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| Environmental Sites | |
| Center for the Study of Environmental Endocrine Effects | This site provides the latest and most significant information on scientific research and governmental policy developments on issues concerning adverse (or beneficial) effects that various environmental agents, both synthetic and natural, may have on the endocrine functions of humans, wildlife, and ecology. {site inactive 8/7/98} |
| Conscious Choice - The Journal of Ecology and Natural Living | Can You Drink It? Humans can go for a month without eating food, but see what happens if they are denied water for even a week. According to scientists, water is the single most important element in supporting human life. Yet across the globe, evidence demonstrates out that tap water is increasingly unsafe to drink. And the trend towards polluted drinking water is only getting worse. Consider the following facts about water in the United States: |
| The Earth Times | Covering the Business of the Human Environment / Daily on the Web / |
| National Environmental Education & Training Foundation | The Foundation's mission is to help America meet critical national challenges through environmental learning. Environmental learning connects people of all ages and walks of life to the solutions of larger issues of critical national concern such as health care, educational excellence, consumers' "right to know," our competitive edge in business, the promotion of individual responsibility and effective community participation.Safe Water - The National Report Card |
| Environmental Defense Fund WorldWide | The Environmental Defense Fund is a not-for-profit environmental advocacy group with four main goals: (1) Stabilizing the Earth's climate, (2) Safeguarding the world's oceans, (3) Protecting human health, and (4) Defending and restoring biodiversity. Use the search page to locate articles of interest. Entering "drinking water" gave about 200 hits. |
| Environmental Magazine (E) | About E - E/The Environmental Magazine was conceived during the "Greenhouse Summer" of 1988, amid reports of medical waste on New Jersey shores, fires in Yellowstone National Park, and increased public interest in environmental problems. E's founders sought to create an independent newsstand-quality publication on environmental issues--a magazine that could educate, inspire and empower Americans to make a difference for the environment. A substantial magazine, E is chock full of everything the budding environmentalist needs to know, from "rainforests to recycling" and from the "personal to the political." - Alphabetical Listing of Links |
| Environmental News Network (ENN) | USGS
tallies the extras in our water - Friday, July 2, 1999 - Streams that
pass through agricultural and urban areas almost always contain complex mixtures
of nutrients and pesticides, but aquatic species are more at risk than humans,
according to a report released June 28 by the U.S. Geological Survey.. The report, The Quality of Our Nation's Waters - Nutrients and Pesticides, is available on the World Wide Web. |
| Earth's Biggest Environment Search Engine | (Over 30 specific topics) |
| US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment - air, water, and land - upon which life depends. EPA search engine |
| Environmental Working Group (EWG) | The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. |
| EWG | The In the Drink section also has important information on water contaminants. |
| EWG | {You can also look at specific violations of federal health standards for tap water (reported to the EPA) in specific cities and counties in the USA. Choose your state from the list shown in State Summaries} |
| EWG | Into the Mouths of Babes - Washington, DC (July 28, 1999) -- The toxic weed killer atrazine is polluting tap water in almost 800 Midwestern communities, and the government has underestimated exposure to the carcinogen by 15 times for infants fed formula mixed with tap water, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). |
| EWG | In the Just Add Water section you can view details about the largest drinking water systems in each state that has had federal health violations. {Be certain to click on the read the full report link at the bottom of the Just Add Water page.} |
| EWG | Tap Water Blues: Herbicides in Drinking Water
- Authored by Richard Wiles, Brian Cohen, Chris Campbell, Susan Elderkin.
Produced in 1994 by The Environmental Working Group and
Physicians for Social Responsibility.
This 276 page volume contains 84 tables, 68 figures, and a comprehensive
up-to-date bibliography. It is a rich authoritative resource for practitioners,
public health officials, activists, and concerned citizens. The following information is excerpted from the executive summary. Every spring, farmers across the Corn Belt apply 150 million pounds of five herbicides - atrazine, cyanazine, simazine, alachlor, and metolachlor - to their corn and soybean fields. Every spring, rains wash a substantial portion of those chemicals into the drinking water of 11.7 million people in the Midwest and . Drinking water contamination with these herbicides is a serious public health issue; the manufacturers own laboratory data show that these five herbicides cause nine different kinds of cancer, various birth defects, and heritable genetic mutations. None are removed by the conventional drinking water treatment technologies that are used by more than 90 percent of all water utilities in the U.S. An analysis of over 20,000 tests for these five herbicides in finished tap water and drinking water sources shows: 14.1 million people routinely drink water contaminated with these herbicides. 11.7 million of these people live in the heart of the Corn Belt and Louisiana, including every major Midwestern city south of Chicago. 65,000 infants drink these herbicides from birth via infant formula. An additional 2.4 million people are exposed to these herbicides via drinking water in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The original report has been removed from the web, but there is a follow-up article available - Environmental Working Group Response to "A Review of the Science, Methods of Risk Communication and Policy Recommendations in Tap Water Blues" by David B. Baker, R. Peter Richards, and Kenneth Baker. |
| Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | Independent, non-profit, environmental research and advocacy organization. Mission - The Natural Resources Defense Council's purpose is to safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Search engine for the NRDC Try key words like, water quality, drinking water, and specific water contaminants. |
| NRDC | A section-by-section summary of S. 1316, the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996. It became Public Law: 104-182 when it was signed by the President on August 6th. This summary was prepared by Erik Olson, NRDC Senior Attorney, on August 7, 1996. |
| NRDC | H 2 + O + what else? |
| NRDC | Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype? |
| NRDC | Endocrine Disruptors,What Should We Do Now? |
| NRDC | Risk Assessment, Are Children its First Victims? |
| NRDC | Our
Children At Risk. The 5 Worst Environmental Threats To Their Health -
Chapter 7, Drinking
Water Contamination. Due to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), America's drinking water is safer than it has been in decades, and of better quality than that of many other countries. Accordingly, many Americans believe that while people elsewhere may have reason to be concerned about getting sick from contaminated tap water, we are safe. Yet, incidents in the United States - such as the outbreak of the microorganism cryptosporidium in Milwaukee's water supply in 1993 that killed more than one hundred people and sickened over 400,000, and lead and pesticide contamination - while not affecting most, threaten the tap water of millions of Americans. In truth, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, in 1994 and 1995, 45 million Americans drank water from water systems that fell short of SDWA standards. |
| Vinny's North Carolina Water Supply & AQ Related Material | This site has technical and policy information on the loan and grant programs that North Carolina administers for public water systems. It is not very useful for people on private water systems (e.g., wells). The information may be useful to people outside the state for good discussions on environmental review requirements. A section that deals with environmental review for infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the various State Environmental Policy Acts (SEPAs) can be found here. The official site for the Loan and Grant Unit of the NC Public Water Supply Section. |
| North Carolina Division of Health, Public Water Supply | North
Carolina's
Source Water Assessment Program Pollution prevention is becoming an increasingly important strategy for protection of the environment. Pollution prevention is also recognized as the most effective approach for ensuring a reliable, long-term, and safe supply of public drinking water at a reasonable cost to consumers. For the protection of public drinking water supplies relying on ground water in North Carolina, the state has an EPA approved, voluntary Wellhead Protection Program administered by the Public Water Supply Section of the Division of Environmental Health. North Carolina also has a Water Supply Watershed Protection program for the protection of public water systems relying on surface water. |
| Solcomhouse | The Solcomhouse website provides information on numerous environmental and world issues, such as solar, energy, aids, war, poverty, rainforests, coral reefs, ozone, global warming, endangered species, recycling, and things you can do to save the environment. You can visit their Water Page that provides some good, basic information about water. |
| PSR | Resolution
on MMT in the U.S. Gasoline Supply Be it therefore resolved that Physicians for Social Responsibility deplores the use of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese carbonyl (MMT) in the U.S. gasoline supply without clear evidence of safety; and urges the U.S. Congress and applicable state agencies to ban the addition of MMT into gasoline until its safety is clearly documented; |
| Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) | Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is a national organization of over 15,000 health care professionals and supporters which was founded in 1961. PSR works to address the public health effects of weapons of mass destruction, environmental degradation and community violence. With its international affiliate, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, PSR received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. Check the Resource Links page. |
| PSR | Environmental health update -- January 1998 |
| PSR | Endocrine Disruptors: The State of the Science and Endocrine Disruptors - Links to Other Sites |
| PSR | Physicians Alert
Parents to Potential Dangers of Clear Plastic Baby Bottles By Dr. Robert K. Musil, executive director or Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)....A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that babies who drink from clear plastic baby bottles could be at greater health risk than babies who do not. When a clear plastic polycarbonate container is heated, the chemical bisphenol-A is released.Bisphenol-A acts like estrogen in the body and has the potential to disrupt the hormonal development of children.... |
| PSR - Children's Environmental Health Page | The average child eats more food, drinks more water, and breathes more air per pound of body weight than an adult. This, combined with their growing and developing bodies, makes children more vulnerable to health hazards in the environment. Some substances in a child's environment can potentially cause cancer, chronic respiratory problems, and learning disabilities, among other problems. Although the death rate for childhood cancers has declined in recent years, the incidence of new cases of cancer has been increasing, especially for acute lymphocytic leukemia and brain cancer, two of the most common forms of cancer that occur during childhood. Widespread exposure to pesticides and other chemicals in the environment may contribute to the rising rates of these cancers. Check the Publications page. |
| PSR - Children and Lead | Lead poisoning is a serious problem for young
children -- the younger the child, the greater the risk. In fact, about one
in six children in the United States has high levels of lead in his or her
blood. You may have lead around your house or apartment building without even knowing it. You can't see, taste, or smell the lead that may be in the dust, paint, or soil around your home, or in your drinking water or food. |
| Sierra Club | The Sierra Club: Protecting the Environment... For Our Families, For Our Future |
| Sierra Club | Movie Calls Attention to Water Pollution |
| Sierra Club | Clean Water Timeline |
| Sierra Club | The Hidden Life of Bottled Water |
| Sierra Club | The Year That Made Milwaukee Infamous |
| River Network | River Network's mission is to help people organize to protect and restore rivers and watersheds.Drinking Water |
| Environmental Health & Safety in the Home & Community | Environmental Health & Safety Online is the online center for concise, understandable environmental health & safety information for the home, office and industry. Serving the public and environmental health & safety professionals with access to information, tools, services, links, guidance and downloads, in addition to paid EH&S services. Drinking Water Information Topics Include: Bottled vs. Tap Water? - Is your tap water safe? - Cryptosporidium - Check your local water supply - What do you need to know ? - What do you do if there is a problem? - Other resources? - National drinking water standards - Glossary |
| Temperate Forest Foundation | The pathway to living sustainably is integrating
our social, economic, and environmental needs. This requires scientifically
credible information and a clear understanding of our issues and options.
The Temperate Forest Foundation is your source for information which is
understandable, unbiased, fast, accurate, and available in a wide variety
of formats. Water - A precious film of water, most of it salt water, covers about 71% of the Earth's surface. Earth's organisms are made up mostly of water. As an example people and trees are both about 65% water by weight. We can live without most things for an extended period of time, however, we can only live a few days without water. Biological processes simply won't work without it. Water is more than just H2O. Water's unique combination of qualities seem almost magical. The more you know about water, the more fascinated you'll be! |
| Water Issues | Drinking Water in the US - Water Issues in Europe - Water Quality Around the World - Desalination. A list of links related to Water Issues. It is a part of the Environment section of About.Com - Expert Guides to Help You Find/Learn/Share |
| The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health | The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health is an independent professional body which represents around 9,000 members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority work for local authorities, but members also work in central government, industry, the armed forces and academia as independent consultants and in positions overseas. |
| The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health | Cryptosporidium - Just as Cryptosporidium in drinking water is a relatively new problem, so this is a new application of the Chartered Institute's website. Whereas in the past the website as been used principally to present information about our organisation and its activities, this is our first attempt to put it to use as an on-line source of information on a professional topic. Whether you are faced with having to control an outbreak yourself or your interest in Cryptosporidium is more academic, we hope you will find it both interesting and helpful. |
| Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) | Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment. Students and teachers from over 8,000 schools in more than 85 countries are working with research scientists to learn more about our planet. |
| The Children's Health Environmental Coalition | The Children's Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC), Inc. is a charitable, nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public, specifically parents and caregivers, about environmental toxins that affect children's health. As a nation and as individuals, we must safeguard our precious children from the poisons in the food they eat and the air they breathe. |
| The Children's Environmental Health Network | The Children's Environmental Health Network is a national multi-disciplinary project whose mission is to promote a healthy environment and protect the fetus and the child from environmental health hazards. |
| Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Office of the Associate Administrator for Science (ATSDR) | ATSDR Science Corner is a gateway to environmental health information and resources. It is a simple and user friendly guide (MENU) to search the World Wide Web for environmental health information. The primary focus is to find and share global information resources with the public on the linkage between human exposure to hazardous chemicals and adverse human health effects. The MENU is dynamic. New environmental health information resources are cited, searched, and documented, as they come on-line. |
| Environment Canada | We are a science-based government department
whose business is helping Canadians live and prosper in an environment that
is properly protected and conserved. It's our goal to help make sustainable development a reality in Canada and, by doing so, make our country an example to the world. Clean Water |
| WWF Canada's Web Guide to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals | World
Wildlife Fund is dedicated to saving life on Earth, through the conservation
of nature and ecological processes. Introduction to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - The world's biological diversity cannot be conserved in an environment filled with harmful chemicals. Since the advent of the chemical industry in the 1940s, thousands of chemicals have been produced and released into the air, water and food. Chemicals now contaminate even the remotest parts of the globe and the newly born. Everyone reading this has over 100 chemicals in his or her body that were not in anyone's body 50 years ago. |
| World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF) | The World Wildlife Fund is dedicated to saving
life on Earth, through the conservation of nature and ecological processes.
The two sites below contain a tremendous amount of information WWW Canada's Guide to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals - The world's biological diversity cannot be conserved in an environment filled with harmful chemicals. Since the advent of the chemical industry in the 1940s, thousands of chemicals have been produced and released into the air, water and food. Chemicals now contaminate even the remotest parts of the globe and the newly born. Everyone reading this has over 100 chemicals in his or her body that were not in anyone's body 50 years ago. A Guide to Avoiding Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals - The mounting evidence of hormone disruption in wildlife and humans serves as a starting point for efforts to reduce exposure to synthetic chemicals considered to be hormone disruptors. Making informed consumer choices, modifying eating and lifestyle patterns, and pressing for alternatives can help reduce your exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals. |
| PSR - Generations at Risk | This report brings together for the first time information about the reproductive health effects of selected chemical exposures with California chemical use and emissions data. |
| Florida Department of Environmental Protection | Working with Floridians to Protect, Conserve,
and Manage Florida's Environment and Natural Resources. Water Resource Management |
| Hoosier Environmental Council | Hoosier Environmental Council works to restore and protect Indiana's natural environment upon which all life depends. Pesticides, Toxins & Endocrine Disrupters |
| Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) | The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was created by the Louisiana Legislature on February 1, 1984 by statute known as the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act (EQA) . Its mission is to maintain a healthful and safe environment for the people of Louisiana. The department is staffed with highly-trained biologists, chemists, physicists, geologists, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals dedicated to preserving and protecting Louisiana's environment. |
| LDEQ | Safe Drinking Water Lesson - Build Your Own Aquifer. |
| LDEQ | Safe Drinking Water Lesson - Water Filtration. |
| LDEQ | Educational Resources - Water Quality - Lesson Plans and Activities |
| LDEQ | Water Use Activity - Use the following chart and try to estimate your family's water use for a day. |
| Maine Department of Environmental Protection | The
Maine Environmental Priorities Project (MEPP) is a new and unprecedented
effort in Maine designed to identify, compare and rank environmental problems
according to the relative risk they pose to Maine's ecology and to citizens'
health and quality of life. MEPP Phase I Comparative Risk Ranking - In its 1996 Consensus Ranking of Environmental Risks Facing Maine, the Maine Environmental Priorities Project determined that six problem areas merited a "high" ranking: Drinking Water and Domestic Use Water; Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems; Indoor Air; Outdoor Air; Surface Water and Sediments; and Terrestrial Ecosystems (particularly due to the magnitude of development pressure, especially in sensitive areas in the southern part of the state).Drinking Water and Domestic Use Water - Summary Statement: The Steering Committee concluded that, compared to the other issues ranked, the contamination of drinking water in Maine constitutes a high risk to both human health and quality of life. |
| Maryland's Natural Resources The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Home Page / Weekly Newsletter | Excess nitrogen, in surface and groundwater systems used for drinking water, is dangerous to the health of certain groups of people and animals. For example, infants less than six months old are particularly susceptible to harm because their stomachs are not acidic enough to prevent certain growth of certain bacteria which convert nitrate to nitrite. High levels of nitrites can oxidize hemoglobin to form methanoglobin which is unable to carry oxygen. Brain damage or death by suffocation can result from this condition known as methemoglobinemia or blue baby syndrome. (The search engine on the home page will pull up other topics of interest) |
| North Dakota Department of Health - Environmental Health Section | Enter topics of interest (drinking water, cryptosporidium, etc.)into the search engine or go to the Division of Water Quality page. |
| State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency | The Ohio EPA mission: To protect human health and the environment through responsible regulation supported by sound science, quality service, and comprehensive environmental education |
| Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality | Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division home page. |
| Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality | Lead in Drinking Water |
| South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources | Our mission and objective is to provide
environmental and natural resources assessment,financial assistance, and
regulation in a customer service oriented manner which provides protection
of public health, conservation of natural resources, preservation of the
environment, and promotes economic development. ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REPORT of SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM VIOLATIONS |
| Utah, Department of Environmental Quality - Divisions of Both Drinking Water & Water Quality | Mission, Dpt. Of Water Quality - Protect, maintain
and enhance the quality of Utah's surface and underground waters for appropriate
beneficial uses; and to protect the public health through eliminating and
preventing water related health hazards which can occur as a result of improper
disposal of human, animal or industrial wastes while giving reasonable
consideration to the economic impact. The Division of Drinking Water (DDW) acts as the administrative arm of the Utah Drinking Water Board. It implements the rules which they adopt. As such, it is engaged in a variety of activities related to the design and operation of Utah's public drinking water systems. See DDW Programs and Initiatives and Staff Contacts and Functions. DDW's Mission Statement is to "protect the public against waterborne health risks through assistance, education and oversight". |
| Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | Copper and your health - In 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established guidelines for controlling lead and copper levels in public water supplies. The information contained in this presentation will discuss the health effects of copper and ways to reduce exposure to copper in drinking water. |
| Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater | Search on 'drinking water' or other topics of interest to discover information about the state of water in Wisconsin. |
| Washington State Department of Health, Environmental Health Programs - Division of Drinking Water | Ensuring that the residents of Washington have safe, reliable and affordable drinking water is very important. It can also be very complex, and sometimes difficult to understand. Because of this, the Division of Drinking Water maintains a number of simple one and two page Fact Sheets designed to help consumers, water system operators, and decision makers become better informed about public water systems in Washington State. Additional sources of information, sometimes more technical in nature, may also be found in Publications that may be ordered from the Department of Health or other sources. The Water Tap Newsletter |
| Federal and National Sites | |
| American Red Cross - Los Angeles Chapter | DRINKING WATER IN AN EMERGENCY - You can survive for many days without food, but only a short time without water. Many kinds of emergencies can cause a loss of water to your home. |
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC Mission - To promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability. CDC search engine |
| CDC | Cryptosporidium fact sheet. Cryptosporidium information |
| CDC | Drinking Water |
| CDC | Drinking water quality and health |
| CDC | Lead concerns in children |
| Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition | The Bad Bug Book - This handbook provides basic facts regarding foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins. It brings together in one place information from the Food & Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service, and the National Institutes of Health. I included the link because, even though the focus of this handbook is on food pathogens, some of the same organisms can be found in water, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, etc.). |
| Endocrine Disrupters - All the better to confuse you with | Site discusses and illustrates (on page 8) the mechanisms of endocrine disrupter action. The Why Files, funded by the National Science Foundation is an interesting site exploring a wide variety of scientific topics. |
| US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment - air, water, and land - upon which life depends. EPA search engine |
| EPA | Page with map/links to each of the 10 EPA regions - EPA Region 6 Home Page - EPA Region 5 Home Page |
| EPA - Federal Register | Federal
Register - Use the search engine to find topics of interest. |
| EPA | Endocrine Disrupters Research Initiative - These pages contain information related to the efforts of the Endocrine Disrupter Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) to provide coordination across the federal government related to examining the hypothesis that there are chemicals present in the environment of humans and wildlife that, by virtue of their ability to interact with endocrine system, are causing a variety of adverse health effects. |
| EPA | Endocrine
Disruptor Screening Program Web Site
Endocrine Disruptor Screening
Program Web Site - This web site provides information about the endocrine
system and why certain chemicals can affect it, how the EPA Endocrine Disruptor
Screening Program was developed, and the current status of EPA's implementation
activities. In recent years, some scientists have proposed that chemicals
might be disrupting the endocrine system (glands and hormones) of humans
and wildlife. The endocrine system -- also referred to as the hormone system -- is made up of glands located throughout the body, hormones which are synthesized and secreted by the glands into the bloodstream, and receptors in the various target organs and tissues which recognize and respond to the hormones. The function of the system is to regulate a wide range of biological processes, including control of blood sugar, growth and function of reproductive systems, regulation of metabolism, brain and nervous system development, and development of an organism from conception through adulthood and old age. A variety of chemicals are known to disrupt the endocrine systems of animals in laboratory studies, and compelling evidence has accumulated that endocrine systems of certain fish and wildlife have been affected by chemical contaminants, resulting in developmental abnormalities and reproductive impairment. However, the relationship of human diseases of the endocrine system and exposure to environmental contaminants is poorly understood and scientifically controversial. |
| EPA | Aluminum Toxicokinetics: Oral Absorption from Drinking Water and Brain Retention - The overall objective is to test the hypothesis that drinking water can significantly contribute to brain Al accumulation. |
| EPA | Announcement
of the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate ListAnnouncement of the Drinking
Water Contaminant Candidate List. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as
amended in 1996, requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish
a list of contaminants (CCL) that are known or anticipated to occur in public
water systems, and which may require regulation under the SDWA [section
1412(b)(1)]. ... Today's notice is being published pursuant to the requirements
in section 1412(b)(1). Third World's Water Needs Help |
| EPA | Drinking
Water and Health, Everyone is concerned that their drinking water be
as safe as possible, but many people wonder exactly what is in their drinking
water. Fact Sheets These fact sheets are about chemicals that may be found in some public or private drinking water supplies. These chemicals may cause health problems if found in amounts greater than the health standard set by the U. S. EPA. |
| EPA - Office of Ground & Drinking Water | Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water Page |
| EPA - Office of Ground & Drinking Water | Kids' Stuff, The Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water has compiled resources especially for kids to learn more about drinking water. |
| EPA - Office of Ground & Drinking Water | EPA List of regulated drinking water contaminants, MCLs, health effects, and sources of drinking water contamination |
| EPA - Office of Ground & Drinking Water | DRINKING WATER STANDARDS PROGRAM, A list of EPA papers, some on line and some available to order, concerning various drinking water topics - including discussions on various contaminants. |
| EPA - Office of Ground & Drinking Water | Sulfates in drinking water |
| EPA - Surf Your Watershed | A service to help you locate, use, and share information about your place. - Click on a map to find out information about the watershed that supplies your drinking water. |
| EPA - Office of Science and Technology | EPA Drinking Water Regulations and Health Advisories for Inorganic elements and compounds. - Table of inorganic compounds for which the EPA has |
| EPA - Water Where You Live | The EPA's comprehensive {and user friendly}
site designed to allow you to retrieve environmental information from databases
on Superfund sites, drinking water, toxic and air releases, hazardous
wastes, water discharge permits, and grants information. Its section on drinking
water includes overviews about current regulations, updates on the Safe Drinking
Water Act, and a query form for searching information about your water system's
compliance record. (The site used to be a bit easier to navigate, but they changes, and I think expanded, it. To find information about your water supply, click on your state in the map, and select the 'Drinking Water' option about 1/3 of the way down (there are also links to many water treatment system pages and their annual reports). |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) | An independent agency of the federal government, reporting to the President. Since its founding in 1979, FEMA's mission has been clear: to reduce loss of life and property and protect our nation's critical infrastructure from all types of hazards through a comprehensive, risk-based, emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. |
| FEMA | The Extension Agent's Handbook for Disaster Preparedness and Response - can be a valuable response tool for you, the Extension agent, in times of emergency or as an aid in preparedness education activities. The Handbook is divided into two parts to provide the information you need in an easy-to-use format. The first section of the Handbook, General Family Preparedness, provides basic information you may need to access quickly in any disaster or emergency situation. It also may be used as a preparedness education tool for the public. |
| FEMA | Emergency Food and Water Supplies - If an earthquake, hurricane, winter storm or other disaster ever strikes your community, you might not have access to food, water and electricity for days, or even weeks. By taking a little time now to store emergency food and water supplies, you can provide for your entire family. |
| FEMA | FACT SHEET: EXTREME HEAT - Doing too much on a hot day, spending too much time in the sun or staying too long in an overheated place can cause heat-related illnesses. Know the symptoms of heat disorders and overexposure to the sun, and be ready to give first aid treatment. |
| FEMA | LOCATING SAFE DRINKING WATER - After a disaster, it is possible that water supplies will be temporarily cut off or become contaminated. Because you must have water to survive, it is important to know how to locate and purify drinking water to make it safe. |
| FEMA | Take Precautions During and After Flooding - DRINKING WATER - If your well has been flooded, assume the water in your home has been contaminated. Follow the directions on the right side of this page to disinfect your well. |
| FEMA | Your Family Disaster Supplies Kit - After a disaster, local officials and relief workers will be on the scene, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours, or it may take days. Would your family be prepared to cope with the emergency until help arrives? |
| FEMA | Your pet disaster kit should include ....... |
| FEDSTATS | Use words or phrases to search for statistics from 14 Federal agencies. Additional agencies will be added as this site develops. {A search on 'drinking AND water' returned some interesting articles. Some of the articles returned are in a PDF format} |
| National Academy Press (NAP), On-Line Books | {To access the books, go to the National Academy Press home page listed above then click on the "Reading Room". Click on the "Search" option to bring up a box where you can input text. Enter the words "Drinking Water" (or other words of interest) into the search box and click on the "search" icon. The links below, however, should take you directly to the on-line book. |
| NAP | Drinking Water and Health, Volume 7: Disinfectants and Disinfectant By-Products (1987). - {You may want to start with the Conclusion and Recommendations section on page 202} |
| NAP | Drinking
Water and Health, Volume 2: (chapters, 1-The disinfection of drinking
water; 2-The chemistry of disinfection in water; 3- An evaluation of activated
carbon for drinking water) This book is no longer on-line, but it can be ordered. |
| NAP | Copper
in Drinking Water (2000):Executive Summary 1 Introduction 2 Physiological Role of Copper 3 Health Effects of Copper Deficiencies 4 Disorders of Copper Homeostasis 5 Health Effects of Excess Copper 6 Risk Characterization |
| NAP | Toxicological
and Performance Aspects of Oxygenated Motor Vehicle Fuels (1996):Executive
Summary 1 INTRODUCTION 2 AIR QUALITY, FUEL ECONOMY 3 WATER QUALITY 4 HUMAN EXPOSURE 5 POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF OXYGENATES 6 POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF OTHER POLLUTANTS 7 RISK ASSESSMENT |
| NAP | Drinking
Water and Health, Volume 3: (chapters, 1-Epidemiological studies; 2-Problems
of risk estimation; 3-Toxicity of selected drinking water contaminants; 4-The
contribution of drinking water to mineral nutrition in humans) This book is no longer on-line, but it can be ordered. |
| NAP | Safe Water From Every Tap - Improving Water Service to Small Communities - Small communities violate federal requirements for safe drinking water as much as three times more often than cities. Yet these communities often cannot afford to improve their water service. Safe Water From Every Tap reviews the risks of violating drinking water standards and discusses options for improving water service in small communities. Included are detailed reviews of a wide range of technologies appropriate for treating drinking water in small communities. The book also presents a variety of institutional options for improving the management efficiency and financial stability of water. |
| NAP | Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (1993) |
| NAP | Drinking Water and Health Volume 1 (1977) - {This book begins with a very interesting history of water purification.} |
| NAP | Mexico City's Water Supply: Improving the Outlook for Sustainability (1995) |
| NAP | Linking Science and Technology to Society's Environmental Goals (1996) |
| NAP | Understanding
Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society (1996) Science and Judgment in Risk Assessment (1994) Issues in Risk Assessment (1993) Possible Health Effects of Exposure to Residential Electric and Magnetic Fields (1997) An example of using risk assessment. |
| NAP | Measuring Lead Exposure in Infants, Children, and Other Sensitive Populations (1993) |
| NAP | Nitrate and Nitrite in Drinking Water (1995) |
| NAP | Asbestiform Fibers Nonoccupational Health Risks (1984) |
| NAP | Risk
Assessment of Radon in Drinking Water (1999) Health Effects of Exposure to Radon: Time for Reassessment? (1994) |
| NAP | Identifying
Future Drinking Water Contaminants (1999) Setting Priorities for Drinking Water Contaminants (1999) |
| NAP | Safe Water From Every Tap: Improving Water Service to Small Communities (1997) |
| NAP | Health effects of Ingested Fluoride |
| NAP | Environmental Epidemiology, Volume 2: Use of the Gray Literature and Other Data in Environmental Epidemiology (1997) |
| NAP | Issues in Potable Reuse: The Viability of Augmenting Drinking Water Supplies with Reclaimed Water(1998) - A small but growing number of municipalities are augmenting their drinking water supplies with highly treated wastewater. But some professionals in the field argue that only the purest sources should be used for drinking water. Is potable reuse a viable application of reclaimed water? How can individual communities effectively evaluate potable reuse programs? How certain must "certain" be when it comes to drinking water safety? |
| NAP | Setting
Priorities for Drinking Water Contaminants(1998) - The provision of safe
drinking water has been an important factor in the improvement of the health
status of U.S. communities since the turn of the last century. Nonetheless,
outbreaks of waterborne disease and incidences of chemical contamination
of drinking water continue to occur. Setting Priorities for Drinking Water Contaminants recommends a new process for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use in deciding which potential drinking water contaminants should be regulated in public water supplies to provide the greatest protection against waterborne illnesses. |
| National Library of Medicine | Abstracts of papers published in medical journals
about chlorine disinfection byproducts or other health related topics can
be found in the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE database using one
of the free
search
engines, Grateful Med or PubMed. Use the search function and the key
words "trihalomethane" and "drinking" to retrieve abstracts on these and
many other related studies. Grateful Med is a very sophisticated search engine
that allow boolean searches. In Grateful Med, anyway, click on the title
of retrieved papers to view the abstract. List of abstracts (Mostly About Long Term Risks of Disinfection Byproducts) |
| National Toxicology Program (NTP) | The Program was established by the Secretary
of Health and Human Services to coordinate toxicology research and testing
activities within the Department, to provide information about potentially
toxic chemicals to regulatory and research agencies and the public, and to
strengthen the science base in toxicology. {Use the search function to look up chemicals of interest.} |
| U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - Water Resources of the United States | Mission of the Water Resources Division of the The U.S. Geological Survey has the principal responsibility within the Federal Government to provide the hydrologic information and understanding needed by others to achieve the best use and management of the Nation's water resources. |
| USGS Water Resources | The site includes information on National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. NAWQA is designed to describe the status and trends in the quality of the Nation's ground- and surface-water resources and to provide a sound understanding of the natural and human factors that affect the quality of these resources. |
| USGS Water Resources | South
Plat River Basin, including the Denver area - look at the
Significant
Findings and
Publications
sections. Denver's Urban Ground-Water Quality: Nutrients, Pesticides, and Volatile Organic Compounds - study documents the finding of various contaminants in Denver's groundwater. USGS, Water Use in the United States |
| USGS Water Resources | The
Quality of Our Nation's Waters - Nutrients and Pesticides - June 28,
1999 - The USGS studied water quality in 20 of the country's largest and
most important river basins and aquifers. According to the report, samples
from more than 50 percent of agricultural and urban streams had concentrations
of at least one pesticide that exceeded a guideline for protecting aquatic
life. The good news, according to the study, is concentrations of individual
pesticides were almost always lower than current U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency drinking-water standards and guidelines. In the aquatic environment, concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus commonly exceed levels that can contribute to excessive growth of algae and other nuisance plants in streams, according to the survey. According to the USGS, such growth can clog water intake pipes and filters and interfere with recreational activities, such as fishing, swimming and boating. The subsequent decay of the algae can result in foul odors, bad taste in drinking water and low dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats (oxygen that is necessary for fish and other aquatic life to survive). The complexities of the chemical mixtures and the lack of current human and aquatic health standards to determine risk of exposure to nutrients and pesticides have made these issues a top national priority. |
| USGS Water Resources | Water Education Posters -- Water Resources Outreach Program -- Water-resources topics of all completed posters are drawn in a cartoon format by the same cartoonist. Posters are available in color or black and white. The reverse sides of the color posters contain educational activities: one version for children in grades 3-5 and the other with activities for children in grades 6-8. The black-and-white posters are intended for coloring by children in grades K-5. Colorful posters include: Water Use, Water Quality, and Ground Water. |
| U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Science for Schools | Welcome to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Science for Schools web site! We offer information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge. You can choose a topic from the menu below or find out what we have to offer at this site. |
| Water Quality Information Center (WQIC) | National Agricultural Library, US Department of Agriculture. The center was established in 1990 to support USDA's coordinated plan to address water quality concerns. |
| WQIC | Cryptosporidium resources. |
| WQIC | Risk Assessment. This page lists bibliographies and sources of information on risk assessment. |
| WaterShare | WaterShare is a federal web site which provides information for all ages and interests, ranging from local water conservation programs to a series of interactive children's activities. WaterShare is the Bureau of Reclamation's Virtual Water Conservation Center. |
| Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) | HEY, KIDS!, Facts About Toxic Chemicals and the Environment. Page has a number of links to children's educational sites. |
| Journals, Newsletters, etc. | |
| Science and Medical Journal Links | Links to about 60 scientific journals |
| American Society for Microbiology | Search
Journal Articles.I used to have direct links to the two articles below,
but the only way I can reach them now is to enter several title words in
the title into the surch engine. They are interesting articles,
however. Protozoan Bacterivory and Escherichia coli Survival in Drinking Water Distribution Systems - The development of bacterial communities in drinking water distribution systems leads to a food chain which supports the growth of macroorganisms incompatible with water quality requirements and esthetics. Inactivation of Fecal Bacteria in Drinking Water by Solar Heating. We report simulations of the thermal effect of strong equatorial sunshine on water samples contaminated with high populations of fecal coliforms. (other solar disinfection links in the Emergency Water Treatment and Water Treatment lists) |
| Cryptosporidium Capsule Newsletter | Cryptosporidium Capsule is a monthly publication by FS Publishing, and it is the first and only newsletter solely devoted to Cryptosporidium, a waterborn pathogen. Provides a cumulative total of cryptosporidosis cases for the year in the United States and United Kingdom. |
| Franklin Pierce Law Center | Risk, the official journal of the Risk
Assessment & Policy Association Risk is a refereed, interdisciplinary quarterly exploring public and private efforts to manage science and technology for net reduction in the probability, severity and aversive quality of health, safety and environmental impacts of natural and artificial hazards. Cumulative index of articles, comments and book reviews onlineRisk Assessment and Policy Association - Web Resources |
| U.S. Water News Online | The electronic version of America's premier water news publication. U.S. Water News Online keeps its readers abreast of the latest news concerning water and water issues around the country. Coverage includes water supply, water quality, policy and legislation, litigation and water rights, conservation, climate, international water news, and more. (Extensive Links) |
| U.S. Water News Online | Global decline in water quality a serious problem, say researchers July 1996 - WASHINGTON -- Easy access to clean, safe water can no longer be taken for granted, says a report by the American Academy of Microbiology. Water quality is threatened throughout the world, including the United States, according to the report. Burgeoning populations, aging sewer systems, environmental pollution, and growing resistance of microorganisms to water-treatment chemicals are among problems cited by the academy in its report, A Global Decline in Microbiological Safety of Water: A Call for Action, which was based on data from U.S. and international health agencies. |
| U.S. Water News Online | First
direct link found between bacteria in drinking water and stomach ulcers
- July 1999 - U.S. Water News Online. MIDDLETOWN, Penn. -- Penn State Harrisburg
researchers report they have found the first direct link between the presence
of a bacterium in Pennsylvania drinking water and stomach ulcers. The research
team headed by Katherine H. Baker, assistant professor of environmental
microbiology, has tiedHelicobacter pylori in well water and clinical infection
in persons drinking from that supply. Helicobacter pylori is anorganism linked
to the cause of at least 75 percent of all stomach ulcers and two types of
stomach cancers. The Penn State Harrisburg researchers made the association
between water containing H. pylori and the infection through tests of private
wells supplying drinking water to individual households. Interviews with
residents who consumed the waterfound a statistically significant correlation
between presence of the bacterium and cases of stomach ulcers. Ulcer-causing bacteria found in surface water -June 1998 - U.S. Water News Online . ATLANTA, Ga. --The bacterium blamed for most stomach ulcers may lurk undetected in surface water. Helicobacter pylori, the cause of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and certain types of stomach cancer has been found in river, creek, and lake water in central Pennsylvania. Although H. pylori infects half the world's population, evidence for a primary source of infection previously has been unknown. |
| U.S. Water News Online | Nitrate contamination of rural water supplies poses serious health risk April 1996 - OMAHA, Neb. -- According to several environmental organizations, Nebraskans and other mid-westerners living in rural areas, particularly those with infant children, face serious health risks from the level of nitrates in their drinking water. |
| U.S. Water News Online | Survey shows Americans are concerned about household water quality, more are seeking solutions June 1997 - LISLE, Ill. -- Few things are as essential in our lives as water. Yet three-quarters of American adults have concerns about their household water supply, and one in three respondents in a national survey does not believe his or her water supply is as safe as it should be. |
| U.S. Water News Online | Safety of water supplies in nation's small communities focus of NRC study December 1996 - WASHINGTON -- The Water Science and Technology Board of the National Research Council (NRC) has completed a study of the safety of drinking water in the nation's small communities. The report, Safe Water from Every Tap, both identifies problems facing small water utilities in the U.S. and outlines a three-part strategy for improving those services. According to NRC officials, the report will be available from the National Academy Press in late December. The report concludes that water service to small communities -- those serving 10,000 people or less -- are in great need of improvement. Squeezed by financial pressures of serving a small number of customers and having to observe increasingly stringent regulations, many of these systems cannot afford either the equipment or the qualified operators needed to ensure that drinking water is safe. |
| U.S. Water News Online | Santa Monica water supply threatened by MTBE July 1996 - SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Santa Monica is the first city in California to be forced to shut down a large part of its drinking-water supply because of contamination by the gasoline additive MTBE - and may be the first large city in the nation to face such a problem. Excessive amounts of MTBE in water supplies have forced this city of about 100,000 - adjacent to Los Angeles and famed for its beaches - to close three of the five wells in a field that supplies 40 percent of its drinking water. |
| U.S. Water News Online | Banking on safer drinking water. |
| U.S. Water News Online | Studies find exposure to lead more hazardous than thought June 1996 - WASHINGTON -- According to two studies recently published by The Journal of the American Medical Association, lead may be even more dangerous than previously thought, causing high blood pressure and kidney impairment at unexpectedly low levels. The authors of these studies, both made on adult men, suggest current safety standards for lead exposure in both adults and children may need to be further tightened. |
| Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine | Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine has been the premier source of information for the point-of-use/point-of-entry water treatment industry since 1959. |
| Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine | Endocrine Disruptors: A New Category of Waterborne Risk Although much of the public has never heard of endocrine disruptors, the federal government has been aware of their potential hazards in water for the past several years. Congress included specific language on endocrine disruption in the Food Quality Protection Act and amended Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996. The former mandated that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) develop an endocrine disruptor screening program, whereas the latter authorizes USEPA to screen endocrine disruptors found in drinking water sources. |
| Miscellaneous Sites | |
| Bottled Water Web | This is the portal for the bottled water industry and where you will find extensive information about bottled water. This site is maintained by Best Cellars, LLC and the purpose of the BottledWaterWeb is to provide the consumer and researcher with the most current and accurate information about bottled water. |
| Drinking Water Help Homepage | {Excellent Site} - This site discusses a number of drinking water related topics, including various contaminants, and treatment options. About the Author - William Ottaway received his BS and MEng degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Cornell University. He is currently a Senior Public Health Engineer at the Orange County Department of Health in Goshen, NY. |
| Yarra Valley Water - Blue Water | Corrosion in customer's copper pipes can lead to elevated copper levels in water which may have an appearance of blue water when taps are first turned on. Blue water is a potential health hazard and must not be consumed by drinking or used in the preparation of food. |
| The Copper Page - A service of the worldwide copper and brass industries | Copper In Human Health Topics in this document: We can't live without it - How Much Copper In Your Body? - How Does It Work? - Do We Get Enough? - Can We Have Too Much? - What Are Copper Rich Foods? - Copper In Medicine - Copper Toxicity - Copper For Health - Further Reading and - Acknowledgments. |
| Cells Alive | Micrographs of
cryptosporidia and giardia
along with many other interesting micro-images. {The is a fascinating site!} |
| Hormone Disrupting Chemicals Home Page | These pages provide an introduction to the effects of hormone disrupting chemicals on man and the environment. Other terms used to describe these chemicals include xenoestrogens, oestrogenic (estrogenic), hormone mimicking and endocrine disrupting chemicals. The chemicals involved include pesticides such as DDT, lindane and atrazine, the food packaging chemicals, phthalates and bisphenol A, alkylphenol ethoxylate detergents and the chemical industry by-products, dioxins. hese pages are aimed at anyone interested in the subject, and include references to other research and reviews for those interested in investigating the field further. The pages focus particularly on those chemicals which are not organochlorines, but some information is also provided on organochlorines. The material in these pages has been written by Dr Michael Warhurst, an Environmental Chemist who works for Friends of the Earth in London, UK. |
| Endocrine/Estrogen Letter | Endocrine/Estrogen Letter is the most comprehensive
source of unbiased, accurate information about the scientific, regulatory
and political issues associated with endocrine disrupters. E/E Letter is the only publication devoted exclusively to reporting about endocrine disrupters. Its staff are in touch with leading scientists and government officials in the US, Europe and Asia, representatives of environmental groups, as well as companies and trade associations that are actively involved with endocrine disrupter issues. Site contains an extensive list of related links. |
| Junk Science Home Page | Not everyone is a "believer". Site purports
to expose bad science I have listed several articles specifically related to endocrine disrupters Article 1 - In June 1996, Tulane University researchers reported alarming results from so-called "endocrine disrupters" - manmade chemicals, like pesticides, PCBs and plastics, that allegedly disrupt hormonal systems and cause everything from cancer to infertility to attention-deficit disorder. Article 2 - Our Stolen Future is a preposterous tall tale about how manmade chemicals are disrupting normal hormonal processes to cause everything from breast and prostate cancer to declining sperm counts to attention deficit disorder to birds. Article 3 - Are synthetic chemicals disrupting human reproduction and development? Some environmentalists have suggested that certain man-made chemicals in the human diet might be causing lower male sperm counts. These chemicals, called endocrine disrupters, mimic or affect hormones involved in reproduction, such as estrogen. |
| Miscellaneous sites containing information about Endocrine Disrupters |
|
| Public Health Service Report on Fluoride Benefits | This report, "Public Health Service Report on Fluoride Benefits and Risks" is a summary of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of Review of Fluoride Benefits and Risks: Report of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Fluoride of the Committee to Coordinate Environmental Health and Related Programs, published in February 1991. The full report was prepared by an ad hoc subcommittee of the United States Public Health Service's Committee to Coordinate Environmental Health and Related Programs (CCEHRP) at the request of the Assistant Secretary for Health. The full report can be obtained from the Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services. |
| Water Fluoridation | A list of links sites related to Fluoride. It is a part of the Dentistry section of About.Com - Expert Guides to Help You Find/Learn/Share |
| Fluoride: Protected Pollutant or Panacea | Fluoridation proponents often assert that there is no legitimate scientific controversy over the benefits or safety of this measure. These web pages clearly show controversy existed from the outset and continues to this day. Dental fluorosis is now pandemic in fluoridated areas. Fluoride ingestion in our children is clearly out of control given the sky-rocketing rise in fluorosis rates in fluoridated communities (click on individual photos for better-resolution). Canada has some of the highest rates in the world. The health problems caused by fluoride in some other countries is well-documented and staggering. There are about twenty nations with health problems due to fluoride ingestion. |
| Rethinking Chlorinated Tap Water | By Dr. Zoltan P. Rona Md MSc, a practicing Toronto
physician and author of the new book Return to the Joy of Health (Alive
Books, 1-800-661-0303) Most people never give it a thought. After all, our elected public officials keep assuring us that chlorinated city tap water is completely safe for human consumption. Numerous scientific studies, however, report that chlorinated tap water is a skin irritant and can be associated with rashes like eczema. Chlorinated water can destroy polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E in the body while generating toxins capable of free radical damage (oxidation). |
| Backflow | The water purveyors deliver the product through
a series of pipes (transmission mains and distribution mains) to the customers'
water meters. Once the product (clean water) is delivered through the water
meters to the customers, the water purveyor does not want this same water
to return back through the meters and out into the public water supply. Most customers manage to contaminate the water they use and normally this contaminated fluid passes to the waste collection system. Unfortunately the water sometimes reverses direction back through the water meter. This reversal of direction is called BACKFLOW. The most common type of backflow is backsiphonage. |
| Magnesium Deficiency, Heart Attack - Drinking Water | This site provides information about the
magnesium-deficiency catastrophe and its relationship to the beverage industry.
Magnesium deficiency appears to be causing 215,000 fatal heart attacks in
the U.S. each year, and as many as 20,000,000 fatal heart attacks world-wide.
Magnesium deficiency is implicated in many other diseases. Twenty years ago,
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences estimated that the U.S. cardiovascular
death rate might be reduced by 150,000 deaths per annum by drinking water
rich in magnesium and calcium. {I have also seen articles that indicate drinking water is not an important source of dietary magnesium, but it is an interesting debate, none-the-less} |
| Selected works of Dr. Mildred Seelig | Famous magnesium researcher and reviewer. This is the Home Page of Dr. Mildred Seelig, donated as a public service by Paul and Janet Mason. Dr. Seelig's forty years of research have established her as one of the world's foremost magnesium researchers and reviewers. You can jump to any of her articles below. For an overview of magnesium, we suggest you start with Dr. Seelig's 1994 article, "Consequences of Magnesium Deficiency..." |
| Properties of Water | Water is the solvent, the medium and the participant in most of the chemical reactions occurring in our environment. |
| Interpreting Drinking Water Quality Analysis: What do the numbers mean? | This publication summarizes the information
necessary for interpreting drinking water quality analyses performed by water
testing laboratories. It focuses on testing results obtained from drinking
water supplies from public water systems and non-public water systems (home
wells). It is intended primarily for homeowners, but environmental organizations,
health departments, and commercial water testing laboratories and others
should find this material of interest and value. For readers who are not familiar with the terms and chemical expressions used in the text, a brief list of definitions follows the main text. |
| The Last Word | Why
can you see through water? Why water droplets float on water? |
| MathMol (Mathematics and Molecules) | MathMol (Mathematics and Molecules) is designed
to serve as an introductory starting point for K-12 students and teachers
interested in the field of molecular modeling and its application to mathematics.
K-12 Activity
Page K-12 Water and Ice Module Interesting site for those who want to explore the physical properties of water in some depth. |
| Chemistry And Biochemistry | There are five major chemical constituents of
cells. These are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids and
water. These "home grown" pages and the external links are designed
to help you master chapters 2 and 3 of your textbook, Modern Biology. They
will be posted as fast as they are written. The On-line Biology Book has two sections on chemistry. The first works with atoms, electrons and energy, chemical bonding, and chemical reactions and molecules. It is found at CHEMISTRY I: ATOMS AND MOLECULES The second section deals with the structure of water, pH, and organic molecules. CHEMISTRY II: WATER AND ORGANIC MOLECULES will get you there. |
| H2O - The Mystery, Art, and Science of Water | A multi-disciplinary examination of the nature,
properties, place, significance, importance, and role of WATER in the life
and culture of this planet. The Chemistry of WaterWater plays an important role as a chemical substance. Its many important functions include being a good solvent for dissolving many solids, serving as an excellent coolant both mechanically and biologically, and acting as a reactant in many chemical reactions. Blood, sweat and tears... all solutions of water. A very eclectic site of water-related topics |
| Water, Water Everywhere ... | Get Wet! Investigate Water!! Water--the theme of these Dragonfly Web Pages--is extremely important to our lives and to our world. About three fourths of the surface of the Earth is covered with water, and more than half of your body is made of water, too. |
| The Biology Project - Chemistry Tutorial | The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce
you to some of the chemical concepts which are necessary to understand
biology The Chemistry of Water |
| K-12 Grade Material - Chemistry | A list of links to about 100 sites related to Chemistry Education Resources. It is a part of the Chemistry section of About.Com - Expert Guides to Help You Find/Learn/Share |
| University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point | Central
Wisconsin Groundwater Center Releases 1997 Groundwater Quality Reports for
Wisconsin Counties - Drinking water testing in 1997 found some private
well owners have water contamination problems, according to the Central Wisconsin
Groundwater Center at UWSP. One in sixteen private drinking water well samples tested at the UWSP Environmental Task Force Lab in 1997 had an unsafe level of nitrate nitrogen. One in seven contained coliform bacteria. |
| InterWATER | InterWATER aims to help you find sources of information about water and sanitation in developing countries. It is maintained by IRC under the auspices of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council. |
| WaterAid | WaterAid is the UK's specialist development charity working through partner organisations to help poor people in developing countries achieve sustainable improvements in their quality of life by improved domestic water supply, sanitation and associated hygiene practices. |
| Did You Know That Water is a Simple and Free Cure | This site is selling a book that claims that
drinking water is a cure for some common ailments such as: Lower back pain,
Chronic fatigue syndrome, Diabetes, Headaches, Asthma, Allergies, Colitis,
Rheumatoid arthritis, Depression, High blood pressure, High blood cholesterol,
Alcohol dependency, Neck pain, And more? THAT RIGHT FOLKS, PLAIN AND SIMPLE WATER IS ONE OF THE BEST CURES AND PREVENTION FOR MANY OF OUR BODY'S AILMENTS!! There is nothing like good clean water. - {Their words, not mine! I do not know the efficacy of water as a cure for all of the above conditions, but in the interest of providing information I will list the site and let you make your own decisions. If you have any information about this and other sites, please let me know.} |
| Mineral Index | A List and Description of Minerals Important to Human Health |
| H2O | By Kam Zardouzian - Consider the following fact: The most important nutrient in our body is plain water. {Definition of various kinds of bottled water - Spring, Artesian, Mineral, Purified, etc.} |
| Junk Science | Risk Assessment: The U.S. Experience - I'm here to talk about the U.S. experience with risk assessment. It is my hope that the European Union (EU) can learn from the U.S. experience so that actual risks to human health and the environment can be more accurately assessed in the EU. Accurate assessment of actual risks will allow the EU to better weigh the benefits of regulatory action against its costs. This will lead to better risk management decisions, and better public health and environmental policies. |
| Recognizing Risks and Paying for Risk Reduction | By Gary W. Johnson - Introduction: During our lifetime, we live in a perpetual state of risk management, continually accepting and rejecting risks. |
| CIIT Science for Risk-Based Decisions | CIIT is a not-for-profit toxicology research institute located in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. The Chloroform Cancer Risk Assessment: A Mirror of Scientific Understanding. In 1945, A. B. Eschenbrenner and E. Miller found that they could induce cancer in the livers of mice with chloroform, but only with repeated high doses that also produced severe toxicity and necrosis in that target organ (J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 5, 251-255). This observation was the beginning of a long and ongoing story about the way in which chloroform produces cancer in rodents, the degree to which we should be concerned that it might do the same in people, and the rationale for the formulation of appropriate risk assessments for genotoxic and nongenotoxic carcinogens. |
| State of New York, Department of Health | Our site is divided into the following categories:
from the Commissioner page; directory services; how to get New York State
vital records information; information for consumers; information for physicians
and other health care providers; health care data for researchers; and our
public health forum Info for Consumers - Drinking Water - Includes the 1998 Annual Report of Public Water Supply Violations. |
| World Health Organization | Mission Statement - The objective of WHO is
the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health,
as defined in the WHO Constitution, is a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Use the Search page to find items of interest; drinking water, cholera, etc.
Cholera Information Dealing with a Cholera Emergency: Essential Information. A case of cholera should be suspected when: 1) In an area where the disease is not known to be present, a patient, 5 years of age or older, develops severe dehydration or dies from acute watery diarrhoea. 2) In an area where an epidemic is occurring, a patient, 5 years of age or older, develops acute watery diarrhoea, with or without vomiting. Cholera - basic facts for travelers - Cholera outbreaks occur every year in different parts of the world. Although potentially fatal, cholera can be easily prevented and treated. By following some simple and sensible rules, the traveler can avoid infection. Here are the basic facts about cholera. What is cholera? - Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by the bacterium V. cholerae. A person can become infected by drinking water or eating food contaminated by the bacterium. Common sources of infection are raw or poorly cooked seafood, raw fruit and vegetables, and other foods that have been contaminated during preparation or storage. {Article goes on to address treatment and avoidance} |
| Netscape Health Resources Consumer | Working to become the largest human-edited directory on the web. Entering water related words into this search engine seems to give somewhat more focused listings than other engines. |
| Oregon Health System | Pipeline: Oregon Drinking Water News PIPELINE is published quarterly by the staff of the Oregon Health Division, Drinking Water Program. It is intended to provide useful information on technology, training, and regulatory and policy issues to those involved with the state's public water systems to improve the quality of drinking water in Oregon. |
| Aluminum in Your Water | Similar to zinc, aluminum is found in large concentrations in amyloid plaques; but don't throw away your aluminum pots and pans just yet. As one of the most abundant elements in our natural environment, almost everyone is continually exposed to tremendous amounts on a daily basis, far in excess of what you might get from aluminum soda cans. At least one study, though, has associated Alzheimer's with high levels (over 11 micrograms per liter) of aluminum in drinking water. For about a hundred dollars, the National Testing Laboratory of Cleveland (800-458-3330) will tell you how your drinking water stacks up, reporting not only aluminum , he content of 73 other entities as well. |
| Domestic Water Purification | So many water purifiers all claim to be the
best, but the more brochures read, the more confusing this becomes." "How
do I choose? If you want to buy a water purifier but don't know where to spend your hard-earned dollar, just hit the print button, settle down with a hot drink, put your feet up and read away! In no time the myths will be shattered, the illusion dispelled and a simple solution will be at your fingertips. {A good site that presents a clear, mostly fair comparison of the various water purification methods. Purification methods discussed include: Filtration (Carbon, Particle, Ceramic), Ion exchange, Reverse osmosis, Distillation, Ultra violet, and Ozone treatment.} |
| Cooperative Research Center (CRC) for Water Quality and Treatment | The CRC for Water Quality and Treatment focuses
on issues relating to water quality management and health risk reduction,
from catchment and reservoir management and water treatment to the distribution
of drinking water to consumers' taps. The mission of the CRCWQT is to help the Australian water industry produce high quality water at an affordable price. HREF="http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/crc/guide.htm">Australian Drinking Water Guidelines |
| What are the different types of bottled water? | There are several different varieties of bottled water. The product may be labeled as bottled water, drinking water or any of the following terms. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) product definitions for bottled water are: Definition of the various types of bottled water follow. |
| Bottled Water | Water is one of our most abundant chemical
compounds. It also is one of the most debated substances as far as safety
is concerned. Many people buy water as a primary source of drinking water, because their water is unsafe (whether perceived or from test results) or has an "off" taste or odor. Bottled water is best used only as a temporary measure in small quantities, since the cost averages about 5 cents per gallon. Is bottled water, in fact, better than tap water? It depends on the source and the treatment for the water. Tap water and bottled water are subject to regulations. Disinfection of water is completed with ozone or chlorine. Water naturally contains varying amounts of carbon dioxide, calcium, iron compounds, sodium, fluoride, and other minerals and mineral salts. All are substances that affect taste. Differences in the amounts explain why the taste of tap water varies from one area to another. Bottled water processed from city water systems, wells, or springs varies in mineral content, from low to high in "mineral" waters. Sometimes minerals are added in processing to improve the flavor of water.Diagram included of water treatment for various types of bottled water. |
| Palomar Mountain Spring Water - Water Facts | Information on bottled water including a description of various types of bottled water. |
| Solar water disinfection (SODIS) | Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a simple
water treatment process using solar radiation to inactivate and destroy
pathogenic microorganisms present in the water. The treatment method basically
consists in filling plastic bottles with water and exposing them to full
sunlight for about five hours. A simple, inexpensive method for treating water in an emergency when other purfication technologies are not available - disinfection, filtration, etc. Unless the water becomes hot in the process, however, the sunlight will probably cause algae, and some animals that feed on them, to grow. As the article points out, this treatment does nothing to remove chemical contaminants. (other solar disinfection links in the Emergency Water Treatment list) |
| Emergency Drinking Water | By Duncan Long - During our everyday lives, most of us take water for granted. But that's often not the case following a major disaster, whether storm, earthquake, or flood. And today even a terrorist or lone nut could easily sabotage most cities water supplies; a chemical spill or other accident is all it would take to make city water supplies dangerous to use. If you're to survive any of the disasters you're concerned about, it's essential that you have drinking water. |
| Agua Del Sol - Pure Water From the Sun | Welcome to the Agua Del Sol Homepage! We are a grass roots young American company manufacturing and marketing a family of unique Solar water distillers. These amazing hand crafted stills are environmentally sound, require no energy to run and are providing clear, pure distilled drinking water daily to domestic and commercial sites all over the world including hotels, homes, businesses, and colleges in the United States, and whole communities in Mexico. (other solar disinfection links in the Water Treatment list) |
| News Groups, Magazines, Books, etc. | |
| Boiler Water Treatment | Offers e-books on boiler, cooling, waste and drinking water treatment. |
| U.S. News Media Links | Links to nearly 100 on-line US newspapers. Editorial and Op-ed Links International News Media Links |
| Times Union | Tapwater at Risk - This extensive, three-part series published in 1996 explores the safety of the nation's tap water and explains the dangers threatening our water and what communities can do to protect it. |
| Houston Chronicles | Tapwater at Risk - A second electronic copy of the three-part series published in 1996 that explores the safety of the nation's tap water and explains the dangers threatening our water and what communities can do to protect it. |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | There are over a month of stories detailing the contamination of Sydney Australia's water supply by Cryptosporidium archived on The Sydney Morning Herald Water Crisis page. Fortunately, despite a two day delay in informing the population, there had apparently been no reported cases of death or illness linked to the contamination by September 7. |
| Good Housekeeping | The
Truth About Bottled WaterMonday, November 23, 1998 - Bottled water may
bring mountain streams and waterfalls to mind. But the image is often all
wet. This is Ellen Levine with Good Advice from Good Housekeeping. The truth is, at least one fourth of all bottled water comes from the same place tap water does - municipal water facilities. It's usually filtered, purified, or distilled, with minerals added or subtracted for taste. But if you want water from underground wells, look for words like spring, artesian, or mineral water on the label. Even then, it isn't necessarily better than tap water. The government only requires bottled water to be as good as tap water, not better. No water is completely pure. In fact, bottled water can be more susceptible to bacteria once it's opened, since it doesn't contain chlorine. And most bottled water doesn't have fluoride, which has been shown to prevent cavities. To cap it off, bottled water costs anywhere from 88 cents to more than four dollars a gallon, often because of the name. If you pay more for the taste, that's one thing. But it's probably the only difference. |
| CNN | CNN Search
Page - You can search on a specific topic, like Drinking Water
and then sort by relevance. Many of the articles on CNN (like many news groups) are removed from the archive after a relatively short time - the best thing to do is simply search for current items of interest. |
| CNN | Water
worries? -- The right filtration system may help - (CNN, January 11,
1999) -- ......... According the EPA, 87 percent of the nation's drinking
water is safe. But for extra insurance against water woes, many are turning
to home filtration systems. This article shows a comparison of a filter before use and at the end of its life. |
| CNN | Study: Water-treatment byproduct linked to cancer in rats - ATLANTA (CNN, June 17, 1997) -- A byproduct of chlorination in drinking water has been linked to cancer in rats, leading the government to investigate adverse effects of water disinfectants. A chemical byproduct called MX develops from organic compounds in the chlorinated drinking water, and Finnish researchers found that rats exposed to high levels of MX got several types of cancer. |
| CNN | Water,
water everywhere -- but will there be enough to drink? Part I of a two-part
series exploring the issues of water supply in distribution facing the next
millennium. Read the second installment here. |
| CNN | Study focuses on weed-killer in water - WASHINGTON (CNN, August 17, 1995) -- You may be tossing back weed-killer with your drinking water, especially if you live in the Midwest. According to a new report, pesticides contaminate tap water supplies in dozens of American cities during the growing season, when levels frequently can exceed federal standards. The survey, conducted by the Environmental Working Group, focused mainly on the Midwest from May to August, when herbicide use is highest. And to the dismay of Corn Belt residents, it showed drinking water laced with a variety of chemicals -- some that have been shown to cause birth defects, reproductive disorders, and even cancer in lab animals. |
| CNN | EPA: Utilities should divulge tap water contents - WASHINGTON (CNN, February 11, 1998) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed rules -- expected to become final later this year -- that would require water utilities to list chemicals and potential contaminants in local tap water. All but the smallest of the nation's 56,000 municipal, state and regional water utilities would provide annual reports on what the water contains and whether it meets federal health standards. |
| CNN | Water, water everywhere -- but will there be enough to drink? |
| CNN | Bottled
water may not be better, environmental group reports - (CNN, March 31,
1999) -- Bottled water is often touted as pure and healthy, but it may not
be safer than ordinary tap water, according to study of bottled water samples
by an environmental advocacy group. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) tested more than 1,000 bottles of 103 different brands of bottled water from bought in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas and the District of Columbia. Most waters were high quality, but about one-third of the brands tested had at least one sample that was contaminated with high levels of pollutants that exceeded levels allowed by California or bottled water industry standards or guidelines. California has the highest set of standards for bottled water, the NRDC says. The study found 22 percent of waters contained levels of synthetic compounds such as arsenic that exceeded the California limit, and 17 percent contained levels of bacteria above voluntary industry standards. |
| CNN | Bottled water may not be better, environmental group reports |
| CNN | Pure water vending machines may not be so pure - TUCSON, Arizona (CNN, May 21, 1996) -- Vending machines that dispense drinking water are becoming more popular among people distrustful of tap water. They're convenient -- bring your own container, put in your money and take home a bottle of crystal clear pure water. That was the idea anyway, but a recent University of Arizona study found bacteria in close to one out of four of the supermarket machines tested. |
| CNN | - (CNN, July 16, 1999) -- Most Americans take clean drinking water for granted. But, for close to 7 million people in the United States, what comes out of the tap isn't necessarily clean enough to drink without worrying about getting sick, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is particularly true in rural areas, and to help improve some of these problems, the Clinton administration July 12 announced nearly $210 million in loans and grants for safe drinking water projects in 40 states. |
| CNN | World
panel set to address water issues - (August 20,1998) -- Water issues
are expected to take center stage in the next century as the world population
rises and the demand for water increases. To deal with these issues, a World
Commission on Water for the 21st Century has been established. ........ "At the threshold of a new century, few challenges loom as large as the declining availability of fresh water to meet the rising demands of an expanding human family while recognizing the intimate link of that precious resource to the global ecosystems on which human survival depends," Abu-Zeid said. One billion people lack access to safe drinking water in the developing world and up to 10 million people die annually due to diseases caused by dirty water, according to the United Nations. |
| CNN | Urban sprawl threatens Istanbul drinking water - ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN, July 26, 1997) - -- Istanbul is a city virtually surrounded by water, but none that is good enough for drinking. What to the uninitiated visitor in Istanbul may look like a gas station is in fact a water station, where people fill up containers for their homes. Many people living in the city do not want to drink tap water because they say it's muddy and makes them sick. |
| CNN | MTBE dangers were known, report claims - March 23, 1999 - The oil industry knew about MTBE threats to drinking water before the controversial gasoline additive was introduced in California, according to an article in the March 16 edition of the Sacramento Bee. |
| CNN | Rural America gets clean water dollars BOSTON (CNN) July 16, 1999 -Most Americans take clean drinking water for granted. But, for close to 7 million people in the United States, what comes out of the tap isn't necessarily clean enough to drink without worrying about getting sick, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. |
| CNN | Water,
water everywhere -- but will there be enough to drink? Part I of a two-part
series exploring the issues of water supply in distribution facing the next
millennium. Read the second installment here. |
| CNN | World's poor pay most for drinking water, commission says Report: Millions die each year due to contaminated water. |
| CNN | MTBE dangers were known, report claims - March 23, 1999 - The oil industry knew about MTBE threats to drinking water before the controversial gasoline additive was introduced in California, according to an article in the March 16 edition of the Sacramento Bee. |
| CNN | Drinking fluids reduces bladder cancer risk, study finds BOSTON (CNN) -- Men who drink a large amount of fluid reduce their risk of getting bladder cancer by half, according to a new study at the Harvard School of Public Health. |
| CNN | Toilet water on tap? - San Diego hopes to recycle waste water - SAN DIEGO (CNN, April 25, 1997) - While San Diego is a city of many natural and man-made riches, water isn't one of them. The city imports 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River and the state water project. But engineers have flushed out a startling solution to the region's water woes. If all goes according to plan, by the year 2001, the city's sewage water will be treated and recycled right into the drinking tap. |
| CNN | Insecticide found in Florida drinking water supply - ATLANTA (CNN, July 15, 1997) - TAMPA, Florida - Recent water tests indicate that tiny amounts of the insecticide malathion, used by medfly fighters, have made their way into Tampa's drinking water supply. |
| CNN | Milwaukee learned its water lesson, but many other cities haven't - MILWAUKEE (CNN, September 2, 1996) - Until 1993, most Americans took the cleanliness of public drinking water for granted. The United States has a reputation for high standards in its water systems; it wasn't until a parasite slipped through the cracks in Milwaukee and killed more than 100 people that water systems managers started to take a closer look at how they monitored their product. Even so, today, the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that more than 50 million Americans are still drinking from substandard water systems. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find that as many as half the water utilities in the country sometimes fail to remove the same microbe that caused half the people in Milwaukee to get sick three years ago. |
| CNN | Tainted water scare envelopes Sydney - SYDNEY, Australia (CNN, - July 31, 1998) - Panicked residents in Australia's largest city stocked up on bottled water Friday amid fears that a treatment plant was pumping parasite-polluted water into homes, businesses and hospitals. Tests earlier in the week in the city of 3.7 million people turned up signs of contamination in a small area of downtown. But emergency warnings were expanded to include suburban areas after the outbreak was found to be much more widespread than originally thought. |
| CNN | Wisconsin fights modern farming's water-contaminating ways - ARENA, Wisconsin (CNN, October 7, 1996) - Farmers have been using weed killers and chemical fertilizers for years to help boost their crop production, but often those chemicals trickle into your drinking water. Wisconsin is taking steps to protect its water sources before it is too late. |
| ABC News | Drinking Water Fears Using Scare Tactics to Sell Water Filters Fraudulent sellers that advertise "free home water testing" may only be interested in selling you their water treatment device - whether you need it or not. |
| ABC News | Gas Additive a Bad Trade-Off Deemed an Environmental Threat, MTBE makes gasoline burn cleaner and produce less smog, but has been found to contaminating drinking water. W A S H I N G T O N, July 27 - After receiving a report today that the smog-fighting gasoline additive MTBE is getting into drinking water, the Environmental Protection Agency reversed course and urged a prompt and significant rollback in use of the chemical. |
| NBC News | A name game: What's in your water? Origin of many 'bottled waters' not always crystal clear. September 2- We spent $3.5 billion last year on pricey, designer bottled waters. Surveys show that people like the convenience and think bottled water is somehow safer. They say it's a more natural water. But is it? Chief Consumer Correspondent Lea Thompson reports some surprising findings for 'Dateline NBC.' .....The bottom line is, if you're trying to drink-in nature, look past the mountains to the fine print to see where your bottled water really comes from. |
| NBC News | Glass half-empty? Americans may not be getting all the water they need. September 2- A new survey shows that Americans are flirting with dehydration by consuming too little water and too many beverages that rob the body of water. THE SURVEY OF 3,003 Americans released in May by the Nutrition Information Center at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and the International Bottled Water Association, found that consumers are drinking almost eight daily servings of hydrating beverages (water, milk, juice, de-caffeinated soft drinks) a day. However, they are also ingesting nearly five servings of caffeine or alcohol-containing beverages-which causes the body to actually lose water. "The net result is that most Americans are probably only getting about a third of the valuable hydration benefits they need," says Barbara Levin, R.D., Ph.D., director of the Nutrition Information Center. "The vast majority aren't drinking enough water to begin with, and, to make matters worse, many don't realize that beverages containing alcohol and caffeine actually rob the body of water." |
| NBC News | How to avoid sharks in the water-filter industry Have you ever been told "you are what you eat?" If you made it through high-school biology, then you know it may be more accurate to say you are what you drink. About two-thirds of your body is water, and if you're concerned about the quality of the water that you and your family are drinking, you're not alone. More Americans are buying water filters than ever before, and the reasons are as varied as the devices that they are buying. A recent Dateline NBC investigation focused on fraud in the water filter industry, and found that sometimes the sales tactics can be dirtier than the water. But if you want to make sure that your water is pure, there are steps that you can take to find out what system would be best for you without falling prey to deceptive sales tactics. [The article goes on to provide suggestions for spotting fraudulent sales tactics] |
| NBC News | Raising baby in an era of toxins Your Environment - and what you can do about it. ....The old worries used to be keeping babies safe from chemicals believed to cause cancer. Now researchers are intensifying their search for some of the subtler health effects of a wide variety of synthetic chemicals believed to produce neurotoxicity, immune-system disorders and reproductive and other developmental injuries. |
| NBC News | Lead in pregnancy linked to asthma July 29 - Preliminary findings of a new study suggest another possible hazard of lead: Women who are exposed to it during pregnancy may have babies that are predisposed to asthma and possibly even cancer. EXPERTS SAY the results, though observed only in animals, shed light on why certain segments of the U.S. population share high levels of asthma and childhood lead poisoning and could be an important clue for researchers working to prevent asthma.In the study, scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., gave lead-tainted drinking water to pregnant rats in proportions comparable to the level of lead exposure experienced by a woman living in an older building that has lead-based paint on the walls and lead-based solder in the water lines. They found that the lead had no impact on the mother rat, but its effects on her offspring were insidious. "The fetal exposure to lead produced serious long-term immune-system defects as the young rats matured," said Dr. Rodney R. Dietert, who headed the study team, "defects that could increase the offsprings' risk for allergic diseases and lower their immunity to tumors." The same populations that have the greatest exposure to lead also have the highest rates of asthma. For example, the lead-exposed young rats had high levels of IgE antibodies. These antibodies, when exposed to an asthma irritant such as ragweed pollen, bind the pollen to tissue cells in the lungs. These cells then generate histamines, chemicals that trigger the inflammation that obstructs the passage of air. The more IgE antibodies, the greater the risk of an asthma attack. The study, published in the journal Toxicological Sciences, found a number of such harmful alterations to the immune systems of the lead-exposed rats. |
| NBC News | Turning salt water into gold But desalination advances slowed by few funds. Oct. 10 - It's a goal that's as tricky as it is tempting: turning salt water into drinking water at a cost that makes it practical. Engineers around the world, from Oman to Illinois, have been wracking their brains trying to make the technology cheaper - and to get governments to fund more research. The stakes are enormous, but so far, advocates say, the investment in science and technology hasn't reflected that fact. |
| Denver Post | E. coli linked to water - A note in the
Western Empire section of the Denver Post (p. 4B), July 18, 1998 indicated
that an E. coli outbreak that sickened at least 50 people in Alpine WY
(population 470) was probably caused by a contaminated town water supply.
State epidemiologist, Gayle, Miller, said that it is only the second outbreak
in the nation that has been linked to municipal water. The probable cause
was cattle, elk or deer waste Greely water warning - A note in the Western Empire section of the Denver Post (p. 4B), September 8, 1999 reported that residents in and around Greeley are being warned not to drink tap water for a few days after tests showed possible contamination with giardia, an intestinal parasite that can cause extreme digestive discomfort. {The Denver Post does not have on-line archives of articles}. You may be interested in reading the special report,Colorado's Water - Special Report from October, 1998 |
| Science and Medical News Links | Links to about 70 science related magazines and newspapers. |
| San Diego Union-Tribune | To Access the archives at this site, you
must register - a free process. Once you have done that, go to the archive
section and enter drinking water fluoride debate into the search box
to access the article described below (and related articles). The fluoride debate | Treating drinking water: Does it protect or harm? - 01-Sep-1999 - In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listed water fluoridation as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the century. Right up there with vaccination, sanitation and seat belts. The previous month, the city councils of Escondido and La Mesa, as well as the Helix water district, banned fluoride from their water, declaring it a health hazard. And the politicians running the city of San Diego - the largest remaining U.S. city without fluoridated water -- are pointedly avoiding the controversy. It is true that fluoride has been used as a rat poison and pesticide. If you drink a pure glass of the stuff, you die. It is also true that fluoridated water contains just one drop of fluoride for every million drops of water and has been consumed by millions of people for more than 50 years as a cheap way to reduce tooth decay. |
| San Diego Union-Tribune | To Access the archives at this site, you
must register - a free process. Once you have done that, go to the archive
section and enter So you think you know H2O into the search box to
access the article described below (and related articles). Water World | So you think you know H2O? Tap into these elemental facts 1. Water is not water. Water -- simple, pure, unsullied water -- is exactly two parts hydrogen molecules and one part oxygen molecules. You know, "H-two-oh." But the slippery substance we know as "water" is hardly ever simple or pure. "When you really get into it, water isn't water," says Dr. Bruce Fowler, director of the toxicology program at the University of Maryland. The clear liquid you drink may contain any number of substances, some added by nature, some added by man, some tasty, some dangerous. When you pour yourself a glass of water, either from the tap or a store-bought bottle, you might need an ingredient label. Another very interesting article pulled up by the above search is: H2O | Most common liquid remains a mystery. |
| Detroit Free Press | A keyword search on "drinking water" provides a list of many interesting articles. |
| Detroit Free Press | A keyword search on "drinking water" provides a list of many interesting articles. |
| Detroit Free Press | What's in the water? - September 9, 1998. Here's what's in bottled water, according to the International Bottled Water Association: Definitions of bottled water terms, Artesian, Mineral, Purified, etc. |
| Detroit Free Press | Is bottled water worth the price? - May 19, 1998.On the water front, America is split into two factions: One, a shrinking majority, still drinks its water from taps at a cost that rarely exceeds a penny a gallon. The other demands bottled water at a cost that routinely tops the cost of gasoline. |
| Detroit Free Press | E. coli kills child, sickens 118 others - September 6, 1998. A contaminated underground water source is believed to be the origin of an E. coli outbreak at a county fair that killed a 3-year-old girl and sickened 118 others, state Health Department officials said Sunday. Tests on water in an aquifer supplying the Washington County fairgrounds turned up high levels of the E. coli bacteria. |
| Detroit Free Press | Water,
please - Plain Water should be the No. 1 liquid of choice. Remember:
Although other fluids can be counted as part of your fluid intake, they provide
sugars, coloring, caffeine, chemicals and other substances that need to be
metabolized and flushed away. Pure water does that most effectively. Caffeine, by the way, is a diuretic. If you rely largely on coffee, tea, chocolate-based drinks, or on soft drinks that aren't caffeine-free, you may be purging your system of necessary fluids. By all means, wet your whistle when you feel the urge, but most researchers say that thirst just isn't an accurate gauge of need. By the time you experience perceptible thirst, you're probably already dehydrated. Instead, keep a water bottle handy -- at your desk, in the car, when you work out. |
| Detroit Free Press | Assorted filtering devices let you perform your own clean water act - March 30, 1997 - A lot of people are going out of their way to avoid drinking tap water. Whether they are using home-filtered systems or bottled water, they prefer the taste over what comes just from the faucet. |
| Detroit Free Press | Water is everywhere, but we don't drink enough - September 9, 1998 - Water plays a crucial role in nearly every function of the body. It carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells, regulates body temperature, removes waste, aids breathing and cushions joints and vital organs. Yet, though it is a critical component of good health, most of us don't drink enough. |
| Detroit Free Press | Dehydration
affects Americans despite good water intake - July 14, 1998Americans
may be drinking themselves into a state of dehydration, a new survey
reports While Americans drink an average of eight cups of water and other hydrating beverages each day, they counter the positive effects of that liquid by drinking five servings of caffeinated or alcoholic beverages, which dehydrate the body, according to a survey of the drinking habits of 3,000 people. |
| Detroit Free Press | Tap water can be purer than bottled - April 1, 1999 The labels promise bliss in a bottle: pure, fresh water delivered straight from a mountain stream.But marketing is more glamorous than reality in much of the $4-billion bottled-water industry, a national research group reported this week. And Michigan is no exception. |
| Detroit News | Use search engine with topics of interest, i.e. drinking water, lead, etc. You can also search the Archives |
| Detroit News | Drink to your health Whether you're an elite athlete, recreational runner or construction worker, it makes little difference. Laborers, weekend warriors and professional triathletes alike can lose more than two gallons of sweat in certain weather conditions. |
| Detroit News | Drink to your health Whether you're an elite athlete, recreational runner or construction worker, it makes little difference. Laborers, weekend warriors and professional triathletes alike can lose more than two gallons of sweat in certain weather conditions. |
| Detroit News | Gasoline additive [MTBE] poses cruel choice: Clean air or clean water? SACRAMENTO, Calif. 1/22/2000 -- It smells like turpentine and spreads through water so quickly and thoroughly that a scant spoonful can foul an Olympic-sized swimming pool. MTBE, a widely used gasoline additive that makes cars burn cleaner, has posed a cruel dilemma: It's making the air cleaner, but it's polluting the water. A suspected animal carcinogen with unknown health effects on humans, MTBE has become the curse of water officials from California to New England. Leaking from gas stations' underground fuel tanks, it has forced wells to close, run up millions of dollars in cleanup costs, sparked suits and prompted state, local and federal investigations into a petrochemical that is still something of a mystery. |
| Detroit News Archive | Politicians put children at risk ...... On Dec. 14, Physicians for Social Responsibility released a children's environmental health report card that indicts the 104th Congress for neglect. More than 100 members of the Congress failed to vote to protect kids from environmental hazards even once. |
| OnHealth.com | We intend to be there every day, aggressively covering the issues, providing the best local health information, giving you access to experts and support groups, expanding and updating our deep databases of medical and health reference material, and giving you the personalized tools and services for making the most of what this site and the Internet have to offer. |
| OnHealth.com | Filtering the Data on Water Safety - Chlorination by-products have been scrutinized for their cancer-causing potential since the 1970s. A number of studies have hinted at a higher risk of bladder and colorectal cancer from the chemicals. |
| OnHealth.com | Bottled
Water May Contain Bacteria An environmental advocacy group says some
bottled water products are not as pure as they claim to be after tests showed
they contained bacteria and other contaminants. The Natural Resources Defense Council tested more than 1,000 samples of 103 brands of bottled water during a four-year period and found that about one-third of the tested brands contained chemicals or bacteria that exceeded the bottled water industry's own guidelines. |
| OnHealth.com | Typhoid Fever - Introduction & Symptoms | Causes & Treatments You can get typhoid fever if you eat or drink contaminated food or beverages. Contamination can occur when people handling food don't adequately wash their hands, or when sewage gets into drinking water. Because developing countries may not have sanitation systems that carefully contain waste and sewage, water used for drinking and washing may be contaminated. |
| OnHealth.com | Typhoid Fever - Introduction & Symptoms | Causes & Treatments You can get typhoid fever if you eat or drink contaminated food or beverages. Contamination can occur when people handling food don't adequately wash their hands, or when sewage gets into drinking water. Because developing countries may not have sanitation systems that carefully contain waste and sewage, water used for drinking and washing may be contaminated. |
| OnHealth.com | US tap water safety often beats bottled water |
| OnHealth.com | About
Traveler's Diarrhea Traveler's diarrhea (TD), or stomach and intestinal
illness that occurs when traveling, is usually caused by eating or drinking
contaminated food or beverages in areas where there is poor sanitation. Areas where there is the highest risk of poor sanitation include the developing countries of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The risk of infection varies depending on the type of eating establishment the traveler visits - from fairly low risk in private homes to high risk in food from street vendors. |
| OnHealth.com | Environmental Poisoning Introduction & Symptoms | Causes & Treatments | Recommended The human body is remarkable for its ability to handle the onslaughts of what can at times be a hostile environment. It is capable of neutralizing or expelling many potentially harmful agents, whether they are organic microbes or industrial chemicals or minerals. However, if your body absorbs low levels of some chemicals or minerals over a period of months or even years, you may develop chronic environmental poisoning. (Another form of environmental poisoning is acute environmental poisoning, which results from exposure to or ingestion of dangerous amounts of a toxic substance.) Symptoms of chronic environmental poisoning are often vague and can vary in severity; the condition is thus sometimes mistaken for another ailment or remains undetected altogether. |
| Mayo Clinic Health Oasis | A search on drinking water turned up 400+
articles - The one partly listed here is very interesting. What is your thirst telling you? - As is often the case with your health, it's best to start with the obvious: Your thirst tells you to drink. For healthy people under normal circumstances, thirst is a reliable mechanism to indicate the body's need for more fluid. "However, your thirst doesn't tell you exactly what to drink. It just tells you that you're thirsty," says Kenneth G. Berge, M.D., associate medical editor of Mayo Health Oasis. "Of course, billions of dollars are made by persuading you to reflexively reach for a soft drink or something like that, when really the best choice usually is water." You may have read or heard that you need at least eight glasses of water per day. This quantity won't hurt a healthy adult. But Dr. Berge says such one-size-fits-all answer fails to tell the whole story about the body's necessary balance of fluid intake and loss. Humans normally lose about 10 cups (2.4 liters) of fluid a day in sweat, urine, exhaled air and bowel movements. What is lost must be replaced to maintain a fluid balance.Dehydration poses a particular health risk for the very young and the very old. Caffeinated and alcoholic beverages are actually dehydrating because they increase urine output, so don't count on those to replenish fluid loss. |
| New York Times | Archives
- You have to pay $2.50 to read the entire article, but you can read summaries
for free. (one recent article from the archives) Tracking Ground Water's Unwelcome Guests. Industrial solvents and related chemicals are present in the ground water used to provide drinking water for 35 million to 50 million Americans, according to the United States Geological Survey, which is about to publish the first national report card ... November 23, 1999, Tuesday |
| Science Daily | Your link to the latest research news - Archive search engine. A variety of interesting articles can be found using the search engine. |
| Science Daily | Information for travelers. Treat Questionable Water With Filters And Iodine, UA Microbiologist Says. If you want to lie awake and worry before your next vacation, don't fret about bears in your camp or whether your plane will take a bath before reaching Europe. Worry about something that's just as threatening, but much more common -- pathogens in the water supply. After all, on any given outing you're a lot more likely to run into microbes than bears or wind shear. |
| Science Daily | Information for travelers. Treat Questionable Water With Filters And Iodine, UA Microbiologist Says. If you want to lie awake and worry before your next vacation, don't fret about bears in your camp or whether your plane will take a bath before reaching Europe. Worry about something that's just as threatening, but much more common -- pathogens in the water supply. After all, on any given outing you're a lot more likely to run into microbes than bears or wind shear. |
| Science Daily | Banking On Safer Drinking Water - Scientists test riverside soil as a natural purifying agent Bustling rivers such as the Mississippi and the Ohio are the source of drinking water for millions of Americans. But these rivers are likely to contain hazardous chemicals and pathogens that must be removed or neutralized before the water is safe for drinking. New research suggests that the soil alongside these channels could help with the cleanup. Drawing river water through the adjacent earth may strip away some unwanted pollutants, including harmful viruses, protozoa and bacteria, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University believe. |
| Science Daily | Scientists Seek Early Warning Of Drinking Water Threats - MADISON - A University of Wisconsin-Madison research team will be mixing up a batch of "pathogen cocktails" in the laboratory, with the goal of countering disease-causing threats to drinking water. Civil Engineering Professor Greg Harrington is leading a two-year project to determine how well water-treatment technologies remove Cryptosporidium and other microorganisms before they reach the kitchen tap. .... "If we review waterborne outbreaks of infectious disease in the United States, we find that the culprit was identified in only about half the cases," says Harrington. "There are numerous microorganisms, but detection methods are available for only a small fraction." |
| Science Daily | 42 Million Americans Use Groundwater Vulnerable To Contamination By Volatile Organic Compounds: Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey estimate that 42 million Americans use groundwater vulnerable to low-level contamination by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The estimate is based on the first nationwide assessment of untreated groundwater aquifers, which found VOC levels in excess of federal drinking water criteria in about 6 percent of urban wells and 1.5 percent of rural wells. The amount of human exposure to the VOCs is uncertain, according to the researchers. |
| Science Daily | Endocrine Disrupters: Dioxin Causes Reproductive System Defects - A toxic chemical that lurks in the environment for years causes a vaginal defect in unborn rats. The abnormality is a web of tissue that partially obstructs the vaginal opening and may impair the rats' ability to reproduce. |
| Science Daily | MTBE Threatens Thousands Of Public Drinking Wells: As many as 9,000 community water wells in 31 states may be affected by contamination from the gasoline additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) due to their proximity to leaking underground storage tanks, according to a new study. First added to gasoline to enhance octane and later in much larger amounts to reduce air pollution, MTBE has turned up in groundwater throughout the nation. Its foul smell and taste are apparent at very low concentrations (parts per billion). |
| Scientific American | Scientific American On Line - Many interesting articles from the world of science. |
| Scientific American | How does chlorine added to drinking water kill bacteria and other harmful organisms? Why doesn't it harm us? |
| Globalis | Globalis is a tool which highlights the similarities and differences between the countries of this world, and has been developed by the the United Nations Association of Norway in cooperation with UNEP/GRID-Arendal, the UNU/Global Virtual University and the University College of Hedmark. Globalis uses the UN Millenium Goals as a starting point, and will follow the development towards the year 2015, when, according to plan, these goals of human development and poverty reduction should have been reached. The tool also includes data from different years, allowing you to see for instance how humans have influenced the environment over time. Includes a world map showing access to clean water (on the left select Category 'Water' and the indicator, 'Access to safe water' - the map can be zoomed to region and the 'show ranking' option lists countries by access to safe water). |
| Scientific American | ACCESS
TO SAFE DRINKING WATER- In 1848 and 1849 up to a million people in Russia
and 150,000 in France died of cholera, the classic disease of contaminated
water. Typhoid fever, another disease transmitted through water, was most
likely responsible for the deaths of 6,500 out of 7,500 colonists in Jamestown,
Va., early in the 17th century; during the Spanish-American War, it disabled
one fifth of the American army. Today waterborne disease is no longer a major problem in developed countries, thanks to water-purification methods such as filtration and chlorination and to the widespread availability of sanitary facilities. But in developing countries, waterborne and sanitation-related diseases kill well over three million annually and disable hundreds of millions more, most of them younger than five years of age. Includes a world map showing access to clean water. |
| Scientific American | Water and Ice - Researchers now understand how H2O's properties result from its bonds. Water exhibits an array of unique properties that make it the stabilizing influence on global climate and the key to life itself. The oceans can store vast amounts of heat because it takes a large amount of heat to raise water temperature one degree. Unlike other liquids which contract when they are cooled, water expands below four degrees C. so ice is less dense and floats on top of liquid water--acting an insulating layer and providing a favorable habitat for life below. Water's enormous heat-carrying capacity allows the atmosphere and ocean currents to balance global temperatures. Its polarity and electrical conductivity make it an ideal solvent for conducting the chemical reactions that are the basis of metabolism. Other related articles: Researchers Explain the Transformation of Water into Ice, Floating Ice from the Lab, Experimental Evidence |
| Scientific American | CONSUMING FEARS - In Britain, doubts about science allow food scares to flourish. - An interesting article about Risk Perception and public attitude on issues. Along the same lines: FOOD FRIGHT |
| Scientific American | Parasites or Pollution? - Biologists figure out what accounts for certain side-show frogs |
| Thrive On Line | Site has archives of health related articles from many publications. Use the search engine on the home page to find topics of interest. drinking water or water contamination, for instance produced many articles. These articles seem to come and go, so there is a very good chance a specific article I have linked to will be missing. |
| Thrive | Soda Substitute. |
| Thrive | Dear
Karen - Please remind me how important water is. I can't seem to choke
it down. -- water hater Dear Water Hater, Your body needs water in regular doses....... |
| Thrive | US tap water safety often beats bottled water - NEW YORK, Mar 14,2000 (Reuters Health) -- Bottled water from around the country and around the world is available for sale in the US. But the best bargain may already be in your kitchen -- tap water has less bacteria and more fluoride than much of the 4 billion gallons of bottled water currently sold annually in the United States, according to researchers. |
| Thrive | Is your water safe to drink?Prevention Feb, 1999 - Drinking water is derived from three sources: a public utility subject to state and federal regulation; a private source such as a well; and last, bottled water. Some 85% of American households receive water from a municipal source. Public water is considered safe for consumption and tests extremely well in spite of some well-publicized reports of contaminants in public wells. Contaminants range from radium and gasoline additives to bacteria, lead and pesticides. Organic contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, and cryptosporidium enter the water cycle when human and animal feces is released into lakes and streams via sewage plant overflows and city and farm runoffs. |
| Thrive | Troubled watersMar, 1996 Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal there were more than 17,000 cases of waterborne illnesses during the last two-year reporting period. However, since many of the symptoms are often confused with other sicknesses, some feel as many as 25 outbreaks go unreported for every one that is. Many Americans are exposed to potentially harmful microbes, pesticides, lead, or radioactive radon whenever they drink from the tap or take a shower. One reason for these increasing problems is that 25 percent of our water-treatment plants have trouble complying with federal drinking water standards because they are old, out-dated, or not properly equipped to process the large amounts of raw sewage and agricultural pollutants that are discharged into drinking water sources. |
| Thrive | Dangers in your water. Natural Health, Jul/Aug, 1998 - More than 45 million Americans are supplied with water unfit for drinking based on the water standards of the Environmental Protection Agency. There are more than 1 million cases of water-related illness each year of which 1,000 are fatal. Water for drinking should be tested by a professional testing laboratory. The most common contaminants in water systems are chlorine byproducts, lead, microbial organisms, nitrates, and pesticides. The contamination process, the health effects of these contaminants, and the risk factors in water contamination for each of the pollutants is discussed. Filters can be used to remove these contaminants from the water system. The available filters on the market are carafe filters, faucet filters, and reverse osmosis systems. Reverse osmosis systems remove most of the contaminants in drinking water. |
| Thrive | Voluntary standard for lead from water faucets is called too lax. New York Times 1994, Nov 3. A national plumbing supply industry group has published a voluntary standard on how much lead should be allowed to leach into water from faucets, ice makers and other fixtures. Health experts say the industry's seal of approval, which will appear on package labels in about a year, is still too lax. |
| Thrive | Tap water byproducts linked to stillbirths. Medical Tribune May 1999 - Most waterworks have treated reservoir water with chlorine to destroy bacteria since 1908. California scientists linked one byproduct of this process called trihalomethanes (THMs) to increased incidence of miscarriage. |
| Thrive | Tap
water may cause illness in elderly NEW YORK, Jan 25, 2000 (Reuters Health)
-- Even where drinking water standards meet state and federal standards,
the elderly may be at increased risk for waterborne gastrointestinal infections
from tap water, results of a recent study suggest ....'Disinfected drinking water in Western countries may still be a source of infectious gastrointestinal illness,' Schwartz and colleagues write. They examined Medicare records of Philadelphia residents between 1992 and 1993, as well as daily water exposure measures. Records suggested a correlation between water quality and gastrointestinal illness 9 to 11 days prior to the hospital admission. |
| Thrive | Fluoride in water supply does not increase hip fractures NEW YORK, Jan 2, 20001 (Reuters Health) -- Despite concerns that fluoride consumption might weaken bones and increase the risk of fractures, a study from Britain indicates that drinking fluoridated water does not increase the rate of hip fractures. |
| Thrive | Clean-water acts Prevention Aug 1994 Drinking filtered water may remove compounds that have been associated with bladder cancer. While smoking is the primary risk factor in bladder cancer, chlorinated drinking water may be another culprit. Researchers have seen twice the risk of cancer in people who drank an average of two and one half glasses of chlorinated water daily for more than thirty years compared to those who drank water disinfected by other processes. Chlorine reacts with organic compounds in water to make trihalomethanes that have been found to be carcinogenic in animals. |
| Thrive | Lead alert Parents Mar 1997 - There are an estimated 1.7 million children age 5 and under in the United States, across all socio-economic groups, who have unsafe levels of lead in their bodies. Even minute amounts of the metal are extremely toxic to humans, and children are particularly vulnerable. Lead poisoning can cause retardation, behavioral problems, and death. Lead paint or water pipes in older homes is a common source of lead contamination, as is soil near lead-painted homes or near highways....... |
| Thrive | What's in your water? Mademoiselle Sep 1996, According to a recent study, some 16.5 million Americans are supplied by water systems containing excessive amounts of harmful microorganisms, and 12 million by systems containing excessive levels of pollutants and chemicals. Well water is generally riskier than municipal systems, but even state-of-the-art treatment plants can't stop some problems. Ask your local water supplier for its latest report on water contaminants. |
| USA Today | Is it Safe to Drink the Water? Report: Drinking water's hidden dangers Millions of Americans drink tap water that is not clean and, in some cases, not even tested, leaving them open to illness and sometimes even death. A USA TODAY investigation reveals that the nation's safe drinking laws are failing to protect the nation from dangerous contaminants and that little is done when violations occur. Federal and state programs aren't working due to inadequate funding, inaccurate data, a soft regulatory approach and weak political support. Meanwhile, new pollutants imperil the water supply with hard-to-kill bacteria and industrial and agricultural toxins. Very interesting series of articles! There is no date, but internal evidence indicates that it was written in Fall or Winter 1998 |
| AMAZON.COM | Online Bookstore - Do a key word search on drinking water, and you will find a number of interesting sounding books on various aspects of drinking water. |
| AMAZON.COM | The Drinking Water Book: A Complete Guide to Safe Drinking Water - by Colin Ingram - List Price: $12.95 - Amazon Price: $10.36 - All the information you need to make intelligent decisions about your drinking water. How to determine what's in your tap water and the best way to treat it. Evaluates and compares Reverse Osmosis, Distillers, Ultraviolet, sediment, carbon, and redox filters. Includes comprehensive chart listing each kind of filtering system and effectiveness levels for various contaminates. Drinking eight glasses of water a day may take inches off your waistline, but it could also take years off your lifeline. According to Colin Ingram, a scientific researcher/writer of 30 years, chances are you have poor quality drinking water flowing from your faucet. Water treatment today is focused on short-term health risks, instead of long-term health effects; no one knows what is a safe level of water pollution for any individual-not government health officials, not scientists, not doctors. The Drinking Water Book is a complete guide to safe drinking water. Colin's goal is to illuminate the potential problems of water, and to provide working solutions. He identifies the different kinds of pollutants, how to find out what's in your water, how purifiers work or don't work, and compares all types of bottled water. |
| AMAZON.COM | Don't Drink the Water The Essential Guide to Our Contaminated Drinking Water and What You Can Do about It - by Lono Kahuna Kupua A'o - List Price: $11.95, Amazon Price: $9.56 |
| AMAZON.COM | Drinking Water: Refreshing Answers to All Your Questions (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series, No 21) by James M. Symons - List Price: $10.95, Amazon Price: $8.76 |
| AMAZON.COM | Cottage Water Systems: An Out-Of-The City Guide to Pumps, Plumbing, Water Purification, and Privies - by Max Burns - List Price: $24.95 - Amazon Price: $19.96 - Review - From the Publisher - The do-it-yourselfer's dream for household water systems. Cottage Water Systems is a well-written, well-illustrated guide to providing your "cottage" (or rural home) with water-in and water-out. It clearly explains water supplies, water quality, water in winter (very important), and wastewater. Includes troubleshooting guides for common problems. (Larry Dieterich, Whole Earth Review #85, Spring 1995, Special Water Edition). Other reviews on line. |
| AMAZON.COM | The Magic School Bus : At the Waterworks - by Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen (Illustrator) - List Price: $4.99 - Amazon Price: $3.99 - Reading level: Ages 4-8 - Synopsis - Ms. Frizzle, an unflappable science teacher, drives the magical school bus into a cloud where the children shrink to the size of water droplets and follow the course of water through the city's waterworks system. |
| AMAZON.COM | The Magic School Bus Wet All over : A Book About the Water Cycle - Amazon Price: $8.75 |
| AMAZON.COM | The Home Water Supply: How to Find, Filter, Store and Conserve It - by Stu Campbell, Roger Griffith - Amazon Price: $15.16 |
| Our Stolen Future | A book by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski and
John Peterson Myers Our Stolen Future (ISBN 0-525-93982-2) was first published in March 1996 by Dutton, Penguin Books USA. It was released in paper by Plume/Penguin, March 1997, and is also available in German (Die bedrohte Zukunft, published by Droemer Knaur), Korean (as of 28 March 1997) and Spanish (4 April 1997). It will soon be available in Dutch, Japanese and Portuguese. (Regardless of your views about the seriousness of this problem of of the scientific methods described in this book, this IS the book that brought the group of chemicals known as Endocrine Disropters to the public consciousness.) |
| Organizations, Manufacturers, Certification | |
The importance of independent certification for products that impact people's health. There are many thousands of companies producing health-related products and making claims about the products' performance. Unless there is certification by an independent, disinterested third party that the claims are accurate, the product ads could be nothing more than creative writing. When purchasing health products, however, creative advertising can be downright dangerous, not to mention expensive. NSF certification means that not only do the products perform as tested, the product advertisements are also evaluated for accuracy and truthfulness. |
|
| NSF International | Mission statement - Behind the NSF Mark is an
independent, not-for-profit organization called NSF International. For over
50 years NSF has been committed to public health safety and protection of
the environment by developing standards, by providing education and by providing
third-party conformity assessment services while representing the interest
of all stakeholders. This site provides an on-line comparison of water filtration
units that are certified by NSF. The NSF Certified Product Listings You may select "Drinking Water Treatment Units" and/or "Bottled Water and Packaged Ice". The NSF Standards that pertain to water filters are # 42 and # 53. To use the guide, select a standard then click on the button with the First Letter of the company you are interested in checking. NSF's principal services include:
|
| WaterNet | How
NSF Sets POU/POE Standards - It's one of the marks of assurance in a
changing industry. The water treatment industry has evolved dramatically since the 1960s, when its primary focus was on water conditioning (that is, softening and improving the taste of potable water). Today, in addition to such basic services for consumers, the industry is called upon to develop technologies for treating drinking water that has fallen below acceptable public health standards. Contaminants such as lead and Cryptosporidium have placed the water treatment industry in a key public-health protection role. The NSF International -- or simply NSF -- has worked closely with the water treatment industry for more than 30 years, developing public- health standards for treatment technologies that meet changing market demands. |
| American Water Works Association (AWWA) | The American Water Works Association (AWWA) is an international nonprofit scientific and educational society dedicated to the improvement of drinking water quality and supply. Founded in 1881, AWWA is the largest organization of water supply professionals in the world. Its more than 50,000 members represent the full spectrum of the drinking water community: treatment plant operators and managers, scientists, environmentalists, manufacturers, academicians, regulators, and others who hold genuine interest in water supply and public health. Membership includes more than 3,700 utilities that supply water to roughly 170 million people in North America. |
| AWWA | The Blue Thumb Project is an ongoing campaign to raise public awareness and understanding of drinking water issues and to motivate individuals, organizations, communities and local governments to make water-responsible choices. |
| AWWA | Minimizing Public Exposure to Lead in Drinking Water - A White Paper from the American Water Works Association |
| AWWA Research Foundation | The AWWA Research Foundation sponsors practical, applied and future-need based research for the drinking water community. AWWARF's research program embraces all aspects of water supply planning and operation. |
| AWWA Research Foundation | Report from the Expert Workshop on Emerging Waterborne Pathogens and Their Public Health Significance - The purpose of the Emerging Waterborne Pathogens Workshop was to define research needs to assess the potential impacts of emerging waterborne pathogens on the water industry. This report summarizes the results of this workshop, composed of individuals from academia, regulatory agencies, and the water industry, held in Breckenridge, Colorado, June 6-7, 1996. The objectives of the workshop were to identify emerging waterborne pathogens, prioritize them according to degree of concern, and develop research project recommendations to address critical research needs. |
| The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA) | The ASDWA is the professional Association serving state drinking water programs. Formed in 1984 to address a growing need for state administrators to have national representation, ASDWA has become a respected voice for state primacy agents with Congress, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other professional organizations. ASDWA's principal activities include:............. |
| Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit | A local public health agency in Ontario, Canada - Site has fact sheets on Water Treatment Devices, Sodium, Nitrates, Drinking Water Safety |
| Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit | Fluoride (Fluoride is a common element in the earth's crust, and is present in groundwater naturally from trace concentrations to 5 mg/l.) |
| Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC) | The Chlorine Chemistry Council, comprised of
chlorine and chlorinated product manufacturers, is a business council of
the Chemical Manufacturers Association. CCC strives to achieve policies that
promote the continuing, responsible uses of chlorine and chlorine-based products.
Rachel's Folly: The
End of Chlorine - The environmentalists are right about one thing: Dirty
water kills. Millions are people are dying needlessly all over the world
because of it. But are the main culprits man-made pollution and chlorinated
chemicals? Try endemic poverty, bad plumbing and lack of access to basic
water chlorination techniques. Every year, nearly 1.5 billion people - mostly
children under five - suffer from preventable water-borne diseases such as
cholera, typhoid fever, amoebic dysentery, bacterial gastroenteritis, giardiasis,
schistosomiasis, and various viral diseases such as hepatitis A. Yet now
there is a mounting campaign, led by environmental activists in wealthy
industrialized nations, to eliminate every last man-made chlorine molecule
from the face of the earth. There is a tremendous amount of interesting information on this site about disinfection of water using chlorine. Safe Water Delivered Safely - You may know how important fresh water is to our diet, but did you ever think about how much water we consume every day? Americans and Canadians use more water than any other country, even those that are as equally developed. In fact, a typical family of four uses about 350 gallons per day at home for drinking, bathing, clothes and food washing, garden sprinkling, etc. Fortunately, Americans and Canadians enjoy some of the cleanest and safest drinking water in the world. Chlorine Timeline (PDF file) |
| Clean Water Network | The Clean Water Network is an alliance of over
1,000 organizations that endorse our platform paper, the
National Agenda for
Clean Water. The Agenda outlines the need for strong clean water safeguards
in order to protect public health and the environment.
Clean Water Fact
Sheets Note: The links above will get you to the appropriate pages, but they will not be in frames. Go the home page if you would like to explore the whole site. |
| Foundation for Water Research | Welcome to the FWR Home Page An independent,
non-profit making organization that promotes and disseminates research on
all aspects of water, wastewater and related environmental issues.
Publication List Review of the toxicology of aluminum with reference to drinking water - OBJECTIVES - To review all the relevant literature on the toxicity in drinking water of aluminium to man, and to discuss the level of aluminium that the WHO should set in its drinking water guideline. In the Publlication List section look under the Drinking Water Quality & Health section for a number of articles about the effect of many chemicals on human health, including: disinfection byproducts, lead, fluoranthene, beryllium, formaldehyde, asbestos, etc. |
| Foundation for Water Research | Papers on Cryptosporidium and Giardia from the Foundation for Water Research |
| WaterWorld International | The Internet Portal for Water and Waste. (Use search engine to locate articles of interest) |
| Water Online | A Community for Industry Professionals. The site contains a variety of articles, but they are constantly changing, nd I have not been able to successfully link to them. Try the "NEWS & ANALYSIS" menu item and the "Industry Search" window - use the Editorial option - to locate topics of interest. |
| International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation | The purpose of the IFIC Foundation is to provide sound, scientific information on food safety and nutrition to journalists, health professionals, educators, government officials and consumers. IFIC is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. |
| IFIC Foundation | A Program to Promote Food Risk Awareness and Understanding - Prepared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration / Public Health Service Department of Health and Human Services and The International Food Information Council Foundation. This program presents important food safety information to high school students and encourages critical thinking skills. |
| IFIC Foundation | A Refresher on Water - Thirst signals the body's need for fluid. But some experts believe the thirst mechanism cannot be considered entirely reliable, and that slight dehydration has already occurred by the time a person becomes thirsty. For this reason, athletes and other active persons must be sure to consume adequate water for optimal performance. |
| IFIC Foundation | Kids At Risk: Getting the Lead Out - A new $1 billion federal initiative to reduce environmental lead exposure is aimed at protecting millions of children from the risk of physical and mental retardation. The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Housing and Urban Development will join in a comprehensive effort to reduce the major sources of lead in paint, urban soil and dust, and drinking water. |
| IFIC Foundation | Risks Misjudged in Cholera Epidemic - Health officials in Peru appear to have misjudged the relative risks of water chlorination on one hand and microbial contamination on the other, which may have helped begin a cholera epidemic that is now sweeping Peru and other countries in South and Central America. |
| National Drinking Water Clearinghouse | Assisting small communities by collecting, developing, and providing timely information relevant to drinking water issues. |
| American Diatetic Association (ADA) - Your link to Nutrition and Health | Founded in 1917, ADA's nearly 69,000 members in the US and abroad help shape the food choices and impact the nutritional status of the public. The membership includes dietitians, dietetic technicians, students, and others holding baccalaureate and advanced degrees in nutrition and dietetics. Search Engine - "Drinking water" produces many interesting articles. |
| ADA | Position of The American Dietetic Association: The impact of fluoride on dental health |
| ADA | Summer Heat Waves Can Cause Risk for Dehydration |
| ADA | Winter's Chill Dehydrates the Skin |
| ADA | A
Drink for Health Drink at least eight to 10 cups of water or water-based
beverages every day. When temperatures are high, you are exercising or even
doing some yard work, you'll need more. Remember that caffeine-based beverages, like coffee, tea and colas, act as diuretics and you'll lose some of the fluid-alcohol has an even greater effect. So make your drinks--water (bottled or tap), juice or milk. |
| ADA | Fluid
Needs for Infants Infants consume plenty of fluids from breast milk
or formula, but many parents wonder if they need water. The miracle of infants is that extra water is not needed, except in certain situations. |
| ADA | Abstract - Water: An essential but overlooked nutrient - FEBRUARY 1999 |
| World Water Vision | JOIN THE WORLD WATER VISION! Let's ensure a sustainable future for our shared water resources. |
| The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) | The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) is a nonprofit (501(c)3) organization whose members consist of state and federal ground water agencies, industry representatives, environmentalists and concerned citizens, all of whom come together within the GWPC organization to mutually work toward the protection of the nation's ground water supplies. The purpose of the GWPC is to promote and ensure the use of best management practices and fair but effective laws regarding comprehensive ground water protection. |
| WaterNet | WaterNet - The information source for water treatment professionals Search Water Treatment Archives for topics of interest. The content changes regularly, but the past articles tend to be archived. Enter topics of interest- cryptosporidium, lead, bottled water, etc. |
| WaterNet | Bottled water's success breeds discontent |
| WaterNet | Third World's Water Needs Help |
| WaterNet | Third World's Water Needs Help |
| Water Online | Your Business Connection for the Water and Wastewater Industries. |
| Water Quality Association (WQA) | The Water Quality Association (WQA) is the international trade association representing the household, commercial, and industrial water quality improvement industry. Apparently, links can no longer be made to individual articles. Use the search engine to locate articles of interest - try; cryptosporidium, trihalomethanes, lead, water contamination, etc. The Consumer information page has a list of articles about various drinking water related topics. |
| Issues of Water Quality | Publications by Everpure, Inc. {a maker of water treatment systems} - Chances are, you've been hearing a lot about the quality of our drinking water lately. A "bug" in Milwaukee's water supply that sickened 400 people and killed 100; Lead contamination from water pipes and plumbing fixtures; or maybe something as simple as off-tastes and odors. If you have experienced any of these problems or simply want to get the facts about water problems and their solutions, check out our Issues Of Water Quality. From Cryptosporidium to chlorine, here you'll find useful information to help you make an educated choice when sourcing a drinking water system. And be sure to check back regularly, as we update the "Issues" monthly. |
| International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation | The purpose of the IFIC Foundation is to provide sound, scientific information on food safety and nutrition to journalists, health professionals, educators, government officials and consumers. IFIC is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. |
| Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit | A local public health agency in Ontario, Canada - Site has fact sheets on Water Treatment Devices, Sodium, Nitrates, Drinking Water Safety, and Fluoride (Fluoride is a common element in the earth's crust, and is present in groundwater naturally from trace concentrations to 5 mg/l.) |
| Texas Rural Water Association (TRWA) | Established in 1969, TRWA is a nonprofit statewide
trade association with an active membership consisting of more than 800 municipal
utility districts, special utility districts, nonprofit water supply
corporations, small-town water departments, investor-owned utilities and
individual members. In addition, more than 200 water industry suppliers
participate in TRWA activities as associate members. TRWA members provide
water and wastewater service to 2.5 million customers. TRWA is dedicated to helping directors, managers and operators of each member utility provide efficient service and clean, safe drinking water for their customers. TRWA is affiliated with the National Rural Water Association and the National Alliance of State Rural Water Associations. Go to links page for listings of a number of water related sites. |
| National Rural Water Association | The National Rural Water Association is a federation of 45 state rural water associations. These state associations represent over 19,000 water and wastewater utilities across America making NRWA the largest utility membership organization in the nation. In cooperation with the state associations, NRWA is constantly working to improve the quality of utility services for rural Americans while protecting our natural resources. |
| Lifewater International | Lifewater International is a non-profit organization of Christian water specialists in the United States and Canada. We have over 100 volunteer well drillers, hydrogeologists, mechanical engineers, environmental scientists and businessmen. Lifewater's volunteers travel to developing countries and train nationals to improve their water supplies. We leave all necessary equipment with a trained crew and continue to provide technical and financial support. The national crews are then able to share the free gift of clean water with their neighbors and break the cycle of disease and poverty caused by unsafe drinking water. Founded in 1979, Lifewater has completed, or is now working on, water projects in thirty countries on five continents. Our volunteers and national crews have installed over 650 successful wells and water systems that are presently serving more than 200,000 people. |
| Lifewater Canada | Lifewater Canada is a Christian, non-profit organization of people from across Canada who are bound together by a common desire to ensure that people everywhere have access to adequate supplies of safe water. Members include hydrogeologists, well drillers, educators, engineers, environmental scientists, businessmen and many other people with diverse skills and training. |
| Health Canada | Health Canada is involved in a number of activities
related to Canadian drinking water quality. Some of these activities are
conducted jointly with the Provinces and Territories. I found that one
has to use the search engine, "drinking water", for instance, to find topics
of interest. The home page had no mention of water related topics. Health Risks of Drinking Water Chlorination By-products: Report of an Expert Working Group - A number of recent epidemiologic studies, including a 1995 study sponsored by Health Canada, have found a modest increase in the risk of bladder cancer among people who had drinking water that included high levels of chlorination by-products. Other studies of water chlorination by-products have suggested possible increased risks of colon and rectal cancers, as well as adverse reproductive and developmental effects, such as increased spontaneous abortion rates and fetal anomalies. Also: Health Canada Chlorinated Disinfection By-Products (CDBP) Task Group National Survey of Chlorinated Disinfection By-Products in Canadian Drinking Water, 1995, 85 (PDF documents) A One-Year Survey of Halogenated Disinfection By-Products, 1996 (PDF documents) |
| Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) | The OECD is a Paris-based intergovernmental organisation whose purpose is to provide its 29 Member countries with a forum in which governments can compare their experiences, discuss the problems they share and seek solutions which can then be applied within their own national contexts. The Organization is thus entirely at the service of its Member countries. It forms a homogeneous entity in that each Member country is committed to the principles of the market economy and pluralistic democracy. Co-ordination of Endocrine Disrupters Assessment Activities. This report is a contribution to the OECD Endocrine Disrupters Coordination Activity as part of the OECD Test Guidelines Programme. Conduct effects driven studies into exposure assessment in humans comprising epidemiological (including case-control) stud... {Self loading Word document}. OECD Test Guidelines play a critical role in ensuring efficient and effective procedures are available to identify chemical hazards. The focus of the DRP is on test methods for sex-hormone disrupting chemicals capable of affecting the reproductive process....{Self loading Word document} |
| WaterPartners International | WaterPartners International is a non-profit organization that addresses the water supply and sanitation needs of people living in developing countries. We promote innovative and cost-effective community water projects that have the greatest chance for long-term success. We help people understand the impact of safe water--life's most basic commodity--on the quality of life |
| Alzheimer Research Forum | Welcome to the Alzheimer Research Forum. We
are a non-profit foundation which has established this web site to serve
the scientific and clinical research community. A number of articles on the possible link between aluminum and drinking water can be found by entering drinking water into the search engine. One example - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND ALUMINUM SPECIATION IN DRINKING WATER - To investigate the relation between aluminum (Al) forms in drinking water and Alzheimer's disease (AD), we carried out a case-control study in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Region (Quebec). |
| IFIC Foundation | Better Eating For Better Aging - Thirst - Gradual, steady loss of body water is a factor in aging, and older people more easily become dehydrated. This can be a major complicating factor in illness and negatively affects outcome, according to Galen L. Barbour, M.D., with the Veterans Administration in Hampton, Virginia. |
| drkoop.com | Our Web site is based on the vision of Dr. C.
Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General, who believes that people should
be empowered to better manage their personal health with comprehensive, trusted
information. drkoop.com strives to be the most trusted and complete source
of consumer healthcare information and services on the Internet. Appropriate Uses of Fluoride - Dr. Monica Fisher - American Council on Science and Health - Water fluoridation continues to be debated in some circles. However, the arguments against water fluoridation are not supported by scientific evidence. This is an important public health issue worthy of additional emphasis. |
| University Related Sites and Extension Services | |
| Bugs in the News | Articles about bacteria, viruses and a host of other health topics |
| Educating Young People About Water | The site is a clearinghouse for community or
school based youth water education programs. From the site you can read a
brief summary of over 100 water related educational programs. The materials
are available for K-12; however, they must be purchased. Links are available
to related organizations with free material. Water education programs take place in little pockets all over the country- that's the nature of water, it's everywhere! To attract youth, program goals and activities must be relevant to a young person's life. Then, to link youth programs to their community, it takes a clear understanding of a community's water problems in order to design a program that best fits the people and issues involved. University of Wisconsin. |
| Running Water | An educational site for 8-13 year olds developed at the Department of Computer Science, University of Exeter for South West Water (United Kingdom). |
| Drinking Water and Health | Colorado State University, Cooperative Extension - A discussion of important water contaminants and solutions. |
| Educating Young People About Water | Provides materials, searchable by grade level or subject, to help users develop water education programs while forming key community partnerships. From the University of Wisconsin Extension. |
| National Extension Water Quality Database | Welcome to the Purdue - CSREES-USDA Water Quality Information Management Project. You have computer access to educational materials prepared by Extension Specialists from throughout the United States. Purdue - CSREES-USDA Water Quality Information Management Project Search Tool |
| National Water Quality Database (NWQD) | The National Water Quality Database is an information management tool for locating water quality and waste management educational resources created by the 50 State Cooperative Extension Services. You can search by category (i.e. Drinking Water Quality) or by state. Alternate link to The National Extension Water Quality Database with a different interface. |
| NWQD | Nitrates in Your Drinking Water |
| NWQD | Emergency Disinfection of Water Supplies |
| NWQD | Emergency Water Supplies |
| NWQD | Water Quality and Private Water Supplies - While public water supplies are monitored to ensure safety, water from private sources is not. The user must assume complete responsibility for its safety. There are no state or federal laws which require the testing of water from private supply sources. |
| NWQD | A Guide To Home Water Treatment |
| NWQD | Choosing Home Water Devices |
| NWQD | Safe Drinking Water Testing and Treating Home Drinking Water:- Discusses various water treatment methods {Note that the discussion of bacterial growth in carbon filters applies to granulated activated carbon (GAC) filters, not to micro-pore, solid block carbon filters.} |
| NWQD | Your Home's Health Household Water Treatment {extensive descriptions of treatment strategies} |
| NWQD | BOTTLED WATER Crystal Clear Choice or Cloudy Dilemma? When people picture where bottled water comes from they probably imagine a bubbling mountain stream or a gushing artesian well. In many cases, the water does come from such natural sources, but about one-quarter of all bottled water comes from a municipal supply. |
| NWQD | Bacteria in Water Supplies? Bacteria are single-celled organisms commonly found in soil, on our bodies, on leaf material and in water. There may be over a million cells per gram of soil. Bacteria serve many functions in nature. They help break down matter (decomposition) and transform it through chemical reactions. "Pathogenic" bacteria carry diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera. If these bacteria are in drinking water, they can cause serious health problems. In one instance, in Missouri, four people died and 243 people became seriously ill from drinking water with a dangerous strain of Estherichia coli (Geldreich, et al., 1992). |
| NWQD | Home Water Treatment Using Activated Carbon |
| NWQD | Treatment Systems for Household Water Supplies - Activated Carbon Filtration |
| NWQD | Possible Treatments - Reverse Osmosis |
| NWQD | Treatment Systems for Household Water Supplies - Softening |
| NWQD | Possible Treatments - Ultraviolet Radiation |
| Water Center Environmental Programs Unit | University of Nebraska-Lincoln The Water Center/Environmental Programs Unit is part of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Its mission is to implement focused water research, teaching, extension and service programs within the University of Nebraska at the post-secondary education level and to address environmental needs associated with the agriculture and natural resources areas of IANR. Search for UNL Extension publications by keyword - drinking water, for instance, produces a number of articles |
| Water Center | University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension: list of articles on water quality that can be faxed or read to you 1-800-832-5441 or (441-7188 in Lincoln area) |
| Water Center | Cryptosporidia |
| Water Center | Lead |
| Water Center | Water Treatment Equipment: A Buyer's Guide |
| Water Center | Drinking
Water: Sulfates and Hydrogen Sulfide Two forms of sulfur are commonly found in drinking water supplies: sulfate and hydrogen sulfide. Both forms are nuisances that usually do not pose a health risk at the concentrations found in domestic water supplies. |
| Water Center | United
States Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water Regulations and Health
Advisories These regulations and health advisory tables are revised approximately every 6 months by EPA's Office of Water. |
| Water Center | Drinking
Water: Nitrate and Methemoglobinemia ("Blue Baby" Syndrome) Methemoglobinemia is a blood disorder caused when nitrite interacts with the hemoglobin in red blood cells. Unlike hemoglobin, the methemoglobin formed in this interaction cannot carry sufficient oxygen to the body's cells and tissues. Although methemoglobinemia is rare among adults, cases have been reported among infants, where nitrate-contaminated well water was used to prepare formula and other baby food |
| Water Center | Drinking
Water: Hard Water Water described as "hard" is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water is not a health risk, but a nuisance because of mineral buildup on fixtures and poor soap and/or detergent performance. Water is a good solvent and picks up impurities easily. Pure water -- , colorless, and odorless -- is often called the universal solvent. When water is combined with carbon dioxide to form very weak carbonic acid, an even better solvent results. As water moves through soil and rock, it dissolves very small amounts of minerals and holds them in solution. Calcium and magnesium dissolved in water are the two most common minerals that make water "hard." The degree of hardness becomes greater as the calcium and magnesium content increases. |
| Water Center | Copper
in Drinking Water Copper rarely occurs naturally in water. Most copper contamination in drinking water happens in the water delivery system, as a result of corrosion of the copper pipes or fittings. Copper piping and fittings are widely used in household plumbing. |
| Water Center | Drinking
Water: Iron and Manganese Iron and manganese are non-hazardous elements that can be a nuisance in a water supply. Iron and manganese are chemically similar and cause similar problems. Iron is the most frequent of the two contaminants in water supplies; manganese is typically found in iron-bearing water. |
| Water Center | Bacteria |
| Water Center | Drinking Water: Man-made Chemicals |
| Water Center | Water: The Nutrient - This NebGuide discusses the importance of water in the diet, and special diet needs. |
| Water Center | Water Trivia |
| Water Quality and Waste Management (WQWM) | North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
Care and concern for our environment is the biggest public issue of the 1990s. ... The Water Quality and Waste Management Initiative has evolved in response to the dire need to protect and preserve our world. Through North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, we can link the science of today with the environment of tomorrow. WQWM search engine |
| WQWM | Health Effects of Drinking Water Contaminants - People are increasingly concerned about the safety of their drinking water. .... We cannot expect pure water, but we want safe water. |
| WQWM | Drinking Water Treatment Systems- {note, discussion of carbon filters and bacterial contamination applies to granulated carbon filters, not solid block micro-filters} |
| WQWM | Lead in Drinking Water- Exposure to low levels of lead over an extended period of time can have severe effects |
| WQWM | Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) in Drinking Water. Drinking water containing high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be harmful to human health |
| WQWM | Water conservation in the home 1, 2, 3- Three discussions about water conservation. |
| Colorado Water Knowledge | Resources at Colorado State University: Interesting facts about water issues in Colorado {site can be slow} |
| Colorado Water Resources Research Institute | The Colorado Water Resources Research Institute
(CWRRI), an affiliate of Colorado State University, exists for the express
purpose of focusing the water expertise of higher education on the evolving
water concerns and problems being faced by Colorado citizens. Kid Zone. {Site contains many water related links.} |
| Cryptosporidium/Coccidial | Research Division of Biology Kansas State University: Detailed discussion of the biology of cryptosporidium and links to related sites. |
| Environmental Estrogens and Other Hormones (EEOH). | Environmental Estrogens (EE) are a wide variety of natural compounds and synthetic chemicals that may mimic natural estrogen hormones. They have been linked to growth, reproductive and other health problems in wildlife and laboratory animals and may affect human health. Select main menu items for overviews, more details, and special features. |
| Universities Water Information Network (UWIN) | The Universities Water Information Network disseminates information of interest to the water resources community and all concerned with our water resources. Use the Quick Search function, check the database(s) you wish to search, and input key words of interest, i.e. chlorine, disinfection, water contamination, water quality, etc. Also check out the WetList - The subject list includes: Hydrology, Surface Water, Groundwater, Water Use/Demand, Water Quality, Management and Planning, Educational, General Environmental Topics, Water Supply, Discussion Forum. |
| Formation and Control of Disinfection By-Products | The primary objective of this project, sponsored by the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF) is to evaluate the impact of ozonation on the formation of halogenated and non-halogenated disinfection by-products (DBPs) resulting from subsequent chlorination and chloramination with and without coagulation. From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ESE Notes |
| Health Risks from Enteric Microbes in Water and their Control by Disinfection | Professor Mark D. Sobsey is an eminent environmental microbiologist whose work for the past twenty years has focused on the occurrence, transport, fate, and effects of enteric viruses and other microbes of public health importance. From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ESE Notes |
| Atlas Of Medical Parasitology | Information on cryptosporidia, giardia, and a host of other parasites from The Carlo Denegri Foundation and the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Torino, Italy. cryptosporidia and other protozoal parasites |
| Water Treatment Facilities | |
| Water Quality Reports | A list of links to about 70 water treatment facilities. It is a part of the Chemistry section of About.Com - Expert Guides to Help You Find/Learn/Share |
| City of Los Angeles Water Services | Los Angeles water department information page: Contains information on water contaminants, purification options, etc. |
| San Jose Water Company | Welcome to SJW on the web, information about the work and business of Silicon Valley's water company. |
| Santa Clara Valley Water District's Water Quality | Responsible for ensuring that the drinking water that the District provides is of the highest possible quality, meeting or exceeding all federal and state drinking water standards. |
| Central Coast Water Authority | Virtual Tour of the Polonio Pass Water Treatment Plant |
| Denver Water Company | Mission Statement - Denver Water will provide our customers with high quality water and excellent service through responsible and creative stewardship of the assets we manage. We will do this with a productive and diverse work force. We will actively participate in and be a responsible member of the water community. [Denver, Colorado has very good water relative to many places in the country, but read the 1999 Water Quality Report.] |
| Handbook On Drinking Water Quality | Fort Wayne, IN - Information on drinking water issues, including a description of water treatment practices - interesting general information on how a water treatment plant works. |
| Ames Iowa Water & Pollution Control Department | Virtual Tour of the Ames water treatment plant |
| New Jersey-American Water Company Website! | New Jersey-American Water Company, a private, investor-owned business, is the largest and only statewide water utility in New Jersey. We are proud to assure our customers a water supply they can enjoy and use with confidence. Water Quality, |
| About Your Drinking Water CITY OF COLUMBIA, South Carolina | The City of Columbia's Department of Utilities and Engineering has published a Lead Public Education Newsletter annually since 1993. This is the electronic version of the newsletter. This year, the newsletter has been expanded to include additional information on water quality. The convenience of having an adequate and safe supply of drinking water is often taken for granted. We hope the information contained in this newsletter will help our customers make better informed personal choices about their water supply. |
| City of Portland Bureau of Water Works | The Bureau of Water Works operates the water
supply system that delivers high-quality drinking water to more than 840,000
people who live in the Portland metropolitan area. The primary water source
is the Bull Run Watershed located 26 miles east of downtown Portland, Oregon
in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Portland also uses groundwater as a supplemental
water supply. Water Quality, |
| City of Portland Bureau of Water Works | Cross Connection (Backflow) Prevention Program - Fire sprinklers and lawn irrigation lines sometimes pose risks to consumers. Improperly protected plumbing systems may cause or allow waste water to flow in the reverse direction. This "backflow" may contaminate potable water and cause serious illness. Hospitals, mortuaries, chemical plants, and other commercial establishments which create hazardous wastes may also be a source for contaminating potable water. |
| Nashville Metro Water Services | Soft Water is Not for Drinking |
| Nashville Metro Water Services | Articles about Water Use - Where Does the Water Go, Our Relationship to Water, Water Myths & Realities, Water Facts of Life, Water Fun For Kids, |
| Blacksburg, Christiansburg, VPI Water Authority | Our primary job is to pull water from the New
River and treat it through the process of purification. Then, when the water
is clean, it is wholesaled to Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and VPI and then
comes to you via your household plumbing for your use and consumption. A
lot of steps comprise the process of water treatment and purification. Take
the time to fully investigate this site so you can better understand how
we are able to ensure that the water you drink is safe and healthy. The American Water Works Association's The Story of Drinking Water (EXCELLENT and EDUCATIONAL) Fascinating Water Facts Operations - From River to Tap & Take a Tour of the Plant. |
| Yarra Valley Water | Yarra Valley Water is a retail water company
providing water and sewerage services to over 1.5 million people who live
and work in the Yarra River catchment area of Melbourne, Victoria. |
| Yarra Valley Water | >Blue
Water - Corrosion in customer's copper pipes can lead to elevated copper
levels in water which may have an appearance of blue water when taps are
first turned on. Blue water is a potential health hazard and must not be consumed by drinking or used in the preparation of food. |
| Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions Drinking Water Information (RDWI) | Summary
of 1997 Report by the Drinking Water Inspectorate: The overall quality
of water in England and Wales remains very high with further improvements
on the situation reported for 1996 and previous years. During 1997 the 29
companies carried out a total of 2,980,737 tests at treatment works and service
reservoirs and in water supply zones. Around 70% of the tests were carried
out in water supply zones and 80% of these were carried out on samples taken
from consumers' taps. Of the almost three million tests, 99.75% demonstrated
compliance with the standards. This is a good result which, when compared
with previous years, reflects the ongoing impact of the enforcement process
which results in the improvement programmes. . 1998 water report |
| Bristol Water | Over one million people in an area of about 1,000 square miles depend on Bristol Water . Today, we are one of the UK's largest and most successful water supply companies, yet our basic role has remained unchanged since we were founded in 1846. Bristol Water is here to supply drinking water. |
| Bristol Water | Education Page - The Water Cycle - Welcome to the education part of the Bristol Water 'wet' site. If you are studying water we hope that you might find some of the answers here. |
| Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions Drinking Water Information (RDWI) | .Our main job is to check that the water companies
in England and Wales supply water that is safe to drink and meets the standards
set in the Water Quality Regulations. We also investigate complaints from
consumers and incidents which affect or could affect drinking water quality.
Our investigations of incidents can lead to water companies being
prosecuted. Annual reports, Drinking Water Information Leaflets, and other publications. |
| Office of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | 4 June 1999 - Environment Minister Lord Dubs today welcomed the publication of the Drinking Water inspectorate's second annual report. Toasting the fact that 99% of drinking water in Northern Ireland is of good quality, Lord Dubs said: "I am pleased for Northern Ireland consumers that we have attained a good standard. A lot of time and energy goes into making our water safe to drink. We will though not be resting on our laurels and it is my intention that much more capital will be spent on the safe treatment and distribution of our drinking water." There are no links to water topics on the home page (type drinking water into the search box to get reports and other info.). |
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