You probably understand the importance of plenty of clean water for your family’s health.  But is bottled water healthy?  Is tap water okay?  Is drinking and absorbing chlorine bad for us?  Is fluoride good or bad? 

The facts on these issues, as determined by independent and reliable sources, are known and available. Here is an overview on these water purity issues and some links should you wish to research further.

Bottled Water

“Bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, but it can be 10,000 times more expensive.” 

"Making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year." 

Emily Arnold, Earth Policy Institute
 

o Many think that bottled water is healthier. There is no basis for this belief. Tap water is more highly regulated.
o A great deal of bottled water is contaminated. Studies by the NRDC, Earth Policy Institute and Environment Defense Fund have proven this conclusively.
o The plastic, most commonly polyethylene terepthalate (PET), can contaminate water.
o Worldwide some 2.7 million tons (2.4 million metric tons) of plastic are used to bottle water each year.
o Bottled water is hauled long distances for distribution, burning massive quantities of fuel.
o About 86 percent of plastic water bottles in the U.S. become garbage or litter, according to the Container Recycling Institute in Washington, D.C. 
o Plastic debris in the environment can take between 400 and 1,000 years to degrade. 
o Massive water bottling is a form of defacto privatization.
o Water shortages near water bottling plants have been reported all over, including Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Florida and Texas.

For more information on bottled water, see these websites:

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asp
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0224_060224_bottled_water.html 

Chlorine

"Although concentrations of these carcinogens are low... it is precisely these low levels which cancer scientists believe are responsible for the majority of human cancers in the United States.".....Environmental Defense Fund 

"Long-term drinking of chlorinated water appears to increase a person's risk of developing bladder cancer as much as 80%," .....Study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

This is a pretty straightforward issue.  Chlorine (called free chlorine) is a poison designed to kill living organisms. Disinfecting water is a good idea, and municipalities clean up a lot of volatile organic compounds before sending us our water.  Chlorine does the job.

Does that mean you need to drink the poison? Of course not; filter it out before you drink it. 

Chlorine also reacts with organic matter in water and produces what are called disinfection byproducts.  Some of those, known as trihalomethanes, are understood to be carcinogenic.  Because of the carcinogenic threat, some communities have replaced the use of free chlorine with monochloramine. While it isn't quite as effective as chlorine at disinfecting, it also doesn't result in the creation of trihalomenthanes. Unfortunately, it has now been realized that monochloromine causes an increase in lead in the water. That's not good to drink either - remember lead poisoning? Clean these disinfectants out of your water before you drink it!

We absorb more chlorine from showering and bathing than from drinking water, however.  Chlorine easily dissipates into the air and is readily absorbed into the body through both water and air.  You should filter chlorine out of your bath and shower water.  Your family shouldn’t be soaking in chlorine.

To learn more about drinking chlorine and read some shocking comments from experts:

http://www.holistichealthtools.com/chlorine.html 

Fluoride

"I am appalled at the prospect of using water as a vehicle for drugs. Fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long range basis.  Any attempt to use water this way is deplorable."

Dr. Charles Gordon Heyd
Past President of the American Medical Assoc.

The American Dental Association released an email alert on November 9, 2006 to its members warning that, in order to prevent tooth damage, fluoridated water should not be mixed into formula or foods intended for babies aged 1 and younger. 

Research by the Centers for Disease Control has shown that fluoride absorbs into tooth enamel topically, but ingestion of the chemical can cause adverse reactions. Additionally, the CDC has admitted that enamel fluoride concentration was not inversely related to cavities.

The National Cancer Institute Toxicological Program had recognized that fluoride is a carcinogen. Earlier studies found a 5% increase in all types of cancers in fluoridated communities.

Drinking fluoridated water can actual interfere with the development of calcium usable by the body.  This leads, for example, to a doubling of hip fractures in older people.

2/3 of US households receive fluoridated water.  Fluoride is the only additive to water that is included purely as a medicine.  It does not improve your water!  Medicating an entire population is a questionable practice in any circumstance.  In this case there is no scientific basis for its purported benefits.

For more information:

http://fluoridealert.org/fluoride-facts.htm
http://www.friendsofwater.com/No_Fluoride.html 

Friends of Water
Tim Hickey is the owner of www.friendsofwater.com, a business with environmental and social goals.  

"We work to celebrate, clean, and save water.  Through our web site, online store and free ezine we provide inspiration, information and products to help householders keep and enjoy clean water in their environment, health, gardening and recreation. 

To learn more about the type of water purifiers that we have selected to offer our readers and customers, please visit www.friendsofwater.com/Water_Purifiers.html.  We offer whole-house, kitchen, bath, shower and garden water filers.  They do the job.  Replacement filters are only needed once a year.  Prices are quite reasonable.  Satisfaction is guaranteed.

Please visit us at www.friendsofwater.com and subscribe to the free ezine which comes out every couple of weeks.  It contains story telling (fun and serious), health tips, news on water around the world, occasional book reviews and great photographs." Tim Hickey