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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1979)
THE BATTALION MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1979 page r jpoor watering habits can kill plants; ater’s sodium may help kill folks By DOUG GRAHAM Battalion Staff E an-College Station water may h a plant or human’s thirst, but ng it may have grave long-term (let s, says a Texas A&M University Hessor. Jr. Harold Wolf, an Mpronmental engineer, has been published in various journals, ad- locating a look at the effects of high indium content in water supplies. illiL reason is that a high sodium content in water may hurt individu- thoroughly and less often. “You’ve got to water the plant real well, and supply good drainage. Maybe even fill the pot two or three times to leach it out. The problem is that they (plant owners) don’t water their plants enough. They keep the top wet, but it never soaks all the way through.” He said that the thorough water ing will not be too much for the plants as long as sufficient drainage is supplied. If the owner does not leach the the same average American. He found that many soft drinks, diet drinks especially, contain a lot of sodium. He cited EPA reports that from 21 to 27 million Americans need to be concerned with sodium intake. Wolf also suggests that high sodium content in water may con tribute to hypertension because con stant salt intake impairs the ability to taste it. High sodium content in drinking water can lead to the unwit ting overconsumption of salt, he Pen)': a “tin ocess. have! have Hvith hypertension, he said. It can also hurt plants. But the problem is not clear-cut, and there is debate on the eriousness of the local water’s :hro i|igli sodium content. tfie issue is not about basic water purity; area water supplies are cer- ical sp rtifikl by the Texas Department of Health Resources. That means they are free of toxic substances, undue ampunts of bacteria, or any diseases. The problem is that the water con tains dissolved salt — specifically, deten lodmrn ions — and people disagree over sodium’s effect on human health. : The debate is an important one. If tha local water is indeed unhealthy, sts more than the 63 cents a [usand gallons charged by Bryan, idden damage could make the al cost of local water higher. Be- iseofthis, the effect of B-CS water onlmachines, plants, and humans at " should be examined. ■y wont jyf a n these, the water’s effect on rvisofi 'machines is generally agreed upon. ! 1 Since area water is considered soft (water containing high amounts of huso? pfjiagnesium and calcium are consid- s or h hard) less soap is needed in Wshing, and water softeners are un- ava® ihecessary in homes. Dr. Jack Runk- he> le^, director of the Texas Water Re- h u " iources Institute at Texas A&M, said d J'l there is no problem of excessive cor rosion in the area. ■The one problem is that after the water dries, it leaves a white film. BBut with plants the problem is dif- fejent. Many students complain that K local water kills their plants. To vent that, they collect rainwater ■buy bottled water in local stores. jNealy Maddox, certified nurse- and owner of Bob’s Green umb Nursery, said salt build-up s plants. As water evaporates, it ves a residue of salt behind until e plant is finally killed. She said t many area plants die because of But it isn’t the water that kills mts, she says, but “not knowing iat to do. We use city water to water our n plants,” she said. “Certain ings are sensitive to the salt, or the lorine or fluorine.” She named certain varieties of [rns that do not do well in the area cause of their sensitivity, but em- asized that watering plants prop- ly solves the problem. “People ve poor watering habits. Here you ed very correct habits.” The correct way to water plants pends on leaching the soil of salt, [ichard Bienski, owner of B&R reenhouse, agreed. He said in- ad of watering a little bit each day, leople should water more dbeil I soil, then the salt residue will even tually kill the plant, he said. Bienski said gypsum can also be added to balance the soil ph. Maddox said care must be taken in selecting good fertilizers that won’t contribute salts to the soil. “On plants in pots without drain age, you might need distilled water, too,” she said. Though the effect of water on plants can be determined with some experimentation, what drinking B-CS water does to humans is less clear. Wolf, at Texas A&M, said the sodium concentration in the local water is too high to be healthy. Ex cess sodium intake increases the pos sibility of heart attacks, he said. He cited evidence gathered dur ing a drought in which Dallas im ported highly mineralized water while Fort Worth did not. The find ings were interesting: during the period of water importation, heart and circulatory system-caused deaths increased much more quickly in Dallas than it did in Fort Worth. Also significant was that after the importing of water ceased, Dallas’s death rate dropped. Wolf also analyzed per capita con sumption of liquids by Americans. He found that 128.3 gallons milk, soft drinks, beer, and other drinks were consumed each year. Only 56 gallons of water were consumed by said. Sodium harms the body because it contributes to high blood pressure, said Dr. Elvin Smith, head of the department of physiology in Texas A&M’s College of Medicine. He said sodium gets in the blood, and will retain excess moisture through os motic pressure. The increase of fluid volume drives up blood pressure, which leads to heart strain and loss of coronary efficiency. After that can come heart attacks and death. But Smith is not sure B-CS water is harmful. “My opinion is that the normally functioning kidney of a healthy person will keep sodium levels the same as anyone anywhere. “However, we don’t know what the long term effects of high level ingestion of sodium are. ” He did say that the water is bad for those whose kidneys are not functioning properly. “It is almost impossible to put a hypertensive pa tient on a low sodium diet in B-CS because the water contains more than the allowable amount in a rigid diet.’’ Texas Department of Health Re sources said the most recent figures for Bryan’s water supply give 183 milligrams per liter of sodium and 47 milligrams of chlorine. Dallas’ present water supply, by comparison, has a content of II to 25 milligrams per liter, Wolf said. This high level of sodium seems to have contributed to solid sales of dis tilled and other types of bottled water in local stores. The biggest supplier in the area is Oasis Water Company, which operates out of Waco. A company spokesman said the company sells four different lines: distilled, baby formula (which is dis tilled no differently), drinking, and spring water. The spring water is shipped from Hot Springs, Ark. She said the distilled water has 0.5 milligrams per liter, while the drink ing water has 9.7 milligrams. Skaggs Albertsons alone sold 1,200 gallons of distilled water last month, said E.J. Baca, assistant gro cery manager. He said 150 gallons of drinking, 24 gallons of baby formula, and 48 gallons of spring water were also sold. An employee of Brenham Wholesale Grocery Company Inc., one of the larger area suppliers of small stores, says it has supplied 900 gallons of distilled and 450 gallons of drinking water last month. That comes to a total of more than 2,700 gallons of bottled water sold, excluding major stores like Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, and Kroger, all of which also sell distilled water. The water is sold both for drinking and for house plants. The total cost of the water is high: about 55 cents a gallon. But bottled water’s price isn’t pro hibitive. According to Runkles, only two quarts out of an approximate 165 gallons of water used each day end up in stomachs. For those to whom price is no ob ject, there is the continental Per rier’s, water sophisticatedly priced at $4.06 per gallon. But for those who aren’t con cerned, Smith said there seems to be no problem as long as their kidneys operate properly. But he did caution: “What I don’t know is if drinking this water all your life can cause a decrease in kidney efficiency. “I certainly think we need some study on this.” JflHIEAlP CILAJlJf FOR A CLASSY CUT. CALL VERONICA I 846-4771 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Don't miss this week's special! bring this ad to the Court Yard Emporium for: 1 FREE PEPSI with the purchase of "The World's Most Original" Po-Boy Gburtl&d Offer good Tues., Wed. & Thurs. 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