Mysterious — Beautiful — Life Sustaining

Without it we would be dead in 3 to 5 days.

Everyone knows that there are health benefits to drinking water, but how much do we really need to remain healthy and hydrated?

That depends.

On an average day, you should drink enough water to replace what you lose daily through going to the bathroom, sweating, and breathing.

You need more when you’re a kid, exposed to heat, when exercising, if pregnant or breastfeeding, and when ill. The rapid growth of children, physical activity, fevers, vomiting, and diarrhea, and some medications all increase the need for more.

Many professionals recommend that we should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day. According to WebMD which quotes The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, it is recommended that women actually need 91 oz. of water daily, and men need 125 oz.

That’s 11 8 oz. drinks for women and 15 for men — every day!

Sound like a lot? I thought so too. However, consider that you also get ‘water’ from other sources such as fruit and vegetables, meals such as soup, and other drinks — like milk, soda, coffee, and tea — however these last two have diuretic properties (which means it makes you urinate more) so are not necessarily good for hydration.

And yes there is water in beer and wine but these are also ‘diuretic’ drinks, and the main reason for that morning hangover – dehydration.

To determine how much water you actually need — simply check the color of your urine.

If it is dark yellow or cloudy you need to drink more. Your urine should be colorless or light yellow. If you are taking vitamin B supplements your urine will be bright yellow, so to stay safe go with the 8 by 8 rule – eight oz. of water 8 times per day as your target goal.

Many times when we are thirsty our brains confuse thirst as a hunger signal — which makes us eat — and skip the drink.

This not only contributes to weight gain, but also leads to the development of a continuous state of mild dehydration — a situation many professionals think is far more common than not.

Even though healthy adults can survive chronic mild dehydration, our bodies don’t want to be forced into that state. We are in total, 50-60% water — our blood, muscles, and brains each being over 80%.

Signs of mild dehydration:

• difficulty concentrating
• lethargy
• odd light headaches
• mood swings

In a study presented in the Journal of Nutrition where mild dehydration was induced in both men and women, these symptoms were proved correct.

So where is the best place to get our water? Tap? — Well? — Bottled? 

You had to ask!  Turns out, it is not a simple answer.

Read on to learn about the water industry in our country: Who regulates it — Who profits from it — Who suffers as a result.

Tap Water 

In 1974, The Safe Drinking Act was enacted to ensure that all water that has potential for drinking use, whether from above-ground or underground sources, must meet the minimum safety standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — In other words — no water pollution.

The Safe Drinking Act assures that, whether drinking water comes from your kitchen tap or one in a city restaurant, it should be of the same quality.

But does that mean it is safe?

In the US, tap water is treated to remove particles, chemicals, and bacteria in large municipal treatment facilities. During the process of treating public water, one treatment is chlorine, added as a disinfectant. In some treatment facilities fluoride is added for dental health benefits, however these benefits are still up for debate.

Fluoride works by binding to tooth enamel. About 95 percent of the fluoride added to public water supplies is produced from phosphorite rock. Back in the 1940’s in an effort to combat tooth decay, fluoride became a popular option.

However, years later we have found that fluoride has unwanted side effects.

According to the Center For Disease Control (CDC) the most obvious health effect of excess fluoride exposure is dental fluorosis. As of 2010, 41 percent of kids ages 12 to 15 had some form of dental fluorosis, manifested as:

• mild — white streaks on teeth
• severe — brown stains, pits, and/or broken enamel

Some researchers contend that ingesting fluoride also has harmful side effects such as bone tumors and thyroid problems, however this debate continues today.

Chlorine is not without issue. Found on the Scientific American web site:

According to Vanessa Lausch of filter manufacturer Aquasana, “Chlorine, added as an inexpensive and effective drinking water disinfectant, is also a known poison to the body,

It is certainly no coincidence that chlorine gas was used with deadly effectiveness as a weapon in the First World War. The gas would severely burn the lungs and other body tissues when inhaled, and is no less powerful when ingested by mouth.

Because so much of the water we drink ends up in the bladder and/or rectum, ingestion of chlorine in drinking water is particularly damaging to these organs.”

Translation: Drinking chlorinated tap water and breathing its vapors have detrimental health benefits.

I checked Ms. Lausch’s claim about chlorine gas being used in WW I and it is true.

Running tap water and taking showers releases chlorine gas into the air that you then breathe which enters directly into your bloodstream.

There is more bad news.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG):

According to an article written in 2009: since 2004 testing by water utilities has found pollutants in the tap water Americans drink, according to a quality analysis of almost 20 million records obtained from state water officials.

More than half of the chemicals detected are not subject to health or safety regulations and can legally be present in any amount. The federal government does have health guidelines for others, but 49 of these contaminants have been found in one place or another at levels above those guidelines, polluting the tap water for 53.6 million Americans. The government has not set a single new drinking water standard since 2001.

Water utilities spend 19 times more on water treatment chemicals every year than the federal government invests in protecting lakes and rivers from pollution in the first place.

There is still another problem.

The water source isn’t the only concern. The pipes it flows through matter, too. Lead pipes can leach lead into water, making it harmful to drink (especially for children and pregnant women).

If you aren’t sure whether or not your pipes are made of lead, you should have your water tested. Testing is always a good idea. But testing by a company that sells water filtration systems is not a good idea.

Always use an independent third party testing agency. Your local water authority should have a list of more than one that you can call.

You can also check the EPA web site for certified laboratory testing information.

Well Water 

There are some that believe that well water is more likely to be contaminated since it doesn’t go through the same treatment and testing as water for public consumption.

However, in light of what you just read, could that really be true?

There is however, one serious potential well contaminant that affects infants – nitrates. Nitrates are used in fertilizers and can cause ‘blue baby syndrome’ a condition caused by lack of oxygen. Excessive nitrate levels in wells is considered over 10 parts per million.

If you have a well and you have a newborn or infant, have your well water tested for nitrates!

Runoff contamination from fertilizers, pesticides, animal feces from nearby farms or pens, malfunctioning septic systems, streets and roads, and more recently contamination from fracking procedures used in oil exploration and their ‘monster wells’, should be of concern for well owners.

There is a limited amount of aggregate information on well hazards due to the vast number and widespread location of wells across multiple communities and states.

One water testing service I spoke with said that if you had bacterial contaminant from a septic system or animal contaminant you would know it as you would become very sick! Ugh, right?

However, heavy metals, fertilizers, and pesticides do require consideration.

Yearly well water testing from an independent certified lab is recommended as is monitoring for proper well functioning to be sure that surface contaminants are not leaking into your well mechanics.

Bottled Water

According to an article in National Geographic – Why Tap Water is Better Than Bottled Water, in the US we drink on average 21 gallons of bottled water per person per year. If there are 321,216,397 people in the US (US Census as of July 4, 2015), that equates to 6.7 billion gallons of bottled water per year.

To further break that down, if an average bottle of water is 16 oz., then 8 bottles equal 1 gallon, which is 128 oz. So, our 6.7 billion gallons of water become 53.9 billion water bottles sold in the US alone!

The bottle-water industry is so successful that it has outpaced milk, coffee, and juice in number of gallons of drinks sold — putting it behind only beer and soda.

Where does their water come from? Many times from municipal water systems — tap water — that is then ‘purified’ and sold to consumers for approximately 2000 times the cost of ordinary tap. Other sources include springs, wells, and surface water (lakes and ponds) that is piped into treatment facilities and bottled for our use.

Two of the largest beverage companies in the United States PepsiCo and Coke use municipal tap water as the source of their bottled water — Aquafina and Dasani respectively.

Prior to 2007, the label on Aquafina water bottles did not spell out that the drink came from the same source as tap — they merely placed P.W.S on the label. They now spell out ‘public water source’ thanks to groups like Corporate Accountability International who pressure companies to curb what it calls misleading marketing practices.

As for Coke’s Dasani? They do not say where the water comes from on their label, but after researching — it is merely ‘purified’ tap.

‘Purification’ is suspect by any standards especially  prior to 2009 when there were no regulations for bottled water. In 2008 an investigation by the nonprofit EWG found that all of the brands they analyzed contained impurities.

The article titled: Bottle Water Quality Investigation — 10 Major Brands, 38 Pollutants revealed that bottled water examined in the study contained disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue, and pain medication.

Currently the FDA regulates bottled water and has set Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs) specifically for bottled water. They require bottled water producers to:

• Process, bottle, hold, and transport bottled water under sanitary conditions
• Protect water sources from bacteria, chemicals, and other contaminants
• Use quality control processes to ensure the bacteriological and chemical safety of the water
• Sample and test both source water and the final product for contaminants

What I found of interest is that regulations do not require bottlers to release their findings, nor are there any labeling requirements.

 Water Bottles 

So that’s the story on bottled water.

But what about the bottles themselves? Is there any concern for our physical selves, drinking water from these cheap plastic containers?

From the FDA website: Are plastic containers for bottled water regulated?

The materials used to produce plastic containers for bottled water are regulated by the FDA as food contact substances. Food contact substances must be approved under FDA’s food additive regulations.

‘Safe’ is considered: “reasonable certainty in the minds of competent scientists that a substance is not harmful under the intended conditions of use.”

However , if that is true, why the continuing debate over whether chemicals from the bottles seep into the water inside, especially when reused multiple times or left in hot cars as is frequently the case with bottled water?

Intended conditions of use becomes meaningless.

According to National Geographic:

• The plastic used in single-use bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water when re-used. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles.
• However, as #1 bottles are reused, as they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a possible human carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disruptor.
• And because the plastic is porous you’ll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse the bottles.
• Many reusable bottles are made of polycarbonate plastic, but those often contain bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical linked to reproductive problems and heart disease. In response, some polycarbonate-bottle makers have phased out BPA and advertise “BPA-free” products.

Another reason to ditch bottled water altogether?

What about the earth as a living breathing organism? Discarded water bottles contaminate the earth as they release their toxic chemicals during decomposition, which can take hundreds of years to complete.

• Get yourself a safe, reusable container and save your wallet and the environment.
• Converting to a reusable container can save over $250 per year per person. Have a family of four? That’s $1,000 per year.

Impact on the Earth

There are a many environmental concerns with the bottle water industry:

• transporting the bottles and keeping them cold burns fossil fuels which give off greenhouse gases, a major contributor to global warming
• groundwater pumping by bottled-water companies draws heavily on underground aquifers and harms watersheds (this according to the Sierra Club, an environmental nonprofit agency)
• bottled water companies gain high profits by drawing water from public water sources — many of which are already taxed — placing it in plastic containers, and reselling it at over 2000 times the price of regular tap
• for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin — the rest are sent to landfills or end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil is needed to produce one bottle. (From National Geographic Kids)

 

What Can We Do?

Action by individuals:

Here are some recommendations that you as an individual can take to keep you and your family hydrated, and safe from drinking water pollutants:

• drink enough water daily to keep your urine nearly clear to a light yellow
• buy safe reusable water containers for each of your family members
• never leave bottled water in a hot car or in direct sunlight and then drink from it as chemicals can seep into the water from the bottle (and never microwave plastic food containers for the same reason)
• never reuse plastic water bottles as their plastic may be porous and can harbor bacteria
• have your water tested annually — use only an independent lab as found through your local water authority or on the EPA drinking water testing website
• do not use testing services from companies who also sell water filtration systems as the testing may not be accurate and any filters you buy will more than likely be over-priced.
• buy a water filter — reverse osmosis if you can afford it. Check the website EWG Gide to Filtration Systems for filter reviews and recommendations. (Always get more than one quote for a water filtration system before purchasing.)
• install chlorine filer shower heads if you are on a municipal system
• and finally, what about distilled water, you may be thinking? Apparently not a good idea beyond using it in irons and other devices. Why? Its acidity is toxic to humans and is devoid of minerals — not what the human body wants as drinking it may cause electrolyte imbalances

Action by cities and municipalities:

In September 2009, the city of Bundanoon, Australia became the first city in the world to completely ban bottled water from its stores’ shelves, and instead installed fountains around the city.

Some U.S. cities have taken action against the water bottle mania and no longer buy bottled water for city use (San Francisco and Seattle) while Chicago added a five-cent tax on each bottle.

Several restaurants in those cities have also given up bottled for filtered tap. Across the country, many whole food stores and organic restaurants are doing the same.

In curious contrast, in an article from Marketplace – Sustainability, Texas town closes the toilet-to-tap loop: Is this our future water supply?:

In Big Springs, Texas sewerage water has now become a component of the town’s drinking water.

The sewerage liquid goes through a new treatment facility adjacent to the municipal water treatment facility where it is purified and then mixed in with the drinking water before it ends up in homes of thousands of people.

The purification process includes heavy-duty reverse osmosis filtration plus two stages of disinfection and multiple stages of testing. The plant is the first of its kind in the nation.

• According to an article in the NY Times, neither the EPA or the FDA has produced regulations for water reuse.
• That means that your bottled water may someday contain water that once flushed down the toilet.

For more information, check out these additional resources:

CNN – Is Bottle Water Safer?

Why you shouldn’t drink Distilled Water.

EPA web site page: Ground Water and Drinking Water

Environmental Working Group (EWG) web site article: National Drinking Water Database: a database of 100 water utility plants across the nation and how they rate for water safety.

Elizabeth Royte, a freelance environmental writer and the author of the book, Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It discusses water facts, and the impact the bottle water industry has on the environment including treatment facilities and pollution.

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Tune in next week for Prescription Mania – what you can do to protect yourself

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