Toxic Water - Page 4

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by serenbat

we were told by local state workers and well as two grad students - NO! none to, and we have a great local water treatment center as well

I understand The City doesn't remove medications from water.
I'm wondering if any of the household retail water purifiers are effective at removing medications? hopefully...


Pat

[WuWei]

"Tapped" the a film, is about the bottled water industry and our love affair with bottled water. Tapped examines the role of the bottled water industry and its' effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil. It's worth watching. The toxins in water are scary!

Please consider no bottled water for a month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MCumz5lq4


Pat

[Sunflower66]

Wow! I just watched the Tapped trailer. We drink a lot of bottled water in our house and while we recycle the bottles, I always feel awful when I see the huge pile of empty bottles we generate each week. Our water smells of chlorine and I just can't get myself to get my daughter to drink tap water. Unfortunately I don't have the financial resources at this time to invest in an expensive filter and have been comtemplating the purchase of a britta pitcher/filter for drinking water but am skeptical. We live in Arlington VA.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

I recently read an article that our town uses UV rays to kill bacteria instead of chlorine, which is good and i always noticed that our water didn't have the typical chlorine smell. But alas there is questionable amounts of atrazine in the water. Which is another reason to avoid conventionally grown corn.

We have swayed away from using bottled water mostly as it is expensive, and the plastic leeches into the water, so I don't find it to be more beneficial than tap water. Not to mention that it is possible it may have more pesticides in it than the local water, although since I live in the midwest I am sure we have pesticide saturated water.


When we can afford it, I plan to get a nice water filteration system, specifically to clean out pesticides, we don't live in a rural, but do live in the suburbs. I just found more info on our water supply going to read it now...

[mom61508]

Thoughts on this water system? It claims to remove EVERYTHING!

http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/pr...cation-systems

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by mom61508

Thoughts on this water system? It claims to remove EVERYTHING!

http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/pr...cation-systems

Wow, pricey. And I'm not sure you need all that anyway. It's essentially an RO system with a UV light to kill bacteria/pathogens. It's got some other stuff in there, but I'm not sure it's necessary. I've found that the Calcite/GAC filter at the output of our RO unit works just fine.

Have you checked the water quality report from your water company? That will tell you some of the kinds of things that actually need removing.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by Sunflower66

Wow! I just watched the Tapped trailer. We drink a lot of bottled water in our house and while we recycle the bottles, I always feel awful when I see the huge pile of empty bottles we generate each week. Our water smells of chlorine and I just can't get myself to get my daughter to drink tap water. Unfortunately I don't have the financial resources at this time to invest in an expensive filter and have been comtemplating the purchase of a britta pitcher/filter for drinking water but am skeptical. We live in Arlington VA.

"The Drinking Water Book" by Colin Ingram is a good resource. He lists a few methods to improve water that require no special equipment. Grated, they are limited in their result, but if chlorine is your main concern, it would help. He also lists various water filtration options and generally how good they are. The book also offers a lot of explanation of why and how certain filters work. I have a few nitpicks with things he either left out or don't fully agree with him on, but otherwise it's a good resource.

I wouldn't use a Brita. I think it's expensive, given what it is, and how often you have to replace it. I've seen a college student project study Britas, and found it actually released copper into the water. And the rated filtration capacity was way smaller than specified.

If you were going to get a Brita, instead I think you can get a standard 10" filtration system using generic filters for a reasonable price. You can get them in single and double housing units (the cheapest options)...a countertop unit might be cheaper than undersink, as the countertop unit would not have to be plumbed in. The filters are generally changed every 6 months. Something like a Pure Water Products filter. Then prioritize on what you'd like removed. You get the best value from a solid carbon block filter (NOT a granular activated carbon filter). It probably removes the most variety of contaminants for the least cost. You can add another different filter to remove additional contaminants.

[WuWei]

We have an UV light on our well water because "they" found some type of "pathogen" when we had the water tested before we moved in. We also have RO and copper pipes. I'm not sure I like the idea of the UV light and am going to have the water retested. Killing all microbials in the water coming from the ground doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (microbial lover that I am).

Taking all minerals out of water (RO) doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (nutrient lover that I am).

Pat

[nicole_marie]

We get our water at a local natural spring. It's a building surrounding the open water (to protect it) and two free flowing pipes on the outside of the building. The earth is amazing. I'm sure it's not perfect, but you do the best you can with what you have.

You can find a spring near you too...
www.findaspring.com

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by WuWei

We have an UV light on our well water because "they" found some type of "pathogen" when we had the water tested before we moved in. We also have RO and copper pipes. I'm not sure I like the idea of the UV light and am going to have the water retested. Killing all microbials in the water coming from the ground doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (microbial lover that I am).

Taking all minerals out of water (RO) doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (nutrient lover that I am).

Pat

I hear ya but how is it possible to remove all chemicals, drugs, bad bacteria etc without removing the good stuff too????

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by KimPM

Wow, pricey. And I'm not sure you need all that anyway. It's essentially an RO system with a UV light to kill bacteria/pathogens. It's got some other stuff in there, but I'm not sure it's necessary. I've found that the Calcite/GAC filter at the output of our RO unit works just fine.

Have you checked the water quality report from your water company? That will tell you some of the kinds of things that actually need removing.

It is pricy that's the downside of course but I want something that takes fluoride and chlorine out. Most RO systems don't take out fluoride

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by mom61508

It is pricy that's the downside of course but I want something that takes fluoride and chlorine out. Most RO systems don't take out fluoride

Yes, RO systems DO take out fluoride, to varying degrees. I have an Everpure RO system, and it's spec'd at 89.9 % min, 95.2 % avg reduction. This is also how that Radiant Life system removes most if not all of the fluoride...via the RO stage.

Chlorine is one of the easier things to remove. Even a carbon block filter or just a granular activated carbon filter will remove that.

To remove fluoride, you have only a few options, generally in order of % removal, most to least: 1) Distillation. 2) Reverse Osmosis or 3) Activated aluminum (and you'll want to follow that aluminum filter with some kind of carbon filter to catch any aluminum that leaks out of it)

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by WuWei

We have an UV light on our well water because "they" found some type of "pathogen" when we had the water tested before we moved in. We also have RO and copper pipes. I'm not sure I like the idea of the UV light and am going to have the water retested. Killing all microbials in the water coming from the ground doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (microbial lover that I am).

Taking all minerals out of water (RO) doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (nutrient lover that I am).

Pat

I know what you mean, Pat. It seems like it's a tradeoff...the more bad stuff you want removed from the water, the more good stuff is also removed.

On our RO system, I stopped using it for awhile so I could research more. After I found the calcite post filter (it adds back in a little calcium), I've come to a certain acceptance that it's a pretty good solution for us for now. It'd be nice to have more minerals in there. But it's way better than the tap water or bottled water anyway.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by mom61508

Thoughts on this water system? It claims to remove EVERYTHING!

http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/pr...cation-systems

Oh, and nothing removes absolutely everything. Filters simply attenuate...lessen the levels of specified contaminants. What you are looking for is the % reduction of the contaminants that are actually in your water.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I understand The City doesn't remove medications from water.
I'm wondering if any of the household retail water purifiers are effective at removing medications? hopefully...

Pat

I'm hoping my RO system will at least remove most of the medications. I also have a VOC filter after the RO membrane, so that adds to whatever it might remove. I have yet to see any studies done on water filters and medication removal. Anyone done any research here?

I think distillation would probably have the best chance of removal, followed by RO. But that is just my guess based on what I know about those methods. (I'm not saying that either one of those options are the greatest, just that they might have the best chance to remove medications.)

[serenbat]

I'm hoping my RO system will at least remove most of the medications.

I'm really wondering about this???

I was told by one of top "water"experts in my state, nothing exits to do this.

He said the govt knows the problem is very serious but so far nothing exits.

I have stated to see info (handed out at a farmer's market) about dumping prescriptions on the toilet but that doesn't even start to address the problems.

I am so glad my water doesn't contain any fluoride, and not much chlorine, that we do remove.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by serenbat

I was told by one of top "water"experts in my state, nothing exits to do this.

He said the govt knows the problem is very serious but so far nothing exits.

I think what he means is that nothing has been specifically designed to do it, and perhaps nothing has yet been tested for it. Existing systems may remove some amount of certain drugs. I have yet to see any kind of test results.

[anechka]

Originally Posted by WuWei

We have an UV light on our well water because "they" found some type of "pathogen" when we had the water tested before we moved in. We also have RO and copper pipes. I'm not sure I like the idea of the UV light and am going to have the water retested. Killing all microbials in the water coming from the ground doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (microbial lover that I am).

Taking all minerals out of water (RO) doesn't SOUND like a good idea to me (nutrient lover that I am).

Pat

You can add liquid minerals into your water. That is what I am doing. We purchased good quality distiller that is designed to remove VOC's (volatile organics) along with other staff. With the added minerals, the water's taste is amazing!

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by anechka

You can add liquid minerals into your water. That is what I am doing. We purchased good quality distiller that is designed to remove VOC's (volatile organics) along with other staff. With the added minerals, the water's taste is amazing!

I like a whole-food, natural approach. I am going to order Himalayan Sole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l00p-...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUmepo4mtjI
http://www.natural-salt-lamps.com/sole.html
http://www.himalayansalt.info/himala..._benefits.html
http://www.prleap.com/pr/21464/
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/pinksalt.php

We've been using it as a table salt along with our Celtic sea salt. http://www.natural-salt-lamps.com/salt.html

Here is more about salt choices for mineral supplementation.


Pat

[SleeplessMommy]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I like a whole-food, natural approach. I am going to order Himalayan Sole.

Unfortunately, 3rd party chemical analysis of "Himalayan" salts has found contaminants including lead, arsenic, antimony, aluminum, fluoride at 7.2ppm, Strontium (Sr) at 6.98 ppm and various radioactives.

http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21534
http://www.biodistributors.com.au/ProdInfFiles/hcs.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayan_salt