Daring To Drink Our Tap Water

By James Donahue

Cities all over the United States have their own water source and public water treatment systems that distribute water that allegedly safe to drink to homes and business places. All of these treatment plants operate under strict state and federal guidelines so it is logical to assume that the water from our taps is safe to drink.

While that might have been true some 40 years ago, it probably is not a safe bet today. The mere fact that most cities use chlorine to eliminate bacteria in the water means that the treatment plants are literally poisoning our water supply right from the start.

Researchers, including the U. S. Council of Environmental Quality have only recently found that the cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is about 93 percent higher than among those who do not drink it.

Chlorine is a highly toxic substance that is a powerful and cheap agent used extensively in industry for bleaching and disinfecting. It was one of the first chemical weapons used in World War One by the Germans against the French troops. As a gas it destroyed the French soldier’s lungs causing them to die where they stood.

Instead of using chlorine, there is an alternative method of eliminating germs, bacteria and even fungi from city water systems. It is the simple use of ultra-violate radiation. When used in a controlled system, it works like sunlight and purifies the water, at least of these problems. Some communities have gone to this system, but most cities still chlorinate their water. You always know because you can taste the bitter chemical when you dare drink straight from the tap or a public fountain.

Fixing our drinking water problem would be simple if chlorine was the only thing coming from our community taps. But it is not. A lot of towns also are dumping fluoride in the water system, believing the myth that fluoride helps harden teeth and prevents cavities. Fluoride is yet another poison that is toxic to the human body. Among its damage from extended ingestion are joint pain, brittle bones, and blackening of the teeth.

There is more bad news….much more. It has been discovered that the rush by pharmaceutical companies to have doctors prescribe more and more pills to Americans is creating a hodge-podge of dangerous chemicals in our water supply. People are flushing unused antibiotics, mood stabilizers, sex hormones, heart medications and pain pills down their toilets. These chemicals make their way through the sewer treatment systems, work their way back into the water systems, and now are showing up in our tap water.

The water treatment systems currently used by our cities are not able to filter out these chemicals. So when we drink water from the tap, we are getting mild doses of just about every prescription issued to our neighbors for miles around.

Not only are we getting these chemicals, but we also are getting chemicals discharged from industry and the farms. Farmers are using a wide range of antibiotics and hormones on their livestock and using pesticides and herbicides in the fields where they grow their crops. The unused chemicals also are washing off into drains, streams and then the lakes and rivers where we get our drinking water.

And now with gas companies using its new fracking system to find new sources of natural gas, there is even more danger afoot. While no one knows for sure just what chemicals are being used in this system, the fear is that whatever is going in the ground is toxic. And it also is working its way into our ground water.

The bottom line to all of this is that the water coming from our taps is no longer safe to drink. It may not even be safe to use to wash our hair or shower in. Some chemicals can be absorbed through the skin on contact.

The advice is to equip homes with many of the new water filtration systems now available on the market. Some can be installed to work throughout the home so even the water we use to brush our teeth is relatively pure. Other less costly units filter water directly from the tap.

Buying water in stores in plastic containers has grown in popularity, but who can assure us that this water didn't just flow from someone else's tap? Also the plastic leaches other chemical impurities into the water, which is another story.