Allergy Be Gone Newsletter - February, 2006

Dear Valued Customer,

Water makes up more than two thirds of the weight of the human body. The body cannot work without it, just as a car cannot run without gas and oil. In fact, all the cell and organ functions in a human body depend on water for their functioning. For example, the human brain is made up of 95% water, blood is 82% and lungs 90%.

Considering that water plays such a major role in the function of our body‚ it is not surprising that its purity is the most basic and essential key to our health. But, with global pollution on the rise, are you sure that the water that you and your family drink is absolutely clean?

Water Pollution

Did you know that each year various industries release approximately 200 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the waterways? With this number in mind, it is no wonder that a recent report by the EPA stated that over 40% of US lakes and rivers are polluted.

Of course, the water that runs from your tap is treated to remove the majority of these pollutants. But this doesn't mean that it's absolutely pure and safe for drinking. Some pollutants are capable of "slipping" through the filters or can get into your water as it travels through the pipes to your home. Such pollutants can be broadly classified into three categories:

	Infectious agents, including disease-causing viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms, which may cause severe gastrointestinal illness. Some of those microorganisms are highly resistant to chlorine, which is used to disinfect water in most treatment plants, and can only be retained by filters with very small pore size.
	Heavy metals like lead and mercury or iron oxide from rusty pipes. Severe effects from exposure to them include reduced growth and development, cancer, organ damage or nervous system damage. The young are more prone to the toxic effects of heavy metals, as the rapidly developing body systems are far more sensitive.
	Toxic chemicals - chlorine, pesticides, acids and salts, etc. Chlorine, the chemical most commonly encountered in drinking water, is used during the water treatment process to kill microorganisms. Prolonged exposure to chlorine may result in a range of problems from skin and eyes irritation to lung diseases.

Identifying Polluted Water

If you experience any of these symptoms, your water may require additional treatment before use:

To get more information on the condition of your water system, you can call your water supplier and ask for the yearly test results on their drinking water supply, consult the EPA's Drinking Water Database, or purchase a test kit which would help you find out if there are any contaminants in your water.

Water Treatment Methods

Your water company is responsible to provide water that is safe to use, though unfortunately this is not always the case. If you are using public water, you might experience unacceptable levels of some of the contaminants listed above. To make sure that the water you drink is absolutely safe, you may choose to use one of the following treatment methods:

	Bottled water: Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. Some bottled water may be more pure than tap water, while some may not purified at all. Also, bottled water costs much more than tap water on a per gallon basis.
	Distillation: To remove impurities from water by distillation, the water is usually boiled causing it to vaporize, and the pure steam leaves the non-volatile contaminants behind. The steam moves to a different part of the unit and is cooled until it condenses back into liquid water. While this process is able to remove most of the contaminants, it is extremely lengthy and uses electricity, thus increasing the cost of every gallon of water you produce.
	Filtration: There are two main types of filters - sediment and activated carbon. Sediment filters remove hard particles from the water by rushing it through fine fiber mesh or the ceramic media. Unfortunately, these filters are unable to remove contaminants that are dissolved in the water, like chlorine, lead, mercury, or various organic chemicals. Activated carbon filters work similarly to the sediment filters, but they are also capable of removing a vast variety of dissolved contaminants.
	Reverse Osmosis (RO): This process removes a vast majority of contaminants, and, though it is a bit slower than most filters, it can purify more water per day and is less expensive to operate and maintain. One of the RO systems' main drawbacks is that they waste up to 4 gallons of water for each gallon of clean water produced.
	Ultra Violet Light (UV): Water passes through a clear chamber where it is exposed to ultra violet light, which effectively destroys bacteria and viruses. However, UV light is not effective against any non-living contaminant, such as lead, asbestos, chlorine, and many organic chemicals.

A good household water treatment system would consist of a sediment prefilter that would remove larger particles and clorine, an RO membrane for second-stage filtration, and an activated carbon postfilter that would remove the last of the impurities and odors. Some models also include an UV treatment chamber to further improve the purification quality.

If you would like more information on the ways you can make the water in your home absolutely safe, you can call one of our Water Quality Experts toll-free at 1-866-234-6630, 10 am - 6 pm EST. We would be more than happy to help you with any questions you may have.