Water is crucial to human life. Water maintains hydration and detoxification systems and plays a huge role in our psychological and emotional states. Our body is composed of approximately 60% water. The heart and brain alone are composed of over 70% water.
WHAT IS IN OUR TAP WATER?
DISINFECTANT BY-PRODUCTS
It's no secret that our water can be full of undesirable by-products used by municipality treatment centers for disinfection purposes. Some of these by-products are: Bromate, Chlorite, Trihalomethanes, and Haloacetic acids. Exposure to such disinfection products, at high levels over many years, has been associated with a number of health outcomes by epidemiological studies.
FLUORIDE
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies fluoride as a drug when used to prevent or mitigate disease (FDA 2000). In my opinion, adding fluoride to water for the sole purpose of preventing tooth decay (a non-waterborne disease) is a form of medical treatment and is therefore unethical as informed consent is standard practice for all medical treatment and one of the key reasons why most of Western Europe has ruled against fluoridation. No disease, not even tooth decay is caused by a fluoride deficiency ("NRC 1993: Institute of Medicine 1997, NRC 2006). There is extensive evidence that fluoride can interfere with many important biological processes.
OTHER CONTAMINANTS:
In addition to products used for disinfection and fluoridation, our water supplies can contain significant amounts of Pathogens, Arsenic, Barium, Selenium, Chrominum, Cyanide, Nitrate, Atrazine, Radioactive Contaminants and Pesticides. Although some of these can be a result eroding natural deposits, many are a result of run off or discharge from drilling waste, metal & petroleum refineries, electronics production factories, fertilizer factories, as well as farm pesticide, and herbicide usage.
FILTERED WATER OPTIONS
BOTTLED WATER - There are many reasons why I choose not to use bottled water as our main source of drinking water. A few of them are:
Most bottled water is the same as tap water
Bottled water is more costly
Chemicals from the plastic bottles can leach into the water
Plastic bottles are a major source of consumer waste.
PITCHER, FAUCET & REFRIGERATOR FILTERS: These filters commonly use "granulated" activated charcoal and although they can remove some contaminants and make the water taste better, they do not remove many toxins.
DISTILLED WATER: The distillation process heats the water to boiling turns it to vapor, leaving inorganic contaminants, including healthful minerals, behind. Chemicals evaporate along with the water and then recondenses into a liquid state in the distilled water. This process is great at removing many contaminants, including fluoride. However, due to the fact that endocrine disruptors vaporize at equal or even lower temps than water they can rise with the steam to the cooling chamber.
REVERSE OSMOSIS: Reverse Osmosis (RO) devices effectively reduce certain heavy metals, salts, and inorganic material, including healthful, naturally-occurring minerals. Contaminants extracted through the Reverse Osmosis process are returned to the water supply. The process is slow and wastes about 3 to 4 gallons for every one gallon of water produced. RO water was our choice several years ago. We would purchase RO water and store in 3 gallon jugs, this was not the most convenient. Because the RO process also depletes trace minerals, I would simply add minerals back into the water before drinking. We considered adding an in-home RO system, but because I later learned that RO systems do not reduce endocrine disruptors and wastes about 3-4 gallons for every one gallon of filtered water produced we decided to research further.
SOLID BLOCK CARBON FILTERS: Sold block carbon filters are the best simply because of their ability to remove impurities (including endocrine disruptors) without also removing the natural healthy minerals and nutrients. Compacted solid carbon block filters have a large surface area for chemical/physical adsorption to take place. With a solid carbon block, the water contact time is longer and provides for greater adsorption of many different chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and certain heavy metals. In addition, the densely compacted carbon block mechanically filters particles down to 0.5 micron. There are many types (gravity fed, under counter, etc.) of solid block carbon filters on the market and with a little research you can find the one that is best for you.
FOR ME & MY FAMILY:
Deciding which Solid Block Carbon Filter was best for our family took some time and consideration, but we finally decided that the best type of solid block carbon filter product would be the (Berkey) gravity-fed drip water filter. These solid block carbon gravity-fed filters are excellent at removing chlorine, chlorination by-products, fluoride, VOCs, pesticides, particulates and pharmaceuticals. They require no electricity to operate and the water is filtered as it drips from the upper chamber to the lower chamber. Because the water is filtered slowly, the filtration is much more effective than a faucet-mounted filter. Generally, slow filtration methods tend to be best. It has been almost 2 years since Big Berkey joined our family and we are very pleased with the functionality and convenience of this product. Did I mention that it is portable so we can take it on long road trips, if we choose to.
The Big Berkey (2 gallon model) costs about $250, which may seem like a lot of money for a water filter, but: The two Black Berkey filters inside will purify 6,000 gallons before needing replacement. If you drink 10 gallons of water a week, it will last you about 11 years at a cost of less than 2 cents per gallon. Most water filters need replacing after 3-6 months!
As with all products that you are considering investing in, we always recommend that you do your due diligence and research to determine what is best for you and your family.
Links to the Berkey and other Solid Carbon Block Filter options:
Cheers to clean water,
GIGI
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition
