How Does Our Water Get Contaminated?

To some, the fact that our drinking water contains over 2,100 toxic, carcinogenous chemicals may seem unbelievable. The biggest question skeptics may have is, "How do those chemicals get into drinking water?"

To answer this question, you have to understand the big picture of the water cycle. There is no new water. Our planet has a huge amount, but it is in limited supply. The earth has been recycling this water across the globe for billions of years. Water in the oceans evaporate to become clouds. Clouds float over land and condense into rain. The rain flows over the land into lakes and rivers. The rivers pour back into the ocean; carrying along minerals (this is why the oceans are so salty). Although it may be hard to believe, scientists estimate about 10% of our drinking water has previously been drunk by animals or people, excreted and returned to the global water cycle.




Toxic chemicals get into our water system in several different ways.

One of the most common ways is rain runoff. Rain washes agricultural chemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides off the ground into rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater. It is not just farms that are to blame, households also spray their lawns with weed killers, sprinkle salt over icy sidewalks, and wash cars in driveways with detergents.

Another common form of water contamination comes from industrial waste water by manufacturing plants, which often contain a wide variety of synthetic chemicals. Such pollution is technically illegal, but many factories continue to practice anyway. Even when a factory does filter its waste water, not all chemicals are removed. Just enough are removed for the waste water to qualify as "safe" according to federal regulations. The problem is, small trace elements of such chemicals can concentrate in the local groundwater as the years go by.

Finally, humans and animals contaminate water simply by what they eat. Whenever an animal (including humans) consumes water, it flushes chemicals out of their bodies and back into the water supply. In the case of animals, it flushes out antibiotics and growth hormones. With humans, it can include everything from prescription medication to caffeine.

The Natural Cycle
In much the same way that rain washing salt off the land over the millennia concentrated enough to make even the vast oceans salty, synthetic chemicals like antibiotics, growth hormones, and birth control medication gradually gets concentrated into our water supply.

This cycle is accelerated by the fact that modern water treatment plants intercept and recycle society's waste water before it ever gets to the ocean. With an ever-increasing global population and a limited (although large) supply of water on earth, it stands to reason that such synthetic chemicals will only become more concentrated in our water over time.

The best defense against all the different synthetic chemicals our drinking water is contaminated with is a home water filtration system. There is an initial start-up cost to install a water purification system (although many think of it as an investment in their family's health), but after that, one only needs to occasionally change the water filter. This expense comes out to less than ten cents per gallon. A high-quality water filtration system, preferably one with a carbon filter, is the best way to protect you and your family from contaminated drinking water.