In
today's world, it is increasingly more important to understand
the dangers in our lives. We need to know what is in the water
that comes from our tap. We need to understand and combat the
dangers that are in our drinking sources and the risks they
pose to our families. Think you are safe by drinking bottled
water? You may be surprised
by what you learn about bottled water on our bottled water
page.
This page presents detailed information about
the health effects of water
pollution and about what may be in your water. To find out
more information about water pollution, check
out our news section or visit the Protect
Yourself page for other details.
Plus, you can download
our Health Effects of Water Pollution Guide for FREE!
This
page includes a list of chemicals, pesticides and herbicides
and explanations of the effects of lead, mercury, endocrine
disruptors, asbestos and MTBE. Use the list below to quickly
jump to the topic of interest.
Volatile
Organic Chemicals (VOC's) are contaminants
that may be found in drinking water
supplies across the nation. VOC's are
those organic chemicals (pesticides,
herbicides, and other chemicals) that
are "readily vaporizable at a
relatively low temperature" (Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary). With no visible
characteristics, smell, or taste, VOC's
are virtually undetectable in drinking
water by the consumer. The only way
to know if your water has VOC's is
to have it tested or to obtain test
results from local public water supplier.
VOC's are often toxic and pose intimidating
health risks.
Almost
every region in the U.S. has VOC's
in the water supplies. Urban areas
may get VOC's from industrialization,
and rural areas may get VOC's from
agriculture. Also, 90% of U.S. drinking
water is chlorinated (and most likely
contains disinfection by-products);
thus, VOC's are practically everywhere.
In a recent study by the Environmental
Working Group, 28 of 29 cities tested
were found to have herbicides or pesticides
in their tap water.
Over 45 million Americans drink water from treatment plants
that have found the cyst Cryptosporidium, the protozoan found
in tap water that infected over 400,000 people and killed
over 100 in Milwaukee. Giardia, a cyst that has been recognized
since the 1960's, has been estimated to cause 5 to 10 waterborne
outbreaks annually, an average of 4000 hospital admissions
per year, and an average of 6 million dollars in hospital
treatment costs annually. Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) attorney Erik Olson cited a report by the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) estimating that 900,000 people
a year are made sick by such microbial contamination of tap
water. More and more people are wondering what to do about
cryptosporidium and other cysts in their water supplies.
The Surface Water Treatment Rule states that all surface
water that may potentially be used for drinking water must
be filtered. Unfortunately, problems with Cryptosporidium,
Giardia, and newer protozoans (like Cyclospora, which is
larger in size than Crypto, thus more easily filtered) are
still occurring, predominantly in ground water sources (which
do not fall under the Surface Water Treatment Rule). Also,
because Cryptosporidium is pliable, it can fold down to one
micron in size, thus slipping through most public utilities
filtration systems. The only water treatment devices that
can effectively filter Crypto are those certified for submicron
filtration (less than one micron).
Healthy individuals infected by these parasites experience
a cholera-like illness: watery diarrhea, headache, abdominal
cramps, nausea, vomiting, and low-grade fever. For the immunocompromised,
however, the results of infection are much more dire: the
parasites can severely damage the liver and respiratory tract,
as well as the gall-bladder and pancreas. Even worse, there
is a 40 - 50% mortality rate for the immunocompromised who
are infected with Cryptosporidium. Those at risk include
cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, infants, the elderly,
kidney dialysis patients, recent transplant recipients, AIDS
patients, and others with suppressed immune systems.
To the over 5 million Americans at risk, the
CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency have issued a
guidance to
either boil all of their tap water, invest in certain bottled
water, or purchase a filter that is certified by the NSFto
remove cysts. As many can attest, boiling all of the tap
water can
be unduly burdensome. The bottled water alternative also
presents problems. Carol Browner, head of the EPA, warned
that bottled water is not tested for microbial contaminants
like Cryptosporidium, so consumers really don't know what
they're getting with bottled water. It just may be the case
that point-of-use filtration is the only viable alternative
to rid the nation's tap water of these dangerous organisms.
Only those filters that are certified under ANSI/NSF Standard
53 for cyst removal are recommended by the CDC and the EPA.
Endocrine Disrupters - PCBs, Chlordane,
and Toxaphene
Recent headlines have warned of the
newly-discovered dangers caused by certain Volatile Organic
Chemicals (VOCs) known
as Endocrine Disrupters. Many industrial chemicals we have
been dumping into the ecosystem in huge quantities for
years are now thought to interfere with hormones. Since
the publishing of Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring,
public attention has been focused on the carcinogenic effects
of VOCs. Now there is even more cause for concern regarding
VOCs. Certain VOCs, known as Endocrine Disrupters (also
known as "Hormone Mimickers," "Estrogen
Mimickers," and "Xeno-Estrogens"), can wreak
havoc in the Endocrine System, Reproductive System, and
Immune System. The effects of exposure to Endocrine Disrupters
early in life are permanent and irreversible.
To understand how these Endocrine Disrupters
function, let us first take a look at the Endocrine System
itself.
The endocrine system is a complex set of bodily organs
and tissues whose actions are coordinated by chemical messengers
called hormones, which control sexual reproduction, growth,
development, and behavior. If these chemical "messages" are
disrupted by hormone mimicking chemicals, then the systems
receiving the messages are going to be damaged. According
to Dr. Peter Montague of the Environmental Research Foundation,
the range of problems that may be caused by hormone disruption
is large: cancer, birth defects, stunted growth, reproductive
failure, diminished sperm count, smaller penises, endometriosis
( a painful disease of menstrual tissues), ectopic (tubal)
pregnancies, damage to the immune system, loss of muscle
tone, weakened reflexes, impaired short-term memory, decreased
ability to pay attention, lower IQs, and violent behavior.
Endocrine Disrupters can get into water
supplies in various ways. Since many Endocrine Disrupters
are herbicides and
pesticides, agricultural run-off can carry these chemicals
to water supplies. Some Endocrine Disrupters are products
of industrialization and may get into water supplies through
various means, such as leakage of storage tanks, accidental
spills, or illegal dumping of toxic wastes. With no visible
characteristics, smell, or taste, Endocrine Disrupters
are virtually undetectable in drinking water. The Environmental
Working Group (in their report "Weed Killers by the
Glass") has noted that people are "routinely
exposed to many different pesticides in a single glass
of water."
According to the Environmental Working Group, the only
reliable technology that can effectively remove Volatile
Organic Chemicals, including certain Endocrine Disrupters,
from tap water is Activated Carbon. Public utilities, in
most cases, are using only conventional water treatment
(chlorination and sand filtration) which does nothing to
reduce Endocrine Disrupter levels in consumers' tap water
. Other types of water treatment can not as effectively
reduce Endocrine Disrupters in tap water.
Chloramine is used instead of chlorine to protect against
microbes so as to reduce the level of disinfection by-products
in compliance with EPA rules. Americans are concerned about
the use of chloramine because there are so may unknowns about
this disinfectant and the possible Chloramine by-products.
Water disinfected with Chloramine is not suitable for home
dialysis machines or fish aquariums.
Multi-Pure® Drinking Water Systems
were tested against the proposed Chloramine standard and
the successful completion
of that test is reflected in our listing by a footnote. The
development of the ANSI/NSF standard is still in process, and
a date for releasing it has not been announced. In the meantime,
consumers can rely on the NSF test results noted on Multi-Pure®'s
Standard 42 Listing for assurance that Multi-Pure® Drinking
Water Systems effectively reduce chloramines.
Lead, a heavy metal, has no known functions or health benefits
for humans. Lead, by its nature, is toxic to humans and other
forms of life. It is considered a metabolic poison (meaning
it inhibits some of the basic enzyme functions) and untold
ills: damage to the kidneys and liver, and to the nervous,
reproductive, cardiovascular, immune, and gastrointestinal
systems. In children, as scientists have recognized, lead has
a particularly damaging effect.
At low levels, it reduces a person's intelligence, makes it
difficult to concentrate or pay attention, and harms hearing.
According to a recent study in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, lead may be even more dangerous than previously
thought, causing high blood pressure and kidney impairment
at unexpectedly low levels. The lead level proved more closely
linked to hypertension than several other factors that have
been implicated in other studies, including smoking, alcohol,
and salt in the diet. These effects are permanent. At higher
levels, lead has many additional severe effects including kidney
disease, blindness, seizures, and death.
In young or unborn children, at very low levels, lead reduces
height, weight, circumference of chest and head; damages hearing;
reduces the body's ability to manufacture an essential component
of red blood cells (called heme); causes hyperactivity; interferes
with an important blood enzyme; and interferes with the body's
use of vitamin D. Lead consumption in childhood can lead to
a lower IQ and impairment in reading, writing, math, visual
and motor skills, language, abstract thinking, and concentration.
Children may also suffer irritability, insomnia, colic, and
anemia. Damage to the child's nervous system is permanent.
Children are particularly susceptible to lead's toxic effects
because they absorb lead more readily than adults do. Lead
can also cross the placental barrier, passing from a pregnant
woman's blood to the blood of the fetus; red blood cells of
fetuses attract and hold lead more readily than do red cells
of adults.
What is even more frightening is recent
discoveries about the dangers of lead poisoning for children.
Exposure to the
toxic metal may contribute to crime and anti-social behavior
in children. Boys with high levels of lead in their bones were
more likely to engage in bullying, vandalism, setting fires,
and shoplifting than those with low lead levels. According
to Dr. Herbert Needleman, a psychiatrist at the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center, "Lead is a brain poison
that interferes with the ability to restrain impulses." Lead
is known to interfere with development of the central nervous
system, and previous studies have linked exposure in children
with learning disabilities, restlessness, and the tendency
to be distracted. As a result of this new study, the researchers
concluded that limiting children's exposure to lead could help
prevent them from becoming criminals as adults.
According to Dr. Peter Montague of the Environmental Research
Foundation, studies have found that lead in water is possibly
the largest source of lead in the human blood stream. But how
does lead get into our water? Older homes may have lead pipes
that leach lead into the water. Newer homes may have copper
pipes, but those copper pipes may also be joined with lead
solder which may also leach lead into the water. If you suspect
that lead is in your drinking water, you should have your water
tested. Data obtained from your local public water utility
may not be of help, since most lead is picked up after the
water has left the public water facilities. Public utilities
are advising households that have high levels of lead in their
tap water to invest in a water filter that can effectively
reduce lead.
Like lead, mercury is a heavy metal that can have serious
health effects. It is an inorganic contaminant that may get
into water supplies via natural deposits or through crop run-off
or may seep into water supplies near spills and toxic waste
sites that are contaminated with mercury. Once mercury has
entered the body, it may be months before all of it leaves.
At lower levels, Mercury can cause kidney and nervous system
disorders. Long-term exposure can permanently damage the brain,
kidneys, and developing fetuses. According to the Hall Water
Report, "Pressure is building for EPA to release an overdue
report on mercury that suggests the metal is more potent and
widespread as a public health threat than previously believed,
estimating that 85,000 American women are being exposed to
mercury at levels high enough to affect the brain development
of unborn children."
Contaminants that are causing widespread concern as of late
are Disinfection By-Products (DBP's). Many believe that DBP's
are the single greatest health threat in water supplies. DBP's
are contaminants, some of them cancer-causing, that are left
behind by the very chemical (chlorine) that utilities use to
make their water potable. About 15 years ago scientific testing
identified chlorine as a potential health hazard, but it is
not the chlorine in itself that is dangerous. Scientists discovered
that chlorine reacted with organic material in water, such
as decaying leaves, to produce hundreds of chemical by-products,
several of which have been proven to be carcinogenic (Trihalomethanes
make up the bulk of the cancer-causing DBP's). Other disinfection
by-products may cause adverse effects on the liver, and nervous
and reproductive systems.
The use of chlorine for water treatment
to reduce the risk of infectious disease may account for
a substantial portion of the cancer risk associated with drinking
water. Trihalomethanes are associated with increased risk
of
bladder and rectal cancer, possibly accounting for 5,000
new cases of bladder cancer and 8,000 new cases of rectal cancer
per year in U.S. According to a study done by the American
Water Works Association, more than 230 million people (approximately
90% of America's population) receive disinfected drinking
water
containing hundreds of disinfection by-products. Given the
large number of people who consume chlorinated drinking water,
the number of cases of cancer potentially attributable to
this exposure is substantial. Since a large percentage of the
DBP's
are developed after leaving the treatment plan our only viable
course of action is point-of-use filtration using an activated
carbon filter. Currently carbon filtration is the only known
way to get cancer-causing Trihalomethanes and other dangerous
disinfection by-products out of our nation's drinking water.
Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) -
The second most frequently detected volatile organic chemical
in groundwater, MTBE, has been found from coast-to-coast.
In 1991, EPA approved MTBE as an air-cleaning gas additive
against high smog and carbon monoxide in dense urban areas.
Today, MTBE is a suspected chemical carcinogen, which the
U.S. Geological Survey has found in more than a quarter
of the nation's shallow urban wells and in streams, lakes,
rain and snow, and even in remote rural areas.
The Association of California Water Agencies reports that
California and about a third of the rest of the country now
use gasoline with high levels of MTBE; the rest use gas with
low levels of the chemical. Even if MTBE were banned today,
years would be required to remove it from the nation's water,
and the cost could run into billions of dollars.
Although the EPA classifies MTBE as a possible human carcinogen
because laboratory rats and mice that breathe or drink it
have developed lymphoma, leukemia, testicular tumors, thyroid
tumors, and kidney tumors, so far, the EPA has resisted calls
to ban MTBE. One of the subtleties of the MTBE scare in tap
water across America is that MTBE is considered a fast-leaching
compound. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that MTBE doesn't
biodegrade; it can affect water supplies for years.
Multi-Pure® Drinking Water Systems were the first to be tested
and certified by NSF International to reduce MTBE.
Asbestos is an inorganic compound, found both naturally
in the environment and in building materials. Asbestos is
a proven carcinogen, and it has been suggested that there
may be an elevation in colorectal cancer risk associated
with asbestos in drinking water where the naturally occurring
levels are high.
Turbidity can be caused by suspended colloidal material
(gelatinous or mucinous substance), coliform contamination,
and surface water treatment. Although not health threatening
in itself, turbidity interferes with disinfection and is
related to disinfection by-products (see summary of trihalomethanes
above).
