Q: My municipal water company's Annual Water Quality Report shows it meets all EPA guidelines, does that mean it’s safe?

A: On October 1st 1999 a new federal law went into effect that requires water utilities to send each customer a detailed report showing what is in their water, appropriately called "The Right To Know Amendment." The most important thing to remember is that no matter how insistent these reports are that "contaminants in your water do not necessarily pose a health risk", any level of contamination in our drinking water does in fact represent a danger to our health. Of the over 75,000 toxic chemicals used in our society, the EPA has only set standards (MCLs) for about 90, and those 90 Maximum Contaminant Levels are not necessarily set on "health effects." The EPA considers limited health studies based on consumption of one certain chemical by a 175 lb. adult when setting these standards. No consideration is given to the effects on small children or the combined effects of two or more contaminants, which some studies show are magnified by as much as 1000 times. Water utilities are only required to test for the 90 contaminants that the EPA has set standards for.

Nobody knows how many toxic chemicals may actually be in tap water. According to the Ralph Nader Research Group, after reviewing thousands of pages of EPA documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act, more than 2100 toxic chemicals have already been detected in U.S. water supplies. Virtually all public water systems have some level of contamination. The water utilities are usually quick to point out that the chemicals found in their water are "below EPA's Maximum Levels", and in most cases they are. The fact is that even the smallest trace of a toxic chemical can cause damage and science is just now starting to realize to what extent. In a recent report from the National Cancer Institute to the Surgeon General it was stated that "No level of exposure to a chemical carcinogen should be considered toxicologically insignificant to humans," and we are learning the hard way the truth of this statement.

Virtually everyone will benefit from a home water filtration system. If all that was in your tap water was chlorine, and chlorine is in everyone's water, there are significant health and cosmetic benefits to using chlorine free water. Any child that has a gold fish knows that chlorine can kill, it's sole purpose as a pesticide is to kill living cells/ organisms. When we consume chlorine, at any level, it kills some part of us. It's recently been linked to cancer, heart disease, birth defects and many serious illnesses. Unfortunately, chlorine is not the only harmful substance in tap water. Over 90% of all U.S. water systems contain traces of at least 10 synthetic chemicals and lead. A recent Ralph Nader Report stated "after reviewing over 10,000 pages of EPA documents acquired through the Freedom Of Information Act... over 2300 chemicals that can cause cancer have been detected in U.S. tap water." Water utilities only test for about 75, no one knows for sure the extent of contamination. All this are real figures that represent a risk to the consumers, thereby is easy to reduce that risk by using a good quality in home filtration system or a portable water filter bottle.

There are great health and beauty benefits of using a shower water filter, just consider that during a 10 minute shower your body will take on 10 to 50 times the level of water borne chemicals than from drinking a glass of the same water. During a warm shower the pores of our skin open up and absorb chlorine and other chemicals at an accelerated rate. The body is composed of  70% water.  The steam you inhale is far more contaminated than the water itself due to the fact that synthetic chemicals, including chlorine, vaporize much faster than water. While over 96% of the water that comes out of your shower head goes down the drain, almost all of the chemicals vaporize into the air we breathe before the water hits the ground… making the steam more concentrated with chemicals. Also, inhaled chemicals go directly into the blood stream and have magnified adverse effects. But if the only benefits to shower filters were cosmetic, it would still be great. Showering in purified water offers amazing benefits for skin and hair. Anyone swimming in a chlorinated pool knows that chlorine dries out your skin and hair. People don't realize that we typically have more chlorine in tap water than in swimming pools! Once you use one you never want to go back to chlorinated water.

At the moment a raindrop is formed, it is the purest natural form of water, virtually devoid of dissolved matter. Learn more….