Over the last decade, scientists have documented widespread pharmaceutical contamination in drinking water treatment systems.
Listen to this one from US Today: "Each day, millions of Americans turn on their taps and get water that exceeds the legal limits for dangerous contaminants."
We send our children off to school everyday and for the most part assume that they are safe. However, the source of the water that supplies the drinking fountain in the school comes from taxed & under-funded municipal water treatment facility. Here are two reasons why you need a good water treatment purification system to keep you and your family safe.
The first reason is that our public water treatment plants are not actually designed to remove drugs and other synthetic chemicals that is present in our tap water. Researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Geological Survey have found birth control drugs, caffeine and even anti-depressants in many water samples taken from treatment systems across the U.S. Pharmaceuticals in the water pose an immediate health risk to all people, especially people with compromised immune systems. Birth control drugs, even in minute doses, have been shown to affect our hormone levels. The recent link in the media between anti-depressants and suicide concerns me as well. Imagine the effect of these pharmaceuticals on developing children and the elderly.
Another reason that the average drinking water purification system isn't very effective is that the chlorine used to kill bacteria and other microorganisms may also be hurting you.
The addition of chlorine to our water began in the 1800s and by 1904 was the standard in water treatment.
Chlorine wasn't used because it was the best or safest at disinfection, it is used because it is the cheapest. Despite all the stunning scientific and medical breakthroughs since the early 1900s, we are still pretty much bleaching our water supply. The level of chlorine in our drinking water purification systems might surprise you. It is not uncommon to find more chlorine in your regular tap water than is recommended for the regular swimming pool. None other than the U.S. Council of Environmental Quality stated that: "Cancer risk among people using chlorinated water is as much as 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine."
After seeing the case I've laid out against municipal drinking water treatment systems, you can come to your own conclusions on whether drinking from the tap is a viable choice. Personally, I've added a carbon block filtration system to my faucet that does a great job in filtering out chlorine, pharmaceuticals and other unwanted contaminants. There are a couple of brands available in the market. One even has even been voted "Best Buy" by Consumers Digest magazine 5 years straight. It's too bad that our drinking water purification systems can't do a complete job in cleaning our water but it's nice to know that we have options available.
William Lin is an avid proponent of optimum health through high quality water sources. See his free research on health through cleaner, healthier water by visiting William's site at Pure Filtered Safe Water and find out why it's imperative to have a clean water source.
