I guess we live in a pretty decent neighbourhood. It had at one time in the past been farmland. I'd never thought to look into the possibility that the groundwater might be contaminated with farming-related pollutants.
Things appeared to be too good here for environmental hazards like that - that is until I heard the bad news. Apparently, there was a great deal of groundwater contamination in the area from a variety of fertilizers, pesticides, and other pollutants. I wanted to protect myself and my family so I bought a drinking water filter.
I must admit that I was expecting that drinking water filters would be mind-bogglingly difficult to set up. Given what I knew they were supposed to do, I was expecting some giant box containing lots of scientific gizmos. When I actually saw how small this thing actually was, I was pretty gobsmacked.
I actually thought I might've been sold a pup. I mean, was that all there was? Was I missing some parts here? Was this tiny device really going to protect myself and my family? Would it really manage to get rid of all of the nasties present in my home's tap water?
It turns out that the drinking water filters available today are better than I thought. I did some research on it, and I found out that with proper maintenance most drinking water filters are at least 80% effective, if not more. This isn't bad when you consider what they actually have to accomplish.
I must admit that even given these facts, using just one drinking water filter just didn't seem to cut it for me. I instinctively knew that nothing was going to be 100% effective. But I still wanted better than 80%. I put together a double drinking water filter system that I figured could remove 80% of the remaining nasty chemicals thereby giving me 96% protection.
Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think that's a bad outcome. I understand that provided I make sure that the drinking water filters are maintained and changed regularly then my family are going to be protected from dangerous levels of chemical pollutants in their drinking water. Knowing this is certainly helping to give me less sleepless nights.
Traces of sedatives in New York City tap water, Ibuprofen and naproxen in Washington, D.C., anti-epileptic drugs and anxiety drugs in California- these are just a portion of the alarming facts that recent reports have concluded regarding the quality of water that is supplied to majority of the population of United States. While we become accustomed to the water companies? and government's denial on the issues concerning the contamination of most of the country's watersheds, we tend to make little of the news that we see on TV, regarding the seriousness of the effects of the drugs found in US drinking water.
So how exactly have these drugs in our drinking water reach us?
The water that we get from the faucet in our homes is not new, it is actually treated. What we get is actually recycled water. Sourced from the nearest and cleanest watershed in our area, water passes through a treatment facility, where technology tries to decontaminate the water supply. After undergoing a series of water treatment method, it is finally released through the pipe that leads to your home. What most of us realize is that contamination not actually happens from the source. It starts from us, people. Some people take in medications for health reasons. These drugs are in fact not completely absorbed by the body. So traces of medicine are carried through the urine that goes into the septic tank. With septic tank failure, the chemicals are likely to reach into the water basin that basically flows through our local watershed.
Also, think about the number of pharmaceutical plants in the country. United States is actually only of the leading produces and innovators in manufacturing most of prescription drugs that are available all over the world. The manufacturing plants of these companies are essentially built near a body of water. Understandably, a plant near a river or near the sea will be contaminated by the by-products produced in manufacturing the medicine that they sell. This way, industrial plants is a primary reason why traces of pharmaceutical drugs in our drinking water.
Small concentrations of pharmaceutical drugs such as anti-seizure, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs were discovered present at the samples that were sourced from the facility that supplies the 1 Million total population of Arlington County, Falls Church and parts of Fairfax County with running water. A combination with caffeine, disinfecting chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs were found in 24 out 28 metropolitan areas in United States. Other forms of drugs found in US drinking water include carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole and monensin and other veterinary antibiotics. We must understand that these chemicals have adverse effects to healthy people. Hence, we should start taking this issue of drinking water contamination to heart and devise a way to protect ourselves especially our family from its effects.
The threat posed by the large scale contamination of drinking water emphasizes the need for more efficient and reliable water treatments systems in our locality. If the government and the companies that provide our tap water refuse to do this for us, then maybe it is time to make a change and take matters by hand. Thankfully, compact and high-tech home water treatment systems are now conveniently available. Although they are expensive, they offer cost-effective solutions in managing and eliminating the drugs in our drinking water.
Both Alan Allport & Christy Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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