city water for birds

[ilovegccs]

Im moving into an apartment in the city soon. Should the tap water straight from the sink be safe?

 

[henpecked]

I don't use it straight from the tap. I let it sit in open container for 24 hrs to let the chlorine evaporate.I assume your talking about drinking water for the bird.

 

[ilovegccs]

yeah this is for drinking water. I know we have a PuR water filter like this one 18 Cup Water Filter Dispenser | PUR . So is chlorine in the water the only problem with water straight from the tap? What if I don't let it sit for the chlorine to evaporate? This is for chicago's tap water.

 

[ilovegccs]

Chlorine | PUR . this is what they apparently say what their filters do with chlorine. would it be safe for birds?

 

[davisn456]

Considering that most bottled water is just tap water that's been filtered, there's really not much other choice unless you have access to a good quality well. I've given my birds filtered water as long as I've lived in town, and never had a problem with it.

 

[henpecked]

You can do as you wish. You asked so i advised against giving them chlorinated water. When i had 'city water" i'd keep a pitcher on the counter, not much trouble. No bottled water doesn't contain chlorine. Do you know what chlorine is and why they use it? It's a poison, yes it's only in small doses, but it is what it is. it kills bacteria in the water, and your bird's gut.If you kill off the good bacteria then the "bad" bacteria will take over. If you want to spend the extra money to MAINTAIN a filter system you trust, have at it. My outside aviary birds are on automatic watering system with a RO filter. The inside birds are on well water with an RO system.

 

[MikeyTN]

I just use water purifier for that purpose or get a RO system installed under your sink. That's what I did, it's not that complicated nor expensive and you can dismantle to remove to take with you when your moving.

 

[JDlugosz]

When I installed an under-sink RO filter, I was concerned about chlorine since it will destroy the expensive membrane that is the heart of the mechanism.

However, chlorine testers are not available in low-end petstore tests, so I ended up buying a professional HACH test kit (Model CN-70). I tested the feed from the prefilter to the RO itself to ensure it was chlorine free. I also tested the tap water directly to see what I was starting with: it was surprisingly low.

Anyway, I have lots of reagent left, as I only use it on rare occasion. I'd be happy to run a test for anyone here for my own cost, 75 cents, if you send a water sample.

 

[Pajarita]

Get a Zero water filter. It's the best of the small commercial ones.

 

[JDlugosz]

Get a Zero water filter. It's the best of the small commercial ones.

The website showed "pitcher" type filters. If they have small commercial units, I couldn't find them from the name "Zerowater".

I read through the web page and they never explain the "ion exchange" stuff. What exactly is that? I searched for more information on how it works, and found this: ZeroWater - Much Ado About Nothing - A Marketing Ploy - Zero Water

Of relevance to this thread, a commenter here points out that removing all the minerals from water is not in fact good for drinking. Birds don't have teeth, so maybe acidic water is not as much of a problem?

I've not found any specifics, but the "ion exchange" thing sounds like a normal water softener. However, they say “…exchanged with water ions, like hydrogen.” That sounds like it is explained by this summary from Wikipedia:

Deionized water, also known as demineralized water / DM water[2] (DI water, DIW or de-ionized water), is water that has had its mineral ions removed, such as cations like sodium, calcium, iron, and copper, and anions such as chloride and sulfate. Deionization is a chemical process that uses specially manufactured ion-exchange resins which exchange hydrogen ion and hydroxide ion for dissolved minerals, which then recombine to form water. Because the majority of water impurities are dissolved salts, deionization produces a high purity water that is generally similar to distilled water, and this process is quick and without scale buildup. However, deionization does not significantly remove uncharged organic molecules, viruses or bacteria, except by incidental trapping in the resin.

That does match what they claim and backpedal on in their FAQ.

Note in particular their statements waffling about chloramine, “We have done internal lab testing that shows our filters can reduce chloramine. However, the presence of chloramine can reduce the expected life of the filter, so if you have chloramine in your water, you may need to change your filter more often than normal.”

Note that chloramine has become the normal "chlorine" found in tapwater. So, since the idea of the thread was to remove chlorine in particular, this might not be the best choice. It will "reduce" it, and burn up the filter faster than normal.

Basically, they don't have enough contact time with the carbon to catalyze the breakdown of much chlorimine, and what is then destroys the ion-exchange chemicals.