Testing the water – and getting cheated

It has been reported to Consumer Fair that sales people from various water purifier companies are making use of a so-called ‘precipitator test’ or Jam Jar Purity Test to allege that water is impure and unsafe unless it has been through their purification equipment.

These companies all sell reverse osmosis (RO) equipment, also known as desalination membrane water purification systems. The Jam Jar Test is an experiment which gives the consumer the impression that their water is not safe to drink.

It does this by dissolving natural salts into a brown 'goo' that makes the water look awful. The truth is, if you take RO-treated water and add a few granules salt, the same reaction will occur.

The Jam Jar Test is in fact a very basic electrical circuit, similar to a car battery, or scientifically known as an electrochemical circuit. When used as a so-called ‘precipitator’ it introduces natural salts into the water that appear as a brown ‘goo’ that makes the water look dirty.

The precipitator test is being used in demonstrations by certain RO sales people to scare people into buying a water treatment device. In the precipitator test, electricity is passed through the water, causing an electrochemical reaction to take place which discolours the water. The change in colour can show up as a grey precipitate or brown sludge.

Why does the water change colour?

Water treated by reverse osmosis (RO) contains very few or no minerals, so it does not conduct electricity. Therefore no discolouration will be visible in the RO water.

The tricksters claim that the discolouration is caused by the tap water (and even bottled mineral water) being ‘contaminated’ and not fit for human consumption. In fact, the minerals in tap water and bottled water are required by international water quality standards – which set a minimum and maximum level for all common minerals and pollutants.

RO water, on the other hand, is produced by forcing water through an osmotic membrane that removes everything – the good and the bad.

Uncovering the scam

• Pic: 1 filling-with-normal-tap. Caption: A jar is filled with normal tap water.
• Pic 2: 2 start. Caption: Electrodes are put into the jar with tap water (on the right) and a jar containing water treated by reverse osmosis (RO) – the electrodes are then turned on, to pass electricity through the water.
• Pic 3: 3 tap-water. Caption: After a few minutes, the tap water turns murky as the electrodes react with the minerals (safe minerals like calcium and magnesium) in the water. You get the same result when doing the test with bottled (mineral) water. The RO water in the jar on the left remains clear, as there are no minerals in the water to react.
• Pic 4: 4 pinch-of-salt. Caption: To expose the scam, a pinch of salt is added to the RO water in the jar on the left.
• Pic 5: 5 salt-and-well-known-water. Caption: After a few minutes, the RO water also turns murky, as the electrodes react with the salt – and you realise you’ve been conned!

For more information, see www.watertestscam.org.za