Contaminated Drinking Water

What is really in your drinking water?

Just because you're on a municipal water supply doesn't mean all is well… Surprises can and do happen… each year there are violations to the Safe Drinking Water Act – involving over 20 percent of water treatment facilities. Bear in mind that when municipalities test, they're testing the water, which leaves their facility -- not the water showing up at your tap.

Contaminated water is real – so the more you know about your water, the better you can protect your family.

Drinking water according to the “Australian Drinking Water Guidelines”:
“Ideally, drinking water should be, clear, colourless, and well aerated with no unpalatable taste or odors. It should contain no suspended matter, harmful chemical substances or pathogenic micro-organisms”.
Despite these guidelines our water supplies come to us at the point of consumption with many undesirable qualities.

Just some of these include:

• Chlorine – Used for the treatment of water supplies to eliminate many waterborne diseases.
• Bacteria – Despite initial treatments some unwelcome forms of bacteria can still propagate between initial treatment facilities & the domestic or commercial water source.
• Organic chemicals – Many of these originate from pesticides, weed killers, commercial & domestic waste.
• Nitrate – Normally traced to the use of fertilizers & or sewage contamination. Nitrate reacts with other chemicals & forms Nitrite within the digestive tract. It can then go on to form carcinogens which at excessive levels can cause Blue baby syndrome.
• Lead – This heavy metal finds its way into our drinking water supplies between initial treatment & point of usage from old pipes or lead solder used in joining new piping systems. Lead contaminated water poses a serious health risk to all ages, including learning difficulties, behavioral problems, mental & physical retardation, hypertension, strokes & heart disease. Lead poisoning can take years before the effects can be detected but often the damage is already done.
• Aluminium – There are clear links between Aluminium & Alzheimer’s Disease. Aluminium also raises the acidity of water allowing it to absorb greater levels of lead, cadmium, copper & other heavy metals from piping systems.
• Mercury - More likely to effect people that use a natural water source it can cause ulcers, skin irritations, dental problems, internal bleeding, liver & kidney damage.
• Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – Originating from cast iron or mild steel pipelines which have been treated with asphalt or bitumen coating to prevent corrosion & are believed to be carcinogenic.
• Fluoride – Added to many of Australia's water sources to reduce tooth cavities. The addition of fluoride to municipal water is banned in many nations & it is debated as being in contradiction of the Geneva Convention, as being mass medication without prescription. Linked to many long-term health defects. In high doses is lethal. More information
• Cadmium – Like lead accumulates in the body over a long period & may cause stomach cramps, kidney & liver damage. 
• Trihalomethanes – Strong poisonous compounds formed by organic chemicals reacting with chlorine treated drinking water. Responsible for around 10 percent of rectal & bladder cancers according to The American Journal of Public Health.