Who and how is cheating with water?

An organization whose name is on everyone’s lips, which is engaged in a vital business, is an ideal find for dishonest businessmen. You can introduce yourself as an employee of the Central Bank, Mosgaz, Mosvodokanal – and the doors of apartments and ear shells will open before you. And with proper treatment of these auricles, wallets and bank accounts will also open.

For example, a resident of Moscow or the Moscow region receives a notification about the need to calibrate water meters. He calls the specified phone number, and there they introduce themselves as Mosvodokanal, set a date for verification. In the best case, they will take money from you for this “verification”, while the data that the meter has been checked will not be entered into the register of FSIS “Arshin”. At worst, well, there could be many options. You let in swindlers, dishonest people, you never know what they come up with!

Therefore, we must remember once and for all: Mosvodokanal JSC does not check apartment meters! There are 277 organizations that have such a right, they can be found on the website https://poverka.fsa.gov.ru/. Or request a recommendation from the management company.

Also, “Mosvodokanal employees” can inspect the pipes and say: ah-ah, we need to replace them! Pay the money, we’ll replace it. Remember: Mosvodokanal is responsible for the quality of cold water only before entering the house. Here lies the pipe from the water treatment station to the wall of the house – this is the responsibility of the organization. The management company is responsible for everything that is inside the house. Hot water supply is the responsibility of the Moscow United Energy Company (PJSC MOEK) or the management company when using an individual heat point located in the house.

Another interesting option: a fraudster comes to a legal entity, is called an employee of Mosvodokanal and presents letters of guarantee with obligations to conclude and pay for contracts for the provision of services. The legal entity pays for these contracts – and then it turns out that the real Mosvodokanal knows nothing about this.

Mosvodokanal JSC warns: in case of doubts about the reliability of incoming information, it is necessary to verify the details of the counterparty organization. Don’t be lazy, go to the site www.mosvodokanal.ru and check the composition of the manual, structure, contacts, regulations and everything else. If you doubt that a representative of Mosvodokanal has come to you, call the round-the-clock hotline: 8 (499) 763-34-34.

By the way, pay attention! There is a website on the Web – it uses the name Mosvodokanal, and the only difference is in the first level domain. The real one has .ru, this one has .com. Otherwise, everything is serious there: the “Official Meteorological Service of Moscow” (and what does this have to do with it?), Address, phone number, application form, guarantees, promises to check even non-standard meters at a low price.

Employees of this Mosvodokanal warn: the trademark of the company is registered by Rospatent in the State Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Russian Federation under No. 122942. And if people register a site with someone else’s trademark, then, most likely, nothing good can be expected from them.

At a minimum, we will repeat again, leave an application, pay 500 rubles, the results of the meter verification will not appear in the register.

Unfortunately, in our time it is quite difficult to hold the owners of such sites liable under the law – a person can sit somewhere in Cyprus or Bali, make a site with any domain name and collect money. A thousand people will lead – already excellent. Therefore, we warn you again and again: check the name of the site you visit.

But the most interesting thing is the sale (more precisely, steaming) of “filters for water purification”.

So, a person comes to you (usually young, charismatic and with a well-spoken tongue) and says: “Do you think your tap water is clean? Let’s check it out?”

Then he pours water into the container, lowers two electrodes into it, turns on the device – and horror, horror, the water becomes so … dirty! This is followed by a demonstration of “his” water, which he passes through the filter in front of you and which, after being tested by the device, remains clean and transparent.

This is the elementary electrolysis of water, which, in theory, everyone should study at school. But there are different cases, in addition, people often forget the school curriculum over time – they say, it will not be useful in life. Therefore, cases of deception of citizens are quite frequent, and we will have to tell you what the trick is.

In any water, a certain amount of mineral salts is always dissolved. This is a sign of a physiologically complete liquid. There may be more or less of them, this indicator is called rigidity. There are even healing compositions of minerals, such as Narzans, Essentuki or Borjomi. Water, completely devoid of salts, is distilled, it is poured into batteries, steam cleaners, irons and other appliances.

But in this case, it is not the mineral composition of the water that is important, but the metal of the electrodes. Because if you lower the electrodes into the water and pass a current through them, then the dissolved minerals will begin to interact with the anode metal. For example, if the electrodes are made of nickel, then the water will turn greenish.

But the most spectacular, probably, are steel electrodes. Black-green flakes of ferrous hydroxide will appear in the water. And if you wait a few minutes, then the flakes will gradually become reddish-brown in color. From copper ions, the water will turn blue, and the precipitate will be brown – this is not so spectacular. Yes, and aluminum will also give white-gray flakes. Therefore, the most “best” electrodes for this experiment, of course, are iron.

Seeing such horror in their tap water, of course, everyone will rush to buy “miracle filters”.

In fact, such an “experience” does not show how clean the water is. It only shows the presence of minerals in your water (and this is great: drinking distilled water is harmful), the material of the electrodes, as well as the amount of dirt on the soul of someone who is trying to sell you a “miracle filter”.

Mosvodokanal guarantees: tap water is drinkable, no additional filters are required in the capital. Water undergoes multi-stage purification and disinfection. Every month, the FBUZ “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of the City of Moscow” takes water from the water pipes of residential buildings for analysis and checks it for 50 indicators.

By the way, you can find out the composition of tap water in each metropolitan area on the official website of Mosvodokanal in the section “Water quality in Moscow districts”. The information is published based on the results of water quality analyses.

If you are so calmer, you can use additional filters – for example, coal. Just do not forget that they need to be monitored, regularly changed and cleaned. And somehow, at your leisure, calculate how much their maintenance will cost you per year.

And you definitely shouldn’t buy dubious filters from very dubious personalities!

Yana MAYEVSKAYA.