Water Facts

Our Body

The human body is composed of approximately 70% water. Water plays a big role in the body including digestion, absorption, circulation, excretion, nutrients transportation and controlling body temperature.

It’s important to drink at least 8-ounce glasses of quality water each day to replace the water in the body.

Our Water

Most people assume that when they turn on their kitchen tap, they are getting clean, safe, healthy drinking water. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Regardless of the source of tap water, it is vulnerable to a number of different types of impurities. Some undesirable substances found in water, including radon, fluoride, and arsenic, iron, lead, copper, and other heavy metals can occur naturally.

Other contaminants, such as fertilizer, asbestos, cyanides, herbicides, pesticides, and industrial chemicals, may leach into ground water through the soil, or into any tap water from plumbing pipes. Still other substances, including chlorine, lime, phosphate, soda ash and aluminum sulfate are intentionally added to public water supplies to kill bacteria, adjust pH and eliminate cloudiness. In addition, water can contain biological contaminants, including viruses, bacteria and parasites.

The rain falling in the Lower Mainland is quite acidic which helps create the highly corrosive water used throughout the area. It dissolved aluminum from the ground it runs through; asbestos, cadmium and iron from the municipal supply pipes; and finally copper and lead from the home plumbing system.

Hard water contain relatively high concentration of minerals calcium and magnesium that prevent soap from lathering and result in filming sediment being deposited on hair and skin or anything that comes into regular contact with water. Study found that calcium found in hard water is not good for the heart, arteries or bones.

Calcium may come from galvanized pipes and it’s a toxic heavy metal. This type of pipe may present in older buildings that have not been renovated.

Some common contaminants found in water:

What May Happened

Research by the National Research Council implicates aluminum as a causative factor in Alzheimers disease, crippling bone diseases, osteomalacia, osteoporosis, etc. Asbestos is a proven human carcinogen, a causative factor in the initiation of gastro-intestinal cancer.

The greatest concerns about water quality today focus on chlorine, pesticides and parasites. In some area, the level of chlorine added in drinking water is quite high. Chlorine, with decomposing organic material in the water supply leads to the formation of cancer causing compounds (carcinogens) called trihalomethanes. These chemicals are suspected of causing an increased incidence of cancer, especially breast cancer. Any toxic in drinking water that goes into the body tends to accumulate in fatty tissues and the human breast is composed largely of fatty tissue.

Although the precise causes of Alzheimers disease are unknown, but research has revealed a connection between Alzheimers disease and high concentration of aluminum and mercury in the brain. Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element in the earths crust and acid rain leeches aluminum out of the soil and into water reservoir, yet many municipal water supplies are treated with aluminum sulfate and aluminum fluoride.

The presence of lead in the drinking water can cause birth defect, kidney damage and permanent neurological defects in children. A parasite called cryptosporidium can also exist in tap water. In 1993, the residents of one of Wisconsins largest cities were forced to boil their tap water after it was discovered to contain unacceptable level of cryptosporidium, most likely from agricultural runoff. Also in New York City, many people with weakened immune systems have charged that cryptosporidium in the city water has make them sick, even though local officials insist that the water is safe to drink. The chlorine added to water to kill bacteria is not effective at killing cryptosporidium.

Better Than Nothing

Activated carbon filters will remove chlorine and chloramine and improve the taste of water, but it will not remove bacteria or dissolved minerals such as sodium, chlorides or nitrates and have only a small effect on dissolved metals such as iron, lead, manganese or copper. The main drawback with activated carbon filter units is that they act as growth beds and become rapidly colonized with bacteria. Make sure the filters are replaced frequently.

Heating tap water to a boiling point (100C) and keep it for 3 to 5 minutes will kill bacteria and parasites, but be aware that in high altitude area the water will boil at less than 100C. However most people find it too impractical and time-consuming and still it doesnt remove heavy metals and toxics.

About Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis is the process by which water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane; a material with microscopic pores in it. Purified water passes through the membrane while viruses, bacteria, parasites (giardia, cryptosporidium), carcinogens, herbicides, pesticides, radioactive contaminants, sulfates, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead, zinc, chloramine, trihalomethane, fluoride, furan and more are left behind and flushed down the drain.

The key to remember about osmosis is that water flows from the solution with the lower solute concentration into the solution with higher solute concentration. With the application of pressure, the process can be reversed. This process is called reverse osmosis. The procedure was developed in the late 1950's and 1960's partly to fulfill the needs of the emerging Space Program.

An early application of reverse osmosis was in the space capsule, where it was required that drinking water be processed from waste water onboard the spacecraft. Later development in membrane technology make reverse osmosis water treatment practical for the home. Today, an important application of reverse osmosis is in the production of drinking water from sea water called desalination. Most bottled water companies use reverse osmosis to make the "premium pure water" that they deliver to your home or office. Kidney dialysis machines are another application of this type of process.