There are drugs in our drinking water.

This is a fact, and I can explain in just 15 seconds how they get there.

You take some medication. Quickly part of it is absorbed into your bloodstream and body cells. But the rest is not absorbed and stays in you bowel, so next time you use the toilet the unused drugs are flushed into your local city sewage system. City water officials treat it and discharge it “clean” into lakes and rivers. Where some of it is again taken, treated once more, and piped to your tap.

This cycle is unavoidable and unbreakable.

You have only one line of defense against these drugs. And that is the city water officials in charge of treating your water supply. How good is their defense? Well, I have some alarming news for you — not very!

The Ralph Nadar organization recently prized some alarming facts out of the government, using freedom of information legislation, and we now know from the government’s own records that more than 2000 known, toxic, cancer-causing chemicals have been found in public water supplies in this country. That’s drugs in our drinking water.

Even more recent, independent study has shown there are drugs in our drinking water in 24 metropolitan areas in the US. These areas are spread right across the country. It seems nowhere is safe from this drug cycle.

In Philadelphia, for example, officials admit they have discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in city tap water. Things like medication for epilepsy, heart conditions, high cholesterol, asthma and pain relief. Even more were found in the hills and water catchments areas around the city, just waiting to find their way into the city water intakes.

Those officials were forthright. Local city water officials are usually reluctant to tell us about the drug danger in the water they give us, citing the technical nature of water purity tests. In other words, we might not understand what the tests report and may become unduly alarmed about drugs in our drinking water.

They also would point out that these pharmaceuticals in our water are present only in minute quantities — in “safe” quantities, measured in parts per billion. But I for one would be asking why any parts of prescription drugs in my drinking water can be deemed OK and regarded casually. I mean, some dirt and physical contaminant is one thing. Children at play eat organic matter all the time. But we are talking here about pharmaceutical drugs in our drinking water. And this is quite different.

Never-the-less, even though it is inevitable that an examination will find drugs in our drinking water, federal government doesn’t require local water authorities to test for them. As a result of this lax regulation, it seems that something like half of our major city water is tested for drugs after it has been treated and before it goes to our taps.

Do you live in New York city, for instance? Then your tap water is not tested for drugs. Or Chicago? Same. Miami also. Half of our big cities do not test for drugs in drinking water.

So what should you and I do about this?

Drink bottled water? No way! Because it is usually nothing more than untreated tap water, in spite of the inspiring labels and marketing. Federal regulations require bottled water be only as safe as tap water. And we’ve just see how “safe” that is.

There is only one thing we can do. We must treat our tap water ourselves. Sure, our city water has been treated, and any treatment is better than none. But it seems half our cities don’t check to see if their treatment has removed the drugs found in US drinking water. And studies regularly find chemicals and drugs in public water supplies.

There are several small, moderately priced home water purification systems that can remove the drugs which water officials don’t worry about.

Different systems approach the problem in different ways and all of them have good points.

California and some other states require that these systems be sold with Performance Data Sheets, so from these, or manufactures’ web sites, we can discover what contaminants each system is certified to remove and to what degree they are removed. So we can locate a purification system that will meet our needs and take out the drugs in drinking water simply by comparing things like the contaminant reduction capabilities, cost and ongoing cost per gallon.

This will take just one evening of research, and I heartily recommend it as a sure way of having drug-free drinking water for your children.

Passive Income For Life

Clean drinking water is essential to human life. Increasing your intake of the purest drinking water can help you lose weight, improve your complexion, improve chronic health conditions and your overall health and well-being.

Most people don’t drink enough. The old 8-eight ounce glasses per day rule will provide just enough to live on. It’s not enough to “thrive” on. You may need twice that much.

It’s relatively impossible to take in too much clean drinking water. But, it’s easy to take in too many toxins and contaminants.

Many people think that the purest drinking water comes in a plastic bottle. But, some of us know the truth.

Companies like Coke and Pepsi use regular tap-water and then run it through a reverse osmosis filter. Reverse osmosis does not remove chemical contaminants. Most big companies use reverse osmosis and the result is that many of those bottles contain high levels of contaminants.

Sometimes the levels are so high that companies are forced to recall their products. Perrier was recalled for benzene contamination. Reverse osmosis does not remove benzene. Dasani was recalled for bromate contamination. RO does not remove that chemical, either. Both benzene and bromate are known human carcinogens.

When clean drinking water is stored in a plastic bottle, compounds used to create the bottle seep into it. Things like BPA and phthalates, known endocrine disruptors and possible carcinogens, have been found in 8 out of 10 products tested, according to Consumer Reports.

Of course, you can’t rely on your treatment facility to provide the purest drinking water. In most cases, they use large amounts of chlorine, out of necessity. In many cases, our sources are surface waters that are full of bacteria.

Chlorine, itself, is a known allergen, a stomach irritant and consumption by children can cause anemia. The byproducts created by the chlorination process are toxic to the central nervous system and known human carcinogens.

If you really want clean drinking water, you need to install a point-of-use or home filtration device. It’s the only solution.

You should look for a multi-stage selective filtration device that removes chlorine, THMs, benzene, lead, cysts, pesticides, herbicides and other common, but cancer-causing, chemicals. The best system includes granular carbon, a multi-media adsorptive block, ion exchange and a submicron particle filter.

Not only will it provide the purest drinking water, it will also be the best tasting. Chlorine and metallic traces, as well as tiny sediments, spoil the taste. Carbon, ion exchange and the submicron filter work together to remove all of those things.

Ion exchange is used to remove the heavy metal lead and other metal ions, like copper. Those are exchanged for potassium and sodium, minerals that enhance the flavor and improve the healthfulness of your tap-water.

Major facilities and big bottling companies cannot afford to use all of those steps. But, they are affordable in a home filtration device.

So, once again, we can have clean drinking water in our homes, right from our own faucets. We save time and money, while protecting our health.

There are many varieties of plumbing pipes available in the market. While going in for a kitchen remodeling project or building a new home you will have to choose which material would be best for you. A brief look at the most popular pipes:

Copper: pipes are very popular and are used for drain, vent and potable water supply. It is durable, easy and flexible to install, safer in natural disasters, resistant to intense weather and microbes and competitively priced. For many years contractors have preferred copper plumbing for its dependability and solid value. Homeowners also prefer copper plumbing because it generally increases the resale value of homes. It also ensures a clean, safe water supply. Lead has been removed from the manufacturing process so it no longer poses a health risk unlike with galvanized pipes

CPVC pipe (Polyvinyl chloride) is a rigid plastic pipe that is put together with solvent joints. They are perfect for areas of the country that have aggressive water that eats away at copper pipes. This aggressive water can sometimes eat through copper pipe within eight years. CPVC is unaffected by aggressive water, and its smooth inner surface won’t collect mineral deposits. Though these pipes have many advantages they suffer from one major drawback. In case of fire or electric spark they omit poisonous gases. If this is an issue with you or your kitchen does not have a good exit point stick to copper.

PEX Pipe: is the newest entrant in the plumbing scenario. It is a flexible plastic pipe than can be installed much like electrical wiring. Suitable for use with both hot and cold water they can be used in conjunction with steel, copper, PVC and CPVC plumbing pipe. They are also highly resistant to bursting.

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