Common Contaminants In Colorado Tap Water
When you turn on your faucet, do you know that quality of the water coming through? Do you know where that water is coming from or what it has been exposed to? Approximately 2 million Americans get sick each year from consumption or through dermal absorption of contaminated tap water. An approximate 2100 contaminants are found in U.S. tap water creating impurities that can negatively affect your home, family, and health.
The water supplied by your city has likely been recycled countless times and although the Environmental Protection Agency has set standards to ensure safe water quality, it does not mean that all contaminants have been filtered out or that you are receiving the best quality of water possible. The traces of contaminants and pollutants found in some cities may be small, but over time their effects on our bodies can accumulate and affect our health.
The most effective method for ensuring high-quality water that is free of contaminants and impurities is through the installation of a water treatment system. A water treatment system from Home Water Solutions LLC will strip your tap water of the pollutants that carry the potential of negatively affecting the health and wellbeing of you and your family.
What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You
Take a moment to ask yourself — Do you really know what’s in the water? You might be surprised to learn that it’s quite common for these chemicals in the water you’re drinking.
Lead
Water treatment facilities are able to strip out nearly all traces of heavy metal, but the majority of homes built before the late 1980’s have pipes that contain lead. The lead from the pipes then seeps into the water. In reality, most of these houses will test positive for trace amounts of lead. Even the smallest amount of lead can damage the central nervous system, lower IQ in children and spark irritability, anemia and nerve damage.
Chlorine
Does Your Tap Water Smell Like A Swimming Pool?
The EPA requires most treatment plants to intentionally contaminate tap water with small amounts of chlorine in order to disinfect from viruses and parasites. The recommended levels of chlorine in tap water are 0.2-0.4 parts per million (ppm), but it allows up to 4 ppm, which is routinely found. Long-term exposure to chlorine and its by-products can lead to miscarriage and birth defects. Chlorine is essentially bleach and can also react with other municipal disinfectants and algae to create trihalomethanes (THMs), which can increase our risk of cancer by up to 93 percent. 80 percent of chlorine intake is absorbed through dermal exposure (through the skin) by way of showers, baths and hand washing.
Pesticides
You Wouldn’t Drink Pesticides… Would You?
Weed killer and pesticide components have been found in 97 percent of cities tested. Measurable levels of dichlorophenols, commonly used in weed killers and pesticides, runoff through our water and can be found in the water we drink on a daily basis. Scientists have even found a connection between food allergies, environmental allergies, and levels of dichlorophenols.
Pharmaceuticals
Are You Drinking Pharmaceuticals?
Traces of medications, both prescribed and over-the-counter, will filter out through your urine and is eventually recycled into tap water. Small amounts of pharmaceuticals including antidepressants, birth control drugs, painkillers, anti-seizure drugs, estrogen, and antibiotics were found in 98 percent of cities tested. Estrogen is one of the most commonly found contaminants in most water systems. Since 1920, the average maturation age of females has dropped 5 years, most likely caused by excess estrogen that is urinated out and is not properly filtered out.
Hardness (Calcium & Magnesium)
How Much “Junk” Is Building Up In Your Pipes?
Hardness with high amounts of calcium and magnesium in tap water may not affect your health in a largely detrimental way; it will however break down plumbing, appliances, and water fixtures and can stain glass, shower doors and fixtures and toilet bowls. It creates calcium deposits, which can minimize the efficiency of appliances and fixtures. Hardness can also create dry, itchy skin and dull dry hair.
Northern Colorado Water Treatment
There are countless other contaminants that make their way into your body and home simply through the tap water that flows through your pipes. In order to minimize the lasting effects of the contaminants and produce pure water, a high-quality water treatment is needed. Home Water Solutions LLC in Loveland has the best water treatment systems in Northern Colorado. Call us today at (970) 840-0868 for more information or to schedule your free in-home water test.
