The two sources of tap water include reservoirs, rivers, and lakes or groundwater like artesian and deep wells. It gets disinfected well before it reaches the taps in our households. We use it for bathing, cooking, cleaning, and drinking.
However, it’s not completely free from contaminants and toxins which can adversely affect our health. Let’s take a good look at what comes out through our taps before we finish that glass of water.
Typical Contaminants In Tap Water
In addition to the chemicals that are used to disinfect tap water, a huge number of toxic pollutants are present too. Below are the commonly seen contaminants.1
- Chlorine: The disinfecting property of chlorine is commendable however too much consumption of chlorinated water causes digestive, respiratory issues, and cell damage.
- Salts of arsenic, radium, aluminum, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, and barium can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and death in severe cases.
- Nitrates and pesticides: These can pollute groundwater that flows through fields and reaches our homes. These cause retarded growth in infants, children and severe vomiting and diarrhea in adults.
- Lead: Lead is used in household plumbing materials. Byproducts of lead leach into the water as the pipes get cold. It negatively impacts the physical and mental development in babies and children. Even adults who drink water contaminated with lead can develop kidney disease.
- Fluoride: High levels of fluoride in water are beneficial to an extent but in excessive levels, it can cause dental and skeletal fluorosis.
Ways To Make Tap Water Fit For Human Consumption
Taking meticulous care and planning in getting rid of contaminants in tap water can ensure that poisonous substances don’t linger in your household. Here are some simple solutions you can adopt to keep you and your loved ones protected from health hazards.2
1. Use Activated Carbon
You can use faucet filter and under-sink units with the cost-effective activated carbon to get rid of bad odors, tastes, disinfection byproducts, pesticides, radon and other volatile organic chemicals. However, it isn’t antimicrobial in nature and removes excess fluoride.
2. Reverse Osmosis Water Purifiers
Nowadays, many kitchens have RO water purifiers installed. It’s capable of getting rid of parasites like Giardia and Cryptosporidium, heavy metals like cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury and other pollutants like arsenic, barium, nitrates and nitrites, perchlorate, and selenium.
An important disadvantage with RO system is that it robs off almost all minerals from drinking water which makes it acidic leading to cancer and other diseases.
3. Ultraviolet Disinfection
Available in both under-sink and whole-house systems. It can destroy all harmful pathogenic microbes.
Boiling water is an age-old practice of disinfecting water. It gets rid of almost all harmful microbes but not any metals, odor, or sediments. It’s best to boil the water first and filter it through an activated carbon filter for effectively purifying tap water.
Although we do have bottled water, relying on it for daily consumption is not feasible for many in the long run. At least once in a month clean your faucet strainers as it accumulates debris, metals, and other sediments. If you feel that the top water that reaches your home is unfit for consumption, inform the public water department authorities as soon as possible.3
References
| ↑1 | Fawell, John, and Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen. “Contaminants in drinking waterEnvironmental pollution and health.” British medical bulletin 68, no. 1 (2003): 199-208. |
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| ↑2 | Copes, Ray, Garth M. Evans, and Sophie Verhille. “Bottled vs tap water.” BC Medical Journal 51, no. 3 (2009): 112-113. |
| ↑3 | Eftekhar, Behrooz, Masoume Skini, Milad Shamohammadi, Jaber Ghaffaripour, and Firoozeh Nilchian. “The Effectiveness of Home Water Purification Systems on the Amount of Fluoride in Drinking Water.” Journal of Dentistry 16, no. 3 Suppl (2015): 278. |