14.Is Tap Water Safe?

When drinking water leaves a treatment plant on its way to your house, it must meet strict safety standards. That doesn’t mean that your water is free of all contaminants, but that the levels of any contaminants don’t pose any serious health risk.

Of course, accidents can happen. If the water supply becomes contaminated by something that can cause immediate illness, the supplier must promptly inform you. Suppliers also need to offer alternative suggestions for safe drinking water. In addition, they have 24 hours to inform customers of any violation of standards that could have major impact on health following a short-term exposure.

Water Quality: What Contaminants Are in Water?

Water can be contaminated in several ways. It can contain microorganisms like bacteria and parasites that get in the water from human or animal fecal matter. It can contain chemicals from industrial waste or from spraying crops. Nitrates used in fertilizers can enter the water with runoff from the land. Various minerals such as lead or mercury can enter the water supply, sometimes from natural deposits underground, or more often from improper disposal.

The EPA has set minimum testing schedules for specific pollutants to make sure that levels remain safe. Still, some people may be more vulnerable than others to potential harm caused by water contaminants, including:

People undergoing chemotherapy

People with HIV/AIDS

Transplant patients

Children and infants

Pregnant women and their fetuses

Health Effects of Drinking Contaminated Water

How contaminated water effects your health depends on the type of contaminants. For example:

Cryptosporidium is a pathogen that sometimes gets into water supplies. It can cause a gastrointestinal disease that could be fatal.

Nitrates can contaminate water and pose an immediate threat to infants. In the intestines, nitrates are converted to nitrites, which prevent blood from transporting oxygen. An enzyme present in the system of older children restores the blood's ability to carry oxygen.

Lead can cause both physical and mental developmental problems in infants and children. Adults who have been drinking lead-tainted water for a number of years can experience kidney problems and high blood pressure.

Does boiling contaminated water make it safe to drink? It depends on the contaminant. Boiling water can kill germs, but things like lead, nitrates, and pesticides aren't affected. And since boiling reduces the volume of water, it increases the concentration of those contaminants.

Water Quality and Water Filters

In an effort to make their drinking water safer, some people use water filters at home. There are four main kinds:

Activated carbon filters can remove certain organic contaminants that affect taste and odor. Some systems are also designed to remove chlorination byproducts, solvents, and pesticides, or certain metals such as copper or lead.

Ion exchange units with activated alumina can remove minerals such as calcium and magnesium, which make water hard. This is often used in combination with another filtration method, such as carbon absorption or reverse osmosis.

Reverse osmosis units with carbon can remove nitrates and sodium as well as pesticides and petrochemicals.

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