Do you know the quality of the water you drink and bathe in? Did you know the quality of your water can greatly affect your overall health and healing?
Through my health and healing journey, I have learned various steps to improve my own health. Today, I am going to share a bit about the importance of the quality of your water, various toxins it can harbor, and ways to improve your water quality.
Water is considered the elixir of life. It is crucial to regulate body temperature, keep joints lubricated, prevent infection, deliver nutrients to our cells, keep organs functioning plus it improves our sleep quality, cognitive function, and mood. If it is so important to so many areas of our health, don’t you think the quality of this water should be “clean” and not full of toxins that our body would need to work harder to remove? The answer is a definite YES.
Yes, our water supply is much “cleaner” than before water treatment became available. Water treatment is one of the most influential progresses to eliminating many infectious diseases, BUT our water is now becoming polluted with the very chemicals that are used to treat it. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), there are over 300 pollutants in tap water! You can check out your area’s rating by clicking here, just plug in your zip code and discover how “clean” your tap water really is.
As an example, my city had 10 contaminants detected that exceed EWG health guidelines. These include arsenic, chloroform, and radium; radium is actually approaching the legal limit in my city!
The other challenge with tap water is the presence of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCP) which can disrupt the endocrine system. How do these get into the water supply? Most of us use some type of personal care products including shampoo, conditioners, soaps, and many other products. Well, when we wash our hands or bathe, we are rinsing these products down the drain. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating no showering or washing our hair! We can choose healthier options to limit the contaminants, but we will leave that for another post!
Pharmaceuticals get into the water supply a couple of ways: First is through people flushing unused medications down the toilet. Please do not do this! Many cities offer take back programs for unused pharmaceuticals. This is the safest way to dispose of medications. The second way is through our body excreting some of the medications through urine and bowel movements. No, your body does not fully breakdown medications and some is lost through this way. Water treatment facilities appear to be able to remove about 50% of these contaminants. That leaves 50% still in the water. There is ongoing research as to the long-term effects of these contaminants. So, let’s look at some ways to clean up our drinking water. I am going to share a few options.
Filtering Systems
Reverse Osmosis (RO): We had a reverse osmosis system for at least 10 years. Things that I liked about it was that it was housed under the sink and pretty low maintenance except for the yearly replacement of the expensive filters. When we purchased the RO system, we didn’t realize that all the minerals were filtered out which can be detrimental to our health, plus our system was not very efficient as it took A LOT of water to make just a gallon of clean water. These systems have improved over the years with less waste and adding calcium and magnesium back into the water; it can take 2 to 20 gallons of water to produce one gallon of filtered water. The Home Master brand gets pretty good reviews for the price, you can check out this one here.
Counter Top
Berkey Systems
When our RO system had to be retired, we decided to switch to a counter-top model instead. We wanted something we could take with us when we travel, and it is very efficient; the water you put in is the same volume you get out. We opted for the Big Berkey and purchased the additional fluoride filters. We have had this system for about 1-1/2 years and have replaced the filters once thus far. We do go through a lot of water even though it is just the two of us. We have been very happy with it and we believe the water tastes better than the RO system we had. A couple of challenges are that we are responsible for making sure it is refilled regularly and it does take up some counter space. The Berkey allows minerals such as calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium to pass through which is beneficial to our health. There are several sizes available from 1.5 gallons to 6 gallons; we purchased everybody’s favorite the Big Berkey. You can check out their website here.
Propur Systems
Another option for a counter-top system is from Propur. My daughter decided to purchase this brand; here are her comments on why she chose this one.
“When debating between the Berkey and Propur, I chose the Propur for a few reasons. The Propur has been tested at removing glysophate, lead, and microplastics at a higher rate. Otherwise, the two brands are very close on their contaminate removal. I was especially looking for fluoride removal, and I prefer that the Propur filters are all in one filter for removing fluoride. I also like that the standard spigot is stainless steel, instead of plastic. When I first told my husband that I wanted to get a better water filtration system compared to our Brita pitcher, he was a little hesitant, especially considering the price difference. After having the filter for almost a year, he is completely sold. The water tastes so good and clean. When we fill the unit, we can’t believe how strong the tap water smells of chlorine; it almost smells as strong as pool water! While it was an investment for the initial purchase, it has definitely been worth the investment for not only our health, but also just the taste of our water. I am also planning to purchase a few of their filtration drinking straws so that we can filter our water when at work.”
You can check out the Propur system and accessories here.
There are many other types of systems to look at for filtering your water, and everyone’s needs will be different. I do believe it is important to look at the quality of your water and how it may be affecting your health.
It is also important to make sure the water you are showering or bathing in is clean too. This is especially important for young children. Even if you are taking “quick” showers you will be absorbing many contaminants from the water; soaking in a hot bath for an hour you will absorb even more contaminants. Your skin is the largest and most permeable organ of the body. Your warm shower or bath water opens your pores and allowing your skin will absorb more of these contaminants. We have installed a filter on both our shower and tub water sources. It is important to look for a filter that removes chlorine and chloramines. Here are the filters that we have used and been very happy with their efficiency.
For the shower: SparkPod Shower Head Filter. It provides a great flow of water while filtering out the contaminants. Both Propur and Berkey also have shower heads available, too.
For the bath: Crystal Quest Bath Ball Filter. I am also using this one to filter water quickly for the microgreens that I am growing.
Improving our health is not about just one thing; it is about taking care of our spirit, soul, and body. Each action that we take to improve our health builds on the next step. I encourage you just to start somewhere and build your health. Improving the quality of your water can be one of those steps.
Do you currently filter your water? What system has worked for you?
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Heather
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I only got advertising on the water quality in my area. Did I do something wrong?
The link will bring you to EWG’s Tap Water Database site and you can plug in your zip code. I just rechecked the link and it worked. Please try again if you can. Thanks.