Category Archives: Tap Water

Live near a farm? You might want to read this

Do you live close to a farm? If so, you will want to see the results of a recent University of Minnesota study that found the rate of groundwater contamination rising at an alarming rate.

Researchers indicated that nitrate levels in drinking water are skyrocketing. Nitrates are very dangerous and can cause severe illness and death when consumed above contaminant levels.

The University of Minnesota study explained that not only are nitrate levels already high, but they will increase 45% in the coming years. This is because farm subsidies from the government are allowing farmers to finance the expensive process of wetland conversion.

In simpler terms, the government is using our tax dollars to pay for farmers to begin spreading nitrate-packed fertilizer over groundwater sources. Not only is this costing you money, but it will also begin to cost you your health if you don’t take measures to protect yourself and your family from the coming onslaught of nitrates.

Congress has the ability to pass an appropriations bill that would protect over 1 million acres of land from further nitrate-pollution. Since they’ve proved themselves less than trustworthy, your best option is taking matters into your hands.

Even if you don’t live directly next to a farm, your water could come from an area with significant agriculture pollution. Research your local water utility and see where your tap water comes from. This is especially important in major farming states such as California, where farmers have free reign to fertilize as they wish due to high demand for their crops during this historic drought.

Since it’s highly unlikely that the government will cut back on farm subsidies or move forward with conservation measures, it’s imperative that you take matters into your own hands and personally filter your tap water. Evolution Healthworks offers a comprehensive line of filtration systems that will remove nitrates and 99.9% of other toxic pollutants from your water.

More on this topic from the Environmental Working Group (EWG)

4 Factors Affecting The Taste Of Your Tap Water

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Most people think of water as being a pretty tasteless liquid, however, your tap water can vary greatly state by state, and even in some cases, city by city. Many home owners have chosen to install WATER FILTRATION SYSTEMS to improve both the taste of their water and remove the contaminants.

4 common factors that affect tap water taste

Disinfectant chemicals. One of the most common complaints homeowners have about their tap water is that it tastes like chemicals. The reason for this taste, is that water treatment facilities use chlorine or chloramine (a mixture of chlorine and ammonia) among other chemicals, to disinfect water before it’s sent to our homes and flows through our pipes.
Mineral leaching from pipes. Another common complaint about tap water is that it tastes metallic. This is often due to minerals like iron and copper that leach into our water as it travels through public pipes and/or the pipes in our homes. The severity and type of metallic taste in your water will depend on the age and condition of the pipes it travels through as well as the material that those pipes are made of. The infrastructure of the water piping is in serious needs of updates around the country, and in some cases water is flowing through pipes that pre date World War II.
Algae blooms. Algae blooms in source water like lakes and rivers are typically seasonal. When they occur, homeowners are often taken off-guard by the sudden change in tap water taste. The taste imparted in tap water by algae blooms is often described as earthy or musty. This was seen in May of 2014, as the water in North San Diego county was affected by the algal blooms in Poway.
Source of water. The taste of your tap water can change depending on where the water originally comes from. This taste difference is most recognizable between well water and city water, because well water often contains many more minerals that can affect its taste.

California Shuts Down Wastewater Injection Wells Over Water Contamination Fears

There are many environmental concerns connected to the proliferation of domestic gas and oil drilling. One specific concern is the spread of chemicals used in the drilling process into drinking water aquifers.

California has taken notice and shut down the activities of gas and oil companies aquifers in Central Valley over fears that they may have contaminated aquifers with fracking fluids and other toxic waste from drilling operations. The state’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources earlier this month ordered seven energy companies to stop injecting wastewater in certain wells, claiming that the practice “poses danger to life, health, property, and natural resources.”

ProPublica has the full scoop:

The problem is that at least 100 of the state’s aquifers were presumed to be useless for drinking and farming because the water was either of poor quality, or too deep underground to easily access. Years ago, the state exempted them from environmental protection and allowed the oil and gas industry to intentionally pollute them. But not all aquifers are exempted, and the system amounts to a patchwork of protected and unprotected water resources deep underground. Now, according to the cease and desist orders issued by the state, it appears that at least seven injection wells are likely pumping waste into fresh water aquifers protected by the law, and not other aquifers sacrificed by the state long ago.

“The aquifers in question with respect to the orders that have been issued are not exempt,” said Ed Wilson, a spokesperson for the California Department of Conservation in an email.

A 2012 ProPublica investigation of more than 700,000 injection wells across the country found that wells were often poorly regulated and experienced high rates of failure, outcomes that were likely polluting underground water supplies that are supposed to be protected by federal law. That investigation also disclosed a little-known program overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that exempted more than 1,000 other drinking water aquifers from any sort of pollution protection at all, many of them in California.

Those are the aquifers at issue today. The exempted aquifers, according to documents the state filed with the U.S. EPA in 1981 and obtained by ProPublica, were poorly defined and ambiguously outlined. They were often identified by hand-drawn lines on a map, making it difficult to know today exactly which bodies of water were supposed to be protected, and by which aspects of the governing laws. Those exemptions and documents were signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown, who also was governor in 1981.

State officials emphasized to ProPublica that they will now order water testing and monitoring at the injection well sites in question. To date, they said, they have not yet found any of the more regulated aquifers to have been contaminated.

We at Evolution Healthworks understand that there’s a growing problem with water contamination across the country. Check out our solutions to ensure you and your loved ones are getting the healthiest water.

Pharmaceuticals In Our Drinking Water: Where Do They Come From and What Are The Effects?

According to a study released by the Mayo Clinic earlier this year, nearly 70 percent of Americans take some sort of prescription drug. This is up from 48 percent just a few years ago in 2007-2008. As it turns out, the increased popularity of prescription drugs is having an effect on our nation’s water quality.

How do pharmaceutical drugs get in our drinking water?

Pharmaceutical drugs get into our drinking water in three main ways. Many people flush their old and unused pharmaceuticals down their toilets and sinks, which allows the drugs to end up in our water supplies. In addition, trace amounts of pharmaceuticals end up in our urine, which adds the drugs to wastewater and eventually back to our water supplies. Another way in which we can get these pharmaceuticals back into our systems, is fish and other sea creatures absorbing them, and then humans eating them.

Are pharmaceutical drugs monitored in our drinking water?

There are currently no regulations that require water treatment plants to test for or monitor the levels of pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. We do know, however, that these drugs are making it past our treatment plants and into the water in our homes.

According to a study published by the EPA, more than half of the nation’s water supplies that were sampled tested positive for oxycodone, high-blood pressure medications, over-the-counter drugs (Tylenol, Ibuprofen, etc.) and more.

What are the health effects of consuming pharmaceuticals in drinking water?

It is currently unclear how pharmaceuticals in drinking water affect our health. However, it is a growing concern among scientists and health officials. What we do know is that hormones work at very low concentrations in the human body, which suggests that the drugs can affect our bodies even though they show up in low concentrations in our water. In addition, the increase of pharmaceuticals in water has been affecting the hormones and reproductive process of the fish in our water supplies.

If you’re concerned about the health effects of pharmaceuticals in your water, your best defense is to install a EVOLUTION WHOLE HOME SYSTEM or a A URA ALKALINE WATER FILTER. Both of these residential water treatment systems will remove the traces of pharmaceuticals from the water you consume in your home.

Algae Invade Southern California Drinking Water

myFOXla.com: Residents in a number of inland areas are dealing with some seriously stinky water, the result of a summer algae bloom in a state reservoir.

Silverwood Lake, the highest elevation reservoir in the state water project is suffering from an abundance of blue-green algae caused by warmer temperatures, possibly the result of global climate change.

The algae makes the water from the reservoir smell and taste musty during the heat of summer, according to the Metropolitan Water District.

Affected areas include Claremont, La Verne, Walnut, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, Upland, Chino, Chino Hills, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Riverside, Corona, Norco, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, Perris, Murrieta and Temecula.

The MWD says there is no health risk from drinking the water, although it may be somewhat unpleasant.

The Department of Water Resources is planning to spot treat the reservoir this Thursday and Friday with a form of hydrogen peroxide which will neutralize the overgrowth.

While the water is safe to drink, some water agencies are recommending refrigerating the water to get rid of some of the nasty smell and taste.

What Are the Effects of Algae In Your Water?

Blue-green algae, otherwise known as cyanobacteria or “pond scum,” are microscopic organisms that thrive in pools of standing water when exposed to sunlight during the warmer months of the year. Although they are not typically seen in homes, they are common in ponds and other standing bodies of water. Unfortunately in this case, they have thrived in the reservoir from which we get our drinking water.

Visible Effects

Algae can cause drinking water to change color, but in most cases it is undetectable. Only in extreme situations will the blue-green or yellowish-brown tint of an algae infestation become visible in faucet water. Algae-infested water may also produce scum.

Algae in drinking water don’t give off an odor until the problem is quite severe. In such situations, according to the government of New Brunswick, it will smell like freshly cut grass; in extreme cases, it will cause drinking water to smell like sewage or garbage.

While not all algae produce toxins, it is not easy to tell the nontoxic type from the more dangerous algae. Toxic chemicals released by algae can lead to a number of health problems. If too much is ingested, it can kill animals. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, humans who drink water poisoned by algae toxins can experience a litany of health issues. This includes long-term problems with the liver, digestive and nervous systems, including liver cancer. Other issues that can come up include headaches, sore throat, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Contact with the algae toxins on the skin can lead to hives and rashes.

Checkout our Aura H2O Water Filter which can remove these harmful microorganisms from your drinking water. Our filter uses a 14-step, 3 phase filtration technology that removes the contaminants and remineralizes your water, producing the certified healthiest water possible.

Source: Ehow

3 Reasons Never to Drink Bottled Water Again

What if you could buy something for pennies on the gallon and sell it for hundreds of times its cost? This is precisely what the bottled water industry continues to do every day, to the tune of every-increasing profits.

Majestic peaks, serene rivers, sparkling water droplets. You’ve seen the labels on bottled water; they suggest a pure product worth your two dollars a bottle. Bottled water marketing campaigns make wildly exaggerated claims about purity and freshness. Contrary to what bottled water giants want you to think, tests on leading brands of bottled water suggest a dirtier truth.

Hereare 3 reasons never to drink bottled water again:

1. Bottled water is not safe

Studies by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and a report by the FDA determined that most bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. This tap water is often filtered with reverse osmosis, stripping it of healthy trace minerals leading to possible mineral deficiencies and other complications.

1 in 5 bottles contain illegal levels of chemicals that can cause disease and other complications over time. Where do these contaminants come from? According to the EWG study, some of the contaminants come from pollutants commonly found in tap water. Others can be traced to the plastic bottles housing the water. Phthalates, chemicals known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones, leach into bottled water while they sit on grocery store shelves.

Thanks to a high-dollar lobbying campaign by the bottled water industry, there is no legal limit on the amount of phthalates in bottled water. Silencing groups looking out for your health is obviously a chief concern for bottled water companies.

FIVE BENEFITS OF DRINKING WATER

How does such dangerous water make it onto store shelves? Cunning distribution practices by beverage companies help bottled water evade regulation. 70% of bottled water never crosses state lines, making it exempt from FDA oversight and putting you at risk of whatever contaminants are lurking in your water bottles.

2) Bottled water is a rip off

Bottled water companies have created a beautiful money-making machine. $1 bottles of your favorite brand of water cost just below 6 cents per ounce, twice as much as it costs to fill up at the gas station and thousands of times more than the cost of tap water. Why do people continue to spend so freely on bottled water? Behold the power of marketing.

3) Bottled water hurts the environment

Water bottles are recyclable, but we aren’t very good at recycling them. 38 billion (yes, billion) water bottles are wasted every year, according to an article in Fast Company magazine. It’s important to note that an unknown amount of these bottles never make it to landfills. Massive eddies of plastic trash are trapped in our oceans indefinitely, posing great harm to marine life.

It’s no secret that bottled water produces a lot of waste, but there are a variety of other effects damaging the Earth. According to Food and Water Watch, plastic production eats up more than 40 million gallons of oil per year, enough to fuel 1.5 million cars for a year. Also, plastic decays very slowly, meaning the vast majority of all plastics ever produced still exist somewhere in the environment.

What can you do?

Stop buying bottled water today. Glass or stainless steel bottles are much safer and don’t affect the environment. Evolution Healthworks offers our Evolution Drink Safe, a 750 mL glass container which can help keep our environment and your water as clean as possible.