Drinking water (tap water) must be of such quality that its consumption or use does not pose a risk to human health, particularly through pathogens. It must be pure and fit for consumption. This is stated in the "Regulation on the Quality of Water for Human Consumption (Drinking Water Regulation)." The reality is different: Heavy metals, bacteria and germs, drug residues, chemicals from industry and agriculture, and radioactive substances in tap water make drinking water harmful and risky. While most waterworks promise "top-quality tap water," this only reaches the doorstep anyway. Contamination of tap water often occurs in the house's pipes, among other places.
Heavy metals in tap water
Heavy metals such as lead, copper, nickel, and chromium enter our tap water via pipes and seals, connecting hoses, and fittings. Lead concentrations in German households are often measured in tap water that exceed the permissible limit by up to four times, and this is not only the case in older buildings: Lead is still used in the manufacture of fittings and valves. (In December 2013, the limit for lead was reduced from 25 to 10 micrograms per liter.) If lead-containing pipes remain in place, this limit will definitely be exceeded. It is the responsibility of homeowners to ensure that these legally prescribed limits are adhered to. However, they generally do not monitor the tap water. The material of choice for water pipes today is copper. However, high copper concentrations in tap water are considered extremely harmful to health, especially for infants and small children.
Microbial contamination of tap water
But germs and bacteria also settle in pipes and taps, contaminating our tap water. Does that mean the danger only begins at the front door? Good water from the waterworks? Far from it! In total, there are only around 40 different substances that are tested in waterworks laboratories or by their agents, and for which limit values even exist. In Europe alone, over 100.000 different synthetic substances are manufactured, and new ones are constantly being added. We don't know how many of these we ingest through our tap water every day. The tiniest amounts of chemicals combine to create a dangerous cocktail whose interactions are completely unknown.
Drug residues in tap water
Pharmaceutical residues enter drinking water through human excretion as well as through wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture: blood lipid-lowering drugs, antiepileptics, X-ray contrast agents, psychotropic drugs, hormones, and antibiotics – sewage treatment plants are unable to filter out these substances. More than 80.000 different medications are currently on the market.
Antibiotic residues, for example, cause bacteria to develop resistance. These, in turn, can pass their resistance on to the human intestinal flora. The result is that antibiotics no longer work. Clinically speaking, this is an absolute catastrophe. So-called environmental hormones can be harmful even in the smallest doses. These substances, which act like hormones, enter the water cycle as natural and artificial estrogens, plant estrogens, and industrial chemicals, including our tap water.
Insecticides, pesticides, and fungicides, plasticizers and surfactants, byproducts of chemical reactions and their waste products—the list is long. Better documented than the effects of hormone-active substances on humans are the effects on aquatic organisms: changes in sexual organs and disruptions in the reproductive cycle, feminization of male animals, reduced fertility, or sterility. A decrease in sperm count among men in Western countries and an increased risk of cancer have been linked to the hormonal contamination of tap water.
tap water is the best controlled food, One reads, and reads it only too gladly. Many limit values, however, are set too high, and thus intolerable limits, not only for infants and small children, are far exceeded, as is the case with uranium, for example. However, there are no limit values at all for pharmaceutical residues and hormones in tap water. In Germany, there are approximately 80 chemicals compared to just 35 limit values. Even at very low concentrations of less researched chemicals, the effects of the end products of chemical reactions inside and outside the human organism cannot be estimated.
The microbial analysis of drinking water is limited to the control of bacterial counts, coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli – what is not measured does not exist.
Due to possible microbial contamination, it is recommended to boil tap water before brushing your teeth!
Be careful with eye contact with tap water! Bacteria, amoebas, and worm eggs are the most common contaminants in tap water.
Possible and common health problems caused by tap water:
Heavy metals in tap water: Hypothyroidism, damage to the liver, kidneys and adrenal glands, allergies, promotion of rheumatism, weakening of the immune system, rosacea and other skin problems.
Bacteria in tap water: Rheumatic diseases and joint problems, digestive disorders, cystitis, kidney diseases, periodontal disease and bleeding gums (brush your teeth!), mouth ulcers
Worms in tap water (rare): Digestive disorders, histamine intolerance, asthma, vitamin B12 deficiency, susceptibility to infection, neurodermatitis, intestinal obstruction, constipation
Amoebas in tap water: Indigestion, histamine intolerance, lymphedema, cystitis
Hormones in tap water: Menstrual disorders, infertility, hormonal disorders PMS
Many toxic substances also cause damage to blood vessels, cardiovascular diseases, and circulatory disorders. Any chronic infection or poisoning leads to organ strain, altered force transmission, and fascial tension. The resulting change in body posture inevitably leads to orthopedic problems over time. Any systemic problem automatically leads to structural changes and static imbalances.
The integrative osteopathy deals with the relationships between organic stress and the resulting structural changes in the musculoskeletal system.
Effectively protecting tap water is almost impossible. Even the development of increasingly efficient purification methods will never be able to completely remove all of these substances. Thus, the technical optimization of wastewater treatment remains a short-sighted solution. A more sustainable approach would be to avoid these substances and replace them with environmentally friendly ones. Keyword: "green chemistry." Many scientists believe this is already feasible. If only we wanted to.
And until then?
We operate our own small sewage treatment plant to purify our tap water. High-quality filtration of tap water at home is the only sensible way to get drinking water of the best possible quality from the tap. There are several processes to choose from: The finest applicable filtration process is reverse osmosis. Osmosis describes the movement of molecular particles across semi-permeable membranes. In nature, we find osmosis in the cell walls of almost all animals and plants. When separated solutions have unequal concentrations, an osmotic pressure develops that acts in the direction of the more concentrated side. In reverse osmosis, pure water is forced out of the raw water using pressure, and the concentrated residue is fed into the wastewater. The membrane therefore does not absorb the pollutants, as is the case with activated carbon filters, but rather separates the water. In this way, all known undissolved and dissolved foreign substances can be almost completely removed: pesticides, drug residues, chlorine and chlorine degradation residues, organic compounds, bacteria, nitrite / nitrate, lime, minerals, heavy metals and asbestos fibers. The total proportion of dissolved pollutants is reduced by up to over 99%.
When using osmosis water as pure drinking water, however, it should be noted that due to the removal of minerals, it should be mixed with a small amount of high-quality salt (sea salt, rock salt, etc.).!
There are now quite affordable reverse osmosis filter systems available for private households. So-called direct-flow systems do not require a water tank and deliver pure water immediately, with no risk of contamination. More suitable for households are reverse osmosis filter systems with a storage tank, which ensures the rapid extraction of larger quantities of water. You should refrain from purchasing overly cheap filter systems, as the components are often made of questionable materials that do not meet European quality standards. A more responsible approach to water, including one's own wastewater, should become a matter of course. Water is life. Good water is healthy life!
Sources and links:
Critical uranium contamination in drinking and mineral water: foodwatch
