The water that flows from our taps is clean but not for 100%. Despite the perfect filters in wastewater treatment plants, some chemicals cannot be removed from the drinking water. These mainly comprise medicines, various cleaners or cosmetics. These substances do not completely dissolve in the water, and they cannot be collected on filters. Their intake can cause serious health problems.
Unwanted content in clear water
The substances listed above include the following pollutants, which are the cause of severe disorders:
- Ethinylestradiol – a hormonally active substance that is part of the birth-control preparations;
- Antibiotics – they are a necessary group of medicines but dissolved in water, they cause bacteria to be resistant against them; and consecutively, thus, antibiotics do not work so well for seriously ill patients;
- Triclosan – is an antibacterial ingredient in soaps. Animal studies have indicated endocrine system disruption, hepatic impairment, tumour formation, and thyroid dysfunction;
- Glyphosate – part of the RoundUp herbicide that is banned worldwide;
- Bisphenol A (BPA) – an unstable compound that forms part of many everyday consumer products. It has been detected in the air, rivers, drinking water, and the food where it gets from plastic packaging.
What can happen?
The concentrations in which these substances occur may seem negligible, and the content of individual chemicals is below the safety margins. However, they never occur alone in nature, they form part of a mixture that no one knows how strong and dangerous it is because no one has ever measured it. And the worst thing is that these hazardous cocktails have a long-term effect on humans. And we know, we can only go that road so many times until the medication may have stopped working, the human immune system may have been compromised or have gained neurological disorders.
