Is Your Tap Water Making You Sick? What Can You Do?

Over the years I have been asked about good solutions for drinking water.

This is one of the first things I implemented in life in my desire for healthier living.
I knew that what a person drinks has an immediate affect on their over all health.
The human body  contains up to  50-75% water.
I wanted to make sure I was well hydrated but not with just any water.
I have done a lot of researching on what is in  tap water and to say I was shocked would be an understatement.
I was horrified to learn that tap water consisted of residues from birth control, chemo therapy, and  pharmaceutical drugs all in spite of extensive purification treatments used to purify the water at these water companies!
Whats worse is that the chemicals used in the process now make their happy home in my water glass as well.
Enough is enough!  I knew that I knew that is was high time to change up my drinking water if I ever wanted to pursue good health.
In this article you will learn whats in our water and  how I found the filter that I have used
and still love to this very day to ensure my water is safe to drink.

So….What’s In That Glass Of  Water?!?!

I am not sure I would even call it a glass of water anymore after it goes through my tap.  It’s more like just a chemical cocktail by the time it gets to our homes.  There have been small amounts of hormones, anti-depressants, antibiotics, cancer drugs, and other pharmaceuticals detected in drinking water.    People  flush the drugs,  or pass them through urine and feces.  Even after water treatment, residues were still found in drinking water!  Ok, that is just gross!  So, putting that stuff aside, what else may be in our so called “drinking water”?  Here are just SOME of chemicals in our tap water:

• Fluoride –  a byproduct of aluminum that is a neuro-toxin and an endocrine disruptor.  It is harmful to the thyroid gland.   Don’t be fooled, it’s a nasty waste product , avoid it at all costs.
• Chlorine – drinking chlorinated water over the long term will help to wipe out all your good bacteria.  It is used as a disinfectant even though it’s not the safest thing to put into your body.
• Arsenic – arsenic is  toxic and makes its way to our water supply from industrial and agricultural pollution. Long term exposure has been known to cause cancer.
• Perchlorate –  a main ingredient in rocket fuel and explosives that the military and industries use.  Perchlorates have been known to be toxic to the thyroid gland.
• Dioxins –  dioxins are released into the enviroment when hazardous waste is burned.  It makes its way well into the enviroment affecting our water supplies.
• Trihalomethanes (THMs) – these are the result of a reaction between chlorine and other organic matter. These have been shown to have carcinogenic activity
• Pesticides – pesticides have numerous health concerns.    These are not just insecticides but fungicides and herbicides too.  These are shown to be toxic.  Some pesticides that are used currently that are not even regulated in U.S. drinking water are DEET,  Metolachlor, and Linuron.

Here is just one case and point :  Just think,  when it’s summer time and  mosquitoes are out in all their glory what do many people do?  They load up on DEET, in fact many people drench themselves in this toxic chemical all summer long.  When they get in the shower at the end of the day where do you think all that DEET goes?  How about when they wash their sprayed clothes too?  Residues from these products can make it’s way into our drinking water.

My Solution?

For many years I had been trying to find the right fix for my drinking water dilemma.  Why was it so hard to just find good drinking water and be done with it?!  When I first started to make healthy changes in my lifestyle years ago I started out with a Waterwise 9000 distiller.  It was a great little machine and easy to use.  Over time I learned that it is not the best option to stay on distilled water indefinitely because it is has ZERO  minerals and this kind of water is very acidic.  Distilled water is a good water to drink for short term when doing a cleanse but not for the long term unless you add back minerals to the water after it has been distilled.  I used my distiller for a couple of years but really wanted something that would provide safe water without removing the minerals.  I ended up with a counter top filtration unit that I then used for about 4 years.  I liked it alot but didn’t like the fact that it didn’t remove fluoride and arsenic.  It’s a bit challenging to find a good filter system that will remove those two contaminants.  So……I once again started on a quest to find yet another filter only this time I had to make sure it removed arsenic and fluoride.  Out of all the changes I have made through the years to be healthier, this one seemed the most grueling.  Even when I worked at a health food store the owner and I would frequently get asked the question “What kind of water is best to drink”?  It seemed that many people were   looking and unsure about what was to be trusted.  I could only tell them that their best bet was to find a good source of quality spring water.   I decided then that I will not let up till I find the right one that with good conscience I could recommend to others.  One day I was visiting a friend of mine and saw this shiny unit sitting on their counter.  I asked about it.  It was their water filter.  I liked the way it looked.  I learned  that this filter comes in all different sizes, 1 gallon, 2 gallon, etc….The water didn’t take very long to be filtered either.  It was  a very straight forward device as far as set up, use, and cleaning it.  All that was great, but….what I wanted to know is does it remove arsenic and fluoride?  I was amazed when I learned that it did!  Now, you got my attention.  It was a Berkey Water Filter.

Why a Berkey Filter?

I absolutely love my Berkey!  I even love the fact that I can put it in my motor home when we go rambling or camping and not stock up on bottled water.  We can go camping for many days so as you can imagine that is alot of bottled water for drinking and cooking.  But, what is a Berkey and why all the rave?  Well, it’s a very portable water filtration device for starters as you just read.  I am the kinda person who likes to be prepared in an emergency type situation, so just the fact that this filter could remove pathogens out of pond water , creek water, or whatever, trips my trigger.  It will remove  pathogens, parasites, and those nasty bacteria that you definitely don’t want floating around in your drinking water.   The filter is capable at removing hundreds of contaminants like parasites, heavy metals, bacteria, chemicals, pesticides, voc’s, pharmaceuticals and more to levels higher than 99.99%.  You do NOT need any water pressure to use this filter as it is gravity fed.  Power outage = no worries.  As far as cost is concerned, I have the 2 gallon unit,  it cost about $250.00.  You can get a 1.5 gallon all the way to a whopping 6 gallon!  It is well worth every penny.  You can expect to get 6,000 gallons for both filter elements in the 2 gallon  unit.  Most water filters need to be replaced by at least 6 months!  Not the Berkey!  If you used the Berkey filter with 2 elements and went through 2 gallons a day they would last for over 8 years!  Very cost effective.  If you are trying to remove fluoride, you will need to get the additional elements for those that do need to get replaced annually.  Again, well worth the extra money to get this nasty toxin out of your water and yet not remove vital minerals in the process.  Most filtration systems will not remove fluoride but the Berkey  fluoride elements will remove 95% of fluoride.   Most impressive was that The Berkey filter goes above and beyond EPA and NSF  standards concerning what these elements filter out to make your water safe to drink.  That says a lot.  Do you still have more questions?  Do you want to see their test results?  Do you want to check out all the options on what size unit to get?

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