YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED ABOUT SUE'S CLEAR WATER

Your body is about 50–80% water. When you're in need of water, you'll probably get a headache, lose concentration more easily and your mood might also take a turn for the worse.

Without water, your balance of essential minerals would be shot and, with a gastrointestinal tract devoid of moisture, good luck digesting and processing your food or eliminating waste. You can also forget about your ability to regulate temperature when you get hot.

The rule of thumb for your daily water intake is 35 millilitres of fluid per kilogram of bodyweight. So, for a 70kg person in everyday circumstances, 2.45 litres would be about right. That same amount could be lost in a single hour by someone exercising in extreme heat. You can lose between 1 and 3 per cent of your body's water quite easily.

Streams, rivers and lakes, are obvious sources. This surface water is purified before it becomes drinking water. Our water can also be pumped from underground. Under sand dunes is a great source because the water is naturally purified as it passes through the sand, and this is much cheaper than purifying surface water. However, two-thirds of all people are served by systems that use surface water, despite the higher expense.

Problems can arise from simply drinking untreated water. For instance, coliform bacteria is often found in water. When these micro-organisms are found in drinking water, the likely cause is barnyard run-off. Drinking water should be free from coliform.

Other microbial contaminants found in surface water include yeasts and viruses, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium, well-known causes of gastrointestinal illness.

Nitrates in drinking water can cause cyanosis, inadequate oxygenation of the blood.

Lead, a toxic substance, can enter the water supply as it leaches from pipes.

Legionella, a bacterium sometimes found in surface freshwater and in water pipes, is another pathogen that needs to be guarded against.

Sue's Clear Water has none of the above problems. Our water is, as our licensing suggests, food grade drinking quality.

Making water suitable for drinking is a lot like treating wastewater. Purification plants must meet government standards. Water is usually filtered through sand first, sometimes through activated charcoal, before being disinfected. Bacteria can be used and chemicals can be added to disinfect and remove contaminants in the water. The number of purification steps needed depends on the quality of the source water.

Sure enough, consumers are being ripped off—not only in regard to the price of bottled water but, in some cases, they are drinking water that is, at best, no better than plain tap water. You could buy water from members of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). Its member suppliers provide bottled water that meets IBWA testing requirements. Alternatively, you can spare yourself the bother and have your water tested or simply, call Sue's Clear Water.

Fluoride is added to the town water supply all over Australia. Studies back its effectiveness in fighting tooth decay, however, in this study, IQ is negatively correlated with fluoride concentration level in drinking water. It is essential to ensure fluoride concentration in a community's water supply remains below the permissible level of 1.5 mg/L.

12,000 litres. If you're ordering water for your swimming pool, you'll need to know its capacity. A rectangular pool—9m x 4.4m x 1.2m—contains 48,000 litres or 4 truckloads of water. A circular pool—7.7m x 1.2m—contains 45,000 litres, again almost 4 truckloads worth of water. Give us a call to order water or if you need help with the calculations.

The water supplied by Sue's Clear Water meets the requirements of the Food Act 2006 (the Act) and is safe and suitable for human consumption. This is water that complies with the microbiological and chemical quality criteria of the National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. To comply, our water cartage trucks carry only what they're licensed for. In other words, the tanks are not allowed to carry anything but potable water suitable for human consumption. The tank, hoses and fittings are all food grade. Our Food Licence Number is 2526.

Simply give us a call. We're here, pretty much from sun-up to sundown, 7 days a week.