I recently came across an eye-opening article answering a big question: Is your water safe? What I learned was disturbing to say the least – and I had to share.
That clear, clean-looking fluid you use every day to cook, wash your clothes, bathe and quench your thirst – can be considered anything but safe.
When having a public water supply, obviously we assume that the municipalities take care of all the microorganisms that cause those crazy old-school diseases such as typhoid, cholera etc. and of course the dysentery that can cause a horrid case of the back door trots.
Chlorine sanitizes what it needs to – but can be bad in high doses
Chlorine, for the most part, is relatively safe and is used to bleach everyday paper products we use and it is used to sanitize swimming pools. Don’t freak out and start thinking you and your children need to avoid public pools and toilet paper all together –
Chlorine itself is not the entirely problem. In fact, once Chlorine is in your body, it acts pretty similar to the chlorine in salt. Where it truly becomes an issue is when it is in a higher dosage and especially when it reacts with the organic material naturally found in water it is meant to sanitize. It is there that chlorine creates something referred to as DBPs.
Let’s focus on these bad boys – Disinfection byproducts (DBPs); these are the danger in our water. I use danger lightly... These DBPs are a chemical creation that is extremely persistent and does not break down within our bodies.
DBPs are 100 times more toxic than chlorine and according to the U.S Council of Environmental Quality, the cancer risk to people who drink chlorinated water is 93 percent higher than among those do not drink chlorinated water.
DBPs formed when chlorine is used to sanitize your water include Trihalomethanes (THMs) and those have been known to cause cancer in laboratory animals. DBPs produced from chlorine in your water have been linked to heart, lung, kidney and central nervous system. There have been over 600 different DBPs that have been reported from water since 1974 and on top of that – the EPA still estimates that less than half of all chlorinated DBPs have been identified.
How do you protect yourself from the water in your home? Do you need to? The answer is of course YES!
Who wouldn’t believe it is absolutely necessary to protect yourself from these harmful, carcinogenic byproducts produced when water is sanitized and sent into your home to bathe in and drink?
Sadly, science is barely scraping the surface with understanding the potential short-term and long-term effects of the sanitizing chlorine Disinfection byproducts has on the human body and the environment.
Being the hot water experts, DRF Water Heating Solutions has many informed specialists that are here to answer your questions about water purification systems.
Please feel free to call us: 630-615-7000
Stay tuned for more blog posts on this subject matter as DRF Water Heating Solutions brings shines a light on how safe is your water.
