Most people assume that their drinking water is safe to drink. We are in the United States after all and not some developing country. However, last summer residents in Jackson Mississippi went a whole week without safe drinking water and are frequently told that they need to boil their water before they drink it. They’re not alone. Here’s why you can’t rely on tap water anymore and what you can do about it (think alkaline ionized water!).
It’s not just Jackson Mississippi that’s had a problem with unsafe drinking water. New York City, Baltimore, and the state of Hawaii have all issued water drinking emergencies in the last year. Meanwhile, Flint Michigan is still coping with the effects of lead contamination in its water.
So what’s causing this unsafe drinking water? First, aging infrastructure is to blame. Local governments simply have not prioritized replacing pipes, updating municipal water treatment facilities, updating hazardous contaminant lists and implementing testing for those contaminants, or improving water filtration. Most of our municipal water treatment facilities were designed back in the 40s and ’50s and most have not been significantly updated.
Secondly, climate change is increasing extreme weather events in the United States. Extreme flooding has really wrecked havoc in many communities across the United States. When these communities flood, municipal water treatment facilities become overwhelmed and even damaged by extremely toxic water.
A third problem is one that most people don’t think of: the media. For example, if a water main breaks it may make the news but the news coverage will focus on the traffic disruption. The real story is that the pipe was so old that it burst. The fact is most Americans are unaware that their water treatment facilities are old and outdated and that the pipes carrying the water to their homes are so old that they are leaching lead and other contaminants into their drinking water. If the media were to prioritize aging infrastructure and its coverage, then public knowledge of this issue would increase, and the pressure on public officials but also increase.
So what can you do? Write your local newspaper and news station and ask them to cover aging infrastructure more. Write letters to your local politicians and state your outrage that you’re drinking water is contaminated. Finally, protect you and your family with a multi-stage water filtration system like what you find in our water ionizers.
Ultra-filtered alkaline ionized water is the healthiest and safest water to drink and you can get it right in your own home.
