Is Your Water Sabotaging Your Health Regime?

We hear volumes about the health benefits of water … we are supposed to drink 8 glasses daily, use it wash our hands thoroughly, and shower in it every day. However, in some cases, your water might be sabotaging your health regime. The quality of our drinking water is actually fairly poorly regulated. While we certainly have developing country standards of water safety (where you can get typhoid or giardia just from your morning glass of water), there are still plenty of nasties in our water. Today we look at how to combat the baddies in your water!

Where do impurities in the water come from?

Our water supply is not a closed system. It comes from aquifers or dams, that are in contact with the soil. It is fed by rainfall, which can quite easily have low levels of harmful chemicals in it - think acid rain. Agricultural runoff (fertilizers and pesticides) and improper use of household chemicals are two of the major sources of chemical pollution in our water.

What do these chemicals do?

This is very difficult to say with any certainty - it would take decades fro scientists to properly study the effects of having isolated chemicals in the drinking water of a certain population … not to mention pretty unethical. However, many people believe that the increase in a wide range of degenerative diseases is caused by the constant low-level exposure to chemicals that we all deal with every day, some of which come from our water.

So, if you’re taking whole food multivitamins to help prevent osteoporosis or rheumatoid arthritis, for example, your water could certainly be sabotaging your health regime!

So, should I drink bottled water?

Not if you care about the environment! Current estimates are that it TAKES three bottles of water to CREATE one bottle of water. That is waste, water used in processing, water used in making the plastic, water used in transporting and refrigerating it, etc. Not to mention the affect of petrochemical production, fuel for transport... bottled water isn't even guaranteed to be a purer than tap water. Tap water is the best delivery system for water - it is just that it needs to be cleaned up a bit.

Water filtration systems

These are generally accepted as the best solution to the water purity/environmental conundrum. They require an investment, but your will use them every day for the rest of your long, long life … no more negating the effects of all those vege stir-fries and whole food multivitamins!