Our MYCHEM water
Not all water is the same.
Even tap water is more or less contaminated, depending on its origin.
Investigations have shown that there are many different substances in it, which should not be taken permanently: Heavy metals (lead, copper, nickel, mercury, cadmium). Acrylamide, benzene, boron, bromate, chromium, cyanide, nitrate, selenium, uranium, antimony, arsenic or benzopyrene, suspended solids and residues from agriculture (chlorothalonil) and medicines such as birth control pills.
Our Mychem process water quality
All water used in our products passes through 3 purification stages:
- Demineralization (removes metals)
- Microfiltration 5µ (removes suspended solids)
- Activated carbon filter (removes organic impurities from medicines and agriculture etc.)
In this way we guarantee a perfect quality in our own products. All above our CDL (chlorine dioxide solution).
Excerpt from the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN: 2.9.2020
Groundwater protection: Good drinking water can no longer be taken for granted
Groundwater is under pressure. As various studies show, this also puts the quality of our drinking water at risk - especially in regions with intensive agricultural use. To avert this risk, we need consistent implementation of effective measures to protect groundwater.
The quality of our drinking water is at risk - especially in regions with intensive agricultural use.
Switzerland is not used to such news: At the end of January 2020, the canton of Solothurn informed about problems with the quality of its drinking water. The authorities announced that 160,000 people were being supplied with water that did not meet legal requirements. Although there is no immediate danger to health, it will take years or even decades for the residues of the pesticide chlorothalonil to disappear from the groundwater. Since almost all major groundwater supplies in the canton are contaminated, Solothurn's water utilities face major challenges, he said. In the future, drinking water may have to be obtained from outside the canton via new pipelines.
Almost two thirds of the population without safe drinking water! No quick solutions in sight! Expensive new infrastructure necessary! This news caused spiteful online comments: "Who are these well poisoners?", for example, asked a concerned reader. However, Solothurn's concerns about the quality of its drinking water are not unique. The Seeland water association, for example, from which the Bernese cities of Biel and Lyss, among others, obtain drinking water, had to close four of five groundwater wells at the end of 2019 because of pesticide residues. "We have lost 70 percent of our capacity and thus have a serious problem," explains Roman Wiget, a member of the board of directors of this water association, which supplies around 100,000 people.
Problematic degradation
The unusual drinking water problems were not caused by the use of a new pesticide, but because the authorities took a closer look at a substance that had been in use for decades. Chlorothalonil had been used by farmers since the 1970s to protect vegetables and fruits from fungal attack. But it is only since 2019 that a targeted search for degradation products of this substance has been conducted in groundwater. The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) has classified chlorothalonil residues as "relevant" to drinking water quality based on new findings. Meanwhile, stricter limits for the pesticide's degradation products have come into effect, and chlorothalonil itself has been banned.
"Due to the new limits, various groundwater sources have recently been deemed contaminated," explains Michael Schärer, head of the Water Protection Section at the FOEN. "According to initial estimates, the groundwater wells affected by this provide drinking water to around 1 million inhabitants." Many of these wells would have to be shut down for the coming years. This would mean a "severe restriction of supply security" in the affected regions and endanger the decentralized organization of the Swiss drinking water supply.
