| Water testing can tell you if chlorine and disinfection by-products
are in your water supply. Then you can install the appropriate
water filter systems to remove them.
If you are on a public water system -- meaning a utility company
supplies your water -- it's extremely likely it contains chlorine
and disinfection by-products.
Water companies have used chlorine as their main disinfecting
strategy for almost a century. In the early years of the 20th
century, chlorination of water was used in Great Britain in
an attempt to stop typhoid fever. Due to some success in Great
Britain -- and because chlorine was so inexpensive -- the
chlorination of water began in the United States in Jersey
City, N.J., in 1908, and hasn't stopped since!
Chlorination virtually eliminated waterborne diseases such
as cholera, typhoid, dysentery and hepatitis. Today, utility
companies still use chlorine to prevent and kill bacteria
that might otherwise be present in water supplies. Over the
last 30 years, however, a growing body of research has shown
chlorine and its assorted byproducts are very harmful to your
health.
For example, when chlorine interacts with organic matter in
water, it forms disinfection by-products (DBPs). Two primary
DBP categories are trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and haloacetic
acids (HAA5s).
These DBPs have been linked to damaging effects to heart,
lung, kidney and central nervous system as well as cancer.
Even worse, the Environmental Protection Agency recent lowered
the level of TTHMs they will permit in the water supply to
80 ppb (parts per billion).
All About the Money
As always, cost is one reason -- and probably the sole reason
-- water companies prevented this standard from being reduced
even further. Water companies felt it would cost too much
to remove a greater amount of these DBPs from their water,
so they pushed for an elevated standard. Nevertheless, it's
telling that the EPA sets the goal for some of these by-products
at 0 because they are so dangerous (unfortunately the EPA
goal is not enforceable).
Water companies do conduct some testing for DBPs in their
water supply and provide the results to their customers. But,
for the sake of your family's health, here's what they aren't
telling you:
• Levels of these DBPs vary depending on where you are located
on their network. h Hence some
customers are exposed to much higher levels.
• Each individual reacts differently to DBPs. Some people
are affected more than o o
others.
• There are times during the year when levels of DBPs increase
dramatically due to t
the increase of organic matter in the water supply.
But if the average of all the s
s tests a water company conducted in a year is below
the EPA standard, utilities s s
can claim their water is safe.
More Distortions
What's more, here are some recent distortions we've discovered
water companies all over the country are telling their customers:
1. One water company in New York actually had TTHM levels
of 89 ppb. But because the average level for the year was
below 80 ppb, they could legally claim their water meets all
safe drinking water standards.
2. Similarly, a water company in Pennsylvania recorded TTHM
levels of 94 ppb. But because the average was lower than 80
ppb, they told their customers their water was safe.
3. Another water company in California logged average TTHM
levels of 78 ppb. Since 78 ppb is just below the standard
of 80 ppb, they can legally claim their water is safe.
4. A Florida water company made the same claims because their
TTHM average was 73 ppb.
I'd like to tell you these are isolated examples, but they're
not. They are the norm.
If DBPs are in your water, you will be exposed to them primarily
by inhaling steam vapor when you shower (DBPs easily escape
into the air). If DBPs are in your water, I urge you to have
them removed to protect your family's health.
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