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Nowadays,
many people realize that tap water is not safe to drink.
Californians, in fact, are the largest consumers of bottled water in
the country. But if you talk to people and ask them about this issue,
most can only give a vague explanation of the problem. They know that
the water is not "safe," but they don't know exactly what toxins are
in it, or where they come from.
The
fact is that water contamination may be America's number one
health problem. Over 70% of our body is water, and we need clean
water every day to rejuvenate our system and flush out toxins. Water
is the foundation of our health, and if the foundation is poor, the
entire structure is jeopardized.
There
are thousands upon thousands of chemicals used in our society,
with approximately 1,000 new ones introduced each year. The Federal
Safe Drinking Water Act regulates only 100 contaminants. How
effective can that be? And congress is seeking right now to relax the
regulations on water, not strengthen them.
A
shocking statistic is that in 1992 and 1993 alone there were over
230,000 violations of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act by public
water systems. That's just for the few contaminants that are
currently being regulated. The system has broken down, unable to cope
with the byproducts of our industrialized society.
The
scary thing is that the bottled water many of us have turned to
as a supposed "safe alternative" may not be clean either. While
bottled water may taste better, there are no assurances that it is
free of contaminants, because what most people don't realize is this:
bottled water is largely unregulated! Many bottled waters with names
that include words such as "mountain," "spring" and "crystal clear"
are actually tap water that has been filtered through a very simple
(and inadequate) filtration system to remove enough chlorine so that
it tastes better. (Since you can't taste, see or smell most
contaminants, they know you can't tell the difference.) And we
won’t even discuss the exorbitant prices we pay for bottled
water, a billion dollar industry. The sources of water contamination
are myriad. The list includes industrial waste, the underground
disposal of extremely hazardous toxins through injection wells, and
leaking underground fuel tanks. Then there's the agricultural runoff
of pesticides, the toxic runoff from streets and rooftops of
chemicals used in paving and building materials, and the radioactive
contamination of radium, a byproduct of the decay of uranium, used in
nuclear power plants.
One
of the most talked about contaminants in our drinking water is
chlorine, a necessary disinfectant used to kill harmful,
disease-causing bacteria. Unfortunately, chlorine combines easily
with other chemicals and naturally occurring organic material to form
many carcinogenic substances. An example of this is trihalomethanes
(THMs), which are associated with rectal, bladder and pancreatic
cancers, and may cause damage to the nervous system. Chlorine has
also been linked to heart attacks, strokes, premature senility and
sexual impotency. When you think about it, the purpose of chlorine is
to kill living organisms; as far as I know we are all living
organisms! Even in small amounts, taken daily this poison builds up
in our systems and causes harm.
There
is a simple test kit you can buy from any pool or spa store to
check the amount of chlorine in your water. You squirt a few drops of
a substance called orthotolidene (OTO) into the water, and it turns
the water yellow to indicate the level of chlorine. You compare the
tested water to the color bar, and if the water is too yellow, it's
considered unsafe to swim in. Yet many times, if you use this test on
your tap water, you'll find it at the top of the chart--in other
words, not safe to swim in, let alone drink! Now, we wouldn't go to
our swimming pool and dip out some water to drink or cook our food
in, would we? But many people are doing the equivalent of that
without realizing it. Lead is another major contaminant. Today one in
nine children under the age of six is said to have unacceptably high
blood levels. I don't know about you, but none of the children I know
sit around eating paint chips off walls--the lead is in the drinking
water, and foods and beverages prepared with water. According to the
Department of Health and Human Services, lead is the number one
environmental threat to children. The EPA has actually concluded that
there is no "safe" exposure to lead. It causes learning disabilities
in children, delays normal physical and mental development in babies
and toddlers, is linked to hypertension (high blood pressure) in
adults, and can cause damage to the nervous system, kidneys and
reproductive system. Lead is implicated in causing leukemia as
well.
Unfortunately,
I must alarm you further and mention that in addition
to chemical toxins in our water such as chlorine, lead, pesticides,
etc., we also need to be concerned about microbiological threats.
Traditional water purification measures are ineffective against many
waterborne diseases, especially some virulent newcomers. The Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) has actually issued several warnings in
recent years to people who are aged or suffering from immune
deficiency disorders not to drink tap water, because their bodies are
not strong enough to fight off waterborne infections.
In
1993 in Milwaukee there was an outbreak of cryptosporidium that
made thousands ill. Giardia is another common threat; although it
won't kill you, it can make you quite uncomfortable, causing nausea,
diarrhea and other digestive disorders. In 1991 and 1992, 17 states
reported outbreaks of disease associated with drinking water,
affecting over 17,000 people. But the CDC believes that outbreaks of
waterborne disease are probably under-recognized and under-reported,
in part because reporting outbreaks is voluntary in the United
States.
One
last thing to mention, which is very important, is that even if
you are drinking clean water (bottled from some pristine spring in
the mountains or filtered with a state-of-the-art filtration system),
if you are showering in chlorinated water you still face health
risks. When water is heated up and becomes steam in the shower, the
chemicals evaporate out and are inhaled. The amount of chlorine
absorbed by your body in just a 10 minute shower is the equivalent to
your drinking two gallons of tap water! According to the American
Journal of Public Health, "Skin absorption of contaminants has been
underestimated and ingestion may not constitute the sole or even
primary route of exposure."
Since
I began researching this issue, I have been completely shocked
and horrified to discover all that I just detailed. (And, of course,
there's much more.) The first step is in raising awareness on the
issue. I would recommend that everyone explore this subject and
re-evaluate what they are putting into their bodies and the bodies of
their children. Luckily, there are products on the market that offer
solutions, and in some areas the government is actually requiring all
new homes to be built with a water filtration system from the
start.
For a list of healthy products, check out Share Guide's Holistic
Health Directory.
Related Info:
Toxins In Your Home
The Hazards of Household Cleaning
Products
The
Dangers of Electromagnetic Radiation
WIFI:
Friend or Foe?
Plastics & the
Environment
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