The Deadly Dangers of Tap Water
March 2nd, 2009
Despite the urgent need we have for water, nearly all sources of it are contaminated and present significant health risks.
The Shameful Facts
Within the past century, the extensive use of chemicals in agriculture and big industry has polluted every source of water on the planet. Traces of toxic synthetic chemicals can even be found in polar icecaps and the Arctic Ocean. Despite our intelligence, we’re literally destroying our supply of the two most essential elements of life!
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are over 700 chemicals in our drinking water, and that includes “clean” sources such as wells and springs. Of all the dangerous chemicals found in drinking water, chlorine and fluoride are two of the most prominent. In fact, both of these chemicals are added intentionally!
Chlorine
Chlorine is used in drinking water to kill dangerous organisms that can cause severe illness. While this is a nice benefit, it comes at an expensive cost to our health.
The byproducts that result from the chlorination of water, such as trihalomethanes, are actually a much larger concern than the chlorine itself. These byproducts don’t break down easily and tend to accumulate in the body faster than the detoxification system can handle. They’ve been linked to cancer, are known to damage the heart, lungs, kidneys, and nervous system, and are lethal to the beneficial bacteria in the intestines that are crucial to immunity and digestion.
Fluoride
Fluoride is commonly added to drinking water to help prevent tooth decay. It’s linked to cancer and osteoporosis, can damage the heart, brain and kidneys, and can cause behavioral disorders, birth defects, arthritis, hormone imbalance, and excessive calcification of arteries and joints.
With these significant risks, you’d think that fluoride must provide a significant benefit, but in contrast, research indicates that it’s addition to water makes little difference in the prevention of tooth decay. What we have here is another disastrous example of science trying to outsmart nature. As can be seen from the work of Dr. Weston A. Price, proper diet is all that’s needed to prevent tooth decay. Even if the fluoride was effective, we shouldn’t all be put at risk to justify the unhealthy eating habits of modern society.
Drinking Water isn’t the Only Concern!
Most people don’t realize that their skin is like a sponge and will absorb much of what it comes in contact with. Because skin doesn’t have the capability of regulating absorption as well as the intestines, anything absorbed through the skin is likely to get into the blood stream. As such, every time we shower, bathe, or swim in a pool, we are literally soaking our skin with toxic chemicals.
The heat associated with a shower or bath makes the problem worse. It promotes increased skin absorption, and by vaporizing some of the water, the chemicals in it can be inhaled and absorbed through the lungs.
Swimming pools present unique concerns as well. Chlorine can react with human compounds to produce additional toxic byproducts. Public pools are especially problematic based on the volume of people that swim in them and the fact that they often have higher levels of chlorine.
It’s estimated that you can absorb more chlorine byproducts from one hour in a swimming pool than from an entire week of drinking tap water! In fact, skin exposure to pool water has been found to have the most significant cancer risk of all forms of exposure to chlorinated water, and by a large majority.
How to Protect Yourself
Although this is alarming information, there’s plenty you can do to minimize your risk. The following suggestions will help you get started.
Drink Clean Water
Many of the toxic chemicals found in drinking water are dangerous in very small quantities. As such, it’s nearly impossible to identify them based on taste, and this increases the need to be sure that your drinking water is properly filtered.
The best type of filtration I know of is the combination of reverse osmosis and activated carbon. This combination is commonly combined into a single filtration unit that can be connected to your sink or refrigerator. An advantage of connecting it to your refrigerator is that your ice cubes will be purified along with your drinking water. The reverse osmosis system that I recommend is made by Sante. This system is very similar to the one I use with the exception of a few specific features that I needed for my reef aquariums.
A less expensive alternative to the reverse osmosis filter is the faucet filter. Although it doesn’t filter as thoroughly as the reverse osmosis unit, it should be sufficient. Furthermore, it’s convenient when you need the fast flow of a faucet, and it’s also a great way to ensure access to clean water when you travel.
One problem with filtering drinking water is that it filters it too well and removes the natural minerals and trace elements along with the chemicals. Many experts believe that drinking this type of water will cause these essential materials to be pulled out of your body. You can easily prevent this by adding a pinch of organic sea salt. While this may sound disgusting, only a tiny bit is necessary and you probably won’t even notice it.
Beware of Bottled Water
Bottled water is not the healthy option many people think it is. In fact, some bottled water is no less contaminated than ordinary tap water. The plastic bottle it comes in makes matters worse by leaching chemicals into the water, especially if it’s been exposed to heat. Furthermore, the enormous quantity of plastic bottles being produced has created significant environmental concerns.
While there are some quality brands of tap water, it’s best to drink filtered water as often as possible. However, keep in mind that it’s not a good idea to go without water and dehydrate yourself just because filtered water isn’t available. Tap water or bottled water are both much better than no water at all!
Avoid Plastic
As I just mentioned, plastic containers leach toxic chemicals into the water they contain. This means you want to avoid plastic cups, jugs, and sports bottles as often as possible. The best options are glass or stainless steel. Klean Kanteen has an excellent line of stainless steel water bottles that come in a variety of colors and sizes. I have two of these bottles and use them to bring the water I filter at home nearly everywhere I go.
Bathe in Clean Water
Showering and bathing in unfiltered tap water is more dangerous than drinking it. If you’re making the effort to drink filtered water, you should certainly try to shower and bathe in filtered water as well. Sante, the same company that makes the reverse osmosis filter that I previously mentioned, also makes an excellent shower filter. I’ve been using this filter for over a year and it’s great to have peace of mind and know that I’m not soaking myself in chemicals. Another nice benefit of this filter is that it’s easy to travel with and install on hotel shower heads.
As previously mentioned, the steam produced by a hot shower contains toxins that will be directly absorbed by the lungs when inhaled. You can minimize your exposure to these toxins by reducing the time you spend in the shower and keeping the water at a lower temperature.
If you prefer a bath over a shower, Sante also makes a bath filter called the Bath Bubble. However, if your bathtub and shower are a common unit, you can use the shower head to fill the bathtub and avoid the need for the additional filter.
What About Swimming?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a good solution for the chemical exposure associated with swimming except to avoid chlorinated pools as much as possible. If you have your own pool, consider switching to a more natural form of filtration than chlorine. Although I don’t know much about this, I do know there are a few different options available.
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Thank you pointing out the dangers that lurk in our water… something so healthy gone terrably wrong.
As for the issue with the pools, if you have a private pool, look into a relatively inexpensive salt water conversion… you will save money in the long term! and it is so much more healthy!
Good point on the shower… people often do not realize the amount of chlorine they absorb in the shower!
The issue with a reverse osmosis system (I used one for years) is the water is still acidic. Purchasing a water system that filters as well as replaces the minerals and magnetizes the water to create PI water will greatly enhance your health! The water helps your body become alkiline again! There was a study done with RO water and PI water. Gold fish were place in bowls of each, covered with platic wrap (no air or food). The fish in RO water died within three days, the fish in PI water lived over 265 days.
Thank you again for such great info!
Christine Hiebel
I will make sure that my personal training clients get these types of drinking containers. Not only am I sure that they make a big difference in the healthiness of the water, but they look cool too! No pun intended!
Hi Christine,
Thanks for the comment. Can you recommend any good resources for further information about the salt water pool conversion?
I am aware of Pi water but have read many conflicting things about it. You’ve inspired me to look into it further. However, one thing that’s important to understand is that the acidity or alkalinity of water can have different effects on your health based on your Metabolic Type. Alkaline water will help to promote balance for some people, but will push others out of balance. Same with acidic water.
Regardless of the resulting water being acidic or alkaline, I think the most important aspect of any water filter is how effective it is at removing chemicals.
While I do think the toxicity of our water is a problem (hey at least we have it), there are IMO more important things to worry about, diet and exercise for example. Great post as always.
Hi Bud, thanks for the comment!
I disagree that drinking filtered water is less important than diet and exercise. It shares the same goal with eating organic food. In fact, based on the volume of water we need to drink per day and with the use of chlorine and fluoride, it’s arguable that drinking filtered water is even more important than eating organic food. However, I don’t like ranking the importance of factors that are all so important.
Sure, someone who eats a lot of junk and doesn’t drink enough water has more to worry about than toxicity, but that doesn’t lessen the dangers of consuming toxic chemicals. While it may be easier for someone to adjust their diet to contain more natural and whole food prior to focusing on organic food and filtered water, avoiding toxins is just as essential to good health as a nutritious diet.
I suggest you read Detoxify or Die by Sherry Rogers to get a better appreciation of the significant dangers related to toxic chemicals.
Tap water is not dangerous. Chlorination by-products are present in miniscule quantities in tap water (on the order of parts per billion).
To quote this article for example: “The byproducts of chlorine are linked to cancer, are known to damage vital organs including the heart, lungs and kidneys, and can also damage the central nervous system. They also kill the beneficial bacteria in the intestines that are crucial to immunity and digestion. ”
Yes, the byproducts are linked to those things, but in what quantity? Absolutely not in the quantities present in tap-water.
Hi Mike, thanks for your comment!
You said that the quantity of disinfection byproducts that cause serious health issues are “absolutely not in the quantities present in tap water.”
I beg to differ and so do many residents of Washington D.C.! The Environmental Working Group has done extensive research on tap water, and in this article, they discuss in detail how testing in 2007 showed the water in Washington D.C. to contain levels of disinfection byproducts that are indeed very dangerous.
From the article: “The state of Oregon has warned that long term exposure to HAAs at levels equal to those found in DC tap water could cause injury to the brain, nervous system, the eyes, and the reproductive system.”
The article also says that “EPA scientists have identified a total of 600 disinfection byproducts in tap water but EPA has set legal limits in tap water for only 11.”
For more information on the Environmental Working Groups extensive research on water quality, you can visit their National Tap Water Quality Database website.
Furthermore, it’s important to consider that the EPA has two sets of standards. One is the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) and the other is the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL). The former is a goal based on the level of danger of a particular contaminant based on research while the latter is the actual enforced level based on what water suppliers are capable of meeting.
From the EPA’s website: “MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as possible, considering the ability of public water systems to detect and remove contaminants using suitable treatment technologies.”
As it turns out, the EPA disagrees with you that levels of disinfection byproducts in parts per billion are safe. In fact, for more than a few disinfection byproducts, the EPA has set the MCLG at zero meaning that they consider them to be dangerous at any level. However, because water suppliers would have a difficult time meeting this standard, the MCL for these toxins are more lenient.
If you’d like to have a look for yourself, here’s the EPA’s list of MCLGs and MCLs.
This site can tell you exactly what has been tested for in the water in your area. It seems a water filter is usually a great idea for peace of mind.
Hi Heather,
Although it doesn’t have any information for my water supplier, it seems like a useful site. Thanks for sharing it!
Hi, I’ve just found your site and it is interesting! I have long been interested in nutrition, especially since having children. Unfortunately our income is pretty low, and so we’re doing our best to buy whole groceries–still not organic, grassfed, etc., although I hope to go there some day. I looked at this water filter you recommend, and it is expensive too. We’ve used a faucet filter from Home Depot/WalMart before (maybe Brita?)–how does that compare to the one you recommend by Sante? Thanks!
Hi Lilly,
Most of the basic filters you’d buy at a place like Home Depot or WalMart are based mostly or completely on activated carbon. While activated carbon is an excellent filtration media and is effective for smaller contaminants such as disinfection byproducts, it’s not good for other contaminants like arsenic and fluoride. A reverse osmosis unit usually includes an activated carbon component along with the RO membrane which makes it very effective at eliminating a wide variety of contaminants.
Some of the less expensive filtration units that don’t include reverse osmosis membranes use other types of media along with the activated carbon, but their effectiveness is dependent on the quality of the media. A unit like this is certainly better than nothing, but in my opinion, a reverse osmosis unit is a much better choice. If you shop around, you should be able to find a number of them that are less expensive, but the quality might not be good. You can visit the Water Quality Association or NSF International to find manufacturers that cell certified filters.
Thanks for your reply! I appreciate hearing educated opinions like yours.
I love this article. We recently had our water tested and found out that it’s not too bad. How sad is that, “not TOO bad”? Our Cholorine levels were off the chart though. Before we had a specialist come out, I had no idea how toxic these chemicals can really be. We use filtered water from the fridge for drinking, but I didn’t know the dangers of bath/shower water as well. At this time we are not able to purchase a whole house filtration system, so we have invested in 2 shower filters, a bath ball, a sink spigot filter that is a 3 stage filter and of course our fridge filter. I like that you have mentioned the MCLG and MCL levels, but if one is not familiar (as my husband & I were) then you won’t get it. Is there a site that explains the two and how this is VERY important when looking at your water report? Thanks for the great info! I will be passing this along to family & friends.
Hi Lyn, thanks for your comment!
According to the EPA’s website, the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) is “the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety and are non-enforceable public health goals.” The Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) is “the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology and taking cost into consideration. MCLs are enforceable standards.” In short, the MCLG is ideal and the MCL is what’s enforceable based on technical and monetary considerations.
Here’s another page on the EPA’s website that discusses MCL and MCLG in a bit more detail.
Ran across your blog while looking up running shoes..and cant stop reading! Been reading since I left the gym this evening.
I wonder, any ideas for travelers to filter water on the go? I travel with my husband and really would love some ideas.
Great blog,
Thanks!
Hi Suzy, thanks for your kind feedback!
How about the shower and faucet filters linked to in the article? They’re small, can easily be packed in a suitcase, and you should be able to install them quickly on a hotel shower or faucet. If you’d rather buy just one filter, you can buy the shower filter and use the shower to get your drinking water. The Klean Kanteen canisters are great for travel as well. They’re durable, and you can fill them with filtered water in your hotel room.
Vin,
Thank you for posting your blog and great articles.
Can you tell me what I should have my well water tested for, and where I can have it done?
Hi Ramy,
There’s a section of the EPA’s website that’s dedicated to private wells and includes information on what to test for and where to have testing done.