In the 1940s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the course of our country forever. In the face of unprecedented unemployment and poverty, he organized a program called The New Deal. This program solved two problems at once. It put people back to work by creating well-paying jobs that built our nation’s infrastructure.
New Deal workers were responsible for building highways, city streets, and city water systems. Even the Hoover Dam was a result of this ambitious project. To know more, check on Sue Kelly.
At the time these structures were created, they represented the cutting edge of technology. But now, almost seventy years later, many of these projects are in a state of disrepair. Sure, you think, but how does this affect me? I hardly ever go to visit the Hoover Dam. This seems like one of those things they fuss over on the news that doesn’t really matter.
Just because you can’t see it around you, doesn’t mean you’re free from its effects. This crumbling infrastructure affects you in many ways you can’t see.
Weakness in the System
Outdated H20 filtration systems can mean serious health and safety risks.
If you’ve ever received a do not use or a boil only notice from your local municipality, you have had a close brush with this danger. When this happens, the city or county will alert residents that either the water is unsafe to drink under any condition, or that it is no longer safe to drink straight from the tap. The only way to avoid sickness, without having a filter, is to boil any water you need to use or bring it in from off-site.
This goes for any water you want to drink, cook with, or bathe in. Even trace contact through the nose or eyes could be dangerous. If you’ve never had to boil enough water to bathe in, consider yourself lucky. It is quite the undertaking. It is heavy, hot, long work in order to get clean.
Dangers
There are many different diseases that can transfer into the H20 through contaminants in the soil. Covid is believed to have gained a stronghold in some areas because it seeped into the groundwater and transferred that way.
A common contaminant is giardia. Click here: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/index.html to read what the CDC has to say about this parasite. Giardia is a very common parasite in America. More than one million people are contaminated every year. Children and pets are more susceptible to the illness. They become seriously ill from the parasite at a higher rate than adults.
Contact with the parasite can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and high fevers. A giardia infection can last anywhere from two to six weeks in a person with a healthy immune system.
While giardia can be very dangerous, Texas has found evidence of a bigger threat in their water supply in recent years. Naegleria fowleri amoeba was discovered in a small Texas town in 2018. It’s a big name that all boils down to one thing: a small particle that eats away at the human brain. Those with the misfortune of being infected by the rare amoeba are doomed to a slow and painful death. It took officials more than sixty days to properly clean the contaminated supply in Texas and make it safe to drink again.
If you live in an unincorporated area or a town with an out-of-date filtration system, you might want to invest in your own bacteria water filter to ensure the cleanliness of your drinking water. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to brain-eating amoebas.
Filtration
How can you know that what you are drinking is safe? If you’re concerned with germs that may be present, you may not be aware that most refrigerator pitcher filtration systems are only designed to improve taste and not necessarily remove dangerous particles.
Remember that even water that smells and tastes fine might not be free from contaminants. Volatile organic compounds breed in well water and while some are tasteless and odorless, others smell like gasoline or give off a fetid taste. VOCs can cause damage to all parts of your body, like the nervous system, kidneys, and mucous membranes.
You may want to consider a permanent filtration system in your home. Whether you choose a system that filters at one point or at many points, both can have health benefits.
There are many different techniques to filter, only a few of which are well-suited to eliminating viruses, bacteria, and amoeba. Click here for more information about these methods. In this article we’re going to focus solely on filters that are effective at removing bacteria.
One technique is through reverse osmosis (RO). Using this method, water is pushed through a membrane or filter that removes extremely small particles. It is effective at removing all kinds of common viruses as well as the most common chemical contaminants such as arsenic, iron, radium, and calcium.
Another effective method is through distillation. This is where H20 is heated nearly to the boiling point. The filter then collects only the pure air vapor, not the contaminants left behind.
A UV filtration system uses ultraviolet light in order to kill viruses and other living particles. It is very effective at purifying the water from bacterial invaders but is ineffective against unwanted chemicals.
It is very important to know as much about your drinking water as possible. Check your yearly water report, if you get one. If your water comes from a well, make sure to have it tested yearly by a qualified professional. Your tests can help you determine which, if any, filtration system might be effective in your home.
The last thing you want to do is to take your drinking water for granted. A contaminated supply can sometimes make you sick right away, but it isn’t always so obvious. Sometimes it can take days, weeks, months, or even years before symptoms become noticeable. By that time, it may be too late. Act now to prevent heartache in the future.
