New York City tap water maintains a high prestige amongst its drinkers. Who hasn’t boasted to a visiting tourist about how good our water is. Well here is some information on what is actually in it.

And yes, the water is flouridated.

It also contains chlorine, orthophosphate, and sodium hydroxide (aka LYE).

Orthophosphate is used as a corrosion inhibitor for the inside of pipes to prevent the leaching of lead into the water. Yikes. I find this unsettling. From the EPA government site:

At very high levels, orthophosphate could cause bone decalcification and increased parathyroid gland activity (due its regulation of the calcium-phosphorus balance in the human body). If you have medical concerns related to additional phosphorus in drinking water, including severe kidney disease or severe calcium regulation dysfunction, consult your physician.

Chlorine in water has been hailed as a savior to many a parasite infested water drinker - and who wouldn’t mind a little chlorine instead of giardia or cryptosporidium. No thank you. But there is a darker side to chlorine - triahalomethanes. Chlorine introduced into the water supply reacts with other naturally-occurring elements to form toxins called trihalomethanes (THMs), which eventually make their way into our bodies. THMs have been linked to a wide range of human health maladies ranging from asthma and eczema to bladder cancer and heart disease.

A simple free remedy to combat this is good old-fashioned patience. Chlorine and related compounds will make their way out of tap water if the container is simply left uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours. But patience I have not and this is my baby - the Jupiter Melody Alkalizing Ionizing water filtration system. Email today to get an additional $200 off any Jupiter filter.

For current information on the bacteria and parasites in our water click on this link: Cryptosporidium and Giardia Background Information and Monitoring Program

8.8 billion bottled waters were sold in 2007 and discarded or recycled.

From USAToday:

Plastic water bottles produced for U.S. consumption take 1.5 million barrels of oil per year, according to a 2007 resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. That much energy could power 250,000 homes or fuel 100,000 cars for a year, according to the resolution.

In roughly the last 10 years, the amount of polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles being recycled increased from about 775 million pounds in 1995 to about 1,170 million in 2005, according to the Container Recycling Institute.

But during the same time period, the amount of PET bottles going into landfills skyrocketed from 1,175 million to 3,900 million pounds.

Cornell University professor and environmentalist Doug James said the irony of bottled water is that it’s marketed as clean and healthy when its production contributes to unnecessary environmental degradation. “Fiji water, for example,” he said. “A one-liter bottle is taken out of the aquifer of this little island, and shipped all the way across the world, producing like half a pound of greenhouse gases so you can have this one-liter bottle of water.”

Why are there no deposits on bottled water? We have deposits on 2-liter bottles and they are plastic bottles. Bottling companies have huge lobby groups railing against deposits laws. This is obvious as they don’t want to be involved in cleaning up their mess after they have made their profits.

According to wikipedia:

Studies show that beverage container legislation has reduced total roadside litter by between 30% and 64% in the states with bottle bills.

Studies also show that the recycling rate for beverage containers is vastly increased with a bottle bill. The US beverage container recycling rate was 39.4% in 2001. States with bottle bills recycle approximately 78% while states lacking bottle bill legislation only recycle approximately 23%.

The answer is simple - high quality water filters that attach to the tap. The cost is diffused over time to be very inexpensive and we reap the benefits of good quality water. I highly recommend alkaline antioxidant rich water like that produced by the Jupiter products. I use one and love it. For a big discount, email me directly and I can let you know how I can help you get the water filter you deserve.

This is from CNN Money:

Los Angeles-based Fiji Water runs magazine ads for its bottled water with the headline “The Label Says Fiji Because It’s Not Bottled in Cleveland.”

Cleveland officials retaliate by running tests revealing that Fiji bottled water contains 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per liter, while the city’s tap water has none.

Fiji counters by saying its own tests found less than 2 micrograms per liter.

What scares me is that there is any arsenic in the water. Arsenic, known is the poison of kings, is responsible for organ failure and skin and bladder cancer. I thought Fiji’s motto was about being fresh and pure? And man are they on a serious green-washing campaign. Will there ever be truth in advertising? Don’t answer that, just boycott Fiji Water.

About Arsenic from Wikipedia:

Arsenic contamination of groundwater has led to a massive epidemic of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries. It is estimated that approximately 57 million people are drinking groundwater with arsenic concentrations elevated above the World Health Organization’s standard of 10 parts per billion. The arsenic in the groundwater is of natural origin, and is released from the sediment into the groundwater due to the anoxic conditions of the subsurface. This groundwater began to be used after western NGOs instigated a massive tube well drinking-water program in the late twentieth century. This program was designed to prevent drinking of bacterially contaminated surface waters, but failed to test for arsenic in the groundwater. Many other countries and districts in South East Asia, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Tibet, China, are thought to have geological environments similarly conducive to generation of high-arsenic groundwaters. Arsenicosis was reported in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand in 1987, and the dissolved arsenic in the Chao Phraya River is suspected of containing high levels of naturally occurring arsenic, but has not been a public health problem due to the use of bottled water.
The northern United States, including parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas are known to have significant concentrations of arsenic in ground water. Increased levels of skin cancer has been associated with arsenic exposure in Wisconsin, even at levels below the 10 part per billion drinking water standard.
Epidemiological evidence from Chile shows a dose dependent connection between chronic arsenic exposure and various forms of cancer, particularly when other risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, are present. These effects have been demonstrated to persist below 50 parts per billion. Read the rest of this entry »

Pharmaceutical drugs have now been found in many cities drinking water.

From the health section at CNN:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

The federal government doesn’t require any testing and hasn’t set safety limits for drugs in water.

And the scary news is that users of bottled water and home filtration systems don’t necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry’s main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems. Click here for the Jupiter Biostone filtration report.

Contamination is not confined to the United States. More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world. Studies have detected pharmaceuticals in waters throughout Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe — even in Swiss lakes and the North Sea.

The environmental effect is frightening, and guess what - no one is accountable for our “downstream” pollution so nobody is doing a thing about it. And make no mistake about it - “Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation.”

These pharmaceuticals in our water are toxic and are dissolved at such very high dilution levels (in the parts per billion and parts per trillion range) that they are acting like homeopathic treatments. There is an unmistakable similarity to homeopathy, which uses dissolved substances in water at such a high dilution rate that the original substance is virtually undetectable. This processing attempts to remove the “toxic” qualities of the substance and leave behind the essence that is used to treat the problem. Homeopathy is an intelligent system and every treatment is highly specific. Our water supply is blanketing us with many different toxic pharmaceuticals: what do you think is happening to us men who are getting small amounts of hormone replacement therapy, estrogen, and mood stabilizers with every sip of water? I feel like less of a man just thinking about that happening. I for one, will continue to use my Jupiter Melody water filtration system. And if you want one to - I will still pass my discount on to you. Nobody should be without a proper water filtration system nowadays.

City Reports

• The New York state health department and the USGS tested the source of the city’s water, upstate. They found trace concentrations of heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer.

• Officials in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city’s watersheds.

• Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in Southern California.

• Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in Northern New Jersey, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water.

• A sex hormone was detected in the drinking water of San Francisco, California.

• The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.