Posted on 01/18/2014 8:00:18 AM PST by truthnomatterwhat
We have a tendency in our society to take our drinking water for granted and assume that water contamination will be taken care of by our local authorities. We need to change the way we think in this regard because budgets for water treatment are drying up and the use of recycled water is now becoming more common. We can no longer just think of water as a gift from Mother Nature that will always be there when we need it, but rather as an industry and commodity which needs investment!
Here is one way how the contamination in drinking water begins.
The drugs and personal care products that we use in our lives on a daily basis are excreted from our bodies or are washed off us during our daily cleansing rituals. And, we often dump them down the sink as we wash out their containers for recycle. We’ve not yet counted here the drugs in our drinking water that people intentionally flush down their toilets or dump down their sinks when they want to dispose of them.
So, all of this waste ends up as sewage which flows into sewer systems and septic tanks. But where does it go from there? Although the waste then goes through treatment plants, the current municipal water processing systems that are used in just about every town and city in America, are not set up to deal with the volume and types of environmental waste that we create inadvertently every day.
Many scientists see water management as a critical issue, and are beginning to monitor the impact that Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in water have on our health. PPCPs detected in drinking water are....
Drugs Contamination In Tap Drinking Water http://www.healthalkaline.com/drugs-contamination-in-tap-drinking-water/#ixzz2qlZap6tw Follow us: @healthalkaline on Twitter | alkalinewaterhealth on Facebook
(Excerpt) Read more at healthalkaline.com ...
That’s why I only drink rainwater and grain alcohol Mandrake.
A few years ago I had a septic system pumped. I got to talking with the guy, and he commented that he’d been at some homes where the tanks were a real mess—things didn’t break down. He said they were usually occupied by elderly people taking a lot of medications, and that the medications seemed to kill the normally active bacteria, causing the problem.
I thought it was interesting, considering that medications are measured in fractions of grams, and the septic tank is roughly 1500 to 2000 gallons, plus overflow.
Two professors at a local college found prescription drugs in the local river. Not all of a drug is metabolized by the body before it’s excreted.
Fifty years of birth control hormones in the water supply has given us a generation of sissified wusses instead of masculine men.
I have a rental income property with a septic tank, it’s amazing what people flush. They have no idea some measure of it ends up in the tap water.
I never had sewer until I moved here. Upkeep of the lines is pricey. I NEVER had a problem with a septic system....I wish the law allowed that option.
Another huge source of contamination that gets into rivers and lakes is the chemicals that people put on their lawns. There isn't even a reason for that. A well-chosen grass for the environment and soil conditions does not need fertilizers or plant foods.
The thing I don’t understand about this cycle of drugs being washed off and then returning is this: Drugs don’t degrade?
“They have no idea some measure of it ends up in the tap water.”
The septic holds solid waste that often decomposes with the residue having to be periodically pumped out. The water goes underground and is hopefully purified by mother nature in the septic field and then goes to ground water where the pump pulls it out of well and back into the house.
Drugs are considered toxic waste and have to be discarded professionally. Google how to get rid of expired prescription drugs.
LOL :)
Right! So what to do about that?
When medicines are dosed, one of the factors considered is how much of the medicines the body can absorb before the rest is excreted as waste.
In a septic tank, the antibiotics aren't going anywhere and can pose as more than the required quantity to kill off the microbes, even in large containers.
Yeah but tap water is now free anti-depressants and viagra for everyone!
For years, I have been using the expensive countertop filters and water pitcher filters to take out the chorine and other contaminants - I thought. After getting a TDS meter and testing our water before and after filtering, I discovered these filters do almost nothing in the way of filtering out contaminates. Our water system has a TDS reading of 450+ (even after filtering). The limit is 500. This means there are all kinds of other compounds and salts dissolved in the water that not only prevent it from hydrating a body properly, many can be harmful to you over time. If plants and their simple systems can't handle it, common sense says a complex system like the human body can also be adversely affected by these contaimenants.
In order to verify my readings, I tested some distilled water I had on hand that was years old. It tested zero for TDS. I also had some bottles of Ozarka Spring water stored. Ozarka had a reading of about 45 on the TDS meter. pH of the municipal water was practically off the scale of my test strips 8-9. Rainwater here is about 5. Plants like a pH of about 6. In my smug ignorance, and false faith in my "filtered" pitchers, I often berated those who drank bottled water - not anymore, at least not those who drink Ozarka spring water from Walmart.
It's also no wonder I have had a "brown thumb" for years. I had been killing plants with chlorinated, high alkaline water. The solution I've found, just recently I might add and because of researching hydroponics, was the purchase of a reverse osmosis system. It immediately lowered the TDS to 12 and the PH to a perfect 6 for plants. Coffee and food prepared using this water now tastes far superior to that made from water out of the municipal tap.
After more research, I find that most say the human body needs a higher pH (more alkaline) or neutral water (ph of 7). I'm not convinced but looking at adding a mineral post filter to the system split off from the main tank, just for a mineralized water for drinking.
Would appreciate input of others who have studied and worked on this.
Glad we have a well for our water here in the mountains, and it’s sparsely populated.
The cure! That's what you got there is the cure.
(Nothing will get you back on your feet from a bad hangover faster than the cure!)
Many years ago, I read a story about how Prozac was found in the water table in England.
In a septic tank, they flow out with the rest of the effluent into the drainage system. I would think an equilibrium concentration would eventually be reached.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.