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"drinking water" news and stories

Orange County produces the world's most recycled water

Runoff from a train yardWhy are we so disgusted by the simple fact that all the drinking water on earth is recycled wastewater? Unfortunately, the natural recycling process, involving evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, does not deliver enough drinking water to the drier parts of the world. This Sunday, the New York Times Magazine had an article about Orange County's new facility where it's purifying 70 million gallons of recycled water a day.

Many people are skeptical and revolted by the idea that their drinking water is simply purified toilet water. But, if we were to analyze the general water infrastructure in the U.S., we'd realize that sewage enters all our waterways. The majority of us drink tap water that is disinfected at drinking-water plants far less sophisticated than the ones built in Orange County.

The water coming out of the Fountain Valley plant in Orange County is cleaner than many bottled waters, such as Poland Spring. However, to appease peoples' concerns about the water being unnatural and dirty, Fountain Valley puts the water back into nature (ponds, streams, lakes, etc.). Ironically, the water's purity dwindles when it goes back into the wild where it's exposed to bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural and industrial chemicals.

Should Fountain Valley care if people view their water recycling process as natural?

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News, Drink Recipes

Britain's tap water - clean, clean, clean

Of the 146,000 complaints on the UK's water supply, almost 120,000 were made about the colour of the liquid gushing from the nation's taps. But figures just released show that just a tiny fraction under 100% (99.96% to be precise) met the minimum safety standards.

While only a tiny proportion of tap water failed to meet minimum standards, 2,597 people contacted their suppliers to claiming it had made them ill which the Drinking Water Inspectorate put down to the condition of the pipes and taps inside the complainants homes.

Birds are the most likely suspect on dirty water - dead birds in uncovered tanks are regularly found, other tanks are below where birds nest and defecate. Pipework in a lot of homes is old and made of lead - so that toxic particles flow out of taps.

Customers in the South West Water area were the most common complainers with more than 15 people complaining for every 1,000 of the population. Customers in Northumbria were the second-most likely to complain.

Source

Filed under: Business, Health & Medical, Drink Recipes

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Is there too much fluoride in your drinking water?

We've talked about drinking water from the tap before, mostly about pollutants But what about things that are pruposely added to the water like fluoride?

The National Academy of Sciences, commissioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has concluded that the maximum level of fluoride in drinking water is too high, and is urging the EPA to lower the levels. However, they haven't indicated to what level.

Fluoridation of water was originally introduced in 1945 as a preventative measure for dental health. While we all know that fluoride is an ingredient in toothpaste because it helps prevent tooth decay, too much fluoride poses some serious risks. Severe enamel fluorosis actually weakens dental enamel causing cavities, but more importantly, researchers have reason to believe that fluoride may contribute to bone fractures, skeletal fluorosis and possibly bone cancer.

None of this matters if you're loyal to your Evian, but if you're concerned about the level of fluoride in your community, check with the CDC.

Source

Filed under: Science, Drink Recipes

Straight From the Tap - Cleanest Cities for Drinking Water

tap waterLast summer, Reader's Digest published an article listing the 50 cleanest metropolitan cities in America. They scored cities based on air and water qualities, pollution by industrial toxics, and sanitation. There's no big surprise that Portland scored the highest for cleanliness overall, but what did surprise (me, at least), was that several cities that I would never have guessed, scored a perfect 50 for the quality of their tap water. Riverside? Las Vegas? The list of perfect scoring cities are below:

  • Buffalo, NY 
  • Columbus, OH
  • Denver, CO
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • Portland, OR
  • Riverside, CA
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Salt Lake City, UT 
  • San Diego, CA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • San Jose, CA

 

Filed under: Vegetarian, Vegan, Non-GMO, Magazines, Raves & Reviews, Lists, Ingredients, Drink Recipes

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