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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Even the scientists are a bit uncertain as how to classify a substance as a heavy metal. By some definitions, there are about 50 heavy metals, or which about 20 can cause toxic reactions in the body. Heavy metals can be loosely defined as metals that are about 5 times heavier than an equal volume of water. Not all heavy metals are intrinsically bad; we actually need some of them for health reasons such as zinc, iron, copper, and manganese. However, too many of these ‘good’ heavy metals can also cause harm. However, there are some heavy metals that have no redeeming qualities such as mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium. Heavy metals have been linked to some very serious health effects:

  • Lead poisoning is a very serious condition, and lead can cause damage to nearly every part of the body. Damage can be done to the kidneys, brain, heart, gastrointestinal system, and reproductive system. In large enough doses, lead poisoning can cause death.
  • Mercury is another dangerous metal that can find its way into the water supply. Mercury causes neurological problems which can cause irreversible damage to the brain.
  • Cadmium causes a wide range of health problems from cardiovascular involvement, mental confusion, impairment of the immune system, skin rashes, vomiting, emphysema, cancer, and kidney damage.

Heavy metals can enter a water supply through a number of sources. Old lead piping in private homes or even antiquated municipal water systems can leach lead into the water. Lead and the other heavy metals can also occur because of run off from industrial operations and mining. As these metals are naturally occurring substances, they can enter water simply as rock formations that contain them weather and release them.

Assuring Safe Water for Your Family

The best way to make sure that heavy metals are not being consumed by your family through drinking or cooking water is to use a filter that will remove these pollutants. Not every water filter is designed to do this, and most pitcher filters will not provide the cleansing ability needed to make the water safe although Seychelle pitcher filters are great for removing heavy metals and a wide range of contaminants. There are several filter options, however, that will remove most, if not all of heavy metals from your water supply:

  • Reverse osmosis filters do a very good job of removing heavy metals from the water. Whole house filters will assure that not only will drinking water be pure, but that water used for bathing will also be uncontaminated.
  • Filters with KDF and carbon are also good at removing most heavy metals from water. Lead, copper, and mercury will be trapped by the carbon.
  • Distillation filters are available as either whole house or countertop units and will remove literally every trace of heavy metals from the water.

Considering the harm that heavy metals can do to you and your family, especially to babies and young children, using an appropriate water filtering system is only sensible. Whether you live in an urban, industrial area or in a rural setting, there is always the possibility of water contamination by heavy metals – filtering your water can spare you health problems now and in the future.


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Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The great majority of Americans, about 80%, now live in cities or in the areas immediately surrounding cities. These people must all drink water supplied by their local municipality, and ensuring a safe water supply is necessary to preserve the health of several hundred million people. Prior to 1974, there were basically no standards applied to water quality, but the establishment of the Safe Water Drinking Act was a step in the right direction to keep public drinking water safe. The law was updated later to include wells, rivers, reservoirs, and all other sources of municipal drinking water.
   
Any water supply is dependent on what enters the water system, and contaminants can enter a city water supply hundreds of miles from where the water will be used. There are a number of pollutants that can pose health problems:

  • Overflow of sewage from treatment plants or septic systems, especially in times of flooding.
  • Radon and arsenic are natural pollutants that are found in different regions of the country.
  • Agricultural areas can produce large amounts of pollution from fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste.
  • Manufacturing plants can release chemicals into the system.

Testing of municipal water supplies is essential to guaranteeing the quality and safety of city water, but there are times when testing is either inadequate or fails completely, particularly when the filters in the system are not able to detect some pathogens. Cryptosporidium, for example, has caused outbreaks over the past 20 years or so, with the number of people being sickened growing over this time span. Testing is done at varying intervals, depending in part on state and local regulations.
   
However, although most bacterial and other contamination is dealt with adequately by the great majority of municipal water systems, there are still two inescapable substances that many people would be happy to avoid: chlorine and fluoride.
   
Chlorine is put into water to prevent bacterial illnesses. Most municipal water is drawn from reservoirs, lakes, or rivers and cannot be considered to be safe to drink. Chlorine eliminates not only most viruses, but also such dangerous bacteria as those that cause typhoid fever, cholera, and dysentery. The number of incidents from these pathogens has fallen to nearly nothing since chlorination was introduced. However, since chlorine can also have some negative health effects, many people will use filtration systems in their homes to remove the chlorine from the water.
   
Fluoride was once touted as a wonderful way to prevent dental decay. However, research has shown that it actually makes little difference in preventing cavities, and can actually cause damage to the teeth. There also seems to be a correlation between lower IQ and fluoridated water. While many municipalities have suspended use of fluoride, it is also possible to filter it from your drinking water, too.
   
Today, water filters are available, either as countertop or undersink models or as whole house systems that can remove undesirable elements from municipal water. Advances in filtering technology will allow the removal not only of VOCs, heavy metals, and cysts (which are usually able to slip through treatment plants), but also of the chlorine and fluoride that is present in municipal water.


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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Although it is not really the new kid on the block, public awareness of giardia, and giardiasis, has become more pronounced in recent years. Giardia is a protozoan, which is actually a very tiny animal, and it is quite happy to take up residence in your intestines. Giardia moves by means of flagella and will breed in the small intestine, causing symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, repulsive burps, cramps, and dehydration.
   
Contaminated water is the easiest way to acquire a giardia infection, and while it is much more common in less developed nations, the United States has its share of giardiasis, too. For years, beavers were blamed for spreading giardia as the percentage of infected beavers was high. However, further research has now shown that beavers and other animals pick up giardiasis from humans. Wild animals inhabiting areas downstream of camp grounds are heavily infected with giardia.
   
Giardia has two forms, the active, swimming form, which is called a trophozoite and a tough cyst. Both forms are passed in the stool, but usually only the cyst survives to cause trouble with another living organism. If a cyst is swallowed in water, it will migrate to the small intestine and ‘hatch’ into a trophozoite. Trophozoites reproduce by the simple process of splitting in half. Trophozoites absorb food from the contents of the intestine, and eventually move down into the large intestine where most of them will become cysts, ready to be passed on to another victim.

Treating and Preventing Giardiasis
   
Not everyone who swallows a giardia cyst will actually become ill, and these people can become carriers without even knowing it. Those who do become ill will usually get over the infection in a week or two, although antibiotic treatment can also be used to help the body return to health more quickly. Anyone who is ill to the point of dehydration should see a physician immediately.
   
Both camping expeditions in the wilderness and travel overseas can heighten your chances of becoming ill with giardiasis. However, securing a safe water supply is easy as long as you treat your water before drinking it. Water purification tablets that are iodine based have been found to be effective for killing giardia cysts as long as the cysts are exposed to the iodine for half an hour. Chlorine tablets are not considered to be reliable at eliminating giardia and should not be used for this purpose.
   
Other than boiling your water, the best option available for removing cysts is to use a water filter designed to remove pathogens. Whether you choose a camp filter that will be hung up to use gravity, or one that actively pumps water, always be sure that you check the specifications to be certain that giardia cysts will be filtered out. Bottle filters and countertop gravity filters are also good choices when camping or traveling and by simply putting your drinking water, from whatever source, through the filter you will be assured that what you drink will not make you ill.

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