One out of three Americans is drinking unhealthy water. Sadly, this sad fact remains even as public pressure grows to make the water more healthy for consumption. Unfortunately, for many Californians, safe drinking water is still not available and affordable. Contaminated drinking water contributes to unhealthy people, increasing illness and disease risk. Dangerous contaminants also infect drinking water sources, creating serious health risks.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nearly one liter of tap water gets consumed by Americans every day. For urban dwellers, this number is even higher. In the city alone, some seven million people get their drinking water from a private potable water system. These figures do not include data on publicly provided potable water systems.
The EPA has advised all states to improve the way they maintain water sanitation. This includes making sure the right chemicals and equipment are present in the right places and ensure that the right training is provided for employees. It is important to ensure sanitation so that diseases like cholera don't spread through unsanitary water supplies. The agency recommends that all states have one representative responsible for overseeing compliance with the Safe Water Act. All states also need to have one representative to oversee health-risk information and standards for personal protective equipment.
One of the problems with cleaning up the basic sanitation in a home or office is the number of people in these locations who either do not possess basic sanitation habits or do not care. Many people lack the time, inclination or the knowledge to make sure that their toilet is always cleaned after use. Their sinks may not be wiped clean after using them and they may lack access to running water for washing their hands. All of these behaviors create health risks and many health problems, including boils and tooth decay, which will not go away without cleaning up the water supply.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. Of those, one hundred million do not have safe drinking water on a daily basis. This is particularly true in the developing world where most people lack access to basic sanitation and have to drink contaminated water to survive.
Many people are concerned about the amount of contamination that is in the tap liquid. Contaminants can vary from fecal matter to chlorine and lead. The FDA says that the majority of tap liquid in the U.S. is safe. However, they recommend that people with certain medical conditions to get their doctor's advice before drinking from any tap source. People with kidney disease should not drink from bottled water, even if it says it is filtered and treated to be safe since the only way to know for sure is to get a reading from a certified water testing lab.
Even though tap water may be safe, some people are concerned about the chemicals that are used to treat it and how they may affect their health. Some of the chemicals found in bottled water are listed as carcinogens. A study conducted in Europe by a team of researchers studying the effects of drinking bottled water came up with this finding: Men who drank the highest amounts of bottled water were four times more likely to suffer from certain types of cancer than men who did not drink the maximum amounts of tap water.
While some experts say tap water has similar chemical content to bottled water, there are other experts who say that the levels of contaminants are far too low to cause health problems. Some say that bottled water simply tastes better. For some people, the taste is more important than the purity of the liquid. Drinking purified water can eliminate or at least significantly reduce the number of chemicals you are exposed to in your everyday life. In fact, most doctors agree that drinking purified water is healthy.
