Guest Post By Jay {Part II}: Water Quality

In part one of this blog post, I explained how to make lemon sparkling water from home. In this part, I will talk about why I think the water quality going into the keg (or your body) is important.

When we moved into our new house, I started doing some research on the water quality in our area. I guess I was just curious about where it came from and how it got this far out to our house. Anyway, after doing some investigating, I concluded that not all water sources are equal. The best option would be to bottle water from a natural spring nearby (http://www.findaspring.com/).  Ain't nobody got time for that!

The next option is to research the tap water at your house and make a decision as to whether or not you want to drink it. You can easily find your annual Consumer Confidence Report online by checking out the EPA website.

You can see what the Oklahoma City water quality report looks like here. After looking over this report, I decided to add an additional reverse osmosis (RO) water filtration system to our house for drinking water. I was particularly concerned about the following: 

• Fluoride - The debate on whether or not it is harmful routinely comes up on the internet and in the news. I really don't know what to think about it. My opinion is that most things that are truly essential to the human body can be found in nature. 
• Arsenic - Our report has a max contamination level of 10 ppb when the goal should be 0 ppb. Oklahoma is known for having naturally occurring arsenic, but that doesn't mean I want to drink it! The last time I checked, arsenic is a poison. 
• Lead - Our report has a max contamination level of 15 ppb when the goal should be 0 ppb. There is a reason we don't use lead paint or plumbing anymore in houses. 
• Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic acid, Bromate - All byproducts of the water disinfection and chlorination process. What are they???
• Pharmaceuticals - I occasionally hear about this also, and it makes complete sense. There are a lot of drugs (and supplements) out there that somehow can get into the water supply. For example, when people urinate out all these things, then flush the toilet - where do you think that water goes? 
• Chromium 6 - This is a naturally occurring mineral that is not currently on the water quality report. On part 2 of Dr. Oz's video about drinking water, he reveals that Chromium 6 is 1000 times too high in Norman, OK! Here are links to the Dr. Oz water videos:
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Link between cancer and heavy metals - Oklahoma has a lot of naturally occurring heavy metals in the drinking water. I worry about the link between these heavy metals and estrogen sensitive cancers. 

Now a little more about the system that I purchased for about $170 on Amazon and installed: 

 

Our RO system removes EVERYTHING. We even have to add back ¼ tsp of Himalayan sea salt per gallon of water for taste, electrolytes, and minerals. This is the best system for removing heavy metals, and it works by using the house's water pressure to force water through a membrane. For this reason, it does waste some water in the process.  

The type of water filtration system you personally decide on is a separate issue, but just about any filter is better than nothing. It really depends on what you are trying to remove from the water. Check out what our filters looked like after 1 year:

We could have been ingesting all that junk!

Dr. Mercola is a little over the top, but here is a good article about how harmful things in your water can affect your health.

I encourage you to do some research and decide what is best for your situation. In my opinion, if you find anything questionable in your water quality report, let someone else be the guinea pig and buy a filter (It is better to buy a filter than BE a filter!).

Blogging was a lot harder than I thought it would be, so I hope that you enjoyed it! It might be awhile before I do it again!