What’s in Your Drinking Water—and How to Change It

January 3, 2022

How often do you drink water straight from the tap? If you find yourself avoiding the municipal water supply, think about why. Does it taste bad? Are you afraid of what kind of contaminants might be lurking in your water? If so, you can fix it.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to addressing contaminants in water. How you fix contaminated water depends on what’s actually in the water. You can access municipal water supply information from your local government, or have the water sampled and tested by a professional lab. Once you understand what’s in your drinking water, you can find a solution to treat it.

What’s in your drinking water?

There are a number of different common water contaminants. Here’s a closer look at some of the most dangerous:

  • Chlorine and chloramine: Chlorine and chloramine are disinfectants, usually added to municipal water supplies to kill bacteria and viruses. Unfortunately, they can also react with organic matter in the water to create harmful disinfection byproducts. If your city or county uses chlorine or chloramine, get a system that can effectively filter out these chemicals.
  • Chromium-6: Chromium-6 is a carcinogen, meaning it can cause cancer. If it’s left untreated, it’s expected to cause thousands of cancer cases over the next century. Right now, 218 million Americans are affected by chromium-6 in their drinking water.
  • Lead: Lead pipes were once common in infrastructure. Unfortunately, lead has seeped into the water supply, which is dangerous. Lead poisoning causes irreversible brain damage, including lower IQ and certain developmental disorders. Filtering lead from your water is crucial to your long-term health and wellbeing.
  • Fluoride: Fluoride has been added to public water drinking supplies for decades, but that’s not necessarily always a good thing. It’s been linked to gastrointestinal illness, immune system damage and even neurological damage. While it can prevent tooth decay, too much of a good thing can be extremely harmful.
  • Copper: In high doses, too much copper can cause kidney damage, anemia and liver damage. Like lead, copper often gets into the water supply by seeping in through copper pipes.
  • Arsenic: Arsenic is particularly common in the southwestern United States’ drinking supply. In high enough doses, it’s toxic enough to kill—but even low amounts can cause cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
  • Nitrate: Nitrate usually comes from fertilizers. It’s particularly dangerous for infants and toddlers who drink more water in proportion to their body weight.

As you can see, there are a number of dangerous contaminants that may be present in the municipal water system. Luckily, there’s a way to treat these issues. Whether you want to soften hard water, filter out minerals and heavy metals, kill bacteria and viruses or address other concerns, the experts at WES Water can help. We design and distribute comprehensive water treatment systems that will reassure you that you’re drinking fresh, clean and safe water straight from the tap. Reach out to us today to learn more about our systems or to get a quote. We look forward to helping you!

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