Municipal Drinking Water

Back in May I posted information about the hazards of chlorine in our drinking water and swimming water. I would like to revisit the water topic with the following post. Although the other posts relay more to health issues related to chlorine, this post includes other contaminants and our aging water system.

In a time when we scrutinize the ingredients of our food and insist on pesticide-free fruit, why are we still mixing carcinogens into our children’s lemonade?

The Environmental Protection Agency has set standards for only a handful of different chemicals, specifying how much should be allowed in our drinking water. However, no regulations exist for the thousands of other contaminants in our drinking water.

Unregulated contaminants include cleaning products and solvents, industrial byproducts, pesticides, pharmaceutical drugs and even most of the toxic compounds that are formed when we add chlorine for disinfection. Unfortunately, the combined effect of these contaminants have yet to be evaluated.

Our water infrastructure is leaking, the pipes are old and decayed. We need a never ending supply of chlorine to inhibit bacterial growth in the pipes. This is a never ending battle.

Clearly, the EPA cannot provide us with clean drinking water, so basically our public water system is relegated to flushing toilets and doing laundry, not for human consumption.

An excellent quote

"We cannot allow the water we don’t drink to prevent us from purifying the water we do". Robert D. Morris is the author of “The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster and the Water We Drink.”

I'm not blaming or demeaning municipal water companies or their employees. They are doing the best they can given the circumstances.

PLEASE DO NOT USE UNFILTERED TAP WATER!

Do not drink tap water. Don't cook with tap water. Shower, but don't even bathe in tap water. Do not let your pets drink tap water. And, if you are growing potted vegetables, don't use tap water. Boston Biosafety Cares

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