The most recent government law passed to purify and make safe our drinking water, the Safe Drinking Water Act, was written in 1974. Of the over 60,000 chemicals used in the United States, this act regulates only 91 of them. You’ve probably got lead, mercury, sex hormones, anti-seizure medication, cleaning products, and rocket fuel coming out of your faucets every. single. day.
Do I have your attention yet?
Facts About American Tap Water
“In the United States, a massive amount of new toxins totaling nearly 18 billion pounds are released into the groundwater, soil, and atmosphere annually” (source).
“Pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics, sex hormones, anti-depressants, and seizure pills have been found in the tap water of at least 41 million Americans. Water treatment centers are not currently required to test for pharmaceuticals. Researchers are unsure if the cumulative levels are hazardous” (source).
Because pollution and chemicals in tap water often have no scent or taste, many people who drink dangerous contaminants do not even realize they are doing so.
“Efforts to tighten drinking water standards that would regulate and restrict common drinking water contaminants such as perchlorate (a rocket fuel additive), tricholoethylene (a degreaser used in manufacturing), and perchloroethylene (a cleaning solvent) have been blocked by industrial and military lobbyists” (source).
Drinking water reports from cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, Boston, Seattle, and Washington D.C. included false or misleading claims or buried crucial information about their cities’ water deep in water reports (source).
Most cities either do not report on health effects caused by various contaminants they find in their water tests, or fail to translate their water reports into languages spoken by a large minority of their population (source).
Fluoride is added to virtually all municipal water sources and is touted as beneficial for strong, healthy teeth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read more about where our government gets the fluoride they add to our water here. If that doesn’t convince you to back off the tap water, I don’t know what will!
Facts About Bottled Water
Perhaps you figured out long ago that tap water wasn’t good for you or you noticed that classic funky, plastic, pool water taste in your water, so you switched to bottled water. Unfortunately, bottled water isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and certainly isn’t worth its price tag.
“In the United States, 24% of bottled water sold is either Pepsi’s Aquafina (13% of the market) or Coke’s Dasani (11% of the market). Both brands are bottled, purified municipal water” (source).
The federal government actually places more restrictions on tap water than on bottled water for purity, testing, and quality (source). There is less frequent bacteria testing, no mandatory reports of violations to officials, and no filtration or disinfection requirements on the federal level. Things aren’t much better on the state level (source).
“Antimony, which is found in PET plastic bottles, in small doses can cause dizziness and depression; in larger doses it can cause nausea, vomiting and death” (source).
Depending on your location, bottled water can cost up to 560 times more than tap water (source).
The making of the plastic bottle requires three times more water than to fill it (source).
Water Filtration Options: Worst to Best
If tap water is likely full of dangerous, cancer- and birth defect-causing chemicals and bottled water is nothing more than tap water with a fancy label, what other options do we have? I’m glad you asked!
Home water filtration is tricky business, and no one wants to waste their money on expensive filtration systems that don’t actually work or that may be harmful. Here are your options, from worst to best:
Reverse Osmosis (Worst)
Reverse osmosis works by forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane to filter out contaminants. If the contaminants are larger than water molecules, the filter will “catch” them and remove them from the water. If they are the same size or smaller than water molecules, they remain in the water. RO water is primarily used for drinking and some cooking, meaning that bathing water is still contaminated tap water.
Promoters of RO water are right about one thing: the process of reverse osmosis does remove many of the toxins from tap water, such as lead, copper, arsenic, nitrates, organic chemicals, and fluoride (source) — but NONE are removed 100%. RO filters are not able to remove gases, such as chlorine, or particles smaller than water molecules, such as VOCs and endocrine disruptors, so they must be paired with a carbon filter.
The major downfall of RO is that it also removes essential minerals from water. In fact, up to 99% of calcium and magnesium is filtered out of RO water — and that’s not good (source). Interestingly, it is not recommended to culture water kefir in RO water because of the lack of minerals to keep the cultures healthy (source). If it’s not good for your water kefir grains, it’s probably not good for you either!
Leading alternative practitioner Dr. Lawrence Wilson says that RO water has a chelating effect, and when consumed for months at a time, actually chelates minerals out of the body, producing an even greater mineral deficiency (source). Nutritionist Daniel Vitalis calls RO water the “white flour” of water, because it is so void of any nutritional value (source). Sure, it is free of the toxins in tap water, but it is also free of the beneficial minerals and electrolytes that are essential to good health.
Pitcher Filters (Better, But Not Ideal)
Pitcher filters, like Brita, use granulated activated charcoal to remove toxins. A University of Arizona study concluded that between 49% to 80% of a select few contaminants were removed by pitcher filters like Brita and Pur. This means that between 20% and 100% of contaminants were left behind (source). While effective at removing unpleasant tastes or odors from tap water, pitcher filters do not remove VOCs, endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, or fluoride.
Another downside to pitcher filters is that they can take from 30 to 60 minutes to filter water, and they’re not that big. If you have more than one or two people drinking that water, and you’re using it for cooking, this is quite inconvenient and inefficient. Filter cartridges need to be changed often to keep up filtration, which can be costly in the long run, especially if your municipal water is very contaminated. Like RO, pitcher filters may take care of some toxins in your drinking and cooking water, but what about bathing and cleaning water?
Point-of-Use Shower and Bath Filters (Best for Bathing)
Drinking chlorinated tap water is no good, but did you know that showering in it may actually be worse? The whole reasoning behind why our government adds chlorine to our water is to kill potentially harmful organisms. Wouldn’t it make sense that, if we are living organisms, chlorine is harmful to us as well?
One of the most shocking components to all of these studies is that up to two thirds of our harmful exposure to chlorine is due to inhalation of steam and skin absorption while showering. A warm shower opens up the pores of the skin and allows for accelerated absorption of chlorine and other chemicals in water. The steam we inhale while showering can contain up to 50 times the level of chemicals than tap water due to the fact that chlorine and most other contaminants vaporize much faster and at a lower temperature than water. Inhalation is a much more harmful means of exposure since the chlorine gas (chloroform) we inhale goes directly into our blood stream. When we drink contaminated water the toxins are partially filtered out by our kidneys and digestive system. Chlorine vapors are known to be a strong irritant to the sensitive tissue and bronchial passages inside our lungs; it was used as a chemical weapon in World War II. The inhalation of chlorine is a suspected cause of asthma and bronchitis, especially in children, which has increased 300% in the last two decades. “Showering is suspected as the primary cause of elevated levels of chloroform in nearly every home because of chlorine in the water.” –Dr Lance Wallace, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (source).
According to Dr. Mercola, a seven minute shower in chlorinated tap water exposes your body to more chlorine than drinking a gallon of tap water (source)!
To eliminate or significantly reduce the chlorine we’re exposed to when we bathe or shower, I highly recommend investing in a chlorine shower filter, like Radiant Life’s Rainshow’r Shower Filter and a bath water filter like their Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator. The bath ball can eliminate up to 100% of chlorine and up to 30% of chloramine in just a few minutes, while the shower head removes over 90% of chlorine by neutralizing it into a harmless, biodegradable compound.
Both are economical options. The bath ball lasts up to 200 baths, which means it will cost you a mere 22 cents per bath! The shower filter lasts a family of four up to one year. If every member of a family of four showered daily for one year, it would cost 3 cents per shower, or 12 cents per day, to have a chlorine-free shower!
Shower and bath filters are also a great option for homeowners who cannot afford a whole-house filtration system or renters who can’t install whole-house filtration systems or other point-of-use filters.
Solid Carbon Block Filtration (Best for Drinking and Cooking)
To effectively remove pathogens, heavy metals, fluoride (with a filter attachment), chlorine, and more from your drinking and cooking water, a solid carbon block filtration system, such as the Berkey, is your best bet. Activated carbon and carbon block filters are considered by the EPA to be the best technology available to remove pesticides, herbicides, and industrial chemicals (source).
These types of water filters are in canisters which sit on your countertop or table. You fill them with water, and as the water flows down through the filters, chemicals are removed, but essential minerals are left in. This filtration system can be used for city and well water purification, plus in the event of a power outage or for a camping trip, they can safely filter lake, river, or pond water. Katie at The Wellness Mama tested the Berkey and found that it even removed food coloring she added to the water!
The cost per system ranges from $150 for the smallest option to $325 for the largest. You choose which size works best for you based upon the size of your family and your daily water usage. The filters don’t have to be replaced nearly as often as RO and pitcher filters, making this system a larger up-front investment, but lowering maintenance costs over time. The filters do take up some counter space (less than two square feet), but they are sleek in design and not an eyesore at all.
It is important to note that a carbon block filter will NOT filter out fluoride. You will need to buy a separate filter for fluoride, which most people who own these systems do.
Spring Water (Very Best for Drinking and Cooking)
Gravity-fed spring water is, in my opinion, the absolute BEST water for drinking. This is “living water”, full of all the beneficial electrolytes and trace minerals our bodies need. The taste is clean, clear, fresh, and unrivaled. This water, unfortunately, cannot be obtained from any filtration system. It must be found at the source.
If you’re going to buy bottles of spring water, do your research carefully. Many bottlers of “spring” water are bottling nothing more than purified tap water, when it is definitely NOT mountain spring or glacier water like the label claims. I don’t like the waste that buying even quality bottled spring water produces, so for those of us who really want to drink pure spring water, the best option is to go out and find it ourselves!
Find A Spring is a site that is dedicated to connecting people with local springs where they can take containers and bottle their own spring water, right from the source! There are natural springs flowing with clean, mineral-rich water all over the world, and you can usually get their water for FREE. This is, to me, the best way to ensure you are drinking the kind of water your body craves.
In my area, the natural springs begin to dry up in September and remain dry through February, which means we are going to have our delicious spring water back very, very soon! During that time, we buy locally bottled spring water, but we are seriously considering purchasing a Berkey water filer for use during those months and for cooking water.
Other Options
There are still more water filtration options if you would like to keep digging:
Whole-House Filtration Systems (Better)
14-Stage Biocompatible Water Purification System (Best)
Countertop Drinking Water Systems (Good)
Under-Counter Water Filters (Good)
*I have not discussed ion water filtration, distilled water, or alkalinized water because my opinion is that they are not healthful for regular consumption. The ideal pH for drinking water is neutral, between 6.5 and 7.5. Distilled water is too acidic; alkaline water is too alkaline. Neither is beneficial to maintain homeostasis.
Well, if you stuck with me to the end, give yourself a pat on the back! That was a lot of information, wasn’t it?!
What type of water filtration do you use? Or have you ever considered water filtration before?