Did you know that the average adult human body is 55-60% water? (Babies’ bodies are closer to 75%.) The brain is made up of about 70% water, and the lungs, closer to 90%! This means that the quality of the water you drink has an enormous impact on the quality of your health.
Unfortunately, high quality drinking water is increasingly difficult to come by in this day and age. Most health conscious Americans know that, while we are lucky in this country to have access to water that is largely free of disease-causing microorganisms, drinking plain old, unfiltered tap water is generally not a great idea.
Recent analyses of municipal drinking water have shown that, despite government regulations, there are still many dangerous contaminants present in our water, even after it has gone through municipal water treatment facilities.
In fact, these water treatment facilities often actually contribute to the problem by adding dangerous chemicals like fluoride and chlorine to water as part of the treatment process. The water regulations and treatment methods used in the U.S. are old and outdated and do little to address the assortment of toxic chemicals that are currently present in our environment. The Safe Drinking Water Act only regulates 91 potential water contaminants. Yet there are more than 60,000 chemicals used within the U.S., many of which have been identified as probable carcinogens. According to some estimates, there are now more than 2,100 known chemical toxins present in U.S. tap water. Additionally, many municipalities transport their water in antiquated, corroded pipes, which may leach toxic heavy metals into the water after it has been treated.
Here’s a rundown of some of the chemicals that are more than likely lurking in your tap water:
What makes faucet water perilous for drinking?
The Hidden Dangers of Tap Water
1. Arsenic
Arsenic is a characteristic metalloid synthetic typically present in groundwater. It presents medical issues when taken at some perilous sums.
This compound is available in private faucet water through horticultural or modern contamination or a private well.
Arsenic harming may prompt the accompanying medical problems:
incomplete loss of motion
deadness in hands and feet
retching, queasiness, stomach torment, and the runs
staining of the skin
visual deficiency
Arsenic Poisoning Definition: otherwise called arsenicosis; a condition where an individual burns-through a risky degree of arsenic from drinking groundwater or faucet water.
2. Chlorine
This is likewise another normally happening substance component that doesn't just eliminate microscopic organisms and germs yet additionally aims harm to the human body when taken in perilous sums orally and through inward breath.
At the point when chlorine enters the body, it responds with water and delivers destructive acids. Individuals presented to exorbitant chlorine may encounter the accompanying medical problems:
persistent hack
breathing trouble
persistent sore throat
chest snugness
aviation route bothering
3. Fluoride
Fluoride is a mineral present in the teeth and bones and noticeable all around, rocks, plants, soil, and water.
Albeit normally happening in the human body, overabundance measures of fluoride from faucet water represent some medical problems, like fluorosis and serious skeletal issues.
Fluorosis Definition: mellow staining of the teeth because of inordinate measures of fluoride.
4. Substantial Metals
Substantial metals are known for their potential poisonousness particularly in natural settings. Mercury, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium, and aluminum all dirty faucet water.
Whenever taken unreasonably for quite a while, these weighty metals found in faucet water can hurt your wellbeing. Aluminum, for instance, can build dangers of the accompanying ailments:
cerebrum distortions
Parkinson's illness
dementia
Alzheimer's illness
Lead can harm the kidneys and increment the danger of having hypertension.
5. Herbicides and Pesticides
Rancher neutering herbicide | Reasons Why You Shouldn't Drink Tap Water
These synthetic compounds used to dispose of bugs and control undesirable plants are harmful in nature. They can now and again sneak into water supplies, particularly in groundwater of farming zones.
At the point when taken into the human body through faucet water, these synthetics can cause the accompanying:
eye and skin bothering
cerebral pain
hypersensitive sharpening
outrageous shortcoming
6. Water Softening
Water relaxing is the way toward eliminating substantial particles that stop up pipes, like calcium and magnesium, from water.
In any case, there is a drawback to this cycle – it removes regular minerals fundamental for the body. Beside this, water relaxing replaces the particles eliminated with sodium chloride, which, when ingested in enormous sums, can cause:
respiratory trouble
seizures
hypernatremia (a condition where there is a lot of sodium in the body that can prompt inordinate thirst)
regurgitating
gastrointestinal lot disturbance
RELATED: Is Alkaline Water Really Better Than Tap Water? (Refreshed)
7. Nitrates
These inorganic mixtures are normally present in handled meats, like sausages, bacon, and ham, working as additives. They are likewise present in faucet water since they normally happen noticeable all around, soil, and water.
The most disputable wellbeing impact of overabundance nitrates is methemoglobinemia, a blood issue that includes an anomalous measure of methemoglobin. At the point when the body delivers a lot of methemoglobin, it starts to supplant the typical hemoglobin check, which can prompt an absence of oxygen supply in the cells.
Methemoglobin Definition: A kind of hemoglobin that can't convey oxygen in the blood; brings about record dark, cyanotic skin tone.
8. Radon
Radon is a flammable gas present noticeable all around and happens in water tapped by wells. When groundwater goes through rocks with uranium, it discharges radon into the water.
On the off chance that your faucet water has radon, you might be in danger of stomach malignant growth or inside organ tumors.
Uranium Definition: It is a sort of weighty metal that is a bountiful wellspring of concentrated energy.
9. Diethyl Phthalate
Diethyl phthalate is a dull fluid normally used to make adaptable plastics. This compound can sneak into groundwater from landfill spills.
Drinking faucet water tainted with diethyl phthalate can bring down sperm quality and tally, disturb sex chemical levels, and modify genital turns of events.
10. Microorganisms
Microorganisms under a magnifying instrument | Reasons Why You Shouldn't Drink Tap Water
Escherichia coli, for instance, has been an issue in filthy water. It is a pointer that water has creature waste or sewage defilement.
E. coli can cause wellbeing concerns like:
queasiness and retching
stomach delicacy, torment, and squeezing
the runs
Legionella is a kind of microorganisms that can influence the lungs and cause limited contaminations.
Salmonella can cause the accompanying medical problems:
food contamination
typhoid fever
gastroenteritis (the irritation of the digestive organs and stomach because of viral contaminations or bacterial poisons)
11. Phosphates
These are mixtures of phosphate particles generally present in manures as plant supplements and in cleansers as a water conditioner. The presence of phosphates in water advances exorbitant green growth development that makes the water grimy when green growth bite the dust.
Phosphates enter water frameworks when disintegrated rocks blend into groundwater. Significant degrees of phosphates in the body can put individuals at high danger of solidified blood vessel dividers.
12. Pharmaceutical Drugs
Limited quantities of drugs, like anti-toxins, temperament stabilizers, and conception prevention pills, are additionally present in some faucet water frameworks. These medications get into the water when a few people flush them down their latrines when not required any longer or pass a few measures of medications through pee and defecation.
The degrees of medications present in the water may be low, yet it is as yet uncertain whether the levels are sufficiently low to limit hurtful wellbeing impacts.
13. Dioxins
Dioxins are harmful synthetics not delivered or monetarily utilized in the country. They are foreign substances delivered in ignition measures, similar to cigarette smoking and woodland fire, and releases from synthetic industrial facilities.
At the point when delivered in the climate, these synthetics wait around that we can inhale them noticeable all around or drink them from faucet water. Abundance measures of dioxins can cause regenerative challenges and increment the danger of creating malignancy when burned-through in faucet water for an extensive stretch.
The shrouded risks of drinking faucet water have been uncovered. You currently have a superior comprehension of how the water presents mellow to-extreme medical issues.
