31 Jan, 2020

Why are we totally in the dark about our water quality?

There aren’t many things more vital to our health than water. Just think about it. One can’t live without water for more than 3-7 days yet we can go without food for a month. Water is the vital wellspring of life-support.

Humans can only survive a short amount of time without water because the body needs it for almost every process, including:

  • regulating body temperature through sweating and breathing
  • aiding in digestion by forming saliva and breaking down food
  • moistening mucous membranes
  • helping to balance the pH of the body
  • lubricating joints and the spinal cord
  • helping the brain make and use certain hormones
  • helping transport toxins out of the cells
  • eliminating waste through the urine and breath
  • delivering oxygen throughout the body
  • delivering essential minerals as nutrients to your body

Water is our most vital resource. Then how can it be that we actually know almost nothing about the quality of our precious water? Even the bottled water industry has zero regulation concerning disclosure of what is in the water. In most cases it is no better than the tap water you are afraid to drink. Consider these reasons why we are in the dark about something very important:

  1. The EPA has very lax regulation over toxic chemical use in industry versus our EU counterpart. The EU has banned around 1300 chemicals/additives because of the negative impact on health whether in product form or presence in the water table after being dissolved. So far, the EPA has banned 8 with 3 more pending. This means that hundreds of chemicals/additives are still allowed to be landfilled and enter the water tables, wells, and reservoirs that feed the water treatment plants.
  2. The EPA regulates a small percentage of known contaminants common in municipal water supplies. Among the few regulated chemicals are those associated with the mandated use of chlorine or chloramine. These are called disinfectant byproducts and carry generous maximum contamination limits (MCL) versus or EU counterparts. For instance, the EPA MCL limit for total trihalomethanes is 80 parts per billion while the EU uses 50 parts per billion. That’s a big difference especially since there are efforts in the EU to reduce it to 20 parts per billion.
  3. The EPA moves at a glacial pace when it comes to recognizing harmful contaminants and labeling them as such. Over the last two decades the EPA has not moved on limiting even one of the over 100 known contaminants commonly found in municipal water supplies. Most recently, they have just moved to recognize PFAs, known as “forever chemicals” and present in over 98% of things, under a health advisory level – far from instituting a more stringent MCL limit.
  4. The EPA has done many studies on the health effects of chlorine but NONE on chloramine. Users of chloramine are purposely left in the dark as a preponderance of studies show that the ammonia used in the chloramine is even more toxic than the regulated trihalomethane byproducts. Yet the ammonia that you take directly into your bloodstream while showering is unregulated. Since you can’t smell or taste it, ignorance is the water departments best friend.
  5. No water test exists that measures all of these contaminants for consumers. Home water testing is very narrow and can not tell you about what is truly dangerous in your water. Those tests have to be designed and carried out by certified testing labs. This makes it impossible to have any real understanding about just how unhealthy your water is.
  6. Your local water department has almost no control over the health of the water. They have the toughest job in the world. They are not responsible for what has been allowed to be dumped in the land (volatile organics) for decades, are told what to disinfect the water with, have no idea what is in the water that forms disinfectant byproducts, and run the water through antiquated water infrastructure systems. Given limited budgets, these problems will never go away.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO BRING CERTAINTY TO YOUR WATER QUALITY AND PEACE OF MIND.

Since water departments are only obligated to deliver disinfected water to your home, it is up to you to make the water healthy through adequate filtration and purification. Once that investment has been made, it has proven to be the best investment ever made. 

Contact True Health Water Systems at www.TrueHealthWS.com and educate yourself with a free consultation. This way you will have the peace of mind that only comes with a well-informed decision and proven system results.

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