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Water is the very essence of life. It covers most of the planet and makes up most of every living thing.
The availability of very high quality water from every tap is a key indicator of a successful civilisation and those areas of the world without access to clean water are typically characterised as 'Third World' with the consequent poor health and high mortality.
In the comfort of our own kitchen we may assume that all water is the same.
A thorough study of water around the world in general tells a different story.
A few well-placed hours on the Internet show that the world is in an unprecedented water quality crisis as well as water shortage.
Depending on what part of the country one lives in, it is easy to find trace amounts of chlorination byproducts, organics, nitrates, pesticides, heavy metals, radioactive compounds, petrochemicals, pharmaceutical derivatives and parasites coming from the local municipal water supply.
If you get your water from a private well, all of these contaminants except for the chlorination byproducts can be present.
Toxins
The toxins and free radicals in these waters are made significantly more toxic to humans by the addition of chlorine -- a compound mandated by the public health department.
Individuals who drink and bath in chlorinated surface waters (i.e., water from lakes, rivers and shallow wells) have a 50% greater likelihood of getting cancer in their lifetime.[1] [2]
Even if you think you are safe because you drink bottled water, you may be surprised to learn that one can absorb up to 600% more contaminants in your body in a ten-minute shower than in all the water consumed in a day.[3]
Oestrogen
With millions of women around the world taking the Pill or HRT, the global water supply is rich in oestrogen and oestrogen by products.
This has been blamed for changes in the sexual make-up of many animals from trout and salmon up the food chain to the polar bear. There are regular cases of animals being found with indeterminate sex organs and some can even be classified as 'hermaphrodite'
The problem is now also affecting man and high oestrogen levels are being blamed for falling fertility and low sperm counts.
MTBE
In January 2000, Sixty Minutes, the US investigative TV program, reported that as many as 100 million Americans were drinking water contaminated with MTBE, a gasoline additive that has been leaching into our water supplies since 1992.
MTBE is believed to cause cancer in concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion and unfortunately local water companies are helpless to remove it.
Because of such contaminants, two out of every five households now have a water filter or drink bottled water, as will be discussed later, with no assurance of safety.
The problem is that the average consumer and even most medical professionals do not know what is the best way to treat water or the best source of water to drink.
[1] “Cancer Incidence and Trihalomethane Concentrations in the Public Drinking Water System”, George L. Carlo. American Journal of Public health, Vol. 74, No. 5, 1984, pp. 479-484.
[2] “Organic Chemical Contaminants in Drinking Water and Cancer”, American Journal of Epidemiology, Vo. 110, 1979, p.420.
[3] “Showers Pose a Risk to Health”, Ian Anderson, New Scientist, September 1986 |
