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Top 5 Most Pervasive
Carcinogens In Drinking Water
Multipure
Recent headlines about water quality have
grabbed the nation’s attention and left many wondering what they can do to
protect their homes and families.
While there are instances of cancer-causing
chemicals in tap water, the good news is that filtration systems can keep
chemical water pollution out of your home.
Several carcinogens commonly find their way
into tap water. These are largely tasteless and odorless, making them difficult
to detect without proper equipment.
It is important to know about them for
several reasons:
Health: Your and your
family’s health can be significantly affected by these carcinogens.
Applying Pressure on
Utility Companies:
If you know what carcinogens to look for, you will know what type of pressure
to apply on your local utility company to remove them.
Here is some information on the top five
cancer-causing agents present in tap water.
1. 1,4-Dioxane
The chemical known as 1,4-Dioxane has been
used as a stabilizer in industrial applications for over six decades.
This compound is also present in inks and
adhesives and has been classified as a likely carcinogen to humans.
In liquid form, it is clear and has a faintly
sweet odor.
It is also present in many shampoos and
detergents, where it exists as a byproduct of the manufacturing process.
1,4-Dioxane dissolves completely in water but
does not easily break down, causing it to remain as a contaminant for long
periods of time.
This carcinogen leaches into the water supply
as a result of its use in industry.
Though it is more carefully regulated today,
it was heavily used for many years and accumulated in landfills. From there, it
seeps into the groundwater.
Because it blends so easily with water, it
moves through soil effortlessly and subsequently reaches surface water.
From there, it can cause damage to kidneys
and irritation of the lungs in addition to cancer.
Wastewater treatment plants cannot remove
1,4-Dioxane from water in significant quantities, which makes it especially
persistent in surface water.
According to the EPA, 1,4-Dioxane at a
concentration of 0.35 parts per billion is the amount predicted to lead to a
maximum of one case of cancer in a sample of one million people.
This level is generally accepted to be the
minimum standard for safety.
While 1,4-Dioxane has not been explicitly
implicated as a cause of cancer, its administration via drinking water has
caused liver cancer in laboratory rats.
Consequently, both the International Agency
for Research on Cancer and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
consider it a likely candidate for causing cancer.
2. Arsenic
Whereas 1,4-Dioxane is a likely carcinogen,
arsenic is known to be an especially formidable one.
This element occurs naturally in the earth
and can be present as deposits in rocks and other excavations.
It also leaches into soil and water as a
result of mining refuse, the production of metals and power plants that burn
coal and other fossil fuels.
Arsenic is a useful n-type doping agent
within silicon semiconductors and is used in an ever-shrinking list of consumer
products.
Arsenic gets into the water supply in many
different ways.
It can come as a byproduct of agriculture,
excavation, mining, and chemical or other types of industry.
It is present in smoke from tobacco and the
smoke from burning pressure-treated lumber.
Those who have water delivered by a utility
company may find arsenic in their tap water, while those who have dug wells are
at risk of naturally-occurring arsenic in their well water.
A 2015 study found that over 70 million
Americans had unsafe levels of arsenic in their water.
This type of arsenic, known as inorganic
arsenic, comes from the ground and is more harmful than the arsenic found in
many food products.
Because arsenic is always present in our
bodies, it is the particular levels that are of concern.
When our water contains fewer than 10 parts
per billion of arsenic, food becomes the main contributor to our arsenic
levels.
Arsenic is associated with many medical
ailments:
o Cancer of the
bladder, lungs, liver, kidneys, prostate, and skin
o Damages internal
organs and leads to cardiovascular diseases
o Interfering with
cellular functions
Even the EPA’s legal limit of 10 parts per
billion is likely too high, as it still contributes 600 cases of cancer to
every one million people.
More recent EPA research has found arsenic to
be 17 times more poisonous than preceding research had indicated, but there is
political pressure that may be preventing these findings from coming to light.
3. Chronium-6
Otherwise known as hexavalent chronium, this
chemical received its moment in the spotlight with the 2000 film “Erin
Brockovich.”
Chronium-6 causes cancer even in very small
doses, making it a particularly insidious carcinogen and a very present danger
in our drinking water.
It is used in plenty of industrial processes
and products, including dyes for fabrics, preserving wood, preventing corrosion
and welding metals like stainless steel.
One frustrating roadblock to keeping chronium-6
out of tap water is that there is currently no safe federal limit.
An older study, which limited chronium-6 and
chronium-3 to 100 parts per billion, listed the two chemicals as skin
irritants.
It was later revealed that chrobium-6 could
cause cancer.
When researchers in the EPA completed a new
study in 2011, which concluded that chromium-6 was indeed dangerously
carcinogenic, the industry applied pressure and its released was postponed.
It could still be some time before chronium-6
in drinking water is limited.
Chromium-6 may be present in at least 75% of
American drinking water supplies. It finds its way into them from industrial
processes and spills.
For instance, a steel plant in Indiana was
responsible for a spill that dumped 300 pounds of chromium-6 into a local
waterway in 2017.
This release of chromium-6 was nearly 600
times the limit allowed by law. Spills aside, the chemical leaches into the
water table from industrial processes and runoff.
Chromium-6 causes skin irritation when it is
used in tanning leather or other similar products.
Ingesting it leads to a host of unwelcome
side effects, including liver toxicity, stomach ulcers and irritation, tooth
decay and asthma.
It is mostly banned within the European Union
due to its health hazards.
4. Disinfection Byproducts
Disinfecting water is a massively important
process in the modern world and is one of the factors responsible for our
ability to distribute drinking water via a grid to large portions of society.
Chemicals like chlorine kill potentially
deadly disease agents like cholera and dysentery that are a cause of so many
deaths in other parts of the world.
When chlorine and similar disinfectants
combine with waste products from plants and animals in our water system,
however, they can form carcinogenic impurities. These are called disinfection
byproducts.
Disinfection byproducts lead to a greater
risk of cancer and might even cause harm to fetuses.
There are at least 250 million Americans who
ingest disinfection byproducts in their drinking water.
Dangerous examples include four types of
trihalomethanes, five different types of haloacetic acids, bromate and
chlorite.
However, this is just the set of disinfectant
byproducts identified by the government as dangerous — there are hundreds more
that have been identified outside of these.
Because disinfection is such a critical part
of our infrastructure, it is important to integrate disinfection byproduct
removal with our current methods of killing diseases.
However, as it stands, disinfection
byproducts find their way into the water as a result of organic waste flowing
into reservoirs and mixing with disinfectants.
While the government and utility providers
have experimented with different disinfectants to minimize harmful byproducts,
the most promising method is preventing organic waste from entering the water
system in the first place.
Trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids are the
most prevalent disinfectant byproducts in drinking water.
These cause bladder cancer and have led to
tumors in the intestines, livers, and kidneys of lab animals.
Chlorite can harm thyroid function and sperm
as well as cause stomach ulcers.
Presently, it appears to be a carcinogen —
albeit not a particularly powerful one.
Bromate is a disinfectant byproduct that can
cause damage to DNA and is the result of the ozonation of water in treatment
plants.
5. Nitrate
Nitrate is a carcinogen affecting more than
half of the United States’ population.
Nitrate is present in chemical fertilizers,
manure and wastewater effluent from treatment plants.
It is extremely common in areas with heavy
agriculture and can reside in water wells near livestock or septic tanks.
In 1962, the federal government imposed a
limit of 10 milligrams per liter of nitrate, which was sufficient to prevent
blue baby syndrome in newborns.
However, the limit has not been updated since
learning that nitrate is a carcinogen.
Aside from being a byproduct of agriculture,
nitrate also exists naturally in soil. However, this level is greatly increased
by the addition of nitrate-rich fertilizers.
When rain falls, it washes much of this
nitrate away, carrying it into rivers and the water table.
From there, it enters wells, reservoirs,
lakes and other sources of water that people use to drink.
Nitrate often exists in conjunction with
nitrite, which is even more dangerous to humans.
One interesting note about nitrate is its concentration
in leafy vegetables.
When we consume these, we are also consuming
nitrate — though the vegetables also contain enough antioxidants to have a net
positive health effect.
Tap water remains the other primary source of
nitrates and is especially dangerous for infants.
Nitrate leads to methemoglobinemia, or blue
baby syndrome, in which a baby’s bloodstream is starved of oxygen.
Additionally, it leads to thyroid problems
and can cause thyroid cancer in women.
It harms reproduction and damages DNA, which
can lead to cancer in the blood, throat, and other organs.
Despite the mandates of the 1962 limit, it is
likely that a lower level of nitrate should be ingested to avoid long-term
health effects.
Unfortunately, agriculture continues to use
more and more fertilizers.
This means we will have to find ways to alter
agricultural practices to limit the amount of nitrate that runs off fields.
How do I know if my water contains these
chemicals?
Due to a large amount of interest in public
safety, there are several resources to start out with when trying to gauge the
quality of your local water.
One of the first places to search is on the
EPA’s interactive water quality map. By typing in your zip code or city, you
can view waterways that are impaired in your area.
This allows you to see immediately if the
government has identified a water safety issue near you.
Additionally, you can view discharge sites.
These are places where industrial concerns dump their waste.
If you are downriver from any of these
discharge sites, it is a good idea to invest in a water filtration system.
Generally, it is a good idea no matter what.
If you receive water from a utility company, that water may come from some
distance away.
If you have a well, there could be chemicals
or metals leaching into your well water, and filtration is a great way to
ensure your safety.
You can also search for local water providers
by going to the Environmental Working Group’s tap water database. Here, you can
again type in your zip code and will receive a list of all tap water providers
nearby.
Getting a professional water test is the
surest way to know what your water contains and what precautions you need to
take to ensure its purity.
Contact a local water testing organization to
test your tap water.
What can I do to remove these chemicals from
my drinking water?
Water filters come in many shapes and sizes
to treat drinking water. At Multipure, we offer a broad selection of filtration
systems for homes and businesses. Here are some of the products we have to
choose from:
Aqualuxe: Built to offer a combination of
artistic beauty and superb functionality, the Aqualuxe is an NSF-certified
system that uses carbon block technology to filter out chemicals, viruses, and
bacteria from drinking water. It provides peace of mind through
industry-leading water filtration performance.
Aquaversa: This NSF-certified system can be
used on a countertop or below the sink. Its carbon block filter treats both
aesthetic and health contaminants.
Aquaperform: This NSF-certified system adds
additional media to the carbon block to reduce the amount of Arsenic V in
water. It comes in a stainless steel housing and is extremely effective at
reducing impurities found in tap water.
Aquadome: This NSF-certified system comes in
a plastic casing that is resistant to both impacts and high pressure and is
easy to install for countertop uses.
Come to Multipure to taste the difference
When the safety of the natural environment
and your family is on the line, look no further than
Multipure to provide top-of-the-line
protection. Our broad range of Solid Carbon Block filters keep carcinogens out
of your system and gives you control over the quality of the water in your
home. Browse our products today and contact us with any questions.
Water
is everywhere - in the air, in the ground, in the rivers and lakes. Water
affects our body
and
mind, from our skin and muscles to our metabolism and focus. Water is life.
Multipure is dedicated to better water, better health,
and better lives. We are the premier manufacturer of high quality drinking
water systems, filters, and purifiers, and our vision is demonstrated through
innovative
water filtration technology and an extraordinary opportunity for success.
Welcome
to Multipure, and welcome to our rich history, tradition, and leadership in
water
treatment and the improvement of people's lives.
https://www.multipure.com/purely-social/science/top-5-pervasive-carcinogens-drinking-water/
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