Phos-Fate

The OTR House entertains dinner guests about a half a dozen times a year. Early last year, we began to notice that our glassware was coming out of the dishwasher with far less than its usual sparkle. In fact, it was vaguely opaque reminding us of the antique bottles we collected along the bank of the Savannah River a generation ago. At first we suspected our aging dishwasher, but it was performing as expected. By January, the scaling was so bad, our glassware was no longer suitable for a formal table setting. This week, thanks to some consumer news, we found the answer to our problem. It's phosphate. It's not too much phosphate, rather, it is the total lack of phosphate in dish washing detergents.

New water quality standards have required detergent makers to remove phosphates from their products due to decidedly negative impacts on water quality and biological processes. OTR supports this action to restore and preserve healthy aquatic systems. There is a dilemma though. The detergent industry does not have a suitable substitute, not even a close one. There's nothing like phosphate to clean your dishes and make those glasses sparkle. To be honest, given the long and growing list of problems facing the world, scaly glasses simply don't rate. Still, what is to be done?

Some folks will accept their scaly glasses as a badge of environmental honor. Others may go plastic. Some may go paper. Some may buy new glasses on an annual basis. Enterprising hosts and hostesses have found another solution. They go to the local pharmacy, buy phosphate, return home, and "reformulate" their Cascade. This was not the intention of the new environmental regulations.

Today, Moonbattery's Van Helsing points readers to a Wall Street Journal article about what they call another nanny state threat, the front-loading washer. The prognosis is not good:

Front-loaders meet federal standards more easily than top-loaders. Because they don't fully immerse their laundry loads, they use less hot water and therefore less energy. But, as Americans are increasingly learning, front-loaders are expensive, often have mold problems, and don't let you toss in a wayward sock after they've started.

Readers can learn more at the Moonbattery post which includes a link to the original article. The frightening conclusion here stresses a new technology that does not clean clothes as well as washing machines built in 1996. Some new washers hardly clean clothes at all. Manufacturers are working to solve these new issues. OTR hopes the family's old top-loading washer stays alive long enough to see those solutions proven in the marketplace.

This regulatory trifecta is completed by an object most of us already know: the compact fluorescent bulb or CFL. At the outset, all of us know these bulbs are more expensive than traditional bulbs and the mercury content renders them significantly toxic if broken. From a performance perspective, OTR is reluctant to put them in any recessed fixtures, even when recommended, because some bulbs have malfunctioned and burned along with the attached houses. Furthermore, CFLs burn out quickly if turned off and on frequently. For example, a bathroom with multi-light vanity lighting is a poor application for CFLs. And we have yet to find a satisfactory CFL for our reading lamps. The light quality is inconsistent from one manufacturer to another. We all know the days of the incandescent light bulb are limited. Should OTR stock up? And what's going to replace his patio and garden spot lights?

All of these attempts at correcting an issue have resulted in creating unintended consequences, so far all at the expense of the consumer. Who among us wants poor water quality. Who among us wants higher electric or gas bills. What we need is some serious American innovation here. OTR has every confidence that we can build a better washing machine and lighting device, and restore the sparkle to his glassware. But pragmatism has its limits. Just because the drum spins, the bulb lights, or the formula soaps doesn't mean the consumer will be happy. Our regulators and manufacturers need to spend more time thinking before acting if they want to ensure compliance as well as mitigate environmental issues without creating new ones.

Illustration: Structural formula for the phosphoric acid functional group.