DISTILLED WATER |
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| by Ted Peterson |
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| Why is distilled water more desirable in developers? Distilled water is desirable as it contains no dissolved minerals, chemicals, impurities, etc. These items might interfere with the proper functioning of most developers. Some of the impurities might help but it is best not to count on them. |
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| Distilled water has a ph of 7.0 and is neither alkaline nor acid. Tap water can be any thing from 6.5 to as high as 8.0 depending on the impurities. |
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| Dissolved oxygen in water causes the developer to deteriorate more rapidly as it will pick up impurities and deteriorate more rapidly. The item that can cause the most trouble are the aerators on most of the faucets because they can add dissolved oxygen to the content of tap water. If you are getting water from your faucets for developers you should remove the aerators. |
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| There are a few ways to remove oxygen from water. Boiling the water rapidly will rid water of all descived oxygen. Another method is to fill a jug or container with water and let it set with the top off over night. |
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| Most water that comes from your water tap has had chlorine added to it by your local water supplier. Boiling tap water will remove this from your developer water also. |
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| Most water that you get from the stores has minerals added to it so that it will taste good. You can order or pick up distilled water in most large cities. There is a company in Portland that makes and sells thousand of gallons each and every day. Most people do not like to drink distilled water as it tastes flat. |
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| I hope that this clears up the information about water in developers. Water in other trays in photography do not have to be distilled but developers should be. |
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