How to prevent common waterborne contaminants

04/10/2019 Sidrah Ahmad

There are upwards of 80 common water contaminants known to pose a significant risk to our health. Microbial contaminants such as pathogens and bacteria that can go undetected by human senses. Organic pollutants like fertilisers and heavy metals that can be equally tricky to notice. Often, it takes months for a community to become aware of water contamination. Typically, the problem only comes to light once people begin to get sick.

Prevent water contamination before it turns into a health crisis

• Use Carbon Filtration to absorb organic pollutants like pesticides, petrochemicals and lead
• Use UV water filtration to eradicate microbial contaminants like pathogens and bacteria
• Use Reverse Osmosis to remove any remaining dissolved particles in water including nitrates, pesticides, metals, and minerals.

Five common contaminants in your drinking water

As water flows through streams, rivers, and lakes, then filters through rocks and soil, it will inevitably meet a range of different materials — each of which can dissolve into the water source. As such, any water supply by its very nature will likely contain contamination of sorts, whether natural or artificial. These are five common contaminants present in most US water supplies.

1. Nitrates

Nitrates are chemicals found in fertilizers, manure, or liquid waste discharged from septic tanks. Rain causes run-off from farms, leading to a build-up or fertilizers and manure in waterways. Natural bacteria found in soil then converts the fertilizer into nitrates, ultimately contaminating the drinking water supply.

Nitrates are known as an acute contaminant, meaning they can cause a health condition within hours or days of a single exposure. Nitrates affect red blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen around the body. High levels of nitrates in water pose less of a threat to healthy adults as affected red blood cells can quickly recover, but they can quickly harm infants due to a severe condition known as blue baby syndrome whereby a lack of oxygen puts the baby’s life at serious risk.

The 2011 Drinking Water Guidelines state water is safe to drink for everyone if there are less than 50mg/L of nitrates in the supply; or, water is safe to drink for adults, including pregnant women, if there are between 50mg/L – 100mg/L of nitrates in the supply.

2. Bacteria & Viruses

Some form of bacteria is present in all water supplies. However, only a select few can cause serious damage to human health. E. coli is one such bacteria, most often found in the intestines of healthy cattle or the gut of infected humans.

Waterways near cattle farms can become infected with E. coli as a result of rainwater washing away manure; while polluted stormwater runoff, sewage overflows, and flooding can make metropolitan water sources vulnerable to bacterial contamination.

Bacteria such as E. coli can cause medical conditions like abdominal discomfort, fever, and vomiting. In more serious cases, pneumonia and meningitis can also occur. Most people recover from E. coli within a week. However, infants and the infirm can suffer life-threatening complications.

3. Arsenic

Arsenic is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in many rocks and sediments. Extensive mining activity, certain geochemical conditions in underground aquifers, and its use in pesticides can release arsenic into groundwater supplies.

Arsenic is seen as a chronic contaminant, and long-term arsenic exposure has been known to cause bladder, kidney, liver, prostate, and lung cancer as well as skin lesions; while it’s also been associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Moreover, foetal exposure during pregnancy can impair cognitive development in babies before their birth.

Arsenic is toxic even at low levels, so the maximum allowed concentration of arsenic in the water supply is 0.01 milligrams per litre.

4. Fluoride

Fluoride is natural mineral found in the earth’s soil. When groundwater passes through it, the mineral dissolves resulting in low levels of fluoride in nearly all water supplies.

The National Health and Medical Research Council champions fluoride in water as it is a proven way to reduce tooth decay in both children and adults thanks to the mineral helping to strengthen the teeth’s enamel. However, some evidence suggests that too much fluoride can do more harm than good. Over-exposure to fluoride in the first eight years of life causes fluorosis, a condition that leaves white marks, dark stains or noticeable hollow pits in teeth.

The drinking water guidelines recommend Fluoride has a maximum concentration of 1.5mg per litre of water.

5. Lead

Lead is another heavy metal that can find its way into municipal supplies, but rather than coming from a natural source; it typically results from the antiquated plumbing that’s piping water into people’s homes. It is a particular risk to children as growing bodies absorb it more readily, leading to damaging effects on both the brain and nervous system. That said, lead is also a problem for adults as exposure causes cardiovascular problems, increased blood pressure, decreased kidney function, and reproductive issues.

Consuming levels of lead above 0.01 mg/litre can have an adverse effect on your health, so there’s no acceptable level of lead concentration in public drinking water supplies.

How to prevent contaminants in your drinking water

There are simple steps you can take to ensure your water is free from these common water contaminants. Carbon filtration uses extremely permeable pieces of carbon to remove organic toxins from water, absorbing impurities like pesticides, petrochemicals, even heavy metals like lead. However, carbon filtration is not effective against waterborne bacteria, viruses and pathogens.

UV water filters fill the gap by removing invisible pathogens from a water supply. UV light eradicates bacteria, ensuring water is highly-purified and 99.9999% pathogen-free. That said, UV light alone is not sufficient as it cannot remove organic materials like chemicals and metals.

The most effective filtration available is Reverse Osmosis, which removes all dissolved particles from water — ranging from nitrates and pesticides down to metals and minerals by forcing water through a microfilter. The downside of Reverse Osmosis is that it eliminates beneficial minerals as well, which can affect the taste.

If you don’t use a water filter and you suspect your supply may be contaminated, it is crucial you contact a local laboratory and request they carry out a water analysis. While the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines mandate an acceptable level for harmful contaminants in the public water supply, there are frequent reports of potential health hazards — as happened at the end of 2018 when enHealth recommended households run tap water for at least 30 seconds each morning amidst fears of lead contamination resulting from products used in standard plumbing fittings. The lesson?