FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

500 is the suggested upper limit for humans

It really depends what the solids in the water are. 500 is just the suggested limit.

Sp0nser wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:29 am does that mean its bad?

It depends on what the solids are, but one that high is bad for your plants. To find out what those are you'll need to get a water quality report from your water utility.
The reading a TDS meter gives you is a measure of conductivity. Pure water does not conduct electricity, so it has a reading of zero. Since most ions are a form of salt and/or metal, they are conductive, so the reading will increase as the concentration increases. The "harder" the water, the higher the reading. Even the addition of fluoride will increase the reading as it's actually sodium fluoride, sodium is a metal.
However, in general, without any unusual circumstances, the water coming out of your tap is fine for you.

At 457ppm you won't be seeing any adjustable wrenches or screwdrivers in your water but you may see a few nuts-and-bolts and maybe a screw or two.

Yes, I've seen 500ppm stated as the limit for human consumption but that is all it was...a "statement". The total dissolved solids give the water "taste". The taste maybe salty, metalic, organic, mineral, etc.,. Lots of people like "some" taste to their water rather than no taste. It's up to the person. As to the safety...it depends on what the dissolved solids are. How would you rate the taste of your water?

Side note: I was traveling through eastern Arkansas one day. I kept a 1/2 gallon jug of ice water in a cooler to sip on occasionally. The jug had ran dry and I pulled into a service station and filled the freshly iced-up jug up with water from an outdoor faucet. I turned that jar up and immediately my lips rolled outward much like a camel rolls its lips out when it's about to spit on you or bite you! It was some of the bitterest, terrible, most awful-tasting water that ever touched my lips. I poured it out and walked into the station and asked the clerk what was wrong with there water!!! His response was, "YOU DIDN'T DRINK THE WATER DID YOU!!!!!!??????" I ended up filling my jar up from the 5-gallon water jug dispenser they had inside. I mean, dude, they need a sign up warning people!!!!! That water's TDS must of been 1,000,000+ppm!!!! I think you could've used it to etch metal!

So your water is within the realm of safe drinking...I would think it's more of a personal taste issue at that level. My tap water is around 325ppm and is good tasting water...we live over a large limestone aquifer that our water comes from. Through a Pur pitcher filter it drops down to around 285'ish and barely drops when ran through the refrigerator filter. But, those filters (I've found) *are* filtering out metals and other dangerous toxins. And our water tastes good. Of course, our tap water isn't good for carnivorous plants so I try to save all the rainwater that I can. I just bought a 32-gallon garbage can for bulk storage and I also store rainwater in gallon milk jugs and old distilled water jugs. We have a dehumidifier which produces a fair amount of water, maybe a gallon or gallon and a half in a days time that I haven't used but would use if my other sources ran out. My last option is buying distilled water...which I did to start with and would do again in a heartbeat if it came down to it.

I understand about the TDS meter and wanting to test all the water sources around me. I've checked a couple of different places tap water and they all have tested in the same range of TDS as my tap water tests...like I said, we sit over a large limestone aquifer. I test each new batch of rainwater that I collect, too. I've found that it can vary a bit but is mostly down around 1 or 2ppm with the highest I've ever seen being around 12ppm (which i think was odd). I've got a few other places I'm going to test, too. Filling a couple of 5-gallon buckets full of water from a service station's faucet in a nearby town or a park somewhere isn't above me I start getting low on good water for the plants. I've just got to find that "source".

I had to chuckle when you added "(not me)". My nephew just spent a few days with us, he's from just outside of Washington DC. He said that people on the Virginia side of the Potomac River fish but it's catch and release fishing...they don't eat the fish (questionable food safety). He said, though, that the folks on the West Virginia side of the river act like they're tuna fishing with a battery of rods-n-reels set out...needless to say that can be fun but they're not exactly "sport fishing". Different folks are comfortable with different things....the West Virginian fishermen benefit greatly from eating the fish, though. When the West Virginians' neighbors' pit bulls make'em have to climb a tree...fourteen toenails digging into ash wood gives'em real good climbing traction!!!!

I got nothing against the fine folks of the grande state of West Virginia, just relaying the wisdom of a youth. After carefully surveying some maps, Virginia and West Virginia have very little of the Potomac River between them. Matter of fact, those are some crazy state lines!!! I think a drunk man riding a mule must have laid those state lines out! He might've been an ancestor of the lady that rides the mule and brings me my mail (when she feels like it).

I hear yah!!!! Mercury is no fun. At least with uranium you could do all kinds of parlor tricks at parties but it'd be hard to hide in the dark from your better half if she was after you!

It really is sad the state of our water and waterways. We're really blessed here to have good water beneath us. BUT...almost every creek, river, and large lake in the state has a fish consumption advisory associated with them. And almost 10 times out of 10 times it is for MERCURY. Either eat NONE of this species....large mouth bass and catfish, usually, or either limit it to one or two meals per month. Man, we use to eat a washpot full of catfish and the like. All the industrial and agricultural runoffs. But, we've got to eat and it takes a heck'uva effort to feed everybody. Speaking of mercury...I remember coming home with a ball of mercury from school...teacher gave it to me (maybe she really didn't like me?)....I brought it home...in my hand. Oh, btw, if you didn't know....don't eat big fish...eat the small ones, they're younger and haven't soaked up as much glowing goop. Dang, that 500ppm water is sounding like sparkling spring water compared to where we've taken a tangent to!!!!

Oh, sorry to confuse you. It was probably 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter, not large at all. Mercury is a metal that is liquid at regular temperatures but that forms a "ball" and rolls around really cool like in your hand. You can drop a ball of it on a surface and it will break into many smaller balls. Imagine a soft ball bearing.