Whats in your Water?

Before you drink another glass of water fromcontinually drink water containing contaminants we
your kitchen tap, think about the source of thecould become susceptible to many illnesses, from
water. Your local water supply has done its bestasthma to Parkinson's disease. Very few of us
to purify the water before it came to you, buthave ever initiated our own water test, so it
rules governing water purification can vary. Whenwould seem that we trust the local government.
the local municipality received the water, it wouldYet, the move to bottled water has increased in
have been full of pesticides and other chemicals,the last decade and many of us have large
as well as industrial sludge and disease- bearingquantities of water delivered to our home.
pathogens. The water that gushes from yourFor a while carrying bottled water was 'cool'.
kitchen tap started out this way! Even if yourLately, however, certain insights have jaundiced
water comes from natural sources, you may stillthe love affair with bottled water. For instance,
want to check the levels of contaminants in it.one famous company was found to be bottling
Years ago, there was no need to worry about'fake' water (taken from a tap!) Recently we
toxins from chemical waste and industrial sludge.were informed of the possibility that the
The Romans and the Mayans just piped theirchemicals from the plastic bottle containing our
water overland using aqueducts and that was thepure bottled water could actually leach into water!
municipal water distribution! In more recentThere is one alternative left and that is water
history, we too, took our water for granted.that is filtered within your home. These need not
We were understandably proud of the fact thatnecessarily cost huge amounts of money. A
our water was pure and drinkable. While there arewhole house filtration system can cost a thousand
regulations in place, these are fallible, and twodollars, but if you consider that you only drink the
strong water contaminants (chlorine and fluoride)water from your kitchen tap, then a small
may be part of the chemical prescription used toattachment at the sink is less than one hundred
purify it.dollars. Most water filters specify which germs
Nowadays, even in North America, we havethey remove, all of them remove lead and
heard of injury and deaths due to contaminatedchlorine, and three on the market remove E-coli.
water supplies. Water is a large part of our life,Whichever action you decide to take, either an up
accounting for nearly three-quarters of the humanto date water test, a kitchen tap filtration system
body mass. It is an essential part of living asor a whole house filtration unit, your action will
without it, we are dead.help to sell your house more quickly if you can
We are told that drinking copious amounts ofassure a prospective buyer that your home has
water may improve our health, but if wepure water.