Your health depends on learning about water contamination and improving the quality of water that you use.
In some respects, the spraying of pesticides has been a boon to the earth's food supply.
In fact, modern science and technology have usually created products to make the world less brutal than it was 150 years ago.
They have helped increase our lifespan from 40 years to over 70 years.
Much of grunt work to secure basic materials like food, drink and clothing, has been reduced thanks to science and technology.
However, their creations often have negative consequences.
Some of their effects are not discovered for decades. Over the last few decades, the issue of contaminated water and its effect on human health has emerged.
Who is Ashley Mulroy and what was her role on this issue?.
In 1999, Miss Mulroy read a story about water contamination, specifically, the discovery of drugs including antibiotics in lakes, rivers, streams and tap water.
So over a ten week period, Mulroy conducted a study about water contamination. She took water samples from the Ohio River. She then had the samples tested for three common antibiotics - penicillin, tetracycline and vancomycin. The samples had traces of all three antibiotics.
Mulroy's concerns about water contamination led her to go and have the had tap water from three nearby towns and a nearby school tested.
All were contaminated with the three antibiotics. Her fears about water contamination were proven to have merit.
Mulroy took charge on her concerns about water contamination. Most of us just pretend such concerns don't exist.
You see, Ashley was just a 17 year old high school student when she conducted this study about water contamination.
The photo left is Ashley's graduation photo taken two years later.
Remember that Ashley's study just tested the presence of the three antibiotics. No telling what else was in the water.
By the way, the school whose water was tested was Mulroy's high school that she was attending at the time.
Most water supplies that are tested show water contamination.
No new water
This is because our planet does not produce new water. The water on earth simply cycles over and over.
Pretty much everything that our society produces ends up in the water cycle.
Everything!
All of the wastes and poisons have to go somewhere and there is no special Poison Condo for them to retire to.
So into the streams and rivers and lakes and oceans and tap they go.
And yet, we're not all dropping like flies just because we drank a glass of contaminated tap water.
Well, generally, the water supply is "safe." Of course that depends on how you define "safe."
If you mean we don't drop dead after a glass, then it's safe.
What isn't clear is what effects drinking tap when the quality of water is uncertain has on our overall health over decades.
We can also assume that some people can tolerate contaminated water better than other people.
So the fact that people aren't keeling over just because they gulped some water doesn't really answer our concerns.
Remember that smoking also takes years to rob someone of health and life.
Drink up!
That's right. Don't let concerns about water contamination make you hesitant to drink water. Regardless of what you take from this website, you are still encouraged to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day even if it's tap. The health problems that normal drinking water may open you to are not as serious as dehydration caused from drinking too little water.
So by all means keep drinking especially if you lose fluids in your activities. Like, if you are exercising on a warm day and there is a water fountain nearby, drink up unless there is a health warning about your tap water. In that case, don't exercise until healthy water is available.
The Scary Facts
We don't mean to alarm you. But, there are some statistics that are scary no matter how you look at them.
Just remember that it's good to know and make reasoned choices on what you know.
Here goes.
In the early 1900's citizens had a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer.
Today, the chances of suffering from cancer is 1 in 3. For men, it is 1 in 2.
We can't be certain of why this has happened but the jump in cancer rate occurred when industrialization started.
Nothing is free.
We also don't know for sure what specifically happened that caused the spike in cancers. The research on causes is a little tricky and besides research in general doesn't always prove that something caused something else. ( Click here to learn about problems with research on contaminated water.)
However, scientists have blamed man-made chemicals for the increase in cancers. The name for these chemicals is synthetic organic compounds, SECs for short. Many are poisonous when consumed by humans.
Studies show that the areas with the highest levels of SOCs had the highest rates of cancer.
Men's Health (summer, 2007) observed that, in addition to the many health problems that water contaminants lead to, they may also reduce male sperm count and lower testosterone count.
A science panel also reported that when these contaminants combine, when they're are two or more present in the water system their effects increased 1,000 times. Like evil allies, they work together to cause much more damage.
These chemicals used to produce a variety of materials like plastic have certainly made our lives a little more convenient.
But with the good came the bad.
These man-made chemicals are in every water supply. The U.S water supply contains at least 21,000 toxins.
Water utilities do not and cannot test for all of these substances. In fact they only test for around 75 chemicals in the water.
But our water has been found to contain 2,300 chemicals that may cause cancer.
This problem doesn't promise to get better. Our societies use over 75,000 toxins and 1,000 new ones are being developed every year. Also remember that many other countries are industrializing quickly like China and India. They too will contribute SOCs to the world.
Where are they going to end up. Yep, in the water supply.
Responsible agencies are finding anything from weed killers to bacteria like the deadly cryptosporidium in our drinking water.
Also state agencies add two substances into our water supply that deserve a separate discussion. They are chlorine and fluoride. Their addition to our water supply is very controversial. Both substances may lead to serious illnesses.
Find out more about these elements and to protect yourself from their effects. Click here for more more about CHLORINE and here for more on FLUORIDE
Really, no tap water is completely free of these chemicals and most have many more than one such chemical.
But some tap water is worse than others and should not pass any water quality test. The Environmental Working Group found that many cities had water containing 2 and up to seven weed killers in their water. Fort wayne, Indiana was found to have 9 weed killers in one glass of water. Visit http://www.ewg.org/featured/170 to go to their research on the quality of water in the U.S.
Another finding is that many local water utilities do not report their findings when directed to do so by the government. Worse yet, many companies lie about the results of tests especially with how much lead is often found in the water supply.
Finally, we now find all kinds of substances in our water like caffeine, nicotine and prescription drugs like birth control and antidepressants. It's stuff we never thought to test for but now will have to consider.
To repeat, everything we use goes down some drain or other, from baby wipes to Nyquil to Prozac. Eventually they'll end up in the water.
And yet we're still not all dead after drinking a glass of tap
Thankfully, the chemicals in water are in very small amounts, not usually immediately deadly and our bodies have an amazing capacity to adjust to the environment.
But still, be aware of your environment and what you take in. Don't stress so much that the stress kills you before the tap does you in.
Just read the easy to follow advice on this website and you'll be alright.
Lessen the effects of contaminated water
You see, Ashley was just a 17 year old high school student when she conducted this study about water contamination.