Water For Health

Posts Tagged ‘Prescription Drugs’

The most important factor to bear in mind when looking at how to purify tap water, is to find out which systems will do it effectively and not still leave you with dangerous contaminants in your water.

With over two thousand toxins in our drinking water, including prescription drugs and herbicides, now is the right time to protect your health and learn how to purify tap water with the right product.

The best way is to check the manufacturers performance data sheet to see exactly what they can remove. Make sure that this is made available to you.

Many out there are simply old technology, like distillation and reverse osmosis systems, designed for industries which needed large quantities of demineralized water.

The problem is they remove essential minerals which we need to stay healthy, such as calcium and potassium, a fact which is also stated by the World Health Organization.

In addition to this, though effective at removing chlorine, they leave in many of the more dangerous toxins, so you are still at risk. They also waste large quantities of water and are expensive to maintain, so not a good example of how to purify tap water.

The most effective ones, which the US EPA recommends are carbon block, multi-stage filtration systems. These have been proven to remove 99% of all contaminants present, and keep in those essential minerals.

These will leave you with great tasting, healthy water with none of the ever increasing health risks. You can choose from a countertop, under the counter or even a whole house system.

Remember, you are exposed to the toxins when you shower as well, even more so than by drinking water as your pores open and absorb the vaporized toxins more easily.

We need to take a long hard look at the quality of the water we use, and make sure we protect ourselves and our family’s health with a view to the long term.

I hope this quick guide on how to purify tap water will help to point you in the right direction, and if you would like to learn more about the types of home filtration systems that I personally recommend and use, visit my website today.   

 

Have you found yourself thinking lately that it might be a good idea to obtain a water filtration system for your home? There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether or not tap water in most cities is safe to drink. You’ve probably heard statements on the news coming from the government that of course your city’s drinking water is safe.

But then, there are the recent studies by the Washington Post, which show that drinking water in 24 cities, across the United States, are, in fact, contaminated with chemicals and prescription drugs! Who can you believe on this issue?

Here is some information that may help you choose whether you want water filtration in your home.

1. There is no doubt that water coming from your faucet contains chemicals that are harmful to your health. Tap water has been recycled, generally from dirty river water and also from sewage wastewater! This “reclaimed” water is treated with strong chemicals to remove harmful bacteria. It then undergoes a water filtration process known as “reverse osmosis”. One of the chemicals used in the treatment process is chlorine, which is known to cause several types of cancer.

In most cities, fluoride is actually added to your drinking water by the municipal treatment plant! Dentists claim that fluoride protects your teeth, and your children’s teeth, from decay; and because of this claim, cities have voted for many years to add the fluoride. However, the fluoride being added to the city water supply is very likely to be contaminated with arsenic and lead.

Leaving these contaminants aside for the moment, consider that toxic levels of fluoride have been shown in laboratory studies to cause behavioral changes and, ultimately, brain damage in lab animals. The brain damage included an Alzheimer’s-like degradation, as well as behavior resembling attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Is this enough to make you think positively about getting a water filtration system? If not, be aware that fluoride has also been linked to uterine and bone cancer. These chemicals are not something you want in your water: a water filtration system would remove them.

2. Another point on your checklist for water filtration should be what’s coming into your tap water from the lead-lined water pipes under your municipality’s streets. Some of these pipes in American cities have been there since Victorian times! The decay of aging pipes causes a drop in water pressure, allowing debris, dirt, and bacteria to enter the water after the water filtration process at the treatment plant.

Older pipes like these will also inevitably leak lead into the water supply. You know, because of legislation some years ago to discontinue the use of lead in paint for homes and schools, that even low levels of lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavior difficulties, and even a reduction in general intelligence in children. Lead poisoning in adults contributes to elevated blood pressure. It can also interfere with the electrical system of the body. If your city’s water pipes are aging, you need a good water filtration system in your home.

3. Can you get around these problems by simply buying and drinking bottled water? Absolutely not. Regulations for producing bottled water are no more stringent than those for tap water. In fact, some bottled water is just tap water with a fancy label. If there’s a good water filtration system in your home, you can refill your plastic water bottles from your tap. Even better for the environment would be purchasing a few stainless steel water bottles, to carry your water with you during your day. With your own water filtration, you know where your drinking water comes from.

Now, doesn’t it seem like a great idea to install a water filtration system? You will no longer have to jeopardize your family’s health with drinking water that has passed through ancient and decaying pipes to reach your home. A good water filtration system will clean your water of drugs, chemicals, and bacteria. The best investment of your life may be your water filtration system!

For the past five months Associated Press has investigated the safety of drinking water. The results of the probe find drugs in the drinking water of many major, urban area’s public water supplies. The probe finds such drugs in the drinking water – sex hormones, estrogen, radiation or chemotherapy prescriptions, mood stabilizers, painkillers, anti-convulsions, heart medicine and antibiotics.

New Jersey water supplies showed angina for heart patients and mood stabilizers while in the San Francisco water supply is was a sex hormone. New York public water supplies showed antibiotics, heart drugs, estrogen, tranquilizers and mood stabilizers. In California, 18 different drugs were found while in Philadelphia, 56 different drugs were detected. All told, they tested and found prescription drugs in 24 major city public water supplies. Of course, commonly found over-the-counter drugs were detected such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

So, how do pharmaceutical drugs get in drinking water? Good question, many hospitals and treatment centers dispose of sewage waste into the public sewage systems. These are now reclaimed, distilled and recycled due to droughts and water shortages.  Drug use in Americans has risen 12% in the past 5 years. The United States now spends 3.3 billion dollars on non-prescription drugs and 3.7 billion dollars on prescription drugs. These all flow back into our water supply which is recycled. Into our groundwater and aquifers they go, through farming operations and feedlots for plant growth. Our meat herds also have steroids for more muscle and poundage. 

Take the case of a Nebraska feedlot where cattle are given time-released steroids through an ear tag. When a downstream water supply was tested, the chemical tests came back 4 times higher downstream than upstream. The native fathead minnow species was found to have low testerone levels and small heads downstream. For more normal levels, a check found this was the case in the fathead they were upstream from the feedlot.  

The chemicals in our water supply can affect the natural evolution of humans.  The same types of drugs that are in the water supply are also the same type of drugs in your drinking coming out from your public water supply. Even bottled water is not safe as it isn’t regulated and come from tap. There is even a company boasting itself as NY Water – New York’s tap water.

The EPA and Department of Natural Resources confess that there are no treatment plants set up to treat prescription drugs in drinking water. This is because it is too costly to do on a large-scale basis.  Household filtration systems and reverse osmosis can remove prescription drugs in drinking water but this has to be done on a household level at this time being.  

It is time now for your own home water treatment options if you are concerned with drugs in the drinking water. How do pharmaceutical drugs get in drinking water? It’s not a pretty picture but thank goodness … now there is a way to get them out.