Don't Worry About Losing a Mineral
Source With Purified Water
by Laura Barnaby
Let's Live magazine, June 1996.
Reprinted with permission.
It's essential to life and your body
needs eight cups a day. But unless you know what you're drinking,
you may be doing something more harmful than healthful for
your body.
Two-thirds of your body is water: it is
involved in nearly every bodily processes (e.g., digestion,
absorption, circulation and excretion). While its possible
to go as long as two weeks without food, it's only possible
to go a few days without water.
The average adult excretes up to 2 and 1/2 liters of fluid
every day through sweat and elimination, so replacing that
fluid loss by drinking six to eight cups of clean water daily
is vital to prevent dehydration, which may be at the root
of many health conditions.
What You Can't See Can Hurt You
Water is the universal solvent and carries a variety of substances,
some of which are beneficial, but many of which are not.
These contaminants - chemicals, radiation, and microorganisms,
threaten thousands of lives as they regularly find their way
into drinking water systems. For example:
* Industrial solvents like benzene and tolulene
are carcinogenic and adversely affect the kidneys, lungs,
and nervous system.
* Waterborne bacteria
such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium are
not killed by chlorine, the primary disinfecting agent used
by water suppliers, and have caused thousands of illnesses
and a number of deaths over the years.
* While the upside of chlorination is some
reduction of bacteria levels in water, the downside is when
water already contaminated with organic compounds and other
pollutants reacts with chlorine, trihalomethanes (TMHs), which
are also carcinogenic, are produced.
In fact, a National Resources Defense Council report, Think
Before You Drink: The Failure of the Nation's Drinking Water
System to Protect Public Health (September 1993), says
that THMs alone are associated with more than 10,000 bladder
and rectal cancers per year, which is about 30 cancer per
day.
* Lead is one of the most worrisome drinking-water
pollutants. It is carcinogenic, threatens fetuses, infants
and children with nervous system damage, and is linked to
permanent learning disabilities and with hyperactivity.
Most lead exposure results from old home plumbing systems
(i.e., service pipes from water mains, leaded solder in plumbing
and brass faucets). Also, people with soft water, which is
corrosive, have higher risks of lead exposure.
In rural areas, pesticides may
be seeping into private wells. Pesticides also pose a threat
to some public water supplies. A 1990 Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) report estimates nearly 10,000 community wells
contain pesticides, which are linked to cancer as well as
liver, kidney and nervous system damage.
Radiation contamination
in drinking water occurs in both surface water and ground
water as a result of fission products like strontium 90 or
naturally occurring radium. Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive
gas, has been estimated by the EPA to be responsible for more
cancer deaths than all other drinking water contaminants combined.
Although many cities and counties provide
residents with clean drinking water, many others do not, and
specific contaminants (e.g., bacteria, pesticides, industrial
solvents) are likely to vary from area to area.
Regulations Fall Short Technically, municipal
water suppliers are required to follow regulations set by
the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974 and amended in
1989.
In reality, the rules allow Maximum Contaminant Levels, which
permit low levels of toxins to remain in the water, due to
cost considerations of removing them.
The SDWA requires water-system operators to report to the
EPA and inform their customers of any excessive contaminant
levels detected in the water supply.
But, according to the editors of Staying Healthy in a
Risky Environment: The New York University Medical Center
Family Guide (Simon & Schuster, 1993), a study of
EPA computer records found that operators failed to notify
customers that they were drinking substandard water in 94%
of the cases where the systems violated the law.
According to David Steinman in his book,
Diet for a Poisoned Planet (Harmony Books, 1990)
people should demand stricter regulations from Congress, not
the EPA, which enforces and implements the law. Steinman asserts
that there is no safe level of exposure to cancer-causing
substances in water supplies.
Also, the SDWA excludes privately owned
wells and non-public water suppliers from regulation, so there
is no law to protect people from contaminated water from these
sources.
The public water supply comes mostly from two sources: surface
water and ground water.
Surface water is water in rivers, ponds
or lakes, which becomes contaminated by acid rain, storm-water
runoff, pesticide runoff, and industrial waste.
Ground water is generally found in aquifers
running below the earth's surface, and becomes contaminated
by pesticides and fertilizers, hazardous wastes, industrial
wastes, leaking underground gasoline storage tanks or discarded
household chemicals and oils.
Test the Waters To find out what's in your
tap water, call your local water supplier and ask for a water-monitoring
report. Steinman and co-author Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., in
The Safe Shopper's Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics,
and Food Macmillan, 1995), recommends people use key words
in their requests to get a more complete report.
They suggest asking for weekly or monthly average measurements
in a 12- month period for these contaminants: bacteria; volatile
organic chemicals and other industrial chemicals; total dissolved
solids; nitrates; pesticides; radiation; trihalomethanes and
chloroform; metals; minerals (including flouride); and alkalinity.
Steinman and Epstein also warn that because of variables
(e.g., water companies may crunch the numbers" to make the
water appear less contaminated; or contaminants, such as lead
from your home pipes, won't show up), you may not want to
depend solely on their information. You can take a water sample
to a local laboratory for analysis or send it to one of the
national water testing labs.
What You Can Do Once
you know what is in your water, you can decide which method
to use to get cleaner water. If your water is already clean,
you're lucky; if it's not, there are several filtration methods
to choose from - different methods filter out different substances.
When trying to match a filtration system to the contaminants
you want to eliminate, you should consider not only the kind
of filter, but also where it is used. Many people combine
two or more types of filters in their home water-treatment
systems. Be aware that all filters need cleaning and/or replacing
regularly, so consider the system's maintenance requirements
before buying.
Point-of-use filters fit either under the
sink or at the faucet. Filters at the faucet are less effective
than under the sink because the water doesn't come into contact
with the carbon long enough to be effective.
Point-of-entry filters filter all of the
water coming into your house, not just your drinking water.
This is an important distinction because you also absorb water
contaminants through skin: The hotter the water (e.g., showers,
baths, dishwashers), the more volatilized chemicals become;
and children absorb more per pound of body weight than adults.
Screen filters are good at removing bacteria
and are rated for the size of bacteria they remove. Depth
filters are good for removing suspended solids and particulates
and are rated for the size of the substances they remove from
the water.
Activated carbon filters (granulated and
block are best) are some of the most popular. The activated
carbon absorbs organic compounds, including radon and THMs,
but not metals or man made fission products. Also, they promote
bacteria growth, so they need to be combined with another
filter.
Reverse Osmosis is a good system for removing
a variety of contaminants like metals, radiation, organic
compounds, microorganisms and pesticides. They work slowly,
however, producing only about thirty gallons per day.
Distillation removes a variety of contaminants
- but not THMs or other volatile organic compounds - by boiling
the water and condensing the steam. Since distillers remove
minerals like calcium and magnesium, there is little taste
to the water.
Water-softener systems are not meant to
be purifiers - they serve to remove calcium and magnesium
(important for heart health) from "hard" water. They also
add sodium back into the water as part of the process.
Steinman and Epstein recommend an activated carbon filter
with a reverse-osmosis system to remove a range of contaminants.
Whichever method you choose, do it!
Just as clean water is essential to good health, so can contaminated
water be the cause of ill health.
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