USA Water Filter Blog

It’s virtually impossible to go a day without coming into contact with plastic. It’s everywhere, including in baby bottles and children’s sippy cups. Do all those plastic products — specifically those containing Bisphenol A, or BPA — pose a danger to our health?

The Massachusetts public health department has proposed a ban on all children’s products containing BPA, effective July 2011. Some health activists say the measure does not go far enough. The plastic industry argues there is a lack of conclusive science on the effects of BPA on humans.

Jerome Groopman, a Harvard Medical School professor, writes about BPA and other everyday chemicals in this week’s New Yorker. He joins us to talk about what hazards those chemicals might pose — and whether the hysteria is just that.

http://www.wbur.org/2010/05/27/groopman-plastic

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Americans use an inordinate amount of energy to fuel their lifestyles.

Just in the month of April, we learned all too clearly the repercussions. The devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a nightmarish demonstration of the hazards of offshore drilling. The recent West Virginia coal disaster, killing 29 coal miners, is a reminder of the dangers of coal mining, not to mention the mountaintop removal mining that devastates a landscape and ecosystem. During this same time period, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the Cape Wind Energy Project, praising it as the future of sustainable energy. Others look at wind turbines in the Nantucket Sound as a desecration of a scenic natural resource. Whether you are a “drill baby drill” fan or a green energy advocate, there are problems with almost every form of energy production.

The Gulf oil spill seems like a distant problem unrelated to our daily lives, but we need to take ownership and realize our actions using energy each day help to cause such disasters. We could try to live more consciously and make the connection between our energy use and the effects on the planet.

Eat well for you and the environment. Read labels and buy organically and locally grown foods. Visit the farmers’ markets. The agriculture and food-processing sectors are one of the highest consumers of fossil fuels through the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and transportation. Eat less meat; it is an extremely inefficient source of calories. According to Michael Pollan, best-selling author of books such as the “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” feedlot raised beef takes 55 calories of fossil fuel energy to produce only 1 calorie of meat.

An easy switch is to not use disposable plastic water bottles, bags or flatware and plates. The manufacturing of these throwaway items consumes millions of barrels of oil per year. Use a glass or metal water bottle and fill it up with filtered tap water. Bring your own bags to the store, reducing oil use and litter. Instead of disposables, use dishes and flatware. Wash the dishes with your kids to set a good example, instead of having them think the norm is to use a plastic spoon once and then throw it away without a thought of the consequences.

http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/lifestyle/home_and_garden/x644095435/Down-to-Earth-Oil-wind-and-self-reflection

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Millions of gallons of oil have been spilled into the waters off our southern coast, and more is still flowing. I have experienced the tragedy, as my family’s small fishing operation has been shut down due to the threat of polluted seafood, among other concerns.

I write to raise awareness that this tragedy and future ones could be avoided by reducing our nation’s dependence on oil, especially oil acquired through offshore drilling.

It’s time Americans realized that cheapgas prices and petroleum by-products do not come without a hefty price to our environment, our wildlife, the global economy, and especially individuals living in the affected areas, some of whom live in areas already affected by economic distress.

Leo Ridge, Ann Arbor

Gas pump connection

Just ending a holiday weekend, it has been several big days at the pump for millions of Americans. While they were standing there, nozzle in hand, how many made the connection?

Joellen Gilchrist

Beverly Hills

People created demand

While some blame is due to British Petroleum, we need to take some responsibility for the disaster in the gulf.

BP may be responsible for the lack of safety equipment on its rig, but we are responsible for them putting it there in the first place. We created a demand for oil so great that it now requires producers to drill in places that are high risk and dangerous.

Maybe we should focus on ourselves and what we can do to prevent these things from happening. The problem is not our dependence on foreign oil; the problem is our dependence on oil — period.

Small changes can have a big impact on the environment and have no impact on your life. Switching from regular cleaning products to natural or biodegradable ones is a great way to lessen our dependence on oil. Most standard cleaners are petroleum based. If everyone switched just one product, we would save a lot of oil.

Another way is to stop buying bottled water. Plastic comes from petroleum, and most bottles end up in landfills. If you used a refillable bottle, you would save money and the environment.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100601/OPINION04/6010314/1322/Oil-demand-hurts-more-than-gulf

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We nonchalantly take tap water for granted – its cleanliness and its availability are the reasons why.

America’s supply is safer than most, courtesy of the Safe Drinking Water Act signed by President Gerald Ford in 1974 and strengthened by subsequent amendments.

Contrast our good fortune to that of one billion people across the globe who lack access to clean water, as reported by a faith-based world charity that provides drilling services to third world countries, and another 2.6 billion – two-fifths of the world’s population – who lack basic sanitation to safely dispose of body wastes, leading to contamination of water sources.

We’re lucky, really lucky. Twist the tap, there it is, water that, with few exceptions, is clear and cool and refreshing. Except when it’s not.

The greater Attleboro area missed by a drizzle the drinking water emergency that has left some two million Boston area residents high and dry since Saturday when a feeder pipe west of Boston broke and began spewing millions of gallons into the Charles River. Officials then warned against using tap water until contamination testing could be completed; President Barack Obama has declared this catastrophe a federal emergency. One month after rains gave us a surfeit of water, travails of the Boston area’s labyrinthine piping stoppered drinking supplies that on a normal day help us to wake up with coffee, mix baby formula, shower, brush our teeth, rinse off plates, feed our pets.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2010/05/06/opinion/7343397.txt

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Imagine a world with no fresh water. The idea may seem impossible to some. I, however, feel that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Fresh water is taken for granted in our society. The thought of it eventually running out doesn’t occur to a lot of people. Congress is allowing the bottled water company, Nestle, to pump 300 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan to sell back to Michigan residents.

Water not only is being stolen from us, but communities in India around Coca-Cola’s water bottling plants are experiencing extreme water shortages directly resulting from Coca-Cola pumping their groundwater. Their wells have run dry and their hand pumps do not work anymore. Most of the people in these areas cannot even afford to buy Coca-Cola’s water.

Not only is Coca-Cola stealing water from people in India, but it also is polluting its groundwater and soil by dumping its wastewater into fields around its plants. Serious action needs to be taken to stop these companies before it’s too late.

http://record-eagle.com/features/x433576664/Its-simple-Dont-drink-water-in-bottles

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In “New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer” (column, May 6), Nicholas D. Kristof drew attention to a document being released by the President’s Cancer Panel that warns that, in Mr. Kristof’s words, “our lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for our health.”

Mr. Kristof argues that “protecting ourselves and our children from toxins should be an effort that both parties can get behind — if enough members of Congress are willing to put the public interest ahead of corporate interests,” and I could not agree more.

While our government and industries may have little control over enormous pollution disasters like the recent oil spill and the health and environmental repercussions they will create, closer regulation of potentially carcinogenic chemicals is within our reach and should be looked at much more seriously.

Eden Stiffman
Ann Arbor, Mich., May 6, 2010

•

To the Editor:

If Nicholas D. Kristof’s intention was to frighten his readers, he succeeded with this one. As a physician, I am aware of the multiple risks in our environment. I pause when wrapping a cut lemon in plastic wrap before putting it in the refrigerator. But to see a comprehensive and formal alert by the presidential panel makes one feel doomed.

Jose Sotolongo
Kingston, N.Y., May 6, 2010

•

To the Editor:

As a survivor of Stage IV non-Hodgkins lymphoma, I found that Nicholas D. Kristof’s column resonated with me, and had several healthful tips.

I better understand now why our daughter, with two preschool children, rejected the plastic microwave cover we brought one day, and let the sod in the backyard go untreated with weedkiller.

A useful gadget for children and parents is a water pen, which gives a digital readout when dipped in water at school, in parks, when traveling and so on. The variations in water quality are significant, especially between filtered and nonfiltered tap water.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/opinion/l08kristof.html

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According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lead in public water cannot exceed .015 mg/liter in more than 10% of tap water samples.  The EPA also claims lead in tap water can cause mental deficits in learning and attention span in children. (1)

The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) states 10 micrograms (ug) per deciliter (dl) is an elevated lead level within blood. (2) In a  1998 sample of 19 states, the CDC found that 7.6 percent of children tested had elevated blood lead levels (BLL). In Ohio, some counties had BLLs in 27.3 percent of tested children.(2)

The affects of lead poisoning can be gradual as lead builds up and is stored in the body’s kidneys. A wide range of lead related symptoms, temporary or longer term brain damage is reported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health(NIH).(3) These potential affects of lead are lowered IQ, difficulty concentrating, learning dysfunction, seizures and coma.

Mary Beth St. Clair and Sandra A. Zaslow of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service have claimed in a study of water quality and waste management that lead free water is an unenforceable goal. This is in part due to the lack of maximum lead level allowed in tap water by the EPA.(4)

In a 2004 Washington Post investigation, it was discovered multiple cities throughout the United States had tampered with municipal water lead level results. This was later confirmed by a congressional report on the CDC’s use of bad data to assess D.C. water contamination levels according to Jessica Gresko of the Associated Press.(8) Among the highest polluted water supplies was that of Washington D.C., and it is believed that both the EPA and city water suppliers may have been avoiding enforcement and costly repairs to the water systems.(5)

http://www.helium.com/items/1845776-what-does-lead-in-tap-water-do-to-the-brain

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San Diego, CA: Just when you thought it was safer to bypass the tap and reach for the bottled water, comes word that some brands of bottled water have been found to contain up to 100 times more bacteria than the stuff that flows out of your tap.

As reported this morning by CanWest News Service, researchers in Canada purchased and tested a variety of brands of bottled water. What they found surprised them: many of the popular brands contained “surprisingly high” levels of heterotrophic bacteria.

“Heterotrophic bacteria counts in some of the bottles were found to be in revolting figures of (100) times more than the permitted limit,” said Sonish Azam, a researcher from C-crest Laboratories in Montreal, in comments published in a news release.

Incredibly, more than 70 percent of the popular brands of bottled water tested failed to meet standards set forth by the United States Pharmacopeia, the non-governmental agency responsible for setting safety standards for medications and health care products.

The researchers came up with the idea for the study after one of their number complained of foul-tasting bottled water that made the individual ill.

While there were no pathogens found in the test samples, the high bacteria counts were a concern. No more than 500 colony-forming units (cfu) of bacteria per milliliter should be present in drinking water, according to the USP.

In tap water, the average cfu count was found to be 170 per milliliter. In comparison, some bottled water samples were found to contain a staggering 70,000 cfu per milliliter.

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/14238/bottled-water-bacteria.html

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As the mercury soars, so does the prevalence of waterborne infections like typhoid, cholera, hepatitis and diarrhoea. The World Health Organisation attributes 88 per cent of the four billion cases of diarrhea that occur annuallyto unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
The water we use at homes comes primarily from underground bore well tanks or municipality supply. Most of the tap, underground and well water is not safe for drinking due to heavy industrial and environmental pollution, and has impurities of microbial (bacteria, viruses etc.) and chemical (lead, nitrate, arsenic, chromium and fluoride) nature. Toxic bacteria, chemicals and heavy metals pollute our natural water sources.

Whether we receive water from a bore well or a community water system, it must be treated at the point of use. A good water filtration system installed in our home is the only way to ensure the safety of drinking water. Water from community water system is commonly treated/purified at home level by boiling, filtration, purification or reverse osmosis. The aim for safe drinking water should be to minimise the count of microbes, chemical toxins and pesticides, and retain useful minerals like calcium and magnesium.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Take-a-safe-sip/624983/

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The report also found that almost three quarters of respondents (71%) agreed that tap water is as clean as bottled water.

The results echo the findings of a survey carried out by the charity WaterAid in 2009, which found that around two thirds of consumers are now opting for tap water when they visit restaurants.

This report coincides with new findings released by C-Crest Laboratories in Canada, where Dr. Sonish Azam claims that 70% of bottled water found in shops contains high levels of bacteria.

James McCoy, research director for YouGov SixthSense, said: “The mineral water market has experienced exponential growth over the past ten years but signs are this may be coming to an end. New reports are significant in altering the interrelated perceptions of tap water and bottled water, but the recession, innovations in home filtering and the popularity of Britta-style products may also have contributed to the renewed faith in tap-water.”

http://www.eatoutmagazine.co.uk/online_article/60_percent-of-adults-view-bottled-water-as-waste-of-money/10954

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