What's the Big Deal About Filtered Water?

We've heard people say "I always drank tap water and I always will. I'm not spending extra money for bottles at the supermarket or water filters for my sinks. Marketers made up this water scare just to make money. It's all a hoax! If it were serious, people would be dying. The Government would warn us."

Well, it's a logical argument, but let's examine it more closely. "Marketers made up this water scare just to make money. It's all a hoax!" Well, there are some businesses like that who essentially create hoaxes to sell products. They watch what's selling - they call it 'finding a market niche' - and they ride the coattails of researchers that are attempting to address real needs.

But in these days of proven water pollution, no one in this country, or in this world, can be naïve enough to think that there is really much naturally pure water in well-populated areas anymore. There's little enough of it in pristine areas. If the skeptics statements were true, cities and towns wouldn't waste the billions of taxpayer dollars they spend on purification systems. Why not save tax money for more important projects?

We Can No Longer Trust the Government to Warn Us

What about the comment: "If it were serious, people would be dying. The Government would warn us?" Well, the truth is, you'll probably hear about it on the news before the Government warns anyone. Municipalities have been forced into addressing contaminated water issues because people have died, and gotten deathly ill and nearly died, nationwide. In this country, new companies have sprung up overnight to design technologies for filtration systems to put into place in American cities and towns because these problem exist. They are real issues.

But some of the cities and towns are slower to address these realities because of monetary deficiencies, and sometimes because local bureaucrats are willfully ignorant of the issues. Sometimes it can take a small localized outbreak of bacterial infections in your town, U.S.A., which never makes the papers, to cause people to take action on their own. Maybe your water is basically safe, or maybe it's marginal. Maybe there are things you don't know. And maybe there are things you would want to change about your drinking water if you knew about them.

Bottled Water Is Just Another $8 Billion Business

It's really old news, but the issue frequently gets recycled on the evening news by TV investigative teams, that 'bottled water is little more than somebody else's tap water' and isn't worth the price you pay unless you live in a toxic waste dump. Many bottles are truthfully labeled "Do Not Re-Use" because the plastic used in the bottles is inexpensive and will begin to leach into any liquid substances they contain. Those not labeled in words, still carry the embossed #1 on the bottom, telling the world that this container is made from the cheapest and least durable of all plastics, called PET (Polyethylene terephthalate). It is also the most easily recycled, using heat and being stretched into fibers, and recreated into everything from more containers to fleece clothing or park benches. But many people still innocently save the bottles and refill them.

Why shouldn't PET bottles be reused? For the same reason they cannot be recycled into new bottles-the plastic can't stand the mandatory heat, the glass transition temperature, required to sterilize them without it softening and losing its shape. This means that PET (#1) can only be 'recycled' into secondary products, rather than cleaning and reusing the original container.

Consumers wishing to bypass the environmental effects of disposable plastic bottles, as well as avoid the estrogen-mimic Bisphenol-A (BPA), have been able to choose reusable metal bottles, either aluminum or stainless steel. But aluminum bottles require an inner plastic liner to prevent the aluminum itself from leaching into the water, so buyers usually choose aluminum bottles with BPA-free liners to avoid stainless steel bottles made in China. The only problem is that the liners are not BPA-free as we've been told.

SIGG and Gaiam, the two most trusted 'green manufacturers' of re-usable metal bottles, have apparently lied to consumers for some years. The liners in SIGG's aluminum water bottles have now been proven to contain BPA. Gaiam's aluminum water bottles as well, sold with a "BPA Free" label, have been proven to leach BPA into the contents at 20 times the levels of SIGG bottles.

Once independent testing of this was made public, Gaiam posted the test results on its web site showing BPA leaching at 23.8 parts per billion. This is greater than 10 times the detection limit that SIGG provided in its own testing, and more than 18 times greater than leaching levels found in independent studies of SIGG water bottles. It has become clear that America's consumers need to do their homework and not simply believe a brand name or its labels.

Safe Drinking Water is the Law

The EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2009. We all know how long it takes for the Government to act on anything. So how long prior to 1974 had things gotten out of control before the EPA actually acted to protect our water quality?

This law is the main federal law passed to ensure the quality of America's drinking water. Under SDWA, the EPA has attempted to set standards for drinking water quality and to oversee states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards. The EPA cannot and does not meticulously monitor the drinking water that comes out of home faucets. If local officials don't, there's no telling what you're drinking.

Is this a suggestion to crusade for better practices nationwide to ensure that all municipalities abide by the SDWA? Well it can't hurt, but by and large, you yourself are the only one who can ensure that your drinking water is safe. If you don't, you're taking a risk of blind faith that someone else will. If they do, fine, but who's to say they will? If they don't, you and your family could suffer the adverse consequences of ill health from inadequately purified local water supplies - consequences that could have been avoided.

People Can Assure Safe Water With a Few Simple Steps

The simple answer? Get a water filter for the kitchen faucet and use the filtered water for all drinking, cooking, and ice cubes. When at work, insist they install a filter in bubblers and cafeterias or bring your own filtered water to drink. Get a filter for your refrigerator if it automatically provides ice and ice water. If you're really serious, get both a whole-house sediment filter and one that protects you from the chlorine and fluoride absorbed through the skin when showering and bathing. These are one-time expenses you can't afford not to incur.

Anything done to filter drinking water will make it safer. You don't need to buy a $5000 dollar whole-house system. The bulk of contaminants can be removed by the cheapest water filters, which normally resolve 60% of the problem; and buying the next most expensive filter with greater filtration properties may resolve 85% of the problem. The $5000 dollar system may be needed to assure that 100% of the problems are dealt with, but if you can't afford the Cadillac, at least get the Honda. Find something that will reduce water-borne parasites and bacterial pollutants, heavy metals, chlorine, and fluoride. Something is better than nothing.

Once installed, many families have found that nagging respiratory infections and digestive disorders cease and overall health improves unexplainably. Our immune systems face enough challenges in this world without overlooking the obvious. Our bodies are made up of about 89% water. We need to do ourselves a favor and make sure the one thing our body really needs, the water we drink daily, is pure.

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