Everything You Wanted To Know About Drinking Water,
But Didn't Know Who To Ask

I developed this web site to provide a comprehensive resource for anyone searching for information about the safety and quality of their drinking water. Topics discussed include: Contaminants That Could Be In Your Drinking Water (view) (lead, chlorine, disinfection byproducts, cryptosporidia, giardia, bacteria, endocrine disrupters, pesticides, etc.) Health Effects of Drinking Water Contaminants (with an emphasis on children and pregnancy) What's The Best Drinking Water Purification Method For You? (view) (filtration, reverse osmosis, distillation, bottled water, KDF, emergency treatment, etc.) (Check out Four Steps to help you select a water treatment method) Drinking Water Scams (alkaline H20) (Other Altered Water Issues) (How To Spot Scams) (Beware of product claims to alter water's structure & provide greater health benefits) Prescription drugs found in drinking water across U.S.   3/10/08 (AP) -- A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans...   To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe... Pharmaceutical Reduction Certain common pharmaceutical compounds are effectively removed by  advanced oxidation practices, i.e., ozone and ultraviolet (UV) or ozone and hydrogen peroxide. In addition, membrane filtration and filtration with granular activated carbon are thought to be highly effective. Nano-filtration and reverse osmosis eliminated all drugs tested. I have distilled the results  of many hours of research into the discussions and the lists of drinking water related sites on the pages indexed to the right.  I hope that the information here will be helpful in your search for answers to this important health issue. Although the site discusses contaminants found in water from both municipal water companies and from private wells, the treatment methods discussed, are mostly Point of Use (POU) - water is treated at the point where it will be used for drinking, cooking, etc.  Many private well water problems, bacteria, iron, heavy metals, pH imbalances, etc., need to be treated either at the well, or as the water enters the home.  I do not go into much detail about these treatment methods, but I provide references to some sites that do discuss these treatment options. The majority of web references for which I have provided links can be considered authoritative. The sites you will find referenced here include: Government sites, like the Environmental Protection Agency, The National Library of Medicine, and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Environmental organizations, like the National Resource Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group. Water industry groups and treatment facilities, like NSF International, the American Water Works Association, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, and Denver Water, and the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse. University based cooperative extension services and research groups, like the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and the Research Division of Biology, Kansas State University. Media publications, like Popular Science and various newspaper articles. Summary of Water Treatment Methods: Importance of Certification Purification/Disinfection Filtration General   Activated Carbon    - Solid Block (SBAC)    - Granular (GAC)   Reverse Osmosis   KDF   Sediment Bottled Water Boiling Distillation UV Disinfection Ozone Disinfection Chlorine Disinfection Ion Exchange 'Altered' Water Water-Related Quotes Letter: I am 72 years old.  I do not drink any water and have not most of my life.  I thought I would throw this into the mix concerning if we should drink distilled water or not. I drink coffee, diet soda, beer and an occasional V-8.  Oops, I forgot the 1/2 glass of water I take every morning with my 325 mg aspirin tablet I have taken for the last 40 years. My question: why am I not dead?  All of the above is true as strange as it might sound. Rick Answer: An excellent and important question, Rick. Since you have made a habit of drinking heavily contaminated water for the better part of 72 years, switching to distilled water would probably be a severe shock to your system - I would discourage the experiment. Seriously though, if you were actually living on 1/2 glass of water a day you would indeed be dead. The reason you are not dead goes to the heart of the distilled water debate. Read more... Water Related Topics of Special Interest Special focus on lead as it relates to pregnancy and young children.   (Prompted by two questions I received in one week) If you are are just browsing water issues and are not in the high risk category for lead poisoning (pregnant or have a young child), but  you  know someone who is pregnant or has young children, please suggest they read this information as soon as possible! Bottled water articles from: Reader's Digest Magazine  (2/08) National Geographic Magazine (2/06) National Public Radio (4/4/08) Summary: Bottled water is no better regulated and not necessarily any safer than most tap water, and although bottle labels often portray the source water as originating in pure, exotic locations, over 25% of bottled water (including many top name brands) comes from municipal sources.  Bottled water costs consumers hundreds to thousands of times more than tap water. Bottle manufacture and water treatment use resources and create waste products. Transporting the full bottles to the store uses resources and creates waste.  An estimated 90% of the billions of water bottles produced in a year wind up in land fills. Don't miss Penn and Teller's "The Truth About Bottled Water".  The pair is a bit crude, and perhaps their experiments are not as "scientific" as they could be, but some very interesting results are demonstrated about the power of suggestion. The Placebo Effect episode further illustrates how suggestion and an uncritical willingness to believe can explain not only people's perceptions about bottled water but their acceptance of claims from downright fraudulent companies. (Read more about bottled water here) Water Lead-Levels Misrepresented - Dozens of the nation's largest drinking-water utilities have tried to hide lead contamination and failed to correct problems, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The newspaper analyzed data from 65 large water systems in the United States and found that high lead levels were concealed from regulators. (NPR, All Things Considered) Note the common themes in the 1996, 2002 and 2004 stories below Houston Chronicle series exploring the safety of the nation's  tap water and explaining the dangers threatening our water and what communities can do to protect it. (October 1996) The newspaper has retained the articles, for which I am glad, but removed the high-level links and index, for which I am NOT glad.  I attempted to recreate links to the original stories. (note the common themes in this 1996 series above, the 2002 articles, and the 2004 stories) U.S. News and World Report on Drinking Water (August 4, 2002) The coming water crisis (by Marianne Lavelle & Joshua Kurlantzick) Many billions of dollars will be needed to quench America's thirst, but is private business the answer? The tap water was so dark in Atlanta some days this summer that Meg Evans couldn't see the bottom of the tub when she filled the bath. Elsewhere in her neighborhood, Gregg Goldenberg puts his infant daughter, Kasey, to bed unbathed rather than lower her into a brew "the color of iced tea...  Do it yourself If there's trouble at the tap (By Marianne Lavelle) Consumers are embarking on their own efforts to ensure safe drinking water at home. But choices about testing water, filtering it, or switching to bottled are far from clear....... Most bottled water is clean. But in 1999, a Natural Resources Defense Council study showed that four of 103 tested brands of bottled water violated federal standards for chemicals or coliform bacteria, while one quarter fell short of stricter California standards for other contaminants...... National Public Radio reports on drinking water contaminants: Weak Drinking Water Laws Blamed in D.C. Lead Scare - April 19, 2004 News of dangerous levels of lead in Washington D.C.'s drinking water sparks an outcry from the community -- especially because city water officials knew about the problem and did little to warn the public. In the first of two reports, NPR's Daniel Zwerdling explains that weak federal laws regulating drinking water are to blame. Aging Water Systems Plague Cities - April 20, 2004 Lead in drinking water in Washington, D.C., is just part of a larger, more profound problem that affects cities across the country. In his second report about contaminated drinking water, NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reveals that many cities are still getting their drinking water from systems that date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. Even If You're Careful, Drugs Can End Up In Water (2/7/2010) The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests. Five Myths About Drinking Water (4/3/2008) 1: Drink Eight Glasses Each Day; 2: Drinking Lots of Water Helps Clear Out Toxins; 3: Lots of Water Equals Healthier Skin; 4: Drinking Extra Water Leads to Weight Loss; 5: It's Easy to Get Dehydrated During a Workout For Empty Water Bottles, There's an Afterlife (7/11/2007) Last year, Americans bought more than 4 billion gallons of water in individual-portion bottles. Most of the containers end up in the trash. But now, there's a competitive global market for the bottles, once they're recycled. Water Wars Out West: Keep What You Catch! (7/1/2009) Colorado takes this sort of illegal harvesting of precipitation seriously. If caught, Hanzel could have faced fines of up to $500 a day. Luckily for him, a law recently passed legalizes his collection system. It's a narrow exception to the ban for people who would have to dig a well or have water trucked in. Reader's Digest Magazine Article - Drinking Recycled Sewage Water: The Debate Drinking treated sewage is a proposition as emotionally wrought as it is scientifically feasible. That’s why the editors at Reader’s Digest thought it was time to gather together the facts and arguments on both sides of the issue. Here they are, then, and we leave it to you to make up your own mind. New York Times, Toxic Waters: (12/16/2009) A series about the worsening pollution in American waters and regulator's response. I will try to update this site regularly, and if you have any questions, comments, suggestions for additional sites that might be of interest, or relevant news stories, please e-mail me  : (java e-mail address, see below). About Me If you do not see an e-mail address above, use In order to reduce automatic harvesting of my e-mail address for use in spam, I have used a vascript encryption method and posted the text as an image that can not be automatically read as easily.  Cyber-Nook has been featured in: Water Conditioning and Purification Magazine, Website of the Month, July 2003 On Tap (Drinking Water News For America's Small Communities) Web Resources, Summer 2002 On Tap Magazine is an excellent source of information and can be ordered for FREE on-line! The Houston Chronicle, Hotlist: Drinking water, 9/11/01, By Cay Dickson Awards: Parent's Super Site Award      Please be advised that the information on this page and on this site is for general educational information only and is NOT intended to make any specific health claims or recommend any specific treatment method or preventative advice for any health issue or problem.  Consult your physician or a health specialist for specific steps to take for your specific health requirements! Copyright © 2001 Randy Johnson. All rights reserved.

Introduction   Concerns about        water safety   Children and        contaminated        water   Pregnancy and        drinking water        contaminants   Introduction   Materials        dissolved in        water        - Inorganics        - Organics   Materials        suspended in        water        - Pathogens        - Asbestos   Interview excerpt    Drinking water         sources   Municipal        providers   Private wells   Location of        home   Chlorination        and DBPs   High risk        populations:        pregnancy   Home age & lead   Use Sensory        clues to identify           contaminants      Importance of        product        certification   Things to consider   Water treatment        methods, POU        - Boiling        - Distillation        - Reverse          Osmosis (RO)           - Filtration            * Sediment            * Activated               carbon            * GAC            * Solid block            * Pore size        - Bottled water        - Ultraviolet (UV)        - Water softeners        - KDF        - Ion exchange        -  'Altered' water   Comparison of        drinking water        treatment        methods   Comparison of        long-term costs        for water        treatment   Emergency Water        Treatment   Drinking Water Scams   Water-Related Quotes   Four Steps to       determining the       best water       treatment method         Recommendations   Questions   Comments and       suggestions   Tell a friend about        this site      About Me   Over 300 links to       drinking water       related sites    Tribute to the Armed       Forces - created by            PressAPrint