Good Filtration Can Protect You Against Contaminated Drinking Water

Drinking water stations are found in most offices and many homeowners have chosen them over drinking from the tap or buying individual bottles. You need to remember, that you may still be exposed to contaminated drinking water. So, you have to be careful.

There are many types of drinking water stations. Some contain a simple carbon filter to improve taste and remove chlorine. Others are simply hooked right up to the building's plumbing.

Even if they have a filter, someone has to remember to change it. Besides, carbon can only do so much for chemically contaminated drinking water. It cannot remove lead.

Lead contaminated drinking water is a big problem in many American cities. The worst cases are in DC, the nation's capitol. It was so bad at one time that the city turned off all of the drinking water stations and coolers, except in private office buildings, where they were still up and running.

You might think that lead is only dangerous to children, but the truth is that it builds up in an adult's system. It interferes with digestion, causes nutritional deficiencies and hypertension (high blood pressure).

Researchers believe that lead consumption is a factor in osteoporosis, heart disease, Alzheimer's and aphasia. So, if you work in DC, don't drink from the drinking water stations.

Suggest that you boss get a good filtration device for one of the faucets. They are relatively inexpensive and one with ion exchange and carbon blocks will remove lead, chemical contaminants and disease causing cysts.

The other choice is to deal with contaminated drinking water on an individual basis. At least one company has designed a bottle with a built in purifier that removes lead, chlorine and other chemical contaminants.

If you are concerned about cysts, though, you will probably have to bottle your own and take it with you, assuming that you have a good filtration device on your tap. In order to remove cysts, you need a sub-micron filtration purifier.

Buying bottled may be no better that using drinking water stations. There have been many instances of contaminated drinking water found inside the bottles.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you call the manufacturer and ask them what sort of purification system they use. Most companies still use distillation. That will remove lead and cysts, but not chemical contaminants, like chlorine and the cancer causing byproducts THMs.

In order to remove THMs, you need a process called adsorption. Wherever there is chlorine, there is THM contaminated drinking water. Exposure increases the risk of bladder and colorectal cancer. The more you are exposed the greater your risk.

If you are in a temporary structure, you may have to go with portable drinking water stations, just be sure that the waters they contain are purified. Cyst contaminated drinking water is widespread and during one outbreak, hundreds of thousands can become ill.

You don't want all of your co-workers or employees to become ill. So, find out what's inside before you drink from any drinking water stations. It's the only healthy choice.