Posted: July 2009

Water is vital to life, so it should be as healthy as possible. This article covers plumbing and how it impacts the health of occupants. A plumbing supply system carries water into a house, where we drink it, use it for laundering clothes, preparing food, flushing toilets, bathing, etc. Once we are done with the water, a plumbing drain system carries it away from the house to a sewer or septic system.

All water supplies contain some contaminants, and water can pick up additional contaminants as it passes through municipal water-treatment plants, water mains, supply piping, and fixtures. Water is said to be a universal solvent. This means that virtually anything can be dissolved in it—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Water Supply

The water we use in our houses generally comes from a surface supply (rivers or lakes) or an underground source (a well). Lakes and rivers can be polluted because of agricultural runoff, direct dumping of pollutants by industry, seepage from septic tanks, and spills from sewage-treatment plants. The pollution in the St. Lawrence Seaway is bad enough that beluga whales living there are so loaded with PCBs their bodies are considered hazardous waste. Wells that pull water up from underground reservoirs—known as aquifers—are also often contaminated with toxic chemicals. This is especially common near landfills, or in agricultural areas where herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals seep down through the soil into the aquifer.

You don’t have to drink water to be affected by it. A major route of exposure to many water-borne chemicals is through the skin while bathing. One study found that up to 70% of the exposure in adults is through the skin. Another study found that an equal amount of contaminants are inhaled when showering. There are fewer chemicals volatilized into the air from bath water than during showering, but an individual may have more prolonged skin contact with the water when bathing. Water supplies that come from wells can also contain radon, which is released into the air as water pours from the tap.

Public water supplies are disinfected to kill harmful microorganisms—usually with chlorine, but sometimes ozone, ultraviolet light, silver, iodine, or bromine are used. Many water utilities also add other chemicals, such as fluoride.

Regulations usually require public water supplies to be disinfected routinely, whether the water needs it or not. Chlorine is a very good disinfectant, but it’s definitely not without risk. When it reacts with dissolved organic material in water, it produces, among other things, chloroform—a known carcinogen. Chloroform is in a chemical family known as trihalomethanes (THMs) which are very commonly found in water supplies. Chlorine can be so bothersome to some people that they cannot even bathe or wash their faces in water containing it—much less drink it. A number of studies have found a link between chlorinated surface water and increased cancer mortality. It’s been estimated that there are 6,500 cases of rectal cancer and 4,200 cases of bladder cancer each year in the U.S. due to chlorinated water. Chlorine can also corrode the inside of galvanized-steel pipes.

Private water supplies, most of which are wells, are often not disinfected at all. So, it’s not surprising that a study done by Cornell University found 63% of rural household water supplies were considered unsafe. A 1988 EPA study found dozens of different pesticides in ground water, 46 of which were attributed to normal agricultural use, and 32 were related to pesticide misuse.

This article was provided courtesy of the Healthy House Institute (www.HealthyHouseInstitute.com).