Slightly off topic, but since Arrowhead Bottled Water is mentioned in the table, here's a PDF of Arrowhead Water Analysis Report.

[ Arrowhead Mountain Spring water varies considerably in mineral content and taste, which has declined markedly over the past 25 years. We abandoned it for coffee use due to excessive scaling. ]

shadowfax wrote:Look at Fiji water. Holy crap, even more silica! I would be willing to bet that the high silica content has to do with the fact that Fiji is a volcanic island like Hawaii. As you can see, though, it's not unusual to have a noticeable amount of this stuff in any old water, and it's probably fairly harmless at such low concentrations.

So, kids--if you ever think about trying Fiji water in your machine to see if it tastes better than the tap... Don't do it!

Uh, perhaps you should take that short ride on 4 west, then south to the Caldera, then you might see
why Los Alamos and Fiji seems to have water that's quite similar. Valles Caldera National Preserve

Bob

Bob--Why yes. I forgot to imply that, but yes. I can't recall the number of times I've driven up NM4 through the Valle Grande, hiked to the Tent Rocks, and driven down to Jemez Springs. My dad grew up in Los Alamos, and his parents worked at the lab for many years. we used to visit as children, and I actually had my honeymoon in a cabin in the Jemez mountains.

Anyway, yes, Los Alamos does rest on the east face of a massive but extinct volcano, and that is certainly the big link between Hawaii, Fiji, and Los Alamos.

Well, sorry to be a disappointment, but I actually just got a generous job offer in Houston, TX at the last minute. So, it seems that I won't be able to risk my espresso machine to find out if RO really does take silica out of the water.

Now I need to look up Jon Rosenthal and some other Houstonite home baristas...