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WillBrink
03-16-09, 17:00
For some reason I always seem to end up writing articles about contaminants found in various supplements we ingest, in particular creatine, but there have been others. First I wrote “What’s in your creatine?” (1) which exposed the fact not all creatine supplement are created equal. That article single handedly changed the creatine market at the time. I followed that up with “What’s in your supplements?” (2) which was really just a continuation of the first article, with additional testing and comments. I’m calling this one, “What’s in your water?!” for lack of a better title.

I have always been conscious of the potential impurities in drinking water, but I didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about it either. My town sends out a yearly report on water quality, and has always been well below EPA limits on the chemicals they test for. Regardless, I have always used a water filter to filter my drinking water. (3)

However, until recently, I did not have a whole house water filter system. About 6 months ago I installed a in-line water filter system for the entire house. This was not an expensive or fancy unit (4), and is designed to take out soil, silt, sediments, iron, etc, and is rated as a 5 micron filter. It’s not a chemical filter, which means it will not remove chemicals that may find there way into the general water system (e.g., pesticides, etc.(5)) but will remove anything 5 microns or above. After 5 months, this was the results:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b374/willbrink/Filters.jpg

A new filter is on the left for comparison. Not very pretty is it? Now, most of that is what the filter is intended to catch, soil, silt, sediments, iron, and miscellaneous crud that gets into any water system. Toxic to human health? In small amounts, probably not. Do you wanna drink the stuff? I don’t, but I can’t speak for you. All I can say is, I was stunned by just how dirty that filter was after 4-5 months of use (and they recommend changing that filter every 6 months BTW…), and I am all the happier I have always at least filtered my drinking water… Regardless of any health issues, all that crud would be normally running through all your water using appliances, so keeping that stuff out of your water heaters, clothes washers (BTW, I swear my clothes are coming out cleaner once I added that filter, but I can’t prove it…) may have some benefits to the appliances. Ever drain your water heater and see all the brown sludge that comes out? That all came from your water supply…


(1) http://www.brinkzone.com/articledetails.php?acatid=3&aid=89


(2) http://www.mesomorphosis.com/articles/brink/creatine-impurities.htm

(3) http://www.newwaveenviro.com/premium-10-stage-water-filter-p-86.html

(4) http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=57820-59019-WHKF-GD05&lpage=none

(5) for a list of chemicals and other info, see:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwh/contams.html

K.L. Davis
03-16-09, 20:55
Good topic Will... I had some test done on my home water when I first moved in, then I did the whole house filter (like the one you show), the through a water softener, and the kitchen (potable) water is all through a series of filters that remove microbes, most chemicals and lead.

The tests after this were much improved and the water is so much better.

The best part is that the whole thing (doing the work myself) costs around $800.00 -- money well spent.

Gutshot John
03-17-09, 00:09
A question for K.L. or MDs who know...I thought this might be better to post here than start a whole new thread.

As a kid I lived overseas quite a bit visiting foreign family, and while still in the first world, water treatment where I lived wasn't up to US standards, that said we drank it, but we still got most of our drinking water from public fountains.

Later in life when I did go to the third world, I realized I never got "Montezuma's Revenge" like some of my military buddies who'd be seriously laid up sometimes if they didn't properly treat their water. Maybe I was more diligent with my iodine, but I'm not sure that's the case.

A few weeks ago I saw in the news a medical study that said that kids whose moms didn't care if they ate dirt often had fewer health problems then those neat freak moms. Similarly I've heard that all the "anti-bacterial" products are not only making germs stronger, but also reducing immunity.

Now obviously water has to be treated (and I'm not disputing the benefits of a filter) as there can be some really nasty stuff, but I'm wondering if there is a point where we need some contamination in order to boost natural immunity.

Note/disclaimer - when I go back to visit my family, they now have a household filtration systems, mostly so they don't have to go to the fountains.

bkb0000
03-17-09, 00:54
im with you gutshot- not only does all the disinfectant reduce kids' immunities to disease, it loads your house with toxins. spraying "air sanitizers" around your house just pollutes the air with VOCs and perfumes and poisons- it kills bacteria as well as it kills cells in your body.

i hate this new trend to "sanitize" everything. call us dirty hippies (we have way too many guns and W stickers to be hippies) but all we have is la naturel non-toxic cleaners. i bet there's more bacteria in our house, but i bet my kids get sick less.

my shop, on the other hand, is a ticking time bomb of highly toxic, volatile, and cumbustable chemicals. :)

WillBrink
03-17-09, 07:39
Good topic Will... I had some test done on my home water when I first moved in, then I did the whole house filter (like the one you show), the through a water softener, and the kitchen (potable) water is all through a series of filters that remove microbes, most chemicals and lead.

The tests after this were much improved and the water is so much better.

The best part is that the whole thing (doing the work myself) costs around $800.00 -- money well spent.

That basic whole house filter above was like $40 and the drinking water filter approx $100.

K.L. Davis
03-17-09, 08:57
That basic whole house filter above was like $40 and the drinking water filter approx $100.

Roger that... I added a water softener ($600.00) which is pretty much a must have here.

chadbag
03-18-09, 00:11
For drinking water I put all our water through a table top Berkey filter with the black filter elements and the optional heavy metal / flouride filters (PF-2).

Tastes better and is much better for us. Shower/bath and cleaning water just is the normal water sent from the municipality.

I used to live in NH and we had well water and it had a whole house filtration system composed of two smaller inline filters like you find under your sink. They got really dirty fast with iron and sediment... Made me think of how I had grown up on well water in Mass with no filter...

For Berkey filter info:

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/

(I just got the link off of Google for "Berkey water filter" and this is not a plug for this company which is not where I got it)

WS6
03-21-09, 21:41
As a college student, I find it less painful to purchase $0.68 distilled water gallon jugs from wal-mart than invest in a filter. I too dislike tap-water and after stopping up one PUR filter, I can attest that I don't want that crap in my body. I drink a gallon a day. I don't want to hit my kidneys with more than I have to.

Obiwan
03-21-09, 22:06
When I lived in Wisconsin we were on a well

I put in an inline filter just kind of on a whim

Once I saw how nasty it (filter) got I felt very good about the decision;)

-Wes-
03-21-09, 23:24
If you wrote a story about the water here, it'd be titled: "What's in your arsenic?":eek:. We can thank the copper miners for setting up there leach fields right next to the Verde River.