GUSHING ON ABOUT WATER

Last month in our discussion on Water, we examined how important water is to your existence and maintaining good health; considered in a general fashion that it is vital to all life on a molecular and cellular level; spoke briefly about Dr Batmanghelidj’s work on the medical applications of water to cure already dis-eased bodies; and talked about the practical aspects of consuming water, such as don’t drink unfiltered city water (at least on a regular basis) and do drink lots of the good kinds of water.

Why is unfiltered city water so diabolical? As mentioned previously, this has to do with the treatment the water receives before it comes along your pipeline. Most cities and towns “purify” water with chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride, and chloramine.

While chlorine is well known to be the stuff that turns our hair green and our laundry white (go to a natural food grocer for good alternatives to putting more chlorine in our water table!), its effects on the body and the earth are highly questionable. Chlorine’s main purpose in water is to kill off bacteria in city water pipes, and, although chlorine is known to be a toxin, very little information is available about what long term low level consumption will do to the body. Another interesting fact about chlorine is that when it comes into contact with decaying organic matter, such as leaves, it turns into a family of chemicals known as trihalomethanes (THM). The most infamous of the THMs is chloroform. All of these THMs are carcinogenic in even the smallest amounts: don’t drink the pool water.

Fluoride still persists with even the many health conscious individuals as a mythical health hero. Some of its effects on the body have been known since a 1992 Canadian study by Dr. Harry Limeback, but have been ridiculed by the scientific establishment and media. After more than a decade of corroborating studies, it is now being linked with very serious disorders, including cancer, affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland, as well as lowering IQ. More evidence is coming forth on a regular basis that fluoridation of our water and our toothpaste is a very poor idea. We will be visiting fluorides again on our journey to good health.

Chloramine is the third of the big three popular chemicals used in municipal waters. This is often used in addition to chlorination. When used as an alternative to chlorination, it does not have the distinctive chlorine odour that water treated with straight chlorine has and so water is more palatable. It does, however, turn water green, as can be witnessed by filling a white bucket with chloraminated water. It is a compound of ammonia and hypochlorous acid (which is created when chlorine dissolves in water). It is highly toxic to fish and many other animals, and must be removed before adding tap water to aquariums. Is it toxic to us? Well, at least not immediately. It is allowed in public water pipes at a level of 3ppm. Whereas chlorinated water can be boiled or left standing in a jug for twenty four hours to allow the chlorine to outgas, chloramine treated water is much more stable and has to be treated with another chemical to remove this chemical.

Well water can also contain chemicals as chemicals used at ground level drain into aquifers. This is from water that leaches off industrially farmed fields and sometimes from industrial plants, such as coal powered power plants, paper production factories, etc. Bacteria also often show up in well water, some of them harmful. Test your well water to be safe. If you live in a town, test your tap water.

And what if you find your drinking water is full of chemicals and / or bacteria? Filter or distill it! Water filters and distillers come in many forms. The most affordable filter is probably the Brita water filter, which you can purchase at many supermarkets. There are also filters and distillers by companies such as New Wave and Waterwise that are excellent. The distillers from Waterwise range from stove top to whole house. The filters attach to your kitchen tap and can be mounted above or below sink level. They need to be changed much less often than the Brita, but are more expensive. Beyond that there are whole house filters and distillers, but do avoid softening your water with salt. While reverse osmosis, another filter method, produces really lovely tasting water, I find the process problematic. A large proportion of water treated by reverse osmosis is expelled as waste water, which unless you use a gray water system is gone, as the Raven might have said, forever more.

It is said that the most delicious and nutritious of waters with exactly the right balance of minerals is rainwater. If you have a “clean roof”—one made of metal or coated with certain safe elastomeric paints--and a means of collecting rainwater from said roof into a clean container, go for it. Remember to test it first with a home kit or through a laboratory. Did you ever think that drinking water could be so complicated, but well worth it!

Namaste.