Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2011

Thursday, December 16, 2010

You have got to love the following quote. It was given by the head of a group representing major water suppliers in California to the Associated Press, after they asked about their reluctance to provide the results of drug tests on their treated water. The reason given was...the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might be unduly alarmed. This articles tells you what we do know is going into our drinking water supplies and I think you will be able to "interpret the information". After you've read it, please let me know if you were "unduly alarmed".

Unduly alarmed... unduly alarmed at finding sex hormones, antibiotics, heart medications, anabolic steroids, oral contraceptives, etc. in our drinking water.

Why would anyone be unduly alarmed?

When fish in the Potomac River (Washington DC's main water source) have been found to have both male and female characteristics from exposure to estrogen-like substances (some had both testes and an ovary) we might "be unduly alarmed"!

Ya think?

The federal government hasn't set any limits on the amount of drugs allowed in our drinking water and, consequently, no testing for their presence is required by water providers and, yes, this includes bottled water providers.

Some states, cities and independent labs have tested drinking water for drugs and here is some of what they found:

1. Philadelphia found 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in its treated drinking water which included medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. The city's watersheds contained 63 drugs or byproducts.

2. 18.5 million people in Southern California were drinking anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications along with their water, and a sex hormone was detected in San Francisco's drinking water.

3. Washington, D.C., draws its water from the Potomac River where many thousands of homes dump waste water and runoff from failing septic systems directly into the river. Not surprisingly, they reported positive tests for six pharmaceuticals.

4. New York State's main water supplies tested positive for heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a tranquilizer and a mood stabilizer.

Thirty-four of the sixty-two major water suppliers contacted in one survey reported they did no testing for drugs and many of the water providers that do test for drugs only test for a few.

Those of us connected to large water suppliers are not the only ones concerned. People in the rural areas, on their own wells, are very worried about the presence of drugs in the groundwater.

And bottled water users don't always dodge the bullet either. The bottled water main trade group admits that many bottlers simply repackage tap water and don't treat or test for pharmaceuticals.

How do drugs get into our water supplies in the first place?

Most of them come from us. We are a nation awash in drugs, legal and otherwise, we buy them and flush them, either unused or not metabolized.

Similarly, some come from large farm animals being treated for injury or diseases or being given hormones to increase their size, or milk production, etc.

Even from our pets...the small animal veterinary drug market now exceeds five billion dollars a year.

A recent Associated Press study reported, "at least 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging", is being flushed down the drain annually by U.S. hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Now, think about that for a moment, hospital waste by the tons filled with germs and antibiotics. It did not take scientist long to link such dumping to antibiotic-resistant germs and genetic mutation that may promote cancers according to the AP.

So far, most of these drugs have been found in minute amounts, leading some experts to declare that, based on what we now know, there is little need for concern.

They say things like "one part in a trillion is like one second in 32,000 years."

But if you get one or two of those parts with every glass of water you drink, or every shower you take or every meal you eat that was prepared using tap water...how many seconds, minutes or hours will that come to? What's the long term effect?

Medical experts point out that medicines are chemicals designed to act in a very specific manner on the body at very small doses and when these drugs are tested for safety approval, the time frame is over a matter of months, not over a lifetime.

Laboratory research results show that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. Cancer cells reproduced too rapidly, kidney cells grew too slowly and blood cells behaved as if inflamed.

I don't know about you, but I am alarmed about what is going into our water supplies and I don't think unduly so.

I know our leaders are concerned about the drugs in our drinking water and I'm sure they will gather the data over the coming years to make the case for more testing, better water purification, etc. but I don't think anyone should wait for the government to get it done.

If you don't have a water purification system in your home I would recommend you get one as soon as you can. If I could, I would buy a water purifier for everyone who reads this article. But I can't.

What I can do is guide you to water purifiers with cutting edge technology that will provide you and your family healthy water to drink, to bathe in, and to cook with.

My Links : Solar Lights

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

It has been a wealth of information and misinformation about water and its value and its positive impact. Many people and organizations have the argument and the pros and cons are signatories were widely discussed. As a result there was a considerable amount of misinformation disseminated and discussed.

In any case, bottled water is a multi-billion dollar business and is very popular. And keep the rise in demand for alternatives in bottles because of the general populationtake a healthier lifestyle.

It is best to use a technical definition of "purity" begin. Purity is often numerically represented by "Total Dissolved Solids", or "TDS", which measures the concentration of soluble impurities. TDS is measured in terms of parts per million (ppm) or milligrams per liter (mg / l). The EPA requires that tap water should not exceed 500 ppm impurities (of all kinds have). Why is this value is not 0 ppm?

Types of water

There are two typesconsumed in the United States today: Municipal (well known) than tap water and bottled (including spring washers, filtered and purified water. The conclusion of this article is: ALL MOST TAP and unhealthy bottled water. Purified water is the only one who is really safe to drink.

Here's the proof:

Tap water - tap water from municipalities to a large proportion of the population made available and most people are familiar with these types.

In Northern Virginia - WashingtonRegion, almost all tap water comes from surface sources such as the Potomac and Occoquan Reservoir, which is fed by the Occoquan River, both of which are dirty. The source of supply will be processed using basic techniques such as sand filtration, filtration (filters out large Feeding of waste and other organic materials), added flocculation (chemicals to coagulate smaller particles and float, so they can be removed), and finally obtain the Chlorine added to kill bacteria andMicroorganisms.

In most cases, tap water is considered (drinking water) according to EPA standards. The use of chlorine is widely used and most people object to the smell and taste of water when chlorine is present.

What exactly are EPA standards?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the regulatory body responsible for setting standards of quality of tap water. The EPA does not ensure purity, only that the water meets standards (which means pollutants andPollutants are allowed). Most communities with an annual glowing reports about the meeting EPA standards, but the standards are arbitrary and not supported by scientific tests and actually an easy way for communities to produce unhealthy drinking water.

Proposed an example of the inaccuracy of the EPA standards in recent legislation by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D. NY) and others that would force the EPA to revise standards to protect reflects, to New Yorkers against TCE, to onecarcinogenic chemical blamed for the pollution of water Long Iceland. Senator Clinton concluded that with regard to the EPA: "It is unacceptable that the EPA has failed the public from TCE in the more scientific evidence that it causes cancer and to protect the growing burden problems in New York and across the country. be exposed .. As a result of EPA delays, communities in New York continue to potentially toxic levels of TCE. "The conclusion that can be drawn from this schemethat the EPA protect our drinking water is at best dubious.

Standards allow certain "minimum" of harmful chemicals and impurities in tap water. What is the difference between a little poison into the body continuously or amount of poison absorbed absorbed in a short time? It can be argued that both are bad for your health.

Many other issues also on tap. How much can poison the human body and how the EPA must determine how much contaminationacceptable and safe? What test protocols shall use the EPA and how the test was conducted? What is made with people in question immune system?

These and many other questions remain unanswered.

Municipal waste (Tap) really safe?

Glowing reports in spite of municipal tap water is harmful to your health for a number of reasons:

· Chlorine is not particularly good for the body - it was connected to a variety of cancers is - but it did kill some microorganisms,You can violently ill.

· A recent study by the Associated Press revealed that pharmaceuticals are present in a large number of community care in the country. Some communities do not test for pharmaceuticals or hold the results of tests.

· There is a problem with heavy metals in municipal systems. Very toxic metals such as lead (especially dangerous for small children), and copper are in many urban systems, since the wires in homes and found they usedHeavy metals into the water after it leaves the filtration plant. Washington. DC, for example, was cited for excessive amounts of lead in municipal supplies.

· A recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning in Colorado, was due to contamination of the municipal supply.

· Micro-organisms such as Cryptosporidium was found and tested, because in many local utility and an outbreak of illness caused by Cryptosporidium in Wisconsin tracked contaminated municipalDeliveries.

· Many communities are long-term effects of fluoridation and fluoride is a controversial subject. Fluoride is a chemical that hardens teeth and prevents tooth decay, but the best application of fluoride in the dental office - not in the public drinking water supplies.

The TDS of Washington, DC tap water ranges from 200 ppm to 400 ppm and + area depends on many factors including the temperature of the river, the flow of the river, runoff, time of year(Fertilizing lawns, etc.) and many others. So, the tap water supply is constantly changing in quality - a fact that most people know never, never betray and municipal utilities.

In terms of health, tap adds little value addition to its low cost.

Bottled Water

Most bottled water is no safer than tap water and a good bit more expensive. Are types of bottled spring products are filtered, cleaned and cleaned with water in the highest quality.

SpringWater

Spring water is the topic of marketing spin and many popular fallacies. Many of those who are supported by misunderstandings less than accurate advertising pitches.

Many people believe, for example, that spring water is actually "pure". On the contrary, spring waters contain many of the same impurities found in drilled wells or even tap water.

A fact that is more than spring water, it is strongly affected by groundwater contamination from animal and industrial wasteRunoff.

But spring advertise "100% pure" spring water, so many businesses? The fact is that the "100%" pure does not refer to the absence of impurities in the water, but the source of the energy of the water. This means that 100% of the water in the bottle came from an underground source (eg a pen), instead of surface water. This cleverly written sentences under certain circumstances permitted by law, but many people find them to be misleading and unethical.

And pollution from sources thatdeliver the water is more often than not. Contamination of groundwater from animal waste can spring water and industrial pollutants such as benzene, and MTBE perchlorinate concern, are usually found in spring water. Benzene is a carcinogenic byproduct of the oil refinery is perchlorinate used in rocket fuel and is highly toxic, even in small quantities and used MTBE in gasoline to improve performance and lye into the water to abandoned U-shaped fuel tanks.

In 2004, the EI DuPontCo, was about 300 million U.S. dollars in fines and penalties for the release of Teflon-related chemicals into the Ohio River, which assessed the pollution sources and wells in the vicinity. The sentence included a requirement for the supply of large quantities of bottled water.

Spring water advertising is all about images - images of mountains, streams and wildlife. The reality is quite different.

Spring water is bottled at source in general, but is usually chlorinated, and the trucksBottling plant. At this point it is to remain basically the same as chlorinated tap water and impurities, because the filtration process not only filter and clean.

Filtered water

This is a product of the mass is distributed in commerce. As a rule, is the source of municipal tap water. The water is then run through carbon filters to remove the chlorine taste and odor before it is bottled.

It is basically tap water without chlorine. In terms of quality,it really is not much different than many spring waters. He comes from a "natural" source, goes through minimal filtration, and is then bottled and shipped to market.

Purified water

Purified water is the fastest growing segment of the bottled water industry, in particular because it is purer than other types of waters. There is a definite health trend today is towards buying healthy living and many health-conscious consumers because it something that want the higher quality andPurity than other options such as tap water.

To meet the legal definition of "purified water", must impurities removed to the U.S. Pharmacopeia definition of justice to (99.9% pure and adopted) by the Food and Drug Administration.

The water must be tested and the results made available to the public. Any reputable vendor cleaned bottles produce reports on demand. The most effective method of cleaning is to be a steam distillation / oxygenation that pure, good createstasting water.

Purified water is often mixed with filtered water. While both types is a type of filtration (as it almost) every spring water, purified water through additional cleaning, generally, purified distillation. The resulting product, "purified" water is much higher purity, as well as spring, tap water or filtered water.

Consider the product is not the source

Purified water may originate from either a spring or surface water orSource or ground water directly from the tap. The source of the water does not matter, it's the cleaning that counts. As the cleaning process is designed to remove virtually all types of impurities, the quality of the source water has cleansed little or no effect on the quality of the finished product.

The steam distillation process of cleaning will consistently produce extremely high purity water, regardless of the variations in the quality of source water. This is nottrue of spring, tap water or filtered water. For this reason, purified water as a standard against which the purity of the other waters will be displayed assessed.

When you buy water for higher quality and higher purity reasons, purified water is the best choice. Tap water in bottles and on the products of hype and spiders are the facts. , Investigate before you drink.



Recommend : Solar Powered Lights Total quality article