues, increased corrosion of the (galvanized) pipework & most important - the proliferation of germs.
  
• Therefore, authorities like « Cantonal Laboratory Thurgau » (Switzerland) strongly recommend to renounce to Water Softeners and to use instead purely physical systems
  – like the Mam Nature^® Water Treatment System.