Toxins in Drinking Water Increase in Spring and Summer

This is national drinking water week and I wanted to share this note of awareness with you.

As summer approaches the toxin levels in your water will increase. Chlorine and chloramine levels
are increased by cities to stem the growth of bacteria due to warm weather. As a result there
will be an increase in the carcinogenic byproducts of chlorination, among them the trihalomethanes
and haloactic acids.

As farmers take to the fields the levels of pesticides will increase and also nitrates. The latter
are a serious problem in agricultural communities. While USEPA allows up to 10 parts per million (ppm)
I am hesitant to drink water containing 3 ppm. Recent studies have shown serious problems at 5 ppm.
Also please note that it is never advisable to boil water containing nitrates. Boiling concentrates
the water and the level of nitrates will increase.

If you’ve not already done so I invite you to find and read your local water quality report to look
at the contaminants in your water. Different contaminants are resolved by different treatment methods.
You can often find the report by googling ‘your city, state’ water quality report.

And for any men reading this or for women to point out to their man, see the post below about pesticides
affecting male hormones…who wants that?

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Pesticides in Water Affect Male Sexuality

Pesticides in water affect male sexuality. In previous posts I’ve written about the links between pesticides and blood cancer and breast cancer but I wanted to point out to the men in the household that a number of pesticides have also been linked to male sexual function.

The cottonwood and willow trees are budding here in southern Utah and for some reason that got me to thinking about the fact that soon farmers will be in their fields. Once they apply pesticides exposures will increase dramatically in both drinking and shower water.

“It is telling us that the pesticides most prevalent in the human population have effects on the androgen receptor,” said Zoeller, who directs the university’s Laboratory of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Endocrinology.

“Considering all the evidence that human male reproduction is exhibiting troubling secular trends (sperm count and quality, hypospadias, cryptorchidism, testis cancer), this is highly troubling,” he said.

Pesticides in water affect male sexuality. You can read the study here Continue reading

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The Worst Drinking Water in America

Here’s an article in Daily Finance that identifies cities in the U.S. with the worst drinking water,
as rated by 24/7 Wall Street using data collected by the Environmental Working Group.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/01/31/ten-american-cities-with-worst-drinking-water/

There were a couple of interesting listings including Omaha and San Diego. Las Vegas was no surprise. Is your city listed?

In many cases cities meet all federal standards for drinking water quality and yet still distribute harmful contaminants to their customers. The only way you can be certain you are drinking healthy water is to be proactive. This means looking at your local water report and determining which water filter will actually remove the contaminants in your water. Many people buy the wrong filter … thinking that any filter will make their water healthy. In this case you will still be drinking contaminated water. The best water filter is the one that removes the contaminants in your water.

The drought in California is also worsening water quality in that state. In particular Fresno and the central valley have incredibly dangerous levels of nitrates. Likewise cities in southern California receiving water from the Delta are also anticipated to have declining water quality.

http://news.yahoo.com/health-experts-warn-water-contamination-california-drought-034954936.html

If you’d like to review your water report together sometime call me during business hours (9 AM – 6 PM Mountain Time)and we can do so. There’s no charge and no obligation. Learn more on my website.

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The Health Effects of Chloramine…and how to remove it

When chlorine is added to water it interacts with organic material to form a variety of cancer causing byproducts. Up to 17% of bladder cancers in the US are thought to be caused by these carcinogens, also known as disingection byproducts or trihalomethanes. If you’d like to know if these are in your water, simply look at the water report provided to you by your local water company. It will list trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. Both of these groups of compounds cause cancer.

In an effort to reduce the amount of these disinfection byproducts in water many cities have turned to the use of chloramine, normally in the form of NH2CL. Chloramine is generally produced by adding ammonia to water containing chlorine. Chloramine is a weaker but more persistent and stable disinfectant that chlorine and so it remains in the distribution system longer, meaning the pipes that lead to your home. Continue reading

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Nitrates in Drinking Water May Cause Birth Defects

Nitrates in Drinking Water May Cause Birth Defects. A report released on July 15 confirms what I’ve been suggesting for a long time: nitrates far below the USEPA of 10 parts per million (ppm or mg/l). People who live in farming communities (particularly in California, Illinois, Iowa, and Texas) are regularly exposed to drinking water containing nitrates in excess of 10 ppm. The study showed that women who drink water with nitrates in excess of 5 ppm are more likely to give birth to babies with birth defects, including spina bifida, cleft palate and missing limbs.

The study showed that women who drink water with nitrates in excess of 5 ppm are more likely to give birth to babies with birth defects

Nitrates of 5 ppm have also been associated with bladder cancer in post menopausal women. For years I’ve been telling people that I will not drink water with even 3 ppm of nitrates. Now my suspicions that even low levels of nitrates are dangerous have been confirmed by this study. Continue reading

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Your septic system may be the cause of nitrates in your well water

Your septic system may be the cause of nitrates in your well water.  Nitrates are one of the most dangerous carcinogens in drinking water, but not as dangerous as lead or arsenic. EPA allows up to 10 parts per million (ppm or mg/l) of nitrates in water. I won’t drink water with nitrates of 3 ppm. Natural levels in an unpollutated river are about .01 ppm

If you have nitrates in your water they’re coming from one of three sources: animal waste, fertilizer, or your septic leach field. If you have both nitrates and coliform bacteria in your well then you can pretty much assume that what’s taking place on the surface of your land is making its way quickly into the well below. Continue reading

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Toxic lead in surprising places

As most of you know if you follow my blog or receive my emails I read Men’s Health Magazine. The February 2013 issue contains an interesting article about lead and Proposition 65 in California. Prop 65 requires the labeling of products that contain cancer causing chemicals. Lead is one of those – along with cadmium, arsenic, and mercury.

Many of you recall the banning of lead in paint because of the danger of children nibble on that paint. And you may know that lead was used in solder up until about 1986 so houses older than that may still have lead in the water. Continue reading

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Did Fukushima Affect Newborns in the United States?

We talked about Fukishima as the radiation was spreading across the U.S. on the trade winds. Traces of the fallout were found in U.S. water supplies on both East and West Coasts, but rain on the West coast at the time caused fallout levels to be higher there.

If I recall correctly EPA told us that the levels were safe. Turns out that may not be true.

In recent news is word that babies born on the West Coast during the months of April and May 2011 are 28% more likely to suffer from congenital hypothyroidism. If you live on the West Coast and have a child born during these months it is advised you see a doctor. Continue reading

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Mercola Needs To Stop Writing About Water Filtration

Unfortunately Dr. Joseph Mercola is spreading a great deal of bad information to his audience about water filtration. Whoever he is consulting with is giving him old and bad information. I suggest you ignore everything he says about water.

Also…the systems he sells are junk and do not perform as claimed. Continue reading

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My Favorite Bottled Water Is…

This past weekend I was in Las Vegas…not to gamble but to do some yoga with an incredibly gifted teacher, Olga Sam at Blue Sky Yoga…but I am getting off track… I am writing this article to let you what my favorite bottled water is…

I’ve been working too hard lately and this was a chance to get away even if for only a day. I treated myself to dinner at Morton’s, the infamous steak house. I know, many of you don’t eat red meat and I’ll lose traction on that, but stick with me for a moment.

My waitress offered me tap or bottled water. I asked if the tap water was filtered and she said yes. So I requested that. I tasted it and it tasted horrible. It left an aftertaste that was dirty, like old dishwater. Of course Las Vegas drinks Colorado River water and carbon filters don’t lower the mineral content (tds) or eliminate the radioactive metals or pharmaceutical waste.

Colorado River water in Lake Mead where Las Vegas draws its water has a tds of 635, too high for drinking in my opinion, but the other contaminants contribute to bad taste as well. So I told her it tasted horrible and I would like bottled water.

She offered me my favorite: Continue reading

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