What's In the Water?: Finding the Best Source of Water

[healthybratt]

When we lived on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, our well was 400' deep and the water was sooooo good.  However, we moved and now have tap water, so I get filtered water in big bottles for our water cooler.  The small company I get it from claims all those really tiny, gross, and creepy things are filtered out.  I have not submitted a sample for analysis, but think I will after reading this.  They did tell me that I could get a flouride tablet from the Health Unit to replace the flouride they filter out.   

Contrary to popular belief, fluoridated water is not good for you.

[~CKMom~]

I've just posted some questions about a berkey water unit, but now I have more questions I will ask here.  We live in the country, but we buy r/o water from town.  Our country water seems to be full of iron, and of course it tastes salty from the water softener.  Would it be better to get a berkey water unit and haul in the unsoftened, straight from the well water that is out by the barn instead (so we're not using the softened water in the house)?  Or does this berkey unit also filter out most of the "good" minerals as well?  Just a question - I'm thinking that water from the berkey might still be better than r/o water.  I would rather use my own water - that would be one less thing I would be relying on others for and more under my own quality control!  I just don't feel comfortable drinking the well water as is - the farmers all around us use so many chemicals/fertilizer/pesticides  that I can't be sure of what could be seeping into the well.  Thanks for listening!

[petrimama]

I use the Berkey and take a good vitamin/mineral supplement. 
I'm assuming r/o means run-off??  If so, I'd say you are getting all the pesticides and none of the filtering from the soil around your house in contrast to the well water, which would be soil filtered and only leave whatever seeps all the way down to the water pocket.  ~L

[Kati*did]

I'm assuming r/o means run-off?? 

I think that might be reverse osmosis.  Just guessing.

[Kati*did]

Or does this berkey unit also filter out most of the "good" minerals as well?  Just a question - I'm thinking that water from the berkey might still be better than r/o water.

I have a Berkey, and, according to them, the "good" minerals are not filtered out.  We have lots of minerals in our water, and I can still taste them after they go through the berkey.

[healthybratt]

I use the Berkey and take a good vitamin/mineral supplement. 
I'm assuming r/o means run-off??  If so, I'd say you are getting all the pesticides and none of the filtering from the soil around your house in contrast to the well water, which would be soil filtered and only leave whatever seeps all the way down to the water pocket.  ~L

*snicker*  I like that, but no, r/o means reverse osmosis filter system. 

[5littlegraphs]

Does anyone know of a entire house filter? I want to get rid of the chlorine at all the sinks and showers. We have a nice water purifier at the kitchen sink. The systems I have looked at have two problems: $$$ and slowing down all the water coming into the house. No one wants to take showers with no water pressure from the filter.

We rent a whole house filter from Culligan. Its $30 a month. Yes that adds up but we dont have the nasty taste or the build up of deposits around our faucet and my husband has noticed less ache in his kidney area when he downs tons of water from the tap

[MaryAnn]

our faucet and my husband has noticed less ache in his kidney area when he downs tons of water from the tap

there is one you can get from home depot for 30 dollars

[makingchanges]

.

We rent a whole house filter from Culligan. Its $30 a month. Yes that adds up but we dont have the nasty taste or the build up of deposits around our faucet and my husband has noticed less ache in his kidney area when he downs tons of water from the tap
[/quote]

How do I contact them to rent it? Is there a certain length of time for the contract? One worry for us has been. "Will the water pressure go down to a trickle in the shower, washing machine, etc."? What is your experience?

[MaryAnn]

Does anyone know of a entire house filter? I want to get rid of the chlorine at all the sinks and showers. We have a nice water purifier at the kitchen sink. The systems I have looked at have two problems: $$$ and slowing down all the water coming into the house. No one wants to take showers with no water pressure from the filter.

okay.  sorry about  my last post.  just as i started, hubby came in and wanted computer.  now i have a little time to put this out there.  if you go to Home Depot,  you can buy a whole house filter that will filter chlorine and sediment or just sediment.  The chlorine one lasts about 3 months, the sediment one lasts for about 6 months.  I think the filters are 3-5 dollars or so and the whole house unit, the one time purchase, is 30 dollars.  It will filter every bit of water, including your shower/bath water and that with which you water your garden, your livestock, etc.  We are so glad to have this, and I hope some of you will be blessed by it too.  love to you all.

[SagorFamily1611]

Distilled water is the best water to be drinking because it is a thirsty water, when you drink the distilled water it pulls the extra fats and minerals that your body doesn't need out of you bloodstream  where they just clog and slow down your body systems and passes them through your urine. You get all the good vitamins and minerals that your body needs, and can handle through your fruits and veggies. Not through water, if you get them through water then most pass right through your system, you might as well be drinking distilled water if they are now absorbed into your body like they will/should (if your healthy) through fruits and veggies.

When you have too much of a certain mineral or vitamin, your body stores it in deposits throughout your body and blood stream, these are very unhealthy and can hurt.(kidney stones) When you drink distilled water, the water pulls the extra's out of your system and gets rid of them. NO other water will do this.

I have been drinking distilled water only since I have been married (I wasn't a huge health fan before) and I have noticed a difference, not a big one, but I have noticed one. Also I am able to drink more distilled water in a day then other waters. Spring water I can only drink about 16oz before I can't stand "the taste, or lack of taste" my mouth tells me to please drink something else! With distilled water I only get that if I drink a huge amount in a short amount of time.

[healthybratt]

A friend of mine sent me this article.  I thought I would share.

[LKS]

So here's an interesting little tidbit on water. We just finished up at the fair and the fairgrounds are in the "big" city for our county. They have chlorinated water. All the animals coming in from the surrounding towns are on well water. You have to put special drops in the water to neutralize the chlorine before the animals can drink it or it makes them sick. Some people even haul in their own water rather than chance making the animal sick. Doesn't that just make you thirsty for a big ol' glass of tap water? 
LKS

[SagorFamily1611]

I remember watching on a video when I was little how the government was putting fluoride in the tap water telling the citizens that it was for their teeth, but it was really for birth control??? Anyone else know if it is true?

[Wing]

I got this off Mercola.com:

Fluoride Does the Following:


inactivates 62 enzymes (Judd)
increases the aging process (Yiamouyiannis)
increases the incidence of cancer and tumor growth (Waldbott/Yiamouyiannis)
disrupts the immune system (Waldbott)
causes genetic damage (Tsutsui, et al)
interrupts DNA repair-enzyme activity (Waldbott)
increased arthritis and
is a systemic poison.

I have never heard the birth control angle on fluoride, but it is my belief that vaccinations are administered as a form of birth control.  Fluoride would not surprise me as having the same agenda.

[Wing]

I remember watching on a video when I was little how the government was putting fluoride in the tap water telling the citizens that it was for their teeth, but it was really for birth control??? Anyone else know if it is true?

I found either this or a similar video on youtube.  This guy is new age as far as I can tell but he gives info on fluoride used for sterility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kelCN8J84_I&mode=related&search=

[Wing]

For anyone who wants to watch that, just letting you know I had to turn the volume waaaay up to hear it both on my monitor and with the volume control on the video player.

[healthybratt]

I remember watching on a video when I was little how the government was putting fluoride in the tap water telling the citizens that it was for their teeth, but it was really for birth control??? Anyone else know if it is true?

I found either this or a similar video on youtube.  This guy is new age as far as I can tell but he gives info on fluoride used for sterility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kelCN8J84_I&mode=related&search=

New Age would probably be an understatement.  LOL  Unless I misunderstood the meaning of his interview on a humenoid race of reptile shapeshifters.

[SagorFamily1611]

I know of a Baptist who used to be a warlock who believes the same thing. Scary stuff.

[Wing]

It is easy to forget that the conflict of this world is spiritual.  Without taking that into account, isn't it hard to explain WHY the drinking water is being made toxic?  BTW I am also a Baptist but I don't believe the world is governed the way it is portrayed in the media.  Evil is running the show, not people.   

[SagorFamily1611]

I am a conspiracy theorists so I tend to think that they are making water toxic to help control the population but otherwise I don't know why.
 I am a Baptist too, the reason why I mentioned he is a Baptist is because most Baptists don't even believe in extraterrestrials He has some other weird beliefs too so I never gave him another thought, but he did have some good info on the end times.

[CAndy]

Just as a note about the effects of city water, my husband is really sensitive to tap water.  We have well water and we used to have tap water, but we lived in Oregon and they don't add fluoride.   He started drinking the water at work after we moved and his gums started bleeding (a lot!), when he started bringing his own water they stopped.  So we figured it had to be the fluoride.  Then this summer he was working on the church and started drinking their water and his sweat started smelling like a swimming pool and he ended up with a rash under his arms.  He brought his own water and it went away after a week.

[Simply Kristen]

SC talks about Water Sources here: (turn up the volume!)

http://backtobasicspodcast.com/Welcome/Podcast/Entries/2007/6/17_All_About_Water.html

[SC]

This applies to the topic of water containers as well as hormonal issues.
I posted this under the Estrogen Dominance Thread. However, because it is so relevant to both issues, I am placing a duplicate post here.

I saw a report on this on network news this morning. They reported that egg cells had been found developing in the testes of male animals exposed to these chemicals.

Here's a report issued by Newsday:
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hschem1109,0,4456305.story

Study: Chemicals from household plastics found in volunteers' blood
BY DELTHIA RICKS | delthia.ricks@newsday.com
November 9, 2007
Compounds used in a vast array of everyday products that range from plastic microwaveable containers, toys and medical devices were found in the blood and urine of participants in a nationwide monitoring program sponsored by a coalition of environmental health groups.

Even though there were only 35 volunteers, and the research did not rise to the level usually required of scientists who report findings in peer-reviewed journals, results were strikingly similar to those in a much larger, ongoing study overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results from the project were released in Albany, as well as in several other states where groups sponsored the study.

Participants, who ranged from 12 years old to people in their 50s, volunteered from around the country. All were found to have evidence of the substances in their bodies.

The upshot of the analysis was to find whether compounds known as bisphenol-A, polybrominated diphenyl ethers -- PBDEs -- and phthalates (pronounced: THA-lates) are permanently in the tissues and blood of children, teens and adults.

Volunteer John Sferazo of Huntington Station said chemicals from each of the categories was found in tests he submitted to the project. He believes information from the biomonitoring project can help consumers choose household products wisely.

"People should learn from other people's problems," said Sferazo, who founded Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, an organization that aids workers who volunteered at Ground Zero after the World Trade Center attacks.

"They should be astute and take care of their health now, based on the personal information I am willing to give out on what my body carries," said Sferazo, who worked at the site after the collapse.

Bisphenol-A has been used in plastic baby bottles, food containers and other household items and has been known to leach into foods when the containers are heated. When word spread earlier this year that bisphenol-A was leaching from infants' bottles, parents nationwide abandoned the bottles and turned to glass.

Phthalates are have been used in cosmetics but are also the key chemical softener in polyvinyl chloride, which makes up a range of products from garden hoses and plastic shower curtains to plastics used in the medical industry. PBDEs are flame retardants, used in products such as televisions and sofas.

Together, the compounds are known as endocrine disrupters because they can act as estrogens in the body and block the function of natural hormones.

Sheldon Krimsky, a science policy expert at Tufts University in Boston, said studies have demonstrated that endocrine disrupters cause sex changes in fish and amphibians. He added, however, that a growing body of evidence suggests human harm.

"Analyses like the one reported today are body-burden studies," Krimsky said of the biomonitoring project. "This is a genre of studies that give us information about the accumulation of chemicals in our bodies and therefore gives us some idea about exposure.

"There's no question that people are being exposed," he said, adding that we now have to find out what it means.

An estimated 6 billion pounds of bisphenol-A are produced annually in the United States, according to data from the CDC, which reported last month in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, that 92.2 percent of Americans carry traces of the compound in their tissues. CDC scientists found that the compound is excreted in urine.

Agency spokeswoman Dagny Olivares, said the CDC could not comment on the environmental report released yesterday. She added that the CDC's biomonitoring program is not looking for adverse health effects but is examining people nationwide in an attempt to determine the prevalence of bisphenol-A, as well as a host of other chemicals.

"Our baseline numbers will allow other researchers to explore what they mean," Olivares said yesterday. Biomonitoring at CDC began in the 1970s.

In laboratory studies, bisphenol-A has been shown to alter human egg development, and phthalates caused so-called phthalate syndrome in male lab rodents, characterized by lowered testosterone levels and a shortened distance between the anus and scrotum. The animals also had reduced sperm counts. PBDEs also are associated with underdeveloped male reproductive organs.

Here's the link to the national news report
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2138565

[ladyhen]

Thanks for putting this article here, SC.
 I remember reading about these chemicals leaching into water, etc. more than 20 years ago; it was a big topic within the natural health community.  Sometimes I have difficulty explaining to my adult children and those around me the why  of some of the things we do.  I always need reminders and with the research catching up to this information I pray that it becomes more widely accepted. 

[healthybratt]

If these plastics are harmful (not arguing here, just introducing my thought), why would buying distilled water in plastic jugs be a good thing?  Wouldn't getting a purification system at home be better (and less expensive)?  I buy the purified stuff in bottles for my kombucha, but as the bottles age, I begin to wonder if the plastic isn't breaking down slowly and leaching into my water refils.  I'm still thinking that an R/O would be the way to go (don't know much about the Berkey thing).

[ladyhen]

If these plastics are harmful (not arguing here, just introducing my thought), why would buying distilled water in plastic jugs be a good thing?  Wouldn't getting a purification system at home be better (and less expensive)?  I buy the purified stuff in bottles for my kombucha, but as the bottles age, I begin to wonder if the plastic isn't breaking down slowly and leaching into my water refils.  I'm still thinking that an R/O would be the way to go (don't know much about the Berkey thing).

But I wonder if, for me, it becomes too much to worry about.     I begin to wonder about what the water delivery pipes are made of, what is the inside of the holding tank coated with, what about the inside of the faucet, and so on and so on.  I obsess on this stuff WAY too quickly.

We looked into a home RO system, but the water pressure and Ph here would mean too high of a ratio of waste water.  We could not afford to buy the RO system and then pay for 8 gallons for every one produced.  The  $.25 at the dispensing machine looked real attractive after pricing the RO.  
I have been told that the plastic used in 'special, refillable' water jugs is different, so I paid a high price for ours.  Maybe I'm a rube, maybe not.

Guess we all just have to do the best that we are able to do.  

[WaterGuy]

I have worked around the water industry for over 30 years, so I am hoping I can help. Tap water is safe to drink in most areas of the country technically, meaning the water meets the clean water act. Here is a list of most metro areas quality of water: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/110/cities-with-best-and-worst-tap-water.html
Reverse Osmosis is the most economical solution in water filtration today, and does removed up to 99% of all chemicals, contaminants, and solids. Yes to answer the one question, is does remove fluoride. Distilled water has no chemicals or contaminants, so it is the best on the market, but also can be expensive. Reverse Osmosis systems eliminate bottled water.
If you want to know what is in your water, do a home analysis test, or ask your local water company, they can provide you with a detailed analysis. If the results show something that is of concern, then talk with a local water treatment specialist that will find the proper solution for your home. I hope this helps.

[kamom]

 We're moving soon and need to do something with the water. It's a private well but smells like sulfer. Can someone point us the right direction for what we can do for this?
  Can it be fixed?
  Would shock/ chloride in the well do anything for this?
My dh is thinking about just getting those five gallon water jugs delivered. Is this safe? being it's in plastic.

[boysmama]

We're moving soon and need to do something with the water. It's a private well but smells like sulfur. Can someone point us the right direction for what we can do for this?
  Can it be fixed?
  Would shock/ chloride in the well do anything for this?
My DH is thinking about just getting those five gallon water jugs delivered. Is this safe? being it's in plastic.

A super chlorination treatment can help if it is just a sulfur producing bacteria in the well. The chlorine treatment would be temporary if the sulfite gas is present in that particular strata and water reservoir. Here's a treatment I've seen work for acquaintances of ours. (not this particular well, but same treatment process) http://www.essentialwater.net/support-information/say-good-bye-to-sulphur From what I remember reverse osmosis and regular carbon filters do not work to remove the smell and taste.

Here's another article that might help.http://www.excelwater.com/eng/b2c/h2s.php