Water Filtration

For many years, American consumers have been faced with frightening headlines about unsafe drinking water, but haven’t had any real guidelines on what to do about it.

In past years, information on drinking water and water treatment options has been hard to come by, but now although there is an abundance of information on the internet, there are still many things that the general public is unaware of. Here are just a few:

• Although most public health officials claim that their drinking water is safe, they’re only guessing. Their guesses are as informed as they can be in many cases, but no one actually knows what “safe” is, and “safe” levels of pollutants are often based on incomplete data.
• Federal and state standards for drinking water safety are inadequate in several ways; they do not cover all of the toxic substances that may be in your water; many smaller public water systems are exempt; and almost no studies have been done on the increased toxicity caused by combinations of pollutants in water. In many cases, standards have been set at levels that accommodate industry rather than protect public health.
• Right now, there are trace amounts of chemicals known to cause cancer in essentially every public water supply in the country.
• Most of the water tests performed for consumers in the United States test for aesthetic qualities ( taste, smell, color, clarity) rather than for potentially dangerous pollutants.

None of these facts are very uplifting, but consumers can take a variety of steps to protect themselves including having their water tested by a private laboratory and/or installing an efficient, high quality water filtration system. Pressing local state and federal officials to do more is also advisable, but in the meantime, taking some matters into your own hands is still the surest way to protect you and your family.

Excerpted from “The Drinking Water Book” by Colin Ingram.

You must be logged in to post a comment.