Why you need to drink filtered water

Let me ask you this: how sure are you that your tap water is 100% safe to drink?

My house is about 32 kilometres away from the nearest water plant. That’s 32 kilometres worth of pipeline that my tap water has to go through to get to my kitchen tap. Along the way, it could pick up a few nasties like bacteria, pesticides, and industrial runoff; not to mention the gunk that builds up inside the pipes. Sure, it is going to be disinfected at the water treatment facility and disinfectants like Ammonia and Chlorine will be added and then fortified with Fluoride. But it still got me thinking...

Depending on where you are in the world, the travel from water plant to tap could be shorter or longer, but there is still a risk of chemicals and contaminants seeping into the pipes no matter how short the route is, and the long term effects could have unknown impacts on our health. Some of the most commonly found contaminants have alarming effects. A few of them are: Arsenic, which is a very powerful carcinogen (cancer causing substance) and Aluminium, a metal linked to skin disease and liver problems.

I’ll drink bottled water then!

No, don’t. Seriously. Since most of the bottles are made with BPA, a synthetic hormone disruptor that can cause a lot of health problems like compromised immune system and risk of certain cancers. Even the US EPA says bottled water is not always safer than tap. It’s also wasteful, expensive, and not environment friendly.

How do we mitigate the risks?

You have to filter your water. It’s the easiest and most convenient way to make sure that harmful chemicals and contaminants don’t enter your body. While whole house filtration is an excellent choice for those who are deeply concerned with not only drinking water laced with contaminants, but also showering with contaminated water, this option isn’t always feasible or budget friendly. Filtering your tap water is the simplest and cheapest way of improving it. You can go for under the counter filtration systems, countertop filters, or pitcher systems depending on your budget  and how much space is available in your home.

Filtering your water has many health benefits:

 

• It removes contaminants and chemicals that can harm your health.
• It improves the taste and smell of tap water.
• It is less expensive than buying bottled water - that could very well be bottled tap water.
• Bottled water is, at the very least, just filtered tap water - so why not just make your own?
• It reduces the risk of contracting gastro-intestinal diseases.
• It removes Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs) which are harmful substances that result from disinfecting tap water with Chlorine.

 

Water is the source of life. Healthy drinking water is essential to a healthy body. If we have that readily available, then we are one step closer to a healthy life