WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE – AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK!
We can live about 3 minutes without oxygen and about 2 weeks without water. Prior to 1900, contaminated water was one of the most common causes of death in young children. And today contaminated water is still a major problem in many undeveloped countries. Chlorination of water in the 1920’s eliminated most infectious agents from our drinking water. But chlorination is a two-edged sword – it produces significant cancer producing chemicals. This was brought to national attention in the 1960’s, only to be ignored almost immediately.

Chlorinated water is a skin irritant, even contributing to eczema and dry skin. It destroys polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E, intestinal flora-the essential ones which help digest food and manufacture B 12 and vitamin K. Chlorinated water contains trihalomethanes, or organochlorides, carcinogens, stored in fatty tissues, mother’s milk, blood and even semen. Organochlorides damage immune function and suppress immune function. Chlorinated water may aggravate asthma and significantly increase the incidence of bladder and bowel cancer and melanoma. There is even evidence that it increases the incidence of congenital heart abnormalities! It is not even totally safe for bathing. Personally I am not fond of swimming pools because of the heavy chlorination.

The bottom line—DO NOT DRINK CHLORINATED WATER! Purchase a good water filter which removes at least 99% of chlorine, fluoride and organochemicals. Fluoride is at least as bad as chlorine! Ideally, I recommend filtering all your home water, if you live in a city which chlorinates and fluoridates water.

Now how good is bottled water? Flip a coin! At least 25% and up to 40% of bottled water is from city tap water. DUH! FDA rules (and of course most FDA supervision is at best questionable) do not apply to any bottled water produced and sold within the state. Carbonated and seltzer waters are also exempt from FDA supervision. City water is generally at least tested for parasites—bottled water is not. Over half of Americans drink bottled water at least part of the time but there are virtually no ”standards” for it. And even the containers of bottled water are suspect, since most are plastic, which may contribute further organochemicals. In one test of 1000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water one-third were contaminated with bacteria or chemicals. Arsenic, nitrates and other inorganic compounds were found in ”many” of these waters. Ten percent of Americans drink tap water with unsafe levels of arsenic and 80 to 100 million Americans drink tap water with significant levels of trihalomethanes. The bottom line is that you just have to have water and when I travel I drink bottled water, preferably from a real spring and not a city tap! Incidentally distilled water has no natural calcium or magnesium and is not healthy. Nor is osmotically filtered water, which also removes the healthy minerals, recommended.

If you have well water it also must be checked at least every 2 to 3 years: Water National Testing Laboratories, Ltd. 800-458-3330. They test for: Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, ,iron, lead, mercury, manganese, barium, zinc, selenium, nitrates or tnitritespesticides, herbicides, PCB’s, trihalomethanes, volatile organic chemicals, copper, sulfates.

There is one more accessory for good water. The Biogenics Water Conditioner is a laminar micoid crystal embedded in pottery. It appears to change the hydrogen bonding of water, markedly improves the taste of water and appears to have health enhancing benefits. We use it as an adjunct to enhance the flavor of our already purer than city or bottled water from a deep well.