Thursday 1 December 2011

Chlorine in our water, Good or Bad?

The use of chlorine in water systems began in the late 19th century as a way to combat diseases like cholera and typhoid and it proved quite effective. As the levels of such diseases dropped, municipal water systems started to add more and more of the powerful disinfectant into the water. Chlorine is an excellent combatant against many parasites and disease-causing pathogens because of its harsh nature. Unfortunately, Chlorine is also a poison. Just as its harshness attacks pathogens and parasites, it attacks delicate body tissues when breathed or absorbed through the skin. Also, Researchers have now linked chlorine in drinking water to higher incidences of bladder, rectal and breast cancers. Reportedly chlorine, once in water, interacts with organic compounds to create trihalomethanes (THMs) which when ingested encourage the growth of free radicals that can destroy or damage vital cells in the body. The link between chlorine and bladder and rectal cancers has long been known, but only recently have researchers found a link between common chlorine disinfectant and breast cancer. A recent study conducted in Hartford, Connecticut found that women with breast cancer have 50-60 percent higher levels of organochlorines (chlorine byproducts) in their breast tissue than cancer-free women.
“ Ottawa (CP)- A new federal analysis concludes that chlorinated drinking water may pose a cancer risk to humans, particularly the risk of bladder cancer. The report by the Laboratory Center for Disease Control, made public yesterday, is based on an exhaustive review of dozens of studies carries out over recent years in Canada and abroad. The review has already spurred the Federal-Provincial Drinking Water Committee to re-examine existing standards for levels of chlorine by-products (CBP’s). Despite the undisputed benefit of chlorination in controlling infectious diseases, the epidemiological studies indicate an elevated incidence of bladder cancer among those who have been exposed to chlorinated drinking water for long periods. ‘ If you put those two lines of evidence together I would say it comes out as a probable link (between chlorinated water and cancer),’ said Health Department expert Donald Wigle, who wrote the review. He said a task force would test drinking water in hundreds of communities across Canada to determine precisely the current concentrations of chlorine by-products... Wigle said consumers could protect themselves from the risk by using household water filters. ” - Chlorinated Drinking Water Linked to Cancer, Toronto Star, Nov. 21, 1999
Unfortunately, buying bottled water is not a solution. Besides being expensive, many brands of bottled water come from public municipal water sources that are often treated with chlorine.
"Individuals who consume chlorinated drinking water have an elevated risk of cancer of the bladder, stomach, pancreas, kidney and rectum as well as Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." - Dr. Michael J. Plewa
“Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times. While it prevented epidemics of one disease, it was creating another. Two decades ago, after the start of chlorinating our drinking water in 1904, the epidemic of heart trouble, cancer and senility began” 
- Saginaw Hospital, J.M. Prince, MD
While most of us easily recognize the effect of chlorine on the taste and health of drinking and cooking water, but we don’t think much about the water we bathe in everyday. Even if you can’t detect its pungent odor, chlorine may be a hidden menace in your shower. When showering, the heat of the water causes pores to expand and these enlarged pores absorb chlorine instantly. Chlorine can leave skin feeling dry and itchy and leave hair dry, brittle, and prone to dandruff. It can even change your hair color. Chlorine can cause or further aggravate rashes and other skin irritations and leaves eyes feeling sore and itchy. Besides the damaging effects on skin and hair, chlorine can cause health problems when inhaled. Inhaling shower water also allows exposure to volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). Combined with chlorine, these chemicals can be incredibly dangerous to the delicate tissues in the lungs. The hot water and confined nature of a shower vaporizes chlorine and VOCs and this chemical vapor is then taken into the lungs. Inhalation of these chemical vapors cause great problems for asthmatics, and can cause similar lung and sinus problems even for those with healthy respiratory systems. In fact, inhaling chemical-laced steam during a shower actually provides more exposure to dangerous chemicals than drinking that very same water! One estimate is that a bather can be exposed to as much water pollution during a 20-minute hot shower as by drinking two litres of tap water per day.
A recent study conducted by Cristina Villaneuva of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona found that when THM’s are absorbed through the skin and into the lungs, they hold stronger carcinogenic properties because they aren’t detoxified through the liver. Villaneuva and her team surveyed 1,219 individuals with bladder cancer and 1,271 control individuals without the disease, polling them about their exposure to chlorinated water, including their bathing, swimming and tap water drinking habits. People who live in households with more than 49 micrograms per liter of THM were at double the risk of bladder cancer versus households that have below 8 micrograms per liter of THM. In industrialized countries, the common level is 50 micrograms per liter, the researchers note. The researchers also found that use of swimming pools increased the risk by 57 percent and that people who drank chlorinated water held a 35 percent greater risk. Taking long showers and bathing also increases the risk in households that has water with higher levels of THM.
“Taking long hot showers is a health risk, according to research presented ...in Anaheim, California, at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Showers – and to a lesser extent baths – lead to a greater exposure to toxic chemicals contained in water supplies than does drinking the water. The chemicals evaporate out of the water and are inhaled. They can also spread through the house and be inhaled by others. House holders can receive 6 to 100 times more of the chemical by breathing the air around showers and bath than they would by drinking the water."   - Ian Anderson, NEW SCIENTIST, 18 September 1996
If you have concerns about the chlorine in your family's household and drinking water there are affordable solutions. You can remove harmful chlorine from your household water supply with a water softener that has a carbon filter. and you can also remove chlorine and other contaminants from your drinking water with a reverse osmosis drinking water system
Purisoft Water Solutions also offers a product bundle featuring the Chlor-a-Soft water softener paired with a 5-stage Reverse Osmosis drinking water system at a very affordable, competitive price.


Monday 14 November 2011

A Global Water Crisis, On Our Watch

Hello! Welcome to our new blog! If you have been checking out our website you may have noticed that we have done something a little unusual, that along with information on the products we sell and install, we have included information to help educate our clients about the Global Water Crisis affecting over 884 million people on this earth, lack of clean water. While we enjoy seemingly endless supplies of fresh water (the average North American uses 400 litres of fresh water a day!) a child dies every 15 seconds from water borne disease and lack of clean water. We feel a responsibility (and we hope you do too) to care for the lost and thirsty, to help provide life-giving water to our brothers and sisters all over the world. We have chosen Living Water International because of the excellent work they do. Since LWI started, they’ve completed more than 10,000 water projects for communities in 26 countries. They provide training programs in shallow well drilling, pump repair, and hygiene education to volunteers and professionals. LWI partners with MeSoap to help provide soap, hygiene training, toilets, water, and other needed sanitation and hygiene supplies to communities in need. This partnership began in Sierra Leone, the country with the world’s second-highest infant mortality rate.
As Christians, we have chosen Living Water International not only because they demonstrate the love of God physically, by giving desperate communities essential clean water, but most importantly they help the thirsty to experience true “living water”- the gospel of Jesus Christ- which alone quenches the deepest thirst. By meeting both physical and spiritual needs LWI empowers people, builds up communities, and brings an end to cycles of disease and desperation. 
Again, we welcome you to our new blog and website, and we hope you find what you’re looking for. If nothing else, please check out Living Water International, and see the amazing work they are doing to serve those less fortunate.
Here are two articles from the LWI website for those who are interested to learn more about the Global Water Crisis and the devastating cycle of poverty for people in need of clean water...
                                                                        *photo courtesy of Living Water International- www.water.cc

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL KEY FACTS
884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world’s population. (WHO-UNICEF) 
1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day. (UNDP) 
• LWI projects providing safe water and hygiene education at an average cost of twenty dollars per person, for a generation. (LWI) 
• The simple act of washing hands with soap and clean water can reduce diarrheal diseases by over 40%. (UNICEF) 
• Providing water and hygiene education reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO) 
• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis. (UNDP) 
• The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 40 pounds, the same as the average airport luggage allowance. (UNDP) 
• Water and sanitation infrastructure helps people take the first essential step out of the cycle of poverty and disease.

WATER-RELATED DISEASES 
• At any given time, half the population of the developing world is suffering from one or more of the main diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation. (UNDP) 
• At any one time, half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases. (UN) 
• Around 90% of incidences of water-related diseases are due to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries. (WHO) 
Intestinal worms infect about 10% of the population of the developing world. Intestinal parasitic infections can lead to malnutrition, anaemia and stunted growth. (WHO)

WATER USE 
• The average North American uses 400 liters a day. European uses 200 liters. (UNDP) 
• The average person in the developing world uses 10 liters of water every day for their drinking, washing and cooking. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)) 
• On current trends over the next 20 years humans will use 40% more water than they do now. (UN Environment Programme (UNEP) 
• Agriculture accounts for over 80% of the world’s water consumption. (UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

EDUCATION AND ECONOMY 
443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases. (UNDP) 
11% more girls attend school when sanitation is available. (DFID) 
40 billion working hours are spent carrying water each year in Africa. (Cosgrove and Rijsberman 1998)  
• Households in rural Africa spend an average of 26% of their time fetching water, and it is generally women who are burdened with the task. (DFID)”*
                                                * article courtesy of Living Water International- www.water.cc
“A Global Crisis Water. It is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by a billion of the world’s most vulnerable people—a crisis that threatens life and destroys livelihoods on a devastating scale. 
Unlike war and terrorism, the global water crisis does not make media headlines, despite the fact that it claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. Unlike natural disasters, it does not rally concerted international action, despite the fact that more people die each year from drinking dirty water than from the world’s hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes combined. 
This is a silent crisis experienced by the poor, and tolerated by those with the resources, technology, and the political power to end it. Yet this is a crisis that is holding back human progress, consigning large segments of humanity to lives of poverty, vulnerability, and insecurity. 
At Living Water International, we are addressing this most basic of needs by helping deprived communities acquire safe, clean water. Our goal is to substantially ease the global water crisis while addressing root causes such as injustice, oppression, and abject poverty. As this happens, communities and worldviews are transformed—both among those in desperate physical need, and among those who have been blessed with much.”  
*article courtesy of Living Water International- www.water.cc