How To Remove Tannins From  Your Florida Tap Water

Florida is the only state in America that has a large supply of groundwater. Groundwater wells supply more than 92% of Florida’s water needs. Unfortunately, the Sunshine State has a history of water quality problems. These include lead and nitrate pollution, harmful algal blooms, and toxic bacterial-infested, dead animals and insects sludges. However, there is one issue that has been part of the state’s waterways for many thousands of years, but it has not been as widely discussed as water hardness and iron content.

Many of Florida’s lakes and rivers produce yellow-colored water. Many homeowners have reported that the water tastes like grandma’s unsweetened iced tea when it is poured into a glass. This unusual color can be mistakenly thought to be iron or dirt contamination. It is usually caused by natural processes that involve breaking down organic materials such as leaves, roots and barks, and leaching compounds called “tannins” into the soil. The soil’s water becomes rich in tannins, and it seeps into groundwater. The tannins can seep into your tap water if the well is located near a coastal or swampy area.

You may be one of 42 million Americans who have their drinking water from a private well. They are not considered to be an aesthetic problem, but they can cause water to turn a foul-tasting color, musty odor, and bad taste. If left untreated, they can cause serious problems in your laundry as well as other water-related issues. Today we will be discussing the topic of tannins in tapwater, their effects and how to get rid of them. Let’s begin by explaining what tannins are.

What Is Tannin?

Tannins can be natural organic materials that are released from plants as a result of water passing through swampy soil or decaying vegetation. These compounds can be found in water supplies such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and so forth. These compounds are also found in shallow wells. Tannins can also be found in water that is shallow, low-lying, and marshy.

What Does Tannins Do To Water Color?

You’ve probably heard of “tannins” in the context winemaking or tasting. When grapes are pressed, the tannins in grape skins and stems, as well as seeds, are released. The longer grape materials are allowed to soak in grape juice after pressing, then the more tannins are released. This gives red wine its unique, rich color. The same happens when water is added to a cup with a teabag. It passes through the tiny tea leaf-shaped teabags and changes the color of the water to green, black or golden-brown.

The same principle applies for tannins in well-water. Water from an aquifer that supplies your well with water can travel through soil and decaying vegetation as it descends. It flows around organic compounds to reach your well and collects and absorbs them. This is similar to the way grape juice absorbs tannins from its stems and seeds. The water supply to your home may develop a yellowish or brownish color depending on how much decaying material it has come in contact with.

Is It Harmful To Drink Water Containing Tannins?

Tanning-rich water is not a safety or health concern. However, it can cause headaches in the home.

Tanning in water can cause a variety of problems.

• Permanent staining and water discoloration: Tannins can create a yellow- or brownish tint to the water. This tea-like color is similar to dye and leaves whites yellowing after only a few washes. Porcelain fixtures and dinnerware that are exposed to higher levels of the dye can also be affected by permanent, dingy staining.
• Not good for fish and other aquatic animals. Tannins can also bind minerals to water, softening and lowering pH, hardness, and alkalinity. This means that if you use tannin-contaminated aquarium water, it could cause fish to become stressed and not thrive.
• Toxic chlorine byproducts: Tannins react with chlorine in chlorine-treated water to create new compounds known as disinfection byproducts. In this instance, trichloromethane is a possible carcinogen.
• A terrible odor: Natural organic materials can seep into the bedrock, and enter the well. This could cause a skunk-manure or skunk cabbage smell. Tannins can easily travel from the surface to your groundwater source. This means that pathogens and other contaminants may also be attracted to them.
• Can cause damage to home water treatment devices. Tannins may also affect equipment used for treating other water problems. Tannins can cause damage to iron filters, cation exchange filters, and neutralizing filters.
• Can hinder water disinfection effectiveness: Tannins are known to cause water clarity problems and can easily be oxidized. They are likely to interfere with standard disinfection methods like UV and chlorine.
• May promote bacteria growth: Water containing tannins could be a haven.
• Water tannic acid could indicate water intrusion and other potentially hazardous contaminants. A drilled well can be reached by surface water if the casing seal has been removed from the bedrock or a vein has opened. It may also happen depending on where you live.
• They might bind to iron in water making it more difficult to get rid of.

Is My Water Supply Contaminated With Tannins?

You may wonder if your well water supplies water to your house. However, you haven’t yet had your water professionally tested. To narrow down the problem, you can do an at-home test.

Let the water cool in a glass and then fill it with water from the tap. If the color is darker at the bottom of your glass in the morning, it is likely that iron or manganese is responsible. These heavier particles will settle on the bottom of your glass as the water sits. If the discoloration is consistent and uniform in the morning, it could be a sign that the water contains tannins. However, a water test done by a certified laboratory can provide more precise results.

We recommend that you test your water for iron, bacteria, sulfates, and total dissolved solids. These tests can help you determine which treatment is best for your situation.

The Watercheck Testing Kit by the National Testing Laboratories, Ltd. is an excellent choice for homeowners whose water comes from a private spring or well. This water testing kit includes everything you need to test for 75 common contaminants.

• Tannins
• Inorganic chemicals (including fluoride and nitrates)
• Heavy metals (including iron and arsenic as well as uranium and mercury)
• VOCs (including TCE and MTBE as well as PCE)
• Bacteria refers to the presence or absence of Total Coliform (or E. Coliform)
• Trihalomethanes
• Physical characteristics (including Total Dissolved Solids, pH, hardness, turbidity, and pH)

The Water Test Kit option is recommended if you need to conduct a deeper examination of your water quality. This kit includes 2o pesticides and herbicides as well as polychlorinated biphenyls. This Pesticide Kit also comes from National Testing Laboratories, Ltd., which is one of the most recognizable laboratories in the industry.

Order the testing kit and mail the sample to them. You will receive your detailed report in a matter of days.

How to Get rid of Tannins in Water

Because of the way they can contaminate water, tannins in water can cause headaches. It is determined by the type of tannins released, the time that the water was exposed to it, and the amount of the material. This determines how the solution should be applied. Filtration is the best way to remove tannins from water.

The uniqueness of a tannin filtration system lies in the fact that it functions more like a water softener rather than a filter. The tannin filter usually has two tanks. One is the media tank, which houses the control valve, and the other one contains salt. The media tank is stocked with tiny, white beads that remove tannins by mechanical filtration, ion exchanging, and adsorption.

Here’s an overview of the tannin filtration process:

1. The beads attract the tiny particles of tannins as the water passes through them.
2. The media eventually becomes too saturated with tannins and must be regenerated by removing any remaining tannins. This will allow the media to remove more tannins from water. The system will then initiate a cycle of regeneration to clean and recharge the media tanks, and prepare them for filtration. The brine tank is here to help. Many tannin filters come with onboard computers that calculate how much water has passed through the system. Regeneration begins automatically when the system reaches the preset setting. The older style tannin filters used a timer-based system that initiated the regeneration process after a certain time. Modern models monitor water consumption and use that information to determine when regeneration is needed.
3. The system then performs a backwashing cycle in order to flush the tannin particles down the drain.

The Best Water Filter To Remove Tannins From Water

You should take immediate action to eliminate the tannins in your water.

We recommend that you invest in a cost-effective and innovative tannin filter system such as the Springwell ST Softener and Tannin Removal System. This system combines a high-quality salt-based water softener with a powerful tannin removal filter into one system. It removes hardness and tannins from your water. This means that you don’t need to buy separate units to get the same results. The STR system’s single-tank design means it takes up less space. It will have a much lower environmental impact.

The STR can also soften water from private wells. The system targets and removes hardness minerals from drinking water such as calcium, magnesium, and iron. To eliminate potentially harmful microbes in your water, you can add the UV Water Purifier Add on to the system.

Our STR system is almost maintenance-free. The system features a Bluetooth Head, which allows you to control all settings using a single button on any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. This feature allows you to adjust the system’s settings such as timing, regeneration, backwash cycles, and timing. This feature will save you thousands of gallons each year.

You get a lifetime warranty for all parts, a six-month money-back guarantee, and free shipping. Plus, there are more than 50% factory-direct savings.

This post was written by a water treatment expert at Paragon Water Systems. At Paragon Water Systems we are the Manufacturers of the best reverse osmosis wholesale! We know that the best product comes from the best materials. We manufacture home water solutions such as reverse osmosis systems, under sink water filtration systems, showerhead filtration systems, carbon cartridges, and a wide variety of other products. Our focus is to provide Americans with safe and clean water throughout the home.