Your Water, Your Health

It is a common occurrence in my practice that a client is surprised to hear that the practice of drinking filtered water is not enough when it comes to reducing risks to one's health from water contaminants. Most people are very cognizant and concerned about the water they are drinking, but may not realize that the water they are using to shower and bathe is also being absorbed into the body through the lungs and the skin. A new study indicates that “plastic rain is the new acid rain”. (See in-depth info on this study below.) Rain water containing microfibers of plastic is going to enter the municipal water systems through runoff - this calls us to attention around both our drinking and bathing waters. In March of 2021, a Consumer Reports publication revealed similar disturbing elevations in PFAS and arsenic in 118 of 120 subjects. Indeed, almost every sample tested had measurable levels of PFAS, a group of compounds found in hundreds of household products. These chemicals are linked to learning delays in children, cancer, and other health problems. Let’s look at some of the top threats to your holistic health coming from water contaminants.

The Truth About Tap Water

I have seen many results from 3rd party water analyses over my decades of practice, and witnessed health conditions associated with contaminants that people were not aware existed in their water. These include industrial pollutants, heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and thallium, and now micro plastics.

Here are some startling statistics on water:

• 70% of industrial wastes in developing countries are disposed of (untreated) into waters where they contaminate existing water supplies.(1)

• An estimated 500,000 abandoned mines in the U.S. will cost $20 billion in management and remediation of pollution; many of these sites will require management in perpetuity. (2)

• In the U.S. state of Colorado alone, some 23,000 abandoned mines have polluted 2,300 km of streams. (3) Mining remnants in water systems are documented all over the world. (4) The authors of this particular study state:

  "A water pollution hazard, arising from mine tailings ponds, threatens the receptors including drinking water intakes, irrigation water intakes, water bodies, residential land, and agricultural land, woodland, and nature reserves in a watershed". (A table published by these authors is below, indicating the level of risk to certain land types and public drinking sources.)

• Chlorinated solvents were found in 30 percent of groundwater supplies in 15 Japanese cities, sometimes traveling as much as 10 km from the source of pollution. (5) (UNEP 1996)

• Roughly one unit of mercury is emitted into the environment for every unit of gold produced by small-scale miners, a total of as much as 1000 tons of mercury emitted each year.(6)

• In a recent comparison of domestic, industrial, and agricultural sources of pollution from the coastal zone of Mediterranean countries, agriculture was the leading source of phosphorus compounds and sediment. (7) In the United States, the presence of glyphosate and other toxic compounds are widely discovered in water sources near conventional farms. (8) Glyphosate is deadly to animals and humans, and is a major carcinogen.

• Micro plastics are emerging as a new threat to water systems all over the world. Plastic is a harbor for pathogens and their colonization and attracts other chemicals for binding and poisoning the human body. (9) Micro plastics could be a critical source for pulmonary risk, again particularly in the shower, as a significant amount of water that is absorbed in the shower is taken in through inhalation. (A table is shown below with the percentage of water samples in the world registering micro plastics.) In the latest study (June 2020), the researchers used collectors in 11 national parks and protected areas, sampling both rain and air. Each had a “wet” bucket to collect rainwater, and a “dry” bucket to collect air. A sensor would detect rainfall and open up the “wet” bucket while closing the dry one - and vice versa when it’s sunny out, so the dry bucket would collect microplastic particles carried on the wind while the wet bucket stayed shut. The researchers also modeled where each particular storm they collected rain from had originated, looking at the size of the cities it traveled through before dumping water, and microplastics, into the wet bucket.

  Overall, they found that a stunning 98 percent of samples collected over a year contained microplastic particles. On average, 4 percent of captured atmospheric particulates were actually synthetic polymers. The particles that fell in rain were larger than those deposited by wind—lighter particles are more easily caught up in air currents. Microfibers, from sources like polyester clothing, made up 66 percent of the synthetic material in wet samples and 70 percent in dry samples. “I was just completely floored to see little brightly-colored pieces of plastic in nearly every single sample,” said one of the study’s authors. Additionally, the team wasn't able to count clear or white particles and fibers with their equipment, so their tally is likely conservative.

  Looking at the path of the storms that deposited the wet microplastic samples, the researachers were able to map how weather systems transport the particles. Winds, for instance, might kick up microplastic particles off the ground in an urban area and carry them downwind before forcing them to the surface once more. “Rain is very effective at scrubbing the atmosphere of everything that's in it,” says Brahney, the lead researcher. “And so there could be a fair amount of dust and plastics in the atmosphere and a rainstorm will wash those out.” Microplastic particles could even be acting as condensation nuclei, which are bits of debris that attract water vapor to form a cloud. Researchers stated “We saw relationships to the location of the jet stream, which implies that the air masses that are controlling deposition are really high in the atmosphere,”. (In the US, the fast-moving jet stream runs from west to east across the continent.) This jibes with what other scientists are starting to see elsewhere around the world: tiny pieces of plastic—largely synthetic fibers from clothes—are getting caught in the wind and spread far and wide, tainting formerly pristine habitats. Plastic waste is expected to skyrocket from 260 million tons a year to 460 million tons by 2030.

A Most Important Health Investment

One of the most important investments you can make in your home and in your daily health care is high quality water filtration, not only for drinking but for bathing and showering. While much focus has been given to drinking water sources, there is far too little conversation about how to protect your body (and your family's bodies) from these types of contamination through cleansing.

At True Nature Health Consulting, as a team, we investigate together all areas of risk and exposure in order to create the most comprehensive and dynamic plan for your optimal holistic health. Water sources and quality are of utmost importance in this process. For more information on personalized health protocols, email me at Julie@truenaturehealthconsulting.com. We provide holistic telehealth services.

Sources

1) UN-Water 2009

2) Septoff 2006 and http://www.abandonedmines.gov/ep.html)

3) Banks, et al. 1997

4) Accidental Water Pollution Risk Analysis of Mine Tailings Ponds in Guanting Reservoir Watershed, Zhangjiakou City, China, Renzhi Liu, Jing Liu, Zhijiao Zhang, Alistair Borthwick and Ke Zhang, December 2015, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

5) UNEP 1996

6) UNEP/GRID-Arendal

7) UNEP 1996

8) Kjaer et al., 2004, Glyphosate and AMPA in Drinking-water, WHOGuidelines for Drinking-water Quality

9) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals