Protect Your Health with Clean Water

Watered Down Safety

The EPA estimates that more than 60,00 chemicals are currently in use in this country.  Unfortunately, the Safe Drinking Water Act regulates only 91 contaminants.  Not one additional substance has been added since 2000.

According to The New York Times, independent studies show that millions of Americans get sick each year from drinking contaminated water.  Their illnesses range from upset stomachs to asthma, genetic mutations and to cancers.  Biological contaminants include bacteria, parasites and viruses.  Pharmaceutical drugs have been showing up in tap water, also.  And, of course chlorine and fluoride needs to be removed.

Fluoride is a neurotoxic chemical, which is a byproduct of aluminum, copper and iron manufacturing and has been used as a rat poison and insecticide.  (Sunfood Living – Resource Guide for Global Health by John McCabe, p. 512.)  There are much better ways to prevent tooth decay.  In fact, countries that do not use fluoride in their water systems show lower levels of tooth decay.

Conventional agriculture is a major contributor of pollution because chemicals used to promote growth and kill pests can easily find their way into our water.

Buying bottled water is not a good idea because that industry is regulated even less that public tap water. Also, the plastic tends to leach into the water, especially if the plastic bottle is old or has been left sitting in the sun.  The bottles, also, take many, many years to biodegrade and are destructive to the environment.

40% of Americans now filter their water.

Some options for purifying include:

Pitchers with Carbon-Filter Cartridge Filters

Pitchers with carbon-filter cartridges or a carbon filter to attach to your faucet are available.  These remove some contaminants like lead but not others like arsenic or fluoride.

Arsenic added to Chicken Feed

According to the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives inorganic arsenic is added to chicken feed and is a risk factor in diabetes and is one of the prominent environmental causes of cancer mortality in the world.  Arsenic acts as a growth stimulant in chickens.  It develops the meat faster and according to Donald Herman, a former EPA researcher, “the poultry industry has gone wild using this ingredient.” (Another good reason to eat organic chicken.)  Arsenic is also in commercial fertilizers.  After my neighbors spread mulch containing commercial fertilizers in their yards, my doctor, using a hair analysis test, discovered that my arsenic levels shot up dramatically.   I removed them using a Relax Far Infrared Sauna.  Another hair analysis test confirmed the arsenic had been removed..

Reverse Osmosis Filters

Reverse Osmosis Filters can remove more contaminants, including arsenic, but they use 3 times more water and make the water acidic.  Neither one of these two filtering methods will remove the highly carcinogenic and immune system depressing chemical called MTBE (an additive in gasoline) with which most of the ground water in the U.S.  has been polluted.

Change Filters Regularly

Be sure to change water filters regularly, since they can eventually harbor bacteria and begin to let contaminants through.

Water Distillers

Water Distillers heat water to a vapor and then collect the vapor.  This process removes most of the contaminants and kills microbes.  However it, also, removes the naturally occurring minerals and dissolved oxygen leaving it with a flat taste and fewer nutrients.  It will leach minerals out of the body, as well, which is the last thing you want.

To add minerals back, squeeze a few drops of lemon or lime into the water or add a tiny pinch of unprocessed sea salt, like Himalayan Sea Salt, which is the sea salt which still has its trace minerals intact because it was not kiln dried like cheaper sea salts.

Ionizing Water Treatment Purifiers

Ionizing Water Treatment Purifiers are superior at removing contaminants and killing mold and microbes.  They leave the beneficial minerals intact.  Unfortunately they are much more expensive. 

I find I drink a lot more of my filtered water because it seems so much more refreshing and has a nice clean taste. And I no longer worry about what I may be doing to myself.

Drink in Peace of Mind!

SELECTED SOURCES: 

“ EPA Moves to Tighten Safeguards on Drinking Water” by Tom Tankersley, Los Angeles Times, 3/23/10 

“Water Health Series: Filtration Facts,” Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov 

“That Tap Water is Legal but May Be Unhealthy” by Charles Duhigg, New York Times, 12/17/09

“Transdermal Magnesium Therapy” by Mark Sircus, Ac. O.M.D, p. 140. (the source of the documented arsenic information)