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Why Water Filtration?
Basically, there are really only 5 reasons to purify your drinking water with a filtration system:
“Your car needs new tires and you have a choice between buying re-treaded (re-manufactured) tires or new steel-belted radials.” One is legally safe and the other is totally safe. Which ones do you have on your family car?
The above comparisons are easily understood and a similar relationship can be made in comparison of tap water versus purified water. Over 80% of the population in the United States is served by municipal water. This water is disinfected by chlorine, chloramines, chlorine dioxide, ozone or some combination thereof. Of course disinfection is necessary and has saved many lives from bacterial infection, i.e. typhoid, cholera, etc. Each of these treatment methods has but one purpose…to reduce the risk of a widespread outbreak of illness resulting from a pathogenic or microbial component in our public water supply. Chlorination…the most common treatment process, was introduced in the early 1900’s and provided an immediate benefit in reducing common outbreaks of disease transmitted through the public water supply. Chlorine is a highly toxic gas, but a powerful oxidizer and is effective in neutralizing many microbial components, despite the fact that it does not work on certain bacterial cysts such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. The well-documented outbreak of Crypto in the Milwaukee, WI public water supply in 1993 is an example of the limitation of chlorine. More than 400,000 people became very sick and more than 100 died in what has become our nation’s worst event with this parasite.
Inasmuch as widespread pathogenic outbreaks in municipal water is a rare event, we know today that many non-pathogenic / microbial risks also exist in our water supplies, some of which were “spawned” by the very compound that was intended to make our water safe….Chlorine! Interestingly, municipal water is branded as safe for human consumption. That is…legally safe. But is it totally safe?
In 1974, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enacted the Clean Water Act (CWA). Today, the CWA regulates 91 contaminants in our drinking water. If tap water contains less than the maximum contamination level (MCL) of acceptance of each of these contaminants, your water is legally safe. The EPA is looking at 10,000 other contaminants NOT regulated but known to occur in tap water and they are considering regulating 104 more. Hence our water is not totally safe even by today’s standards otherwise they would not be looking to regulate more contaminants.
The CWA initially only regulated 22 contaminants in 1974, many of which have had their MCLs reduced even further over time because of continuous laboratory, medical and government research. There is no such thing as safe, safer, safest water. The water we were told 20 and 30 years ago was legally safe to drink is not considered safe even by the EPA’s own standards today…or likely future standards!
Despite the effectiveness of chlorine in disinfecting our public drinking water from water-borne disease, scientists and researchers have known for decades that another problem was developing from the widespread use of Chlorine. Chlorine, in any of the forms used in water treatment, interacts with natural organic compounds found in all surface and ground water supplies and forms a series of toxic substances that the EPA calls Chlorine Disinfection Bi-Products (DBP’s). Categorically, these DBP’s are further classified at trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. These chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens (cancer-causing) exist in virtually all public water systems. The legislation in the Clean Water Act includes legally safe limits in these DBP’s, and is regulated by the EPA.
In 2002, a report issued by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C, concluded that 240 million Americans drink tap water contaminated with some levels of DBP’s. Health concerns associated with DBP’s include rectal, colon and bladder cancers, kidney and spleen disorders and other immune system problems.
In March 2004, the EPA released a report stating that 200 new DBP’s have been discovered bringing the total to over 500. In August 2004 a new study at Texas University reported the discovery of a chain of DPB’s created by Chloramines. Chloramine is a commonly used disinfectant in municipal water supplies that is a blend of chorine and ammonia. More recently on September 2004 a study from the University of Illinois reported 5 Chloramine DPB’s called “iodoacids” which may be the most toxic family of DPB’s to date.
Some 600 DPB’s have been identified to date. Approximately 50% of this group has been identified in chlorine treated water, 17% occurring in chloramines treated water, 28% in water treated with chlorine-dioxide, and 8% in ozone treated water.
While all the research is mounting over the health risks associated with DBP’s the municipalities continue to state that their water is safe because it meets the DBP maximum contamination limits set by the EPA. But the EPA only regulates a few of the 600 DBP’s discovered and known. Sadly…this water is legally safe!
Emerging Contaminants:
Drugs have been reported in drinking water around the world and increasingly in the United States over the past 10 years, including animal pharmaceuticals and cocaine metabolites. Most recently, this phenomenon received the moniker “emerging contaminants”. Many of these drugs have been around for a long time and only now are we seeing the first emerging contaminants.
Experience says concentrations will increase further before decreasing. A most distressing point is the identification of animal drugs, pharmaceuticals not fit for human consumption in any concentrations.
None of these emerging drug contaminants are regulated in our legally safe tap water and many become even more toxic when they come in contact with chlorine. The EPA is not required to report the findings of unregulated contaminants. The American Medical Association (Drinking Water and Human Health) reports knowledge of the effects of many regulated and unregulated individual contaminants in small concentrations, but they do not know the effects of a “chemical cocktail” which may be exponentially more threatening. It further states that, given the choice to consume or not, we should choose not.
Unfortunately, the threats to our public water supply come from a myriad of origins. Consider the following:
Legally Safe or Totally Safe?
Did you know that almost every municipal water plant authority is immune from civil actions against them for failing to perform? They may receive warnings or fines from a governmental overseeing agency, but neither you nor I have the freedom to sue if harmed.
Fortunately, it’s not difficult to mitigate these risks and protect the health of your family from most water-borne contaminants. Today’s modern multi-stage Ultra-filtration and Reverse Osmosis drinking water systems are extremely effective in reducing and removing many of the contaminants in our public drinking water. These systems produce delicious, healthy water for about 5 cents a gallon, and go a long way in protecting our environment.
Millions of satisfied, longstanding homeowners understand that their drinking water filtration system is the last line of defense against unregulated and emerging contaminants. For them, the decision to be totally safe trumps legally safe every time. And fortunately, we all have a choice!
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1. To protect the health of you and your family by reducing the many potential risks associated with consuming the contaminants in municipal tap water.
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2. To protect our environment from the tons of plastic bottle waste going into our landfills every year, along with reducing our dependency on oil used in both the manufacture of plastic bottles and transportation costs. (It is widely known that the largest cost component of bottled water is its transportation through distribution channels).
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3. To improve the taste. (Honestly…does anyone think tap water tastes good?)
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4. To save money! Our drinking water systems produce delicious, healthful water at a cost of only a few pennies per gallon…and pay for themselves very quickly. This encourages us to consume the 6 to 8 glasses of water that everyone should drink for optimum health and to use it in our cooking to improve the quality and taste of coffee, tea, soups, ice, etc.
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5. To save time and convenience. No more lugging around cases of bottled water from the store to your car and into your house.
“Your car needs new tires and you have a choice between buying re-treaded (re-manufactured) tires or new steel-belted radials.” One is legally safe and the other is totally safe. Which ones do you have on your family car?
The above comparisons are easily understood and a similar relationship can be made in comparison of tap water versus purified water. Over 80% of the population in the United States is served by municipal water. This water is disinfected by chlorine, chloramines, chlorine dioxide, ozone or some combination thereof. Of course disinfection is necessary and has saved many lives from bacterial infection, i.e. typhoid, cholera, etc. Each of these treatment methods has but one purpose…to reduce the risk of a widespread outbreak of illness resulting from a pathogenic or microbial component in our public water supply. Chlorination…the most common treatment process, was introduced in the early 1900’s and provided an immediate benefit in reducing common outbreaks of disease transmitted through the public water supply. Chlorine is a highly toxic gas, but a powerful oxidizer and is effective in neutralizing many microbial components, despite the fact that it does not work on certain bacterial cysts such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. The well-documented outbreak of Crypto in the Milwaukee, WI public water supply in 1993 is an example of the limitation of chlorine. More than 400,000 people became very sick and more than 100 died in what has become our nation’s worst event with this parasite.
Inasmuch as widespread pathogenic outbreaks in municipal water is a rare event, we know today that many non-pathogenic / microbial risks also exist in our water supplies, some of which were “spawned” by the very compound that was intended to make our water safe….Chlorine! Interestingly, municipal water is branded as safe for human consumption. That is…legally safe. But is it totally safe?
In 1974, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enacted the Clean Water Act (CWA). Today, the CWA regulates 91 contaminants in our drinking water. If tap water contains less than the maximum contamination level (MCL) of acceptance of each of these contaminants, your water is legally safe. The EPA is looking at 10,000 other contaminants NOT regulated but known to occur in tap water and they are considering regulating 104 more. Hence our water is not totally safe even by today’s standards otherwise they would not be looking to regulate more contaminants.
The CWA initially only regulated 22 contaminants in 1974, many of which have had their MCLs reduced even further over time because of continuous laboratory, medical and government research. There is no such thing as safe, safer, safest water. The water we were told 20 and 30 years ago was legally safe to drink is not considered safe even by the EPA’s own standards today…or likely future standards!
Despite the effectiveness of chlorine in disinfecting our public drinking water from water-borne disease, scientists and researchers have known for decades that another problem was developing from the widespread use of Chlorine. Chlorine, in any of the forms used in water treatment, interacts with natural organic compounds found in all surface and ground water supplies and forms a series of toxic substances that the EPA calls Chlorine Disinfection Bi-Products (DBP’s). Categorically, these DBP’s are further classified at trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. These chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens (cancer-causing) exist in virtually all public water systems. The legislation in the Clean Water Act includes legally safe limits in these DBP’s, and is regulated by the EPA.
In 2002, a report issued by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C, concluded that 240 million Americans drink tap water contaminated with some levels of DBP’s. Health concerns associated with DBP’s include rectal, colon and bladder cancers, kidney and spleen disorders and other immune system problems.
In March 2004, the EPA released a report stating that 200 new DBP’s have been discovered bringing the total to over 500. In August 2004 a new study at Texas University reported the discovery of a chain of DPB’s created by Chloramines. Chloramine is a commonly used disinfectant in municipal water supplies that is a blend of chorine and ammonia. More recently on September 2004 a study from the University of Illinois reported 5 Chloramine DPB’s called “iodoacids” which may be the most toxic family of DPB’s to date.
Some 600 DPB’s have been identified to date. Approximately 50% of this group has been identified in chlorine treated water, 17% occurring in chloramines treated water, 28% in water treated with chlorine-dioxide, and 8% in ozone treated water.
While all the research is mounting over the health risks associated with DBP’s the municipalities continue to state that their water is safe because it meets the DBP maximum contamination limits set by the EPA. But the EPA only regulates a few of the 600 DBP’s discovered and known. Sadly…this water is legally safe!
Emerging Contaminants:
Drugs have been reported in drinking water around the world and increasingly in the United States over the past 10 years, including animal pharmaceuticals and cocaine metabolites. Most recently, this phenomenon received the moniker “emerging contaminants”. Many of these drugs have been around for a long time and only now are we seeing the first emerging contaminants.
Experience says concentrations will increase further before decreasing. A most distressing point is the identification of animal drugs, pharmaceuticals not fit for human consumption in any concentrations.
None of these emerging drug contaminants are regulated in our legally safe tap water and many become even more toxic when they come in contact with chlorine. The EPA is not required to report the findings of unregulated contaminants. The American Medical Association (Drinking Water and Human Health) reports knowledge of the effects of many regulated and unregulated individual contaminants in small concentrations, but they do not know the effects of a “chemical cocktail” which may be exponentially more threatening. It further states that, given the choice to consume or not, we should choose not.
Unfortunately, the threats to our public water supply come from a myriad of origins. Consider the following:
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1. Over 90% of global landfills are unlined, permitting the leaching chemical combos to contaminate ground waters. And new liners only claim a 100-year guarantee; who knows what it will be as they approach the end of their effective life. Many contaminants have been identified and include hundreds of pharmaceuticals…and most are unregulated.
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2. There are miles of aging, asbestos-lined water mains, miles of cadmium-nickel galvanized pipe and lead pipe leaching contaminants. Even if the water leaving the municipal treatment plant was pure (and of course it isn’t), it has to travel through an aged distribution system with the potential to pick up even more contaminants.
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3. For close to 30 years, some municipalities have spread treated waste from wastewater plants on grounds for irrigation and fertilization. New reports show the bioaccumulation of contaminants ground water supplies and food crops absorbing contaminants. (No wonder organic food is the fasted growing segment in our nation’s grocery stores!)
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4. Neighborhood gas stations and airports are required to replace old metal underground gas and jet fuel tanks with fiberglass tanks. Removal of the metal tanks, some with holes large enough to walk through, clearly are evidence that years of gasoline leakage resulted in miles of underground aquifer contaminated plumes.
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5. What about the “downstream effect”? Farm runoff includes a multitude of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and pesticides. Asphalt jungle runoff includes detergents, waxes, oils and heavy metals. Industrial animal farms create lagoons that contain millions of gallons of animal waste. Heavy industry with legal permits flow billions of pounds of contaminants into the air and rivers. Commercial embalming companies release aldehydes. This list is near endless, but the point here is obvious…our ground and surface water supplies are definitely impacted!
Legally Safe or Totally Safe?
Did you know that almost every municipal water plant authority is immune from civil actions against them for failing to perform? They may receive warnings or fines from a governmental overseeing agency, but neither you nor I have the freedom to sue if harmed.
Fortunately, it’s not difficult to mitigate these risks and protect the health of your family from most water-borne contaminants. Today’s modern multi-stage Ultra-filtration and Reverse Osmosis drinking water systems are extremely effective in reducing and removing many of the contaminants in our public drinking water. These systems produce delicious, healthy water for about 5 cents a gallon, and go a long way in protecting our environment.
Millions of satisfied, longstanding homeowners understand that their drinking water filtration system is the last line of defense against unregulated and emerging contaminants. For them, the decision to be totally safe trumps legally safe every time. And fortunately, we all have a choice!
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