What's in your water!?
Tap water
There are a wide range of chemicals added to tap water in order to make it safe, however there is growing evidence that some of these chemicals, even in small amounts, may cause health problems.
Chemicals added include:
Liquified chlorine
Fluorosilicic acid
Aluminium sulphate
Calcium hydroxide
Sodium silicofluoride
It should also be considered that the water pipes we have in the UK to transport clean water from the treatment plant are often Victorian, and water can become easily contaminated en route to our homes.
Northumbrian Water admits that the following are all found in tap water:
Chlorine - naturally occurring.
Sulphate - naturally occurring.
Magnesium - naturally occurring.
Sodium - naturally occurring.
Potassium - naturally occurring.
Manganese - naturally occurring but also from corrosion of cast iron water mains.
Iron - naturally occurring but also from corrosion of cast iron water mains.
Aluminium - naturally occurring but also added in some treatment works to remove naturally occurring aluminium.
Nitrates - naturally occurring from mineral and soil processes, but also from agricultural activity.
Phosphorus - naturally occurring but also present in fertilisers and detergents. Added in some treatment works to prevent uptake of lead.
Copper - leached form domestic plumbing systems.
Zinc - leached from domestic plumbing systems.
Lead - leached from plumbing systems - treated water is virtually lead free. Water is treated to make it less likely to uptake lead.
Chlorine - added as an antibacterial agent.
Flouride - naturally occurring but added at some treatment works due to local authority requests.
Pesticides - leached from intensively farmed land. Water is treated to remove them.
PAH (Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons) - caused by corrosion of cast iron pipes.
Bacteria - water is contaminated en route to your home.
Other contaminants include:
Fluorine compounds
Trihalomethanes (THMs)
Salts of:
arsenic
radium
mercury
cadmium
barium
Hormones
Despite all this, tap water in the UK is considered to be among the safest in the world.
Bottled Water
Astonishingly Wagner et al (2013) found 24,520 chemicals in bottled water, particularly endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC’s) which are man-made compounds that interfere with hormone signalling and, therefore, adversely affect health. Although they identified antiestrogenic compounds among these, the antiandrogenic compounds remain unidentified, indicating that there are yet more chemicals contained within bottled water. There are too many to list..........!
I know which I'll be drinking from now on.....
References
freshlysqueezedwater.or.uk (undated) What’s in your drinking water? (online available at http://freshlysqueezedwater.org.uk/) [Accessed 27/03/2017].
Northumbrian Water (undated) What's in your water? (online available at https://www.nwl.co.uk/_assets/documents/3124_Web_PDF_-_Whats_in_your_tap_water.pdf) [Accessed 28/03/2017].
Wagner J (2017) What chemicals are in tap water? (online at http://www.healthguidance.org) [Accessed 28/03/2017].
Wagner M, Schlüsener MP, Ternes TA, Oehlmann J (2013) Identification of Putative Steroid Receptor Antagonists in Bottled Water: Combining Bioassays and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry. PLoS ONE 8(8): e72472. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072472 9. (online at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0072472) [Accessed 27/03/2017].
Water UK (2017) Tap water FAQ's (online at http://www.water.org.uk) [Accessed 28/03/2017].