When you try and look for answers for whether tap water is really safe to drink or not, you will find that people have different strong opinions. For some people, there’s no harm in drinking tap water and that it’s clean and safe.
Other people believe otherwise. For them, tap water is far from safe and clean and that it’s only necessary for tap water to be filtered. With this divide, it can be confusing to really know which is true.
But here are the facts that you need to know:
- Tap water can contain contaminants that can cause irreversible damage to your health.
- In the United States, chlorine is deliberately added to eliminate pathogens and germs. However, it can react with other organic compounds making it harmful.
- Tap water can have lead which is a neurotoxin and can negatively impact the mental development of a child.
- Perchlorates in water can cause hormone interference.
- Tap water can also have arsenic which can cause increased risk of bladder, kidney and skin cancer.
- There are still over a hundred contaminants that are still unregulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Iron in water can cause your hair to be brittle and dry, scalp to be itchy and it also causes dry skin.
- Hard water can cause scale which can clog plumbing and damage water-consuming appliances.
If tap water has the capability to lower the lifespan of fixtures and appliances, you can only imagine the damage that it can do to your body. Moreover, if the EPA, the body tasked for environmental protection matters, still has over hundreds of contaminants unregulated, this can mean that the standards they uphold can’t be truly accepted as safe.
If there’s any risk in drinking tap water no matter how minimal it may be, it can’t be considered truly safe. For how can something be considered safe when it can have a negative impact on one’s health?
Is Tap Water Really Safe?
If you try and search for the answer on the internet, top results will tell you that tap water is generally safe. According to
Web MD, tap water “is considered generally safe if it comes from a public water system in the United States, such as one run and maintained by a municipality.”
However, according to
National Geographic:
- One-fourth of Americans use water systems that fail to meet safety standards.
- Perfluoroalkyl substances, human-made substances, such as PFOS and PFOA are detrimental to human health and they are present at unsafe levels in the drinking water of 6 million Americans.
- Even at low levels, PFAS are linked to severe illnesses such as kidney and testicle cancer, lower fertility in women, liver and thyroid disease and birth defects.
- Water systems across America are old, badly maintained and in dire need of modernizing.
The
Environmental Working Group (EWG) also mentioned that their scientists now believe that PFAS is detectable in all major water supplies in the United States.
According to
Real Clear Science, there’s over 6 million lead pipes in the United States. A lot of these lead pipes are many centuries old. This means that much of them are deteriorating, contaminating much of the water. Even when other pipes are not made of lead, the water can still be contaminated so long as water comes from or passes through lead water pipes.
Unfortunately, it’s more likely that lead pipes are going to be around for a long time as it will take a trillion dollars to have all lead pipes replaced. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), half of the global population will be living in water-stressed areas.
Why Tap Water Should Be Filtered
By now, it should already be clear to you that tap water should be filtered for a whole lot of reasons. To start, tap water may not be as safe and clean as you are made to believe. While the degree of contamination depends on location, all water supplies have varying levels of it.
Contaminants such as lead, even at low levels, have proven to be detrimental to children’s mental development. You can’t smell, taste or see it. The only way to know if there’s lead in your water is to have it tested.
Other than health issues, tap water can potentially stain and damage fixtures and water-consuming appliances. This means that even when tap water may pose no danger to health, it can still cause some economic damage to you.
Having a water filter removes the possibilities of all these problems that you may have with tap water. There are different types of water filters but an ideal filtration system can be a
whole house water filtration system.
This is because it ensures that every drop of water that comes into your home goes through the filtration process. This means that the water you get from every water outlet inside your home is as good as bottled water.
You no longer have to worry about potential health issues that can be caused by drinking tap water. Filtered water can also be good for fixtures and water-consuming appliances provided the water is not heavy.
Whole house water filters
may or may not remove beneficial minerals. If they don’t remove minerals such as Calcium and Magnesium, the water can become heavy. You can use
water softeners to fix heavy water.
Filter Your Tap Water
With everything we’ve shared with you, hopefully, you’ve come to realize that it is essential to filter tap water. Can you really solely rely and trust on water pipe lines for your tap water to be clean and safe to drink?
Remember, even when sources have immaculate water, if it flows through a contaminated water pipe line, the water will still end up becoming infected. For water to remain clean and safe, it needs to retain its immaculate quality from start to end.
Filtration can also be done to remove all the contaminants. Don’t wait until something unfortunate caused by contaminated water happens. To ensure you are only drinking and using safe and clean water, make use of water filters.
