Hi All

I have always been a bit freaked by the chemicals i know are added to water that we drink in our homes. Try not to think about it but at the same time have trouble drinking it because it tastes and smells awful. And I live in a rural area not a big city! Today I had a visit from a water filtration specialist and i had to face up to what is in our water systems. I am POSITIVE it really affects our health and as peri/meno women with lots of symptoms im sure it would be a good idea to find out what we are drinking and cooking with.

I was disgusted when i read the list of chemicals and heavy metals present in our water systems and outdated pipes. The chemicals used are used because they are CHEAP and it is often years before symptoms related to ingesting these chemicals show up as heart disease, cancer, parasitic infections, lead poisoning etc...Our kidneys are working overtime.

Just wanted a vent and to remind you all what you already know. I will be getting filtered water put in soon. I have enough other stuff to deal with without poisoning on top!

Anyone care to add something?

Eriskay

Yes I've often wondered..the water at my current home tastes vile. When I lived home with Mum and Dad their water supply came from a coal mine and it was beautiful, fresh water. I have filled a glass with water here and seen it fizz as though someone had added alka seltzer! Aside from the chemicals I wonder what sort of bacteria must be in the water as it runs along the pipes. Once, people in a nearby village had teeny worms in theirs.

I drink bottled water only and am probably suffering the effects of the plastic containers... you can't win!

I have not used tap water for drinking or cooking for many years now. I buy clean water in large casks. I used charcoal filters for many years before that. i can't believe people still drink the stuff that comes out of taps here, even tho it is supposedly safe.

Dear Fellow water drinkers
I live in a big city.....and I have always drunk bottled and/or filtered water. When my son was little all of his friends had inner ear troubles, yet both my daughter and son were spared ear tubes. There is NO scientific facts based on this.....but I believe it was because we were the only family back then....to NEVER drink tap water. I had water delivered in big jugs and we only drank from spring water. I drink ALOT of water these days......and the other day...much to my horror....we ran out of water. I was SO thirsty and it never occured to me to drink tap water. It also never occured to me to go to the store to buy some more water, so I called my husband.....but that is for another thread....aptly called.....'Spoiled woman calls husband to bring home water"

Nope, you wont catch this meno-mama drinking from the tap.
Cheers
Dottie

What is most frightening to me is that many of us live on former farm land where the water supply comes from underground aquifers that are exposed to runoff from many many many years of unregulated pesticide use and that leaches into our water supply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never Never do I drink tap water...I will not even order tea at a restraunt...I use a filteration device at home..

I had suffered from a kidney stone ten yrs ago,,In the emergency room my doctor asked me I drank alot of tap water and I said yes...He then told me to drink bottled water..I went on line to find out what is in tap water..OMG...I have not done it since.I have not had a kidney stone since..

Cheers to good health..

Pamela..

Let's put it this way. I have been inside of bottled water plants to do inspections. And it was NOT pretty. Give me my tap water anyday!

I think our water tastes terrible. Our Mayor is on a kick to ban bottled water, claiming the bottles are overwhelming the land fills. What happened to recycling? Anyway, there was a story about it on talk radio yesterday. An environmental specialist who manages our water says that it sits in reservoirs before it goes to a plant where it is treated with lime (not the fruit) and chlorine. It is also ozonated and radiated. Sorry, but I prefer not to drink lime, chlorine and radiation. I have bottled water delivered at home in 3 gal. jugs. They are reused by the company. I keep smaller bottles on hand and reuse those until they break. Then I put them in the recycle. I think that is doing things responsibly.

Im with you Kleeo......Ill take lake michigan water anyday...it taste so much better than bottled water.( And Ill bet my life that most bottled water is tap water in a fancy container) But I will take bottled water to work..only because its convienient.....and then it can only be Ice Mountian Water...that is the only bottled water I will drink. The rest of the bottled water taste like crap. So yep...Michigan Straight for me!!

Peace
AA

The Pepsi Cola Co. just announced today that Desanti water and AquaFina water are all "tap water". It's filtered tap water. They are now letting the consumer know this fact. I just found the article interesting and wanted to share the finding with all of you discussing bottled versus tap.

Kaydee

The Pepsi Cola Co. just announced today that Desanti water and AquaFina water are all "tap water". It's filtered tap water. They are now letting the consumer know this fact. I just found the article interesting and wanted to share the finding with all of you discussing bottled versus tap.

Kaydee

Our water is drawn from city wells. It's described as being mineral-rich. No doubt about that, it leaves terrible rings in flower vases. Our solution: A filtration system in the frig for our drinking water and water softener system for showering, washing, etc. When the cannister is full, it weighs a ton. To think, we used to drink all that!

My husband is a water operator in California. The chemicals that he uses to treat the water are not at all cheap. Some of the minerals in water are needed in the human body. If you want a true diagnosis of your water ask your water dept. to mail you a consumer confidence report. With that said, your pipes may be old and bad. Most water companies use nano or micro filtration which keeps us safe and healthy. We use a filter in our fridge for drinking water. Our city is changing it's pipes from copper to pvc. I have not heard of many people in America becoming ill from their city water supply.

Our landfills are being over loaded with small plastic water bottles and I've read that plastic leaches estrogens. I use a stainless steel canteen made from recycled metals to carry water to work or in the car.

I think a water filter and even a water softener is fine but in general I believe our water supply to be safe.

Yes bottled water isn't all its cracked up to be. And re-using plastic containers too much is dangerous. For those of you who believe that tap is safe, here is a list of some of the stuff in our tap water:

Chlorine, Ammonia, Aluminium sulfate, Copper sulphate, Sulphuric acid, Lime, heavy metals (depending on your pipes, their age etc), Pesticides, herbicides, various micro-organisms, algae, E-coli, cryptosporidium (Sydney Aust had to boil all water a few years ago due to this in the tap water, was a major scandal), and many other toxic substances.
THM's (Trihalomethanes) should not exceed 0.2mg/litre, they are usually 0.6mg/litre in tap water.
None of the 50 chemicals legally used to disinfect domestic water supplies are recommended for human consumption,
One was used in chemical warfare.

Shakti
I have heard of many many people becoming ill from tap water. The Sydney water scandal where cryptosporidium was found resulted in THOUSANDS being infected with it and everyone had to boil their water for months. Longer term health issues are more insidious but can be traced to high levels of toxicity in liver, kidneys, and other organs. Not to mention the intestinal upsets!
We can get minerals from food we eat. Seaweed i hear contains all the minerals we need - eat sushi!

I think the safest way to filter water is the filtration systems on home taps. Or water tanks with filtration systems. These systems do not use any of the above to filter the water. And tap water no longer tastes like a swimming pool.

I am putting a filtration system in as i dont at present drink tap water and we only have a small water tank which isn't fed into the house. I am also doing this for my children's health. I don't know what the American systems are like but i imagine there isn't much difference. By all means mail your local water dept and ask for a true list of what goes into your water. Its an interesting read i can tell you.

Eriskay

Add me to the list of those who are frustrated about water quality. However, I believe that the public water system is doing just fine. I just switched from a well to our local public water. It tastes different, but there's no problem. All of my drinking water is passed through a Brita pitcher in my fridge. And I drink a LOT of water. Your body needs it. Especially when exercising.

Careful, there's a long way to go between simply detecting it's presence and exceeding the recommended safe limits. Using a chemical for warfare has no relation to being used in tap water. It's simply the amount of concentration over time. If it's within safe limits, there's no problem. Period. If you want to get scared, just take a look at artificial sweeteners, like aspertame. http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html. That's the stuff in soda, which I refuse to drink except under very rare circumstances (no caffeine in any case).

The EPA has an excellent reference for ground water and drinking water: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwh/index.html . Be sure to check the menu items on the left side of the page. There's a good FAQ. You can also get your local water quality report if it's available on line.

If you want to see the full list of what's in your water (list of contaminants and limits), check here: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html. That includes a discussion about cryptosporidium.

[Hi Lady Geek

I am trying personally to cut down things in my diet that may exacerbate the meno symptoms i have. I have always been fairly aware of diet etc (tho don't always have the optimum diet), and water is one thing i know does contain things that ought not to be consumed by us humans! Im not trying to scaremonger, just inform. Though reading through the list i have does sound alarming! Perhaps because it is? Anyway we will all make our own minds up.

take care
Eriskay

Eriskay,

I'm also trying to inform and let people make up their own minds, but my approach is from the scientific side. I think the (USA) EPA web site is a good source if information. It may be outdated, but at least it's a known entity.

I'd be scared of all the stuff they find in water and that's only because they have to report it. Consider that food ingredient listings don't tell the whole story, such as the amount of pesticides used in the grain, or the amount of allowable insect parts (at least bug parts aren't harmful). Not to mention genetically modified foods. Europe is much better on reporting that stuff than the US.

Something else to think about. Maybe I should stop while I'm ahead...

that thing about re-using plastic bottles being a risk of any kind is internet 'scarelore' according to the Snopes site, and others... besides, even if it were true - i think it would be less of a risk than drinking what comes from our taps here. remember when our parents told us not to drink pool water because the chlorine in it was harmful? now it's in our tap water.. flouride too is not a safe thing to be regularly ingesting. they are only two of the chemicals found in our water. i don't even want to think on the rest.

i was living in a Sydney suburb when that water scare happened. i was so very glad i had not been drinking it. and who's to say when the next dead dog ends up in one of our dams? no. no way. i will buy my water and never count the cost.

I look at it this way, AA. My grandparents and those before them didn't have bottled water, right? And they lived WELL into their 80's. There is a huge thing tonite on national news telling how most bottled water? Is simply TAP water put into fancy bottles with a good price tag! Pathetic, eh? I think if I were that concerned with my tap water, I'd boil it and then bottle it myself. That way you KNOW it's pure!!
Hugs to you my friend!

it might well be bottled tap water where you live... who knows.. however, i know where my water comes from, and it sure isn't the tap! one way i know this is it doesn't smell like chlorine, and it doesn't look brown some days, or fizzy on others, and it's always clear!

heck.. in my grandparents' days, there was not half the chemicals in the water there is now.

we are talking about different water supplies tho. altho, a friend in New York state had his tap water tested, there was petroleum in amongst the rest.. so... enjoy your tap water while you can..

btw... boiling does not remove the chemicals, or heavy metals...

What about well water? We just moved to a new house and it has its own well....my family thinks the water tastes great but the whole well thing kinda freaks me out and I don't like the taste. I do drink bottled water but the plastic bottles can't be all that great. Let me here from anyone that has had a well.

We currently live in a small city in upstate NY that gets its drinking water from a large and very deep lake. We buy filtered water at the local natural food store. WE bring 6 1 gal glass bottles and fill them at a sink in the store which is equipped with an in-line filter with changeable cartridge (on view and it has the date changed) that removes chlorine, pesticides and other organic contaminants. We only pay 25¢ per gallon, easier then buying a similar filter ourselves. The water looks and tastes great and at that price we use it for everything, including cooking rice. For carrying drinking water with me, I have a 20 oz glass bottle that used to contain a SOBE energy drink. So I feel good about not creating waste for landfills or incineration, and I don't worry about what might leach from the plastic into the drinking water.

Reduce, reuse, recyle in that order. Not using is still better than recycling plastic.

We are building a house on land outside the city and not served by the municpal water supply. We had to have a well drilled. We will be having the water tested soon to see what is in it. It's really the only way to know.

Consider that wells are how civilization lived until the last hundred years or so. Works fine. I had a well for about 10 years until we went on public water and that was only because we were worried about draught. The only thing you need to consider is that if the electricity goes out, your well pump won't run so you might want to consider having a few bottles of water around for contingency planning. No big deal. I did, however, use a Brita filter for drinking. Still do that on public water.

We installed a ultra violet light in the basement, to kill off bacteria from the well water. Our tenants felt better for this to be there. We also have a water softener in the house we rent to them.
Many years ago, when we lived there...I always got spring water from the mountains near by.

I live in Central NY- in the Finger Lakes and our water here is so heavily chlorinated that if you take a sip- and hold it in your mouth for a few seconds- it burns your tongue!!

We had stomach aches and diarrhea problems for years also. It always happened in the Summer when the city would increase their chlorine levels. I read that the chlorine in the water can kill the good bacteria in your digestive system and cause diarrhea, so we went to bottled water and the problems all stopped:)

I have lived on a farm and drank well water for over 26 years - still alive and kicking! It tastes better thany any bottled water I have tried - although I do agree with a previous poster that Ice Mountain is good stuff! We have had our water tested from time to time, and there has never been a problem with it. My son's friends think we have the best tasting water -they all have city water - and they beg my son to bring it for them to drink at cross country practice!

I say we have enough in life to worry about - let's not stress out over water! Whatever you feel comfortable drinking - drink up!!