How To Purify Water And Add Back Minerals
While water is vital to health and life, it is also one of the main ways we are exposed to toxins in the environment.
Many chemicals end up in the water supply, from plastics to heavy metals, and one way to decrease toxin exposure is to clean up the water you drink.
This is exactly what we will dive into today. Keep reading to learn more about:
- Why clean, quality drinking water is less available than you might think
- What chemicals and contaminants are in the water supply
- Why bottled water isn’t a good replacement
- Why you need to filter your water and the best way to do so
- How to add important minerals back into your water
Drinking Water Availability And Quality
Only around one percent of water on earth is suitable for drinking, and much of that is contaminated by human activity. Experts believe we are on the verge of a water crisis (or that the crisis is already here) and clean water will increasingly become scarce.
Water scarcity is due to climate change, aging infrastructure and human contamination, which all lead to a decreased supply of safe drinking water.
You don’t have to look far to see evidence of this: droughts in California, the Colorado River drying up and lead contamination in Flint, Michigan are all current examples.
This database lists water quality issues by state to learn more about water where you live.
What’s In My Water?
Let’s dive into what toxins are found in drinking water. Here are some of the most common ones:
Water-borne pathogens, such as bacteria, that make people sick. This can happen from flooding, when sewage contaminates municipal water, or from contamination due to aging infrastructure.
Chlorine byproducts. Chlorine compounds are added to water as disinfectants, and react with other compounds in the water to create toxic byproducts. Examples include trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids that contribute to lifetime cancer risk.
Fluoride. Eighty-five percent of public water is fluorinated, which is associated with lower IQ in children, bone cancer, and other human health concerns. Fluoride is added to drinking water for its positive effect on the prevention of dental cavities, but this benefit is minimal.
Lead. Lead enters the water supply primarily through lead pipes and aging water infrastructure. Lead is highly toxic and leads to neurobehavioral and developmental issues in children.
Mercury. Mercury enters the water system mainly as a pollutant from coal power plants. Mercury contributes to inflammation, autoimmunity, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases. A person with poor methylation or low glutathione may have a harder time detoxifying mercury from their body.
Per – and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals used in manufacturing of a wide variety of products. Known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS don’t degrade and stay in the environment, wreaking havoc on our endocrine systems. Read this article to learn more about PFAS generally and this article to learn more about PFAS in cosmetics.
Arsenic. This heavy metal is a known carcinogen that can make its way into the water supply, often from natural deposits that are disrupted from mining or construction.
Nitrates. These compounds are found in fertilizers and animal waste. They make their way into the water supply through agricultural runoff. Nitrate exposure is linked to certain cancers, birth defects, and thyroid disease.
Pharmaceuticals. Water treatment plants aren’t designed to remove metabolites from medication, and these are often detectable in municipal water supplies.
Plastics. Microplastics, phthalates, BPA, and other petroleum-related chemicals make their way into the water. These are known endocrine disruptors.
Unfortunately, the list goes on. You likely don’t have all these contaminants in one water source, but it’s worth knowing about what you are drinking.
A 2021 investigation by Consumer Reports and The Guardian sampled tap water across the United States. The results revealed 35 percent of samples contaminated with PFAS, eight percent with arsenic and almost all samples had detectable levels of lead.
Curious about what’s in your tap water? Enter your zip code into EWG’s Tap Water Database to find out. The site will also tell you what type of water filter works best to remove the specific contaminants.
You can also search for PFAS contamination specifically using this map, which shows over 2000 contamination sites in 49 states.
According to EWG (Environmental Working Group), legal limits for water contaminants have not been updated in over 20 years. Because limits are legal does not necessarily mean they are safe, especially when we consider exposures from all sources and the compounding effects on the body.
Issues With Bottled Water
Given the state of public drinking water, it might seem like a good solution to turn to bottled water. We have been given the impression that bottled water is clean, but that is often far from the case.
Here are the biggest issues associated with bottled water in plastic:
1. Bottled water is expensive. Bottled water costs 3000 percent more than tap water!
2. Bottled water is harmful to the environment by contributing to both air pollution (from bottle manufacture and transportation) and water pollution (from plastics used).
Seventeen million barrels of oil are required to produce the plastic for water bottles each year and 86% of those bottles end up as litter, breaking down into microplastics in the environment or in the landfill, contributing to pollution.
3. Bottled water has the same health concerns, if not more, as tap water. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water with the same standards as tap water. Bottled water is likely to be contaminated with the same toxins, including PFAS, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and others found in tap water. Bottled water may also be a source of bacterial or parasite contamination.
In addition, bottled water may be contaminated with chemicals used in the plastic water bottles or plastic caps themselves, including BPA, phthalates, and others.
Information about water sources, testing, and contaminants is not readily available from bottled water companies, nor is it required to be.
Why You Need A Water Filter
Certainly, the best approach is to keep pollution out of water in the first place. Filtering water to remove impurities is the best way to remove contamination from water that you use for drinking and cooking.
The upfront cost of the water filtration system and replacement filters is well worth the investment and is much cheaper than purchasing water.
While fridge and pitcher filters are affordable and widely available, they mostly only remove chlorine. This helps the water taste somewhat better but doesn’t address a myriad of harmful chemicals in the water supply.
Filtering water by reverse osmosis is one of the best options. This type of filtration removes many of the hard-to-remove contaminants including heavy metals, nitrates, pesticides, fluoride, PFAS, benzene, pharmaceuticals, and others.
AquaTru for in-home countertop reverse osmosis filtration is a great option. However, it’s always best to do full house water filtration when possible.
If you are interested in learning more about water purification systems and which one might be right for you, click here.
Water And Minerals
One downside of reverse osmosis is that it also removes beneficial mineral electrolytes, such as magnesium and calcium, from drinking water.
Minerals, and getting minerals through drinking water, is important for human health.
One study suggests that hard water (mineral-rich water) was more protective against cardiovascular disease than drinking soft water. This may be because of the mineral levels themselves along with the fact that minerals help to keep water at a more desirable alkaline pH, instead of an acidic pH.
When drinking reverse osmosis water, it may be helpful to add minerals back in and make sure you are getting enough minerals in your diet. Here’s how:
1. Take an electrolyte supplement daily. Electrolyte supplements typically contain the same minerals that naturally occur in spring water, including magnesium, potassium, sodium, and chloride.
2. Add trace mineral drops to drinking water. By adding trace mineral drops back to reverse osmosis water, you add small amounts of minerals that may have been lost through the filtering process. One product is Ionic Mineral Drops – it is a complete formula of 77 minerals and trace elements, featuring magnesium, along with zinc, selenium, iodide, germanium, molybdenum, copper, iron, and calcium ions and anions.
3. Add a pinch of sea salt to your first glass of water every day. While those eating a lot of processed food may have excess sodium, most people eating a whole food or Paleo diet may need more salt in their diet. Adding it to water and salting food to taste may be helpful.
4. Use an alkaline filter. Some reverse osmosis systems have an alkaline filter that helps to maintain mineral levels in the filtered water.
5. Meet your mineral needs through your diet. Minerals are found throughout the diet and by focusing on eating quality animal foods and plenty of colorful and diverse plant foods you’ll be getting a good start. (Don’t forget to choose organic to decrease toxin exposures through food).
Not sure you are getting enough minerals? Consider adding in a greens powder for additional mineral support. We recommend Every Life Well Exceed Greens + Reds Grain-free Superfood Powder not only for minerals, but also for fiber, phytonutrients, and antioxidants.
It is disheartening to think about all the growing issues with water. While we work on improvements to the water supply such as replacing infrastructure, developing more stringent standards, and reducing toxic pollution, filtering water at home is a simple, effective strategy for protecting yourself and your family.
Carry it with you in a glass or stainless steel container to avoid the plastic. In fact, it is one of the top ways to reduce exposure to a wide array of chemicals and toxins.
Why wait? Start filtering today!
References
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32598837/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7142415/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3956646/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7781015/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6689266/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6950077/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6068531/
