Image by Thomas Chauke. from Pexels
Things you might not have realized, but will once you read this
Do you enjoy drinking water like me?
Ever since I turned from a sugar-addicted teen to a more palatable adult, I don’t like fruit juices like I used to. And since that point I always water down my juice or just drink water raw, straight from the tap.
I never wondered though, where does my water come from?
Well actually, I have, because I had to help my family pull up my well recently where I got to see the well pump’s home of red clay and pure, clean water. But have I wondered when going to a public restaurant or library? Nope.
It’s about time I did though, because there’s a new threat to water that’s becoming mainstream. That’s called PFAS’s.
Otherwise known as plastic, it’s the leaching of our water bottles, containers, and the etc. that has found its way into municipal water.
Maybe you’ve heard of the plastics being found in the ocean and in coral reef’s, well the spout you’re drinking from may just be a new source.
As I live in the US, ==here’s a diagram== of how mainstream this leaching has become.
Image from Coastal Review
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of plastics even in the rural parts of my neighborhood.
You may wonder though,
Why are these PFAS’s so bad?
It’s because these plastics take years to break down.
They may cause cancer, as well as reproductive diseases, and a whole lotta other things that the ==EPA== has stated.
Don’t worry though, there are still measures you can take to protect your health.
Check your water source
As someone who’s on well water, I don’t have to worry too much because it’s less likely to be contaminated like municipal water, since it has many hands it goes through. Yet, if you do live in a suburban town with high PFAS’s, check out this article.
Use filters
Whether you’re on well or municipal, a filter is likely to get most of these points plastics out. Just look at:
“…products certified to NSF/ANSI 53 (for filters) or NSF/ANSI 58 (reverse osmosis).
Look at the source of water on beverages
An underrated tip, yet one of the most important. Especially if you drink water from those water bottles that crinkle as soon as you touch it, a lot of these bottles are made cheaply and leach quicker.
If you’re at the grocery store, make note of where the water is from on the label. Then you can do a Google search of how likely they have PFAS contamination.
Takeaway
PFAS’s are everywhere, but we can prevent coming in contact with the diseases they inflict as best we can when we take even the smallest preventative measures.
The next time you’re at a restaurant, think twice about the glass of water you’re handed, because you might not know where it came from.
Unless you ask the waiter and he knows, of course.