water quality issues

[paul_cohn]

<p>I hope this isn't a stupid question: I'm about to move to a place where it is unsafe to drink the water. (I don't even know if the locals drink it or not ...) Could the water quality affect B&W film processing, chemical preparation, or print washing?</p>

[nbg90455]

<p>It does matter (a lot), especially if you start with photo chemicals in powder form.<br>

Good news is that you will need to find a safe water source for yourself as well, and that might do the trick (more or less). I don't know where you are moving to, but when I moved to India (Delhi) for a couple of years, I got an R.O. water system, which produced water that was both safe to drink and work (almost) as well as distilled water for my B&W film processing. Assuming you have access to electricity where you will be living, R.O. systems aren't very expensive...</p>

[paul_cohn]

<p>Thank you, Mike. I'm moving to India too.</p>

[nbg90455]

<p>Where in India? Feel free to contact me offline, if it happens to be Delhi and/or you need pointers about India...<br>

Enjoy!</p>

[kathyjlogan]

<p>Use purified water (distilled).<br>

For washing, use the fill&dump Ilford method to avoid excessive consumption of it, and a PhotoFlo or something similar with the last bath.<br>

If you wash with impure water you will probably get stains on your film, or worse.</p>

[alessandro serrao]

<p>It depends on what kind of impurities the water contains.<br>

If it's mainly calcium (or magnesium) carbonate then the answer is generally no.<br>

If the water contains a lot of iron then you maybe will get some problems using Xtol (iron affect it's shelf life).<br>

If the water contains some sediment a quick filtration with a 5 micron filter will do the job quite right.<br>

Bacteria aren't a problem unless you conserve working strength solutions (I suggest in these occasions to use everything as "one-shot").</p>