Choose Your Water Carefully
There is no perfect water filter or purifying system to eliminate every single potentially harmful element in our water. Compared to much of the world, however, water in North America meets most safety guidelines. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets guidelines to measure water standards, with the goal of making sure our water is safe. Take responsibility for learning about where your water comes from, how it is filtered, and what you can do to ensure its safety.
What color is your urine? Instead of relying on thirst as an indicator, check the color of your urine. If you’re well hydrated, your urine will be clear or light colored. If not, your urine will be dark yellow or amber.
Tap water, in particular, always contains more than just water. Tap water is known to often be contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead or cadmium or with fluoride, which is associated with an increased risk of cancer, digestive disorders, and kidney disease. One reason is that a number of different chemicals are added to city water to both stabilize the water and to keep the pipes from rusting.
I have questions about my drinking water; whom should I call?A good place to start is the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline: 1-800-426-4791. It’s free and offers information on local drinking water quality, drinking water standards, public drinking water systems, and wells.
An area’s water table can become contaminated in a number of different ways. Industrial chemicals and wastes, pesticides, and other farm chemicals often seep through the soil to contaminate the water table. Even though the individual chemicals are bad enough, volatile chemicals (those hydrocarbons that readily vaporize) can combine with other chemicals (like chlorine) and form even more toxic products.
Getting your water from a well has its own concerns. According to the CDC, contaminated private well water causes one-fourth of the drinking water outbreaks that make people sick. Runoff pollutants can also seep into groundwater, and microorganisms, heavy metals, lead, copper, household waste, fluoride, and more can all be found in traces in ground water. If it’s in the groundwater, it’s in your well.
You should have your well water tested regularly, but do it sooner if there are known problems with well water in your area, you have experienced problems near your well (i.e., flooding, land disturbances, and nearby waste disposal sites), or you replace or repair any part of your well system.
If you are a homeowner with a private well, you should test your well water annually to make sure you’ve got safe drinking water. Contact your health or environmental department, or a private laboratory to test for germs and harmful chemicals. The CDC recommends testing for fecal coliform, nitrates, volatile organic compounds, and pH levels. If you live near farm animals, heavy industrial sites, or commercial agriculture fields, you may be at a higher risk for pollutants.
Bottled water’s popularity is fueled in part by suspicions over the quality of tap water. You may not be getting what you pay for. Even though the label may say pure, bottlers are required in most cases only to meet the same quality standards as tap water. In one survey of 103 brands of bottled water, one-third of the brands contained unsafe levels of contamination, including synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic.
The report showed that the contents of one bottle came from an industrial parking lot next to a hazardous waste site. Ironically, the bottle was labeled “spring water.” However, the FDA does now insist that bottled water must come from a spring if the bottler claims that it does.
Even if you are drinking spring water, the bottle might make you sick. The other concern about bottled water is the plastic used to make the bottles. Most plastic bottles contain bisphenol A (BPA). In laboratory animals, low-dose exposure to BPA has been linked to cancer, diabetes, fertility problems, and behavior disorders. If you need to use plastic, look for No. 1 PETE, No. 2 HDPE, No. 4 LDPE, or No. 5 PP, and refuse the rest.
Regardless of whether your water comes from a well or the city, add a water filter system. Most personal water filters are charcoal activated. That means that when charcoal is initially processed, it becomes very absorptive. When used in a water filter, it absorbs sediments and particulates that we want eliminated from our water. Popular pour-through water filters use charcoal to remove sediment. Charcoal water filters are inexpensive, effective, and do not waste much water.
Warm water with lemon is a soothing digestive tonic. Heat 8 to 10 ounces water, add the juice of a lemon, and honey to taste. For a little variation, use lime instead of lemon juice, or add a slice of fresh ginger or a mint or basil leaf.
