Toxic Water

[Pat Robinson]

States With the Most Toxic Tap Water:
1. California
2. Wisconsin
3. North Carolina
4. Florida
5. Texas
6. New York
7. Nevada
8. Pennsylvania
9. Ohio
10. New Mexico

"With 40 percent of U.S. community water systems in violation of the Safe Water Drinking Act, which sets drinking-water quality standards and is directly linked to the Clean Water Act, 23 million people received low-quality drinking water. "

"North Carolina- In this state, 6.1 million citizens were exposed to 59 contaminants that exceeded the EPA's limits. Nitrate, which can have a negative impact on kidneys, blood, the heart and the reproductive systems, was the most common contaminant.

The suspected carcinogen enters water through fertilizer runoff, leaching septic tanks and erosion of natural deposits. Bromodichloromethane showed up in amounts that exceeded health limits in 373 communities, exposing 5 million people to potentially dangerous amounts of the toxic compound."

The EPA's Web site provides directions for finding out more information about your drinking water.

Water filter discussion: "262d7T71e5H4uOGoG_kytBgI4Wg", event);' rel="nofollow" target="_blank"'>http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=1139875

Depending upon which contaminants you are trying to remove and your price point, the alternatives vary greatly. To just remove chlorine is probably not sufficient, since many excreted and flushed medications are in city water. Apparently, they do not remove medication from city water. Plus, some do/don't remove fluoride.

So, distillation is the most effective, but not really home use friendly. Reverse osmosis probably does about the same job, and has a lot of filter issues and cost, maintenance and installation. Might be overkill, if you are on healthy well water. But, if you have your own water tested, or read the government's city water reports, you could gauge more accurately which type of chemical removal you need.

This thread discusses the filtration issues and the concerns with removing minerals concurrently: "262d7Q0L-g5hbT0cJe9T0IbBaxw", event);' rel="nofollow" target="_blank"'>http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=1139875

I really don't believe that most home water filtration systems remove BPA and Phthalates, unfortunately. My understanding is that an RO system may. Yes, this seems to indicate RO does remove
phythalates:
"262d7kACk_U-1-gT3k-CY9PX35w", event);' rel="nofollow" target="_blank"'>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TFX-4CNGSBG-X&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F10%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor&view=c&_searchStrId=1372747196&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=875fd787431d92291218b676d60c6688

Seems you need a carbon filter to remove BPA...
and others report no filtration system will remove the BPA and that water is a minor source of BPA compared to other contaminants in our food supply with BPA.

Environmental Toxins in Drinking Water: Phthalates
- Phthalates are found in our drinking water, air, and food all over the world.

Researchers estimated that more than 75% of the U.S. population is exposed to phthalates. Starting as early as the 1950s, scientists have published research findings in peer-reviewed academic and science journals on human and animal exposure to phthalates and their wide variety of health problems, as follows:

• Infertility (especially among men)
• Cancers (e.g., liver, breast, prostate, testicular, colon)
• Autoimmune diseases (e.g., lupus)
• Fertility problems (e.g., low sperm count, poor mobility of sperm, DNA damage in sperm, lower testosterone level, and ovarian dysfunction)
• Obesity, resistance to insulin, and diabetes in men
• Smaller testes and smaller genitals on average among male babies exposed to phthalates in mothers' wombs
• Asthma
• "Feminization" of male fish, frogs, and other amphibians living in phthalates-contaminated
  rivers in the wild
• 
  

What Are Phthalates and Where Are They Found?
Phthalates are a class of synthetic chemical compounds used widely as softeners in many plastic products (or commonly called as "plasticizers" in plastics) and other consumer products, as follows:

• All polyvinyl chloride plastics (PVCs), including PVC plastic bags and PVC pipes
• Pharmaceutical products and medical devices (e.g., tubes, PVC blood bags, dialysis
  equipment, disposable medical examination and sterile surgical vinyl gloves)
• Cosmetics, perfumes, and other beauty products (e.g., face cream, nail polish)
• Personal care products (e.g., lotion, shampoo, soaps)
• Children's soft-squeeze plastic toys
• Baby's pacifiers, infants' teething rings
• Common household products (e.g., shower curtains, raincoats)
• Industrial lubricants
• Building products (e.g., carpet backing, putty, caulk)
• Solvents in glues and other adhesives, paints, and wood finishes
• As the inert ingredient in pesticides and insect repellents
• Food packaging
  
• Personal lubricants and condoms

Avoid Phthalates in Your Drinking Water and Food

For your health and your family's health, it is best to avoid all plastic containers—both
for water and food—labeled #3 PVC and all containers containing phthalates. It is best to use glass or stainless-steel food and water bottles and containers when bottling your own filtered water at home. It is difficult to avoid phthalates in this world even if you want to, so do not
voluntarily ingest more phthalates by using phthalate-containing water bottles and food containers!

http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_quality/quality2/envtoxin-ph...

Apparently, reverse osmosis water filters will remove phythlates. BUT, RO tanks are lined with BPA! ! ! !
"262d7qkRo7yjw-HyE8sFCsVlxwg", event);' rel="nofollow" target="_blank"'>http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_quality/quality2/envtoxin-phthalates1-quality.htm

Here are some further resources: "262d7B1EOTHExkCYNYXLsDft8Ug", event);' rel="nofollow" target="_blank"'>http://www.nsf.org/consumer/drinking_water/index.asp?program=WaterTre

I'm drinking well water in NC. And putting it through an R.O. filter. Adding back minerals by drinking my organic nettles infusions, organic bone broth and real water kefir for minerals.

What is your water situation?


Pat

[Dianne]

Hey Pat,.....We have been drinking LeBleu H2O for a cuple of years now, but the cost is just getting unmanagable. We're looking into a "Big Berkey" which requires no "power" and we can take it with us if we ever have to get out of Dodge to a place with questionable H2O supply. Anyway, let me know your thoughts. According to what I have read so far, it CAN take out Fluoride. Hugs, D

[Pat Robinson]

Check this thread, I recall we discussed the Berkey, there was some issue, but mostly positive, iirc. Off to make Father's Day dinner for my husband. :-)


Pat

[seedstarter]

I'm looking into filters now. We're about to move and leave behind our carbon/ceramic filter that mounts into the sink faucet with a Pure tap. I looked at the Berkey's, and like that you can remove flouride and arsenic, but don't like that you end up with aluminum in the process. Too bad they didn't make a 2- step system with the aluminum filter first.

Has anyone looked into the Pure and Clear filters on Mercola's site? They look pretty good, but are out of stock right now.

[Pat Robinson]

Diane, check this thread which discussed the fluoride and Berkey.

here are the pros/cons: http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?p=15227772&...


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

Find A Spring online database: http://www.findaspring.com/


You can search your (US) water treatment system's results here: http://www.epa.gov/enviro/facts/sdwis/search.html


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

If you have chlorine, I'd go with a whole house filter, if you can afford the $3000(+). Otherwise, the Berkey has various price points. I've frequently heard positive things about Berkey products. http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/

We use a PUR carafe filter on our well water. It cost about $25 and maybe $60/year in replacement filters. Reduces chlorine; Trihalomehanes (TTHM); heavy metals: cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc; microbial cysts: crptosporidium, giardia; agricultural pollutants: 2,4-D, Atrazine, Carbofuan, Lindane, Simazine, Toxaphene: Industrial pollutants: benzene, carbon tetrachloride, MTBE, Tetrachloroethene, Toluene, etc.

http://www.purwaterfilters.com/Pur-Advantage-with-Filter-Purification-Systems.html

So, for the money, the PUR carafe water filter fit our needs.

Pat

[Pat Robinson]

Here are a couple of references to the AOL Health study:

http://www.purifymywater.com/inthenews/Contaminated_Water.pdf
http://ybertaud9.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/top-10-u-s-cities-with-th...

I think this is the article I first recall seeing: http://boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com/the_survive_and_thrive...

There seem to be several references to Huffington Post, but I can't locate their article online any longer.

I think this article might have been the inspiration for the study: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/us/18dairy.html?_r=2&;