Water is essential to our survival. To live a healthy, happy life we need to drink between one and two liters of water every day. But what if the water you’re drinking is full of toxic chemicals? What if instead of cleansing your body and keeping you hydrated, the water you’re drinking is slowly killing you?
Is our water safe?
Back in 2014, there was a water crisis in Flint, Mitch, when it was discovered that the water supply contained dangerous levels of lead and other chemicals.
To make matters worse officials who should have been monitoring the water contamination levels have been implemented as having covered up the problem by tampering with reports. It’s enough to make you really worry about the water supply wherever you are.
Don’t take it for granted that just because officials tell us the water is safe that it really is. The people of Flint assumed that because their officials didn’t tell them there was a problem that everything was fine. They were misled and they have suffered because of the lead that was in their trusted water supply.
Lead is not the only chemical contaminating our water
As if lead poisoning isn’t bad enough – there are all kinds of other dangerous chemicals being found in our water supplies too. According to a post in the New York Times, Radon, Arsenic, and Nitrates are all toxic pollutants commonly found in our water. Other nasties include the contamination by antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural chemicals that have leached into the water supply over time.
Another contaminant that is being found often is perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) which is used in Teflon and firefighting foam. This chemical in drinking water has been linked with kidney cancer.
In West Virginia and Ohio there was contamination from a leak at a DuPoint factory. The chemicals found were perflourinated chemicals, PFOs or PFCs. These are chemicals that are not yet regulated as they are still being studied. The drinking of this contaminated water has been linked to six different diseases, including kidney cancer. PFCs can stick around in the human body for about four years, and that’s if no more in taken in.
The other two major contaminants in our drinking water are chlorine and fluorine. These two chemicals are actually added to the water supply by the government under the guise of promoting good health.
Chlorine is used to clean the water, removing bacteria before it reaches us in our homes. Fluoride (not to be confused with Fluorine, which is a poisonous yellow gas) is supposedly added to the water to strengthen our teeth enamel. Both of these dangerous chemicals are being purposefully added to our water in spite of research proving that they’re bad for us. Read the section below on how chemicals in our water affect your health for more information on what they do.
The law can’t always protect you
According to a New York Times article, the federal laws regulating US tap water are more than 35 years old, and completely out of date. Only 91 chemicals are regulated by the Safe Water Act, but there are more than 60 000 different chemicals used in the United States which find their way into our water system. Hundreds of these are associated with cancer, cell mutations and all kinds of allergies and ailments.
Analysis was done with more than 19 million drinking water tests – what they found was that more than 62 million people have been exposed to water that didn’t meet even one of these outdated safety guidelines.
What’s more is that not all of our water sources are publicly owned. About 15 million homes in the United States get their water from private wells. Private drinking water is not regulated by the authorities.
So think twice before drinking “government approved” water – their approval doesn’t account for a vast array of circumstances.
How is water pollution affecting your health?
As outlined briefly above, the different chemicals and pollutants which threaten our drinking water do different things to our bodies. Here is a brief outline of the main players:
Lead: Lead affects the frontal cortex of the brain, which is essential for learning, memory, reasoning and abstract thought. Lead can cause permanent damage in the brains of young children. Lead poisoning also causes various cancers.
Perflourinated chemicals (Including perflourooctanoic acid): These chemicals are found in all kinds of things, but most commonly in substances like Teflon and the foam used for firefighting. They have the ability to build up in the human body so even if you are only consuming small amounts at a time it can still have a cumulative effect on your health. These chemicals have been linked with birth defects, pregnancy complications, heart disease, thyroid disease, and kidney and testicular cancer.
Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals: We all know that we should never take medicines that are not prescribed for us. But what if we are ingesting them every time we drink a glass of water. One of the problems with constantly consuming antibiotics in the water is that you are helping bacteria to develop resistance to medications, making them stronger. The result is that we have super strains of illnesses and need even stronger medications to combat them.
Other pharmaceuticals found in the water include mood stabilizers, hormone replacement medication, prescription drugs and over the counter medications.
Chlorine: It’s well documented that chlorine forms cancer causing compounds in water. According to a study published by the International Journal of Epidemiology in 1992, consumption of chlorinated water increases your chances of colon and rectal cancer by as much as 40%. But the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) insists that the risk of water-borne diseases outweighs the cancer risk. Their assertions are based on information and tests that are decades old. Today we have an almost 50% chance of either ourselves or our loved ones developing cancer, so maybe we should start paying attention to the cancer risks too.
According to research done at both Harvard and the Medical College of Wisconsin, drinking chlorinated water causes 15 % of all cases of rectal cancer and 9% of bladder cancers in the US. These percentages are more than doubled if you are drinking chlorinated water for prolonged periods of time. Chlorinated water increases your cancer risk because chlorine reacts with organic substances in the water and forms carcinogenic compounds. These compounds are called trihalomethanes, DCA and MX, and are responsible for all kinds of mutations and illnesses and cancer.
Fluoride: Known to be almost as toxic as arsenic, fluoride causes cancer and increases the carcinogenic (cancer causing) effects of other chemicals. It has this effect as quantities as low as 1 part per million. The reason the authorities give for adding fluoride to the water is that it’s meant to improve dental health and make our teeth stronger. However according to tests done in the 1950’s, it has no real effect on our dental health.
Fluoride increases the chances of young males getting cancer by almost 600%. It also increases your chances of getting skin cancer. For those with existing tumors drinking fluoride in quantities as low as 1 ppm (part per million) can increase the tumor growth by 25%. According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), fluorine – which is found in fluoride – inhibits DNA repair activity that normally correct flaws and genetic mutations.
What can you do about water pollution?
You can start by being conscious of the problem. Don’t make the situation worse. Limit the amount of pills and drugs you purchase. Make use of Drug take-back programs to discard of unwanted medicine. Never dump medicines in the drain!
If you are worried about contamination in your area contact your local water sanitation authorities and request a copy of the water report. It has to come out annually and they are obliged to give you the information you need
If you find that the levels are too high for comfort consider getting an under the counter filter or reverse osmosis system.
Can a water filter help?
Yes! If you have the right water filter it should be able to remove a huge portion of the chemicals that might be lurking in your drinking water.
For the removal of organic and biological waste from your water the average filter system is probably more than adequate. If you have chemicals in your water or are worried that you might have, consider a point-of-entry reverse osmosis filter. You can at least protect your drinking water this way.
Here’s a recommended water filter to get – Reverse Osmosis Filter System.
If the water filter system is too costly for you, start with a water pitcher. It can help to reduce zinc, chlorine taste and odor, copper, mercury and cadmium, all of which may be commonly found in tap water.
Invest in a shower filter. Many chemicals can be absorbed through your skin. This can be even more dangerous than drinking contaminated water, in some ways. When you drink water it has to be filtered through your kidneys and digestive system which is designed to remove impurities. When chemicals are absorbed through your skin they don’t go through the same internal filtration system. They can just leech straight into your blood stream.
In addition to these measures you should also make sure you take a good immunity-boosting supplement and eat foods rich in antioxidants every day.
Go to the next page and learn more about the immune boosting elixir that you can eat for better immunity.
About the Author:
Emma Deangela is the best selling author of The Alkaline Diet Program and 80/20 Fat Loss. She has helped over tens of thousands of men and women to lose weight and transform their health with sound nutrition advice. Check out her 4 foods to never eat for breakfast video to lose more than 18 lbs in 3 weeks.
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