The 10 Dangerous Contaminants in Your Tap Water

Do You Understand the Dangers of Tap Water? If you know the dangers of drinking tap water to your health and well being, you would think twice before putting it into your body. We often take the purity of our tap water for granted, and we shouldn't. There are endless reports of contaminants in our tap water. Ageing pipes leach contaminants into the water they carry and breed bacteria… a potential prescription for illness. Old-fashion water treatment systems built to filter out particles in the water and kill some parasites. Bacteria generally fail to remove 21st-century contaminants like pesticides, industrial chemicals, and arsenic. To disinfect, chlorine is added to our water supply at the water processing plant. In many cities, ammonia is also added to the process, which is called Chloramine, to stabilize the chlorine so it won't vaporize over time. Here are a few quotes from the city of San Francisco water department pamphlet: "Chloraminated water can harm fish and amphibians, such as turtles and frogs, as Chloramine passes through their gills and directly enters the bloodstream. Do you think it's safe for people and animals to drink?. Is it really safe for the human body? It might not kill us right away, but will slowly if accumulated over a long period. Chlorine or Chloramine is known to be the cause of some illnesses. There are other contaminants that tap water may or most likely contain:

Lead from soldered pipes – which can generate brain damage and diminished intelligence in children, resulting in anemia, low birth weight in children, rise adult's blood pressure.
Inside pipeline or tank microbiological growth
Inside pipes or holding tanks particulates from corrosion and rusting
Leeching industrial runoff pesticides
Kidney damage caused by mercury
Radon from land decade can increase the chance of stomach cancer
MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether), a cancer-causing chemical
Germs, bacteria, and viruses
Rocket fuel — perchlorate, dangerous to the thyroid and perhaps carcinogenic
Arsenic, lately judged not safe at any level in drinking water, is still existing at significant levels in the drinking water of 22 million Americans.

NRDC's research revealed that periodic spikes in contaminant levels are on the rise, a sign that aging pipes and water-treatment facilities often can't handle today's contaminant loads. With the recent report on pharmaceuticals, a substance found in the drinking water supply is just one of many cases. EPA estimates that 2-10% of bladder cancer may be from contaminated drinking water. The use of at source water purification devices is strongly recommended to protect you and your family's health should you be concerned about the dangers of drinking tap water.

Tap Water with Chlorine may be a Health Risk

You could be amazed at how many water districts add chlorine to their drinking water to get rid of microorganisms. This is a cheap and highly effective disinfectant, but what you seemingly don’t know is the dangers of chlorine in our body. Chlorine may be moving into your body every day if you are drinking tap water or even bottled water. While chlorine is a reasonable and adequate drinking water disinfectant, it is also a poison, and we are drinking it, washing in it and cooking with it. Did you know that chlorine gas was applied with deadly effectiveness as a weapon in the First World War? The gas would seriously burn the lungs and other body tissues when inhaled and is no less powerful when ingested by mouth. Researchers have now connected chlorine in drinking water to higher rates of bladder, rectal, and breast cancers. Reportedly chlorine, once in the water, mixes with organic compounds to create trihalomethanes (THMs) — which, when ingested, stimulate the increase of free radicals that can destroy or damage vital cells in the body. Drinking water ends up in the bladder and/or in the rectum, so THMs are expressly damaging to these organs most. It has long been recognized as the link between chlorine and bladder and rectal cancers. Still, it only recently has researchers discovered a link within common chlorine disinfectants and breast cancer, which hits one out of every eight American women. A new study conducted in Hartford, Connecticut, noticed that 50-60 percent of women with breast cancer have more significant levels of organochlorines (chlorine by-products) in their breast tissue than cancer-free women. Still buying bottled water is not a solution. Most of the bottled water for sale in the U.S. originates from public municipal water sources that are usually treated with chlorine. A few cities have turned over to other means of disinfecting their water supplies. Las Vegas, for example, has supported the lead of many European and Canadian cities in shifting over to harmless ozone rather than chlorine to disinfect its municipal water supply.

Here are some tips:

Quit Buying Bottled Water! It may not be any bigger than the water you get from your tap, and all those empty plastic bottles are ending up in the landfill. They are horrible for the environment!

Carbon Filters will eliminate most of the chlorine from your tap water. A cost-effective and straightforward way of drinking tap water.

Carbon Filter Drinking Water

Dr. Oz said today, some people might want to invest in a water filtration system for their homes for an extra measure that can remove specific contaminants. There are a variety of devices – water pitcher filter systems and faucet mount water filters are most popular. Still, there are countertop water filters, under-the-sink water filters, and whole house (point of entry) water filter units. They can improve water taste and also remove certain impurities and contaminants. Familiar places to find obesogens: In your faucet, pesticides seep deep into the soil and find their way to the water table and into your tap water. The main obesogen in tap water is atrazine. Banned in Europe, but found around the United States, atrazine slows thyroid hormone metabolism. Another culprit found in tap water, tributyltin, a fungicide painted on the bottoms of boats, stimulates fat cell production.

Tap Water with Chlorine may be a Health Risk

Here are some tips:

Carbon Filter Drinking Water

How Do Your Rate the Tap Water in Your City?