![]() There appears to be more than just water in our water supply. Everything from pharmaceuticals, to poisons metals, to deadly chemicals. What's in your water supply? Check here. To the right, on the linked page, is a box asking for your zip. Fill in the appropriate blanks to find out what is in your water supply. It's amazing to find out what you're taking a shower in, or cooking your pasta...You can always use a water filter. As long as you regularly keep the filter changed, your run-of-the-mill activated carbon filter (think Brita) filter will get rid of or reduce lots of those pesky additions like: Bad tastes and odors, including chlorine. A standard 53-certified filters also can substantially reduce many hazardous contaminants, including heavy metals such as copper, lead and mercury; disinfection byproducts; parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium; pesticides; radon; and volatile organic chemicals such as methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), dichlorobenzene and trichloroethylene (TCE) In my next post I'll give a break down which water filters can protect you the best, because they're not all the same. But if you ever find yourself in a "Boil Alert" or "Boil Water Alert Advisory", those filters wont work. Boiling water from 3-5 minutes is your only sure bet to kill off any harmful bacteria like the Cryptosporidium. This nasty critter is the cause of most water born illnesses. Some filters remove them, but boiling water is the only sure way to protect yourself from this bugger. But boiling doesn't take out harmful metals or toxins. You would then need to send your boiled water through an appropriate filter. I have an ultra high sensitivity to the taste of water. The only water I have ever tasted, that did not taste funny, is Fiji Water. It is especially easy to taste the 'funniness' of water is when it's warm. But during a Boil Alert, it's good to realize all the water coming out of the pipes, is contaminated.
Although chemicals (e.g., bleach) are sometimes used for disinfecting small volumes of drinking water for household use, Cryptosporidium is poorly inactivated by chlorine or iodine disinfection. Cryptosporidium can be removed from water by filtering through a reverse osmosis filter, an "absolute one micron" filter, or a filter certified to remove Cryptosporidium under NSF International Standard #53 or #58 for either "cyst removal" or "cyst reduction." However, unlike boiling or distilling, filtering as just described will not eliminate other potential disease-causing microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Ultraviolet light treatment of water is not effective against Cryptosporidium at normally-used levels. Links to official sites: EPA CDC Water Facts
![]() Articles to read: Drugs in Our Drinking Water? U.S. Must Rethink Policies on Water Supply Pharmaceuticals in Our Water Supply Are Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife What the Frack is in That Water?
2 Comments
9/26/2012 09:14:47 pm
Nice post as for me. It would be great to read something more concerning this theme. The only thing it would also be great to see on this blog is some pics of some gadgets.
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