Imagine bathing in toxic Chlorine
Chlorinated water is a necessary evil, designed to destroy the harmful bacteria that we would otherwise ingest. If you’ve ever been in a chlorinated swimming pool you already know the effects chlorine can have. While the shower may be less intense, dry skin and hair can still be an issue. Hard water in your shower can also dry your skin and hair because it’s much more difficult to rinse soap and shampoo in hard water conditions. Although the EPA states that the chlorine levels are safe, the whole purpose of the chemical means that I’d rather get rid of trace quantities.
Imagine being filled with lead
According to the EPA, lead can enter drinking water through corrosion of plumbing materials, especially where the water has high acidity or low mineral content, which often corrodes pipes and fixtures. Homes built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures and solder. However, new homes are also at risk: even legally “lead-free” plumbing may contain up to eight percent lead. Beginning January 2014, changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act will further reduce the maximum allowable lead content of pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing fittings, and fixtures, to 0.25 percent. The most common problem is with brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures with lead solder, from which significant amounts of lead can enter into the water, especially hot water.
Then there’s fracking
If you happen to be unlucky enough to be living near one of those places where they’re fracking up the place in earnest, it’s probably good to know that methane gas and toxic chemicals leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Methane concentrations are 17x higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells. Contaminated well water is used for drinking water for nearby cities and towns. There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling, as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage, due to ingested contaminated water. Only 30-50% of the fracturing fluid is recovered, the rest of the toxic fluid is left in the ground and is not biodegradable.
Well, these are just a few of the potential hazards in our water supply. It’s pretty disturbing how dirty one’s water can be. Getting a water filter is probably one of those “it’s better safe than sorry” things, though boiling the water would at least get rid of the chlorine.
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