Why You Should Consider Purifying Your Drinking Water

Congress recently amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to include a right-to-know provision. By late 1998, water suppliers will be required to notify you you about microbes, pesticides, and other contaminants detected in tap water.

Is this legislation designed to protect us from contaminated water or to remove liability from the water suppliers? Considering the following facts, the latter may be the case.

During 1991 and 1992, EPA records showed over 250,000 violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. In Milwaukee in 1993, cryptosporidium caused the largest recorded outbreak of a waterborne disease in U.S. history. An estimated 400,000 people fell ill, 41,000 were treated for abdominal cramps and diarrhea and more than 4,000 were hospitalized. The epidemic has now claimed 104 lives, making it the single largest recorded medical disaster in Milwaukee's history. Cryptosporidium is immune to standard chlorine purification treatment.

A study by the U.S. Council of Environmental Quality showed that the cancer risk among those drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water is not chlorinated.

Information released by the EPA in 1993 documented that at least 42 states exceeded the legal limits for lead in drinking water, and that some states did not even perform the mandated testing.

A study by the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1993 states that THMs (chlorine byproducts) are associated with more than 10,000 bladder and rectal cancers per year, which is about 30 cancers per day. About 63,000 chemical compounds are commonly used in America, and another 1,000 or so are being synthesized every day.

What contaminants are in our water and where do they come from? Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa contaminate ground and surface water through animal feed lot runoff, human sewage, and septic tank overflow.

E.coli can reach tap water if municipal treatment is inadequate, as it did in New York City and Washington D.C. in 1995. Waterborne parasites like Cryptosporidium and Giardia are not killed by chlorine.

Pesticides - atrazine, a suspected carcinogen, as well as chlordane, xylene, and phenol can enter ground water through agricultural runoff.

Radon gas, from naturally decaying radium, can cause water to be radioactive. Trihalomethanes (chlorine byproducts) may cause birth defects and are associated with bladder, rectal, and pancreatic cancer.

Concrete water mains bringing water to your home may contain asbestos, which may leach into the water. Lead can leach out of service lines and the solder in the pipes in your home.