The Truth of Water – Answers

Pat from San Diego, California writes:

I am fearful of drinking our tap water, as I have been hearing of the dangers of mercury in our water and its proliferation due to the Bush policies that have encouraged polluters to increase its concentration. But the last straw was when our local county boards started adding fluoride to our water. It was then that I started buying bottled water for all of our drinking needs.

Could you please tell me where I could take my drinking water for testing of these 2 pollutants?
Could you discuss what type of water treatment could be relied upon to remove mercury and fluoride?
I was very hopeful about buying a steam-condensing system and then I read your comments about distilled water (I presume that’s what such a system produces) and now I am fearful of distilled water too.

Hi Pat, thank you for your question.

I’d like to address fluoride first.  Fluoride is an interesting chemical and has been the source of much debate among water purveyors and health professionals. While it is considered a toxic chemical in it’s concentrated forms, in trace amounts it is actually beneficial for the health and strength of teeth.  Typically, water supplies that do not have a high enough naturally occurring fluoride concentration have been fluoridated to compensate for this.  The argument is whether this is needed or not, as some feel there is enough fluoride in tooth paste and food items to provide for the bodies need for trace amounts of fluoride.  The trace amounts of fluoride in your water will not harm you. In fact, you should check the label of the bottled water you have been using. Often, bottled water will contain as much or more fluoride as your tap waters.

I understand your concern of mercury. This contaminant is a dangerous one, and no doubt you have heard of Minimata Japan, where Minimata disease was first found, which is mercury poisoning.  While mercury in your water supply is something to be concerned about, you should be much more concerned about mercury poisoning in fish.

When mercury enters a water supply, microbes can convert it to an organic form of mercury.  Larger animals eat these microbes, and so on and so forth up the food chain in a process called biological magnification. This biological magnification causes a significant amount of mercury to be bound up in the muscle tissue of fish, who do not have the same capacity to remove trace mercury from their systems as mammals do.

Under the United States EPA, municipal water purveyors are required to test for mercury at a regular basis.  If they detect a level above 2 parts per billion, they are then required to impliment measures to remove it as well.

Just to let you know, bottled water retailers are under no such regulation and can bottle anything they want.

Tap water is your safest alternative.  Most people do not realize just how regulated municipal water is. In addition, those who sell home water products use fear mongering techniques to instill the unwarranted fear that tap water is not safe.

The municipality I work in has a policy of full disclosure.  We provide detailed records of all water tests on our website, and will provide them upon request.  Please do not hesitate to contact your municipality, they will be most likely be more than happy to provide test results on concentrations of mercury and fluoride.

If you still would like to test your water for contaminants at your own expense, contact the USEPA. They will be able to guide you to the closest licensed laboratory for drinking water testing. It is important to use a licensed lab, as they have met minimum quality guidelines.

Finally, please refer to this article on about.com:chemistry. It gives some useful tips about reducing fluoride from your diet from water as well as sources that are not from drinking water.

I hope I’ve answered your question to your satisfaction.  If you have any other questions, or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to write in again.

Sylvian from Orlando, Florida writes:

Should I treat my tap water? I was going to buy a water ionizer machine, but after reading your site, I won\’t buy it now. But what about a product called “RAINSOFT”? It’s a whole house water treatment/purification system which has a brine filter tank and an external salt pellet tank. Is this a scam too? What do you suggest I do? Should I simply drink tap water???

Hi Sylvian, thanks for writing in.

Very simply, here in North America municipally treated tap water is safe to drink.  The regulations are strict and much time and money is spent ensuring the public water supplies will do no harm.

Unfortunately, many water treatment companies rely on fear mongering tactics to sell more home water treatment equipment.  If a company that sells home water treatment equipment tells you that your municipally treated tap water will kill you or harm you in anyway, don’t believe them.  Much of these claims are based on half truths associated with treated water.  For example, while it is true that there is a potential for chlorinated water supplies to form carcinogenic compounds, it is not true that they will always be in your drinking water.  It’s also not true that municipalities don’t know/care about any of these things.  Some companies go so far as to say they are not tested for, which is completely untrue.

Municipal drinking water goes through a gambit of testing on a regular basis not only to ensure the water is free from harmful pathogens, but that is it contains less than the maximum allowable concentration of potentially harmful chemicals, both from natural water supplies and potentialy produced from the water treatment process.

All maximum allowable concentrations of chemicals are continuously under review by water treatment, health and government officials.

The bottom line is the quality of your drinking water is produced and monitored by people who are more qualified than any employee of a home water treatment store. And unlike some of these private treatment equipment sales organizations, the only ulterior motive water treatment professionals have is to ensure your water is safe to drink.

Now that you know that tap water is safe to drink, you can shop for water treatment devices without being lead astray by over zealous sales people looking only for more money.

If this Rainsoft product uses salt, it is an ion exchange unit designed to soften water.  While this will improve lathering and reduce the need for soap, it also adds sodium to your water, making it less healthy to drink.

Other considerations for aethetics are taste.  Carbon filters are available that removes the trace amounts of chlorine in your tap water and makes it more palitable but remember: change your filter often as carbon filters can be a place where bacteria can accumulate and grow.

I hope this has answered your question. Please write in again if you need further clarification or have another question.

It comes as no suprise to anybody in the water game that bottled vs. tap water is a big issue.  After all, major companies turn a pretty penny on bottled water that is thousands of times more expensive tap.  Companies that market bottled water deliver carfully crafted attack ads that paint tap water as not as safe, good, or healthy as the stuff that comes in a bottle.

My last post on the topic showed that this couldn’t be further from the truth.  Bottled water is incredibly expensive compared to tap, it’s under regulated and nothing more than a very clever marketing ploy. True, it is convenient and it doesn’t have the taste and odour issues that some tap water does, but that can be easily remedied by taking a few simple preliminary steps to conditioning your own tap water.

But don’t just take my word for it.  I’ve found some interesting sites that divulge further information on bottled water verses tap.

The first comes from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.  Currently the MOE contains some of the most stringent drinking water regulations and laws in North America. I do work for a water plant in Ontario, and I can tell you, the regulations are detailed and the Ministry inspectors are tough, leaving no stone unturned to ensuring every municipality provides safe, clean drinking water from source to tap.  Click here to read a very thorough and well researched information page on bottled water.

A fitness blog did an excellent and consice piece on some of the common mythes of bottled water. Check that out here.

An Australian town realized the issue with public perception as well as the overwhelming litter on their public beach from careless disposal of empty plastic bottles. They installed water fountains that filtered the tap water at site to remove any taste and odour concerns.  The fountains are free and visitors are encouraged to drink straight from them or fill reusable containers, rather than further harm the environment with the plethora of the single use bottles.  These two articles here and here detail the story and it’s a great read, I highly recommend it.

Thankfully, the public perception for bottled water is drying up, so says this article.  Public perception is starting to swing towards the economic and environmental waset that the bottled water habit can provide.

Speaking of the habit, there’s an excellent website to visit called New American Dream – Break the Bottled Water Habit. It has a plethora of excellent information about why bottled water should not be consumed on a regular basis.

Visit the resources, and make the informed decision, the tap water decision.