Why There Is No Such Thing As ‘Safe’ Tap Water

Green Med Info – by Sayer Ji

Water is life, as the saying goes. And it’s more than just a poetic phrase. Water is so intrinsically connected to life, if you counted all the molecules in the human body, 99% of them would be water!

On average, a human life can be sustained for up to three weeks without food, but a person won’t survive more than a few days without water. Under extreme conditions, an adult can lose around one liter of water per hour, all of which needs to be readily replaced to maintain a healthy fluid balance. So, what could be more important than consuming high quality, non-contaminated water? 

In the United States, most of the water we utilize comes from our domestic water tap. We cook with it, we bathe in it; we use it on our yards, and in our pools. And we rarely, if ever, consider how clean or safe it is to do so. But when it comes to drinking water, quality is not something that can be sacrificed in exchange for plentiful supply.

One of the most profound technological developments in the modern era was the implementation of mass public sanitation infrastructures and the subsequent availability of water free from feces and other biological contaminants. Indeed, this, along with improved nutrition and refrigeration technologies, was what was behind the widespread reduction in epidemic outbreaks in ‘infectitious diseases’ in the mid-tweintieth century and not the introduction of mass vaccination campaigns which came afterwards.  Drinking unclean water can cause either acute or chronic effects, depending on the nature of the contaminant, and the concentration. Dysentery, a common water-borne bacterial infection, causes acute reactions such as intestinal inflammation, and severe diarrhea. A serious condition, dysentery causes rapid dehydration, and an infection which can be fatal, if left untreated. It is still a common third-world killer today.

Yet, with the introduction of modern water sanitation technologies, another problem emerged: chronic, culminative poisoning to nonlethal doses of contaminants, such as most industrial chemicals. Fertilizer runoff, and other industrial pollutants, contaminate streams and rivers worldwide.

The Illusion of Safety / Not MY Tap!

It’s easy to think that living in the United States gives us a free pass from such concerns. But recent headlines speak to a darker reality.

You’ve heard about the ongoing battle for clean water in Flint, Michigan. But unsafe tap water is not a localized phenomenon. Recent reports have found that 62 million Americans are exposed to unsafe drinking water, and that chemical contaminants in tap water could be the cause of 100,000 cancer cases in the United States.  Yet often, these flag-raising issues don’t trigger safety responses until people start getting sick.

Safeguarding the health of our bodies includes ensuring that the water we drink has been properly filtered, or comes from a known-clean source such as a spring or an uncontaminated well. Only trust bottled water that comes from a reputable company.

And don’t let being in a nice restaurant in a big city lull you into a sense of complacency. From New York City to Encinitas, Portland to Boulder, veritable meccas of food quality and health consciousness are serving unfiltered tap water. You don’t have to see it to believe it.

Lead and Fluoride: Lethal Offenders

Among the most common water contaminants, none are as dangerous to our health as lead and fluoride. Studies show even low-dose lead exposure can cause brain damage and developmental problems in young people. Lead leaches into water systems through old, corroded pipes like the ones found in many turn-of-the-century cities and towns. This problem will worsen in coming years, as 20th century infrastructure continues to decay, and increased testing efforts raise awareness.

Fluoride is one of the greatest cons ever perpetrated on the American public. While some areas of the country can have high-levels of naturally occurring fluoride, the type that is added to about 90% of municipal water supplies are the silicofluorides, fluorosilicic acid (FSA) and sodium fluosilicate (NaFSA), by-products of the aluminum industry.

Done under the assertion that it helps prevent dental caries in underserved populations, this claim has been widely debunked in recent years. Authors of A Critical Review of the Physiological Effects of Ingested Fluoride, concluded that “Available evidence suggests that fluoride has a potential to cause major adverse human health problems, while having only a modest dental caries prevention effect.” These studies show that dental remineralization occurs when small amounts of fluoride are topically applied to teeth, not when ingested.

Although the medical establishment works hard to hide the dangers of fluoride, science is beginning to sound the alarm. In 2014, fluoride was added to a growing list of developmental neurotoxins, and the evidence of a link between ingested fluoride and the development of cancer is deepening.

What are some of the lesser-known but still frighteningly common contaminants being found in our drinking water? We’ve compiled five of the top reasons to find an alternative to tap water. (And no, single-step carbon filters don’t fix the problem.)

Read the rest here: https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/why-there-no-such-thing-safe-tap-water