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![]() National Resources Defense Council - Our Children At Risk EPA - Children’s Environmental Health, Children and Drinking Water Standards, Contaminants to Which Children May Be Particularly Sensitive Several contaminants are of particular concern to children:
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![]() serious injury or death from biological, pathogenic contaminants. If there is any chance that their drinking water has been contaminated with harmful bacteria, or cysts, their drinking water should be disinfected immediately (boiling would be a good option), or they should drink a good quality of bottled water until the water is safe. Since it can take as long as 24 hours to be notified of a contaminant risk, a better plan than continually wondering if the water were safe would be to invest in a high quality filtration system that is NSF certified to remove cysts and tested by independent laboratories to remove E. coli (as described below). The PDF file, Protecting Vulnerable People from Drinking Water Diseases and Illnesses, from the Campaign for Safe and Affordable Drinking Water (CSADW), containg some good information about these risks. also cause a complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, in which the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. |
![]() consider a permanent water treatment strategy , since: notification of the public. levels are usually found in chlorinated water (municipal or private) from a surface source or water from an unconfined aquifer. Water from confined aquifers typically does not have to be chlorinated as heavily (if at all) as water from the other sources. This water also usually contains a lower level of the organic material (leaf fragments, etc.) that interacts with chlorine to form the disinfection byproducts than does surface water or water from an unconfined aquifer. plumbing pipes and fixtures - this problem is discussed in detail on the previous page. contamination, particularly in private wells using water from unconfined aquifers (or in surface water). Surface water is also likely to contain cryptosporidia or giardia cysts. Wells in these regions should be tested, and water quality reports should be studied carefully to see if these contaminants exist in the drinking water. ![]() contaminants (except nitrates) and chronic bacterial or viral contamination to safe levels is a NSF certified, high-quality, Solid Block, Activated Carbon (SBAC) filtration system with a sub-micron pore size. - These systems will significantly reduce the chlorine, any DBPs, cysts, asbestos, and a wide range of pesticides and other organic contaminants from your drinking and cooking water. Most SBAC filtration systems also remove lead effectively, and some are designed to remove mercury, but check with the manufacturer to make certain. - Although these filters are not recommended for continual use with bacterially contaminated water, the pore size is small enough to reduce the levels of many types of bacteria that might accidentally contaminate a normally safe water supply. - NSF does not certify filtration systems for bacterial removal, so make certain that the manufacturer of any SBAC system you are considering provides independent lab tests that demonstrate effective reduction of E. Coli. ![]() listed above, a high-quality, Reverse Osmosis (RO) system would be the most economical long-term solution. Any system you purchase should have a good activated carbon solid block post-filtration system to remove any contaminants not removed by the RO membranes. ![]() carbon, but it is more expensive than reverse osmosis. |