PFAS, microplastics, arsenic - there's a steady stream of contaminants
Arguments pro and con about flouride are suddenly everywhere. Florida banned flouride in public drinking water last week, based on fears that the chemical can harm children's intellectual development. But public health officials and dentists argue that not adding flouride can harm children'steeth, opening the door to other health problems.
"Fluoride supplements have been shown to be effective at reducing tooth decay and are one method for maintaining oral health when utilized daily in compliance with the proper dose," the American Dental Association said in a recent statement.
Meanwhile in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is threatening to sue toothpaste companies, saying that theyflavor their products and deceptively market them in ways that encourage kids to ingest fluoride toothpaste."
So, leaving aside for a moment all the politically inspired blather about fluoride, let's ask a simple question: What's the best way to provide the purest water supply for yourself and your family, with or without fluoride?
Germs, metals, chemicals
Obviously, the first consideration is bacteria. Drinking water that is infested with germs can cause serious illness and even death. But assuming you're on a public water supply, chlorine and other chemicals are added to the water to kill any potentially harmful bacteria.
So the next consideration is harmful chemicals, including heavy metals and the PFAS family of "forever chemicals" and the microplastics that are being found just about everywhere imaginable. Recent tests have found these chemicals present in a surprisingly high percentage of samples from municipal water.
Add to that, the American Chemical Society found in a recent study thatconsumers who drink bottled water could be consuming tens of thousands more microplastic particles when compared withthose who dont.
Individuals who meet their recommended water intake through only bottled sources may be ingesting an additional 90,000 microplastics annually, compared to 4,000 microplastics for those who consume only tap water, their study concluded.
Then there's the issue of taste.While chlorine is considered safe and protects against bacteria infestation,it doesn't taste very good. Neither do some of the other chemicals commonly added to municipal water supplies. One simple way to deal with that is to buy bottled water but that has its faults as well.
Bottled water not necessarily safer
Bottled water tastes better than municipal water because the chlorine has been removed. That doesn't make it healthier, it just makes it taste better. And while some bottled water claims to come from fresh mountain springs, most of it comes straight from the tap and is then filtered to remove the chlorine.
Even if your favorite brand really does come from a spring, that doesn't do anything for its health qualities.Spring water can, and often is, contaminated by agricultural fertilizers, runoff from feedlots and other less than healthy sources.
There's also the plastic problem. Harmful chemicals can leach from the plastic bottles used to store water, especially if it's stored for a long time or exposed to sunlight and high temperatures.
Between an estimated 10% and 78% of bottled water samples contain contaminants, including microplastics, often classified as hormone disruptors, and various other substances including phthalates (used to make plastics more durable) and bisphenol A (BPA) according toresearchersfrom Weill Cornell Medicine.
So what's the solution to finding clean water water that's free of bacteria, heavy metals, PFAS and microplastics? For most people, it's a reverse osmosis system, one of the few affordable and easily maintained methods.
Counter-top or under the sink
Areverse osmosis (RO) system uses pressure to force water through a semi-permeable membrane, removing contaminants and leaving clean, filtered water on the other side. Affordable home filters are now readily available, either as counter-top or under-the-sink models.
While it's true that reverse osmosis uses a lot of water in the process of producing clean water, it's unlikely it will run up your water bill enough to make it more expensive than bottled water. It may also filterout some beneficial minerals, most notably magnesium. A simple supplement can replace it if you truly become deficient; talk to your doctor or nutritionist about this.
High-quality counter-top units are available for $150 to $400. Under-sink units require professional installation, which runs the cost up somewhat. But both should be more cost-effective than regularly buying bottled water, which is also a major source of environmental waste.
There's also the matter of taste. Besides the chlorine, tap water often just doesn't taste very good. It may be cloudy and even foul-smelling, causing most consumers to look around for their water bottle. An RO system solves that problem. It produces water thatlooks good and tastes good, even if you leave it sitting on the counter overnight.
A fewfinal tips: If you go to the trouble of running your water through an RO filter, be sure to store it safely, preferably in glass or stainless steel, not plastic.
If you have older people in your family, they may reap even more benefits from an RO system. Kidney function declines with age and filtered water can help keep kidneys healthy by filtering out harmful contaminants.
And, although it may sound odd, there are also water filters for your shower head. The chlorine in tap water tends to throw off chlorine gas when it's hot, as it is in a shower. This can cause throat and skin irritation. It doesn't require an RO system, just a simple carbon filter to eliminate the chlorine.
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Posted: 2025-05-19 00:01:00
