To a”Water, Water, Everywhere!”
Is a comic tale but to others in other parts of the Earth, it is not amusing. Despite its abundance on earth, water has been one of the scarcest commodities both in volume and in quality. Despite improvements in technology, drought and water-borne diseases are commonplace worldwide. Drinking water supplies are vulnerable to all sorts of contamination sources and so confusing customers about their water quality. On the flip side, we are lead to believe that drinking water is well treated and safe to drink, on the other hand, we could see news reports about few inefficient water treatment plants, or operators who attempt to control water testing results. Water advisories are common-advising consumers to flush their water before they drink when particular contamination is found.
One sort of relief is that EPA suggested in the “Water Tap” report that the”actual events of drinking water contamination are infrequent, and typically don’t happen at levels likely to present health issues.” But the report says further that”there are growing numbers of activities that can contaminate our drinking water.” Drinking water sources (surface and groundwater) can be exposed to these contaminants from combined sewer overflows, sanitary overflows, stormwater runoffs, concentrated animal feeding operations, failed septic tank discharges, and a range of others. These contaminants vary from fertilizer, pesticides, pharmaceutical drugs, toxic wastes, oil, radionuclides, and metals. (USEPA, 2003)
Contamination in the source
A drinking water source is occasionally subjected to harmful contaminants right from the origin. Disease-causing bacteria can enter municipal drinking water, well water, or contaminated ice. Following the 2002 CDC report, from 1985 to 2000, 251 outbreaks and 462,169 cases of waterborne illness associated with contaminated drinking water have been reported. Some of these cases were connected to surface water supply sources which have been contaminated with sewage. Some drinking water contaminations have been linked to Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO) and raw sewage discharges into supply lines. Forty-two percent of the water-borne disease epidemic was connected to Giardia.
EPA identified 59 CSO outfalls in seven states having outfalls within one mile of drinking water consumption. Although the Report to Congress did not find any relationship between CSO discharges from these outfalls and the transfer of contaminants to the area of the intake, it states more intricate modeling is needed to perform a better study. (USEPA, 2004)
Contaminants from home plumbing systems:
Water can be contaminated by lead in home plumbing systems. Lead contamination can result in many different health difficulties. According to EPA, “in babies and children, exposure to lead above the action level of 0.015 mg/l may lead to delays in physical and psychological development.” Although it’s uncommon that lead can contaminate water from the supply, lead can leach to drinking water out of corroded pipes in homes that have lead pipes, joints, and solder.
How to obtain fresh tasting and healthy water – The good thing is that progress in water treatment technology has made it possible to eliminate these contaminants from our drinking water. Although technology has not caught up with all the pharmaceutical water contamination, most water treatment devices can remove drugs that contain volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). You may also check this website about mold removal. According to the NSF International, although many of the NSF-certified therapy devices are specifically designed to remove pharmaceuticals right now” a number of those products might help provide additional protection from a broad range of different contaminants.” Consumers have a large choice of water treatment devices to choose from and you do not have to buy bottled water water-which can cost you lots of money annually, to acquire healthy water. In reality, studies have shown that some bottled water includes some degree of germs. This is since tap water and bottled water are not governed by the very same standards and the same agencies.
An NRDC study demonstrated that one-third of 103 brands of bottled water analyzed contained some degrees of contamination including traces of arsenic and E. coli. (NRDC, 999). Also, home filtration systems can boost the flavor or appearance of tap water at a minimal price. According to an FDA Consumer magazine article”water processed with these products typically costs less than buying bottled water. By Brita, it’s luxury faucet filter system offers water for 18 cents a gallon, a substantial saving from $1 or more typically charged for an 8- into a 12-ounce jar of water.” (FDA, 2002)
Before you buy a water treatment device Experts recommend that you should find out what kinds of contaminants are in your water before deciding on which water treatment device to purchase. Home water testing kits cost between $9.00 for a single parameter to about $99, or much more, if you would like to check for numerous parameters. The main point is the cost of testing your water is not as because you do not wish to purchase or be forced to purchase a certain water filter simply because a salesman claims it is good.