Published by Kristen Mitchell
The U.S. EPA and WHO recommend monitoring hundreds of drinking water contaminants, but what are the top ten contaminants that have the largest health impacts and global reach?
Good morning Kristen
I am not a drinking water expert but I wrote this article based on my experience in drinking water analysis and DWA regulation (See bellow). I hope this helps you in some way. Have a nice day
Published by Enrique Ochoa B.S, Project Manager at Florida Spectrum Environmental Serv.
It depends on regional geology, land use, and source (surface vs. ground).
Published by Stewart Chute, Toxicologist/Pharmacologist
One that you seem to have missed! One that kills oh so gently and slowly, stealing our old age and leaving us utterly incapacitated. One that even now is only grudgingly being recognised despite superb research by some of the finest brains that I know. That contaminant is aluminium.
I have a personal and tragic relationship with aluminium – it killed my wife 13years ago. Sixteen years after our municipal water supply in Camelford, Cornwall, UK was accidentally contaminated by up to 620mg/l of Al, at pH 3.5 (yes, that's precisely the case) she developed a sudden onset and rapidly fatal dementia, and died a year later. Her inquest and evidence on it made medical history - you can find the story on the Internet, if you have plenty of time to read the huge amount of stuff that deals with it – Google will show you the way!
But it doesn't normally take that much Al to bring on dementia in old age. Drinking water with only half the generally maximum permitted amount of Al in it – 0.1mg/l – doubles your risk of getting Alzheimer's (check out papers by Virginie Rondeau at al, Chris Exley, Don McClachlan, Lucija Tomljenovic and Chris Shaw, and many others) Don reckons that continually drinking this supposedly safe concentration for 20 years is enough to increase your risk by 250%. (Are you paying attention now?) The French have the lowest rate of dementia in Europe , and they don't drink tap water! Curious, that.
And another thing about Aluminium. It's used to make the raw water better, just as some lunatic nations allow their government to add fluoride to drinking water, in the unproven belief that it stops kids' teeth from rotting. Both these substances are used with the best of humanitarian intention.
So it's a bit of a shame, really, that when both are present in drinking water, and at the concentrations favored for our benefit, fluoride actually synergistically promotes the absorption of aluminium into our blood stream. That's right – fluoridating drinking water with perfectly permissible levels of residual aluminium, left over from the water treatment process, may be increasing our risk of developing dementia. (I'll not go into the complex relationships between Al, F and glyphosate here, it would only make you even more alarmed!)
So please do add aluminium to your list of priority action substances. It's not fashionable, it's not a political priority, yet dementia is indeed one of the biggest medical priorities that modern societies face (and ignore the weird and wonderful Zika fiasco – you'll be seeing some very interesting developments there very soon, and some very red faces too!)
There are alternatives to using Al in water treatment, such as ferrous sulphate, and no excuse whatever for making the situation worse by fluoridating water supplies. By all means get the other nasties out of drinking water – but for Heaven's sake don't make things even worse by adding proven neurotoxins to our most basic of consumer products. That way lies - almost literally – madness.
(Doug Cross, UK)
Published by Douglas Cross, Mr.
The Al hypothesis for etiology of DAT was an interesting idea back in the 1980s
Published by Stewart Chute, Toxicologist/Pharmacologist
And yet when my community was poisoned by Al in the water supply I was the only scientist to warn of its implications, and I then spent 12 years watching the Brit government's PR people manipulate the 'investigation' to deny this very same relationship!
Published by Douglas Cross, Mr.
As mentioned before, bacteria, runoff waste, and heavy metals like mercury and lead are some of the most damaging contaminants in our water.
Solvents and oxidizers (acids and halogens like chlorine) also add to the problem. Lead would not be such a hot topic today if oxidizers weren't used in our water. If not regulated properly, they can effect the pH levels of the water and cause leching of hazardous metals.
Within the last few years a global effort was created to end the use of mercury. Most of the mercury produced today comes from mining or smelting but we are still actively using it in our ultraviolet lamps for water treatment.
Published by Mitch Hansen, E-Marketing Specialist at AquiSense Technologies
Just like U.S EPA´s document says, there are a large number of contaminants, wich are well knowed, and have a lot of study of its effects on human health. My top ten's are (on a regional bassis):
But the next stage of the discussion need to be focused on the unregulated contaminants. There are many antibiotics and other compounds that eventually generate serious problems if they are not strictly regulated.
Published by Gonzalo Correa Iriarte, Biochemical Engineer | Head of industrial waste water managment at Viña Concha y Toro
Arsenic, Solvents, Runoff Waste , Mercury, Nitrates, Iron, Lead, bacteria,
Published by Howard Ivy, President at South Texas Community Water Sharing LLC