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Jack Heille of Pure Water Technology of Minnesota displays just one test of good drinking water, the amount of particles in drinking water. He demonstrates that drinking water from his purification process has 005 parts per million while St Paul drinking water has 115 parts per million. Jack was challenging everyone to the drink test at Living Green Expo. His water did taste exceptionally good!
This dramatic test shows one measure of difference between purified water and St Paul city water. To be fair, there are several levels of purification that do not lend themselves to an easy dramatic test. Particulates in the water are not necessary bad for taste or health, for example, minerals can make water healthier and better tasting. More would have to be known to make a definitive statement about the water. The St Paul Regional Water Services does a efficient effective job of meeting the EPA standards, especially compared to our municipalities. However, and this is a big however, no one can say your water is safe. Some testing is only required once a year and there are many claims that the EPA standards are not sufficient.
One test of quality of water is the health of the wildlife that lives in our watersheds. |
In the summer of 1996, deformed frogs were reported all over the state. By the end of the year, the MPCA had gotten more than 175 reports of deformed frogs, in two-thirds of Minnesota's counties. Late that summer, we began hearing that deformed frogs were being found in other states as well, even in other countries...
Scientists are concerned about what's happening to the frogs, because the health of frogs is closely linked to the health of the environment. Frogs are sensitive to pollution, because they live at the meeting of two environments -- land and water -- and they can easily absorb pollutants through their skin. Just as miners used canaries in the mines to alert them to poisonous gases, frogs may alert us to problems in our environment...
According to NIEHS staff, these results strongly indicate that something in the water, at least at these two sites, can cause these abnormalities in the lab. Still unknown is what the harmful agent may be and whether these findings will be seen at other sites where high numbers of deformed frogs have been found.
(Minnesta State PCA website)
Funding ran out for researching this problem in 2001, courtesy of Republican attitudes about government spending. All we know is that that something in Minnesota waters causes deformed frogs. Frog populations have been decreasing. So I would say that we don't know much about our water, including what elements to purify from the water.
And just to make your decisions even more interesting. There is no reason to believe that bottled water is better and in fact, may even be worse than tap water:
The bottled water industry promotes an image of purity, but comprehensive testing by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reveals a surprising array of chemical contaminants in every bottled water brand analyzed, including toxic byproducts of chlorination in Walmart's Sam's Choice and Giant Supermarket's Acadia brands, at levels no different than routinely found in tap water. Several Sam's Choice samples purchased in California exceeded legal limits for bottled water contaminants in that state. Cancer-causing contaminants in bottled water purchased in 5 states (North Carolina, California, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland) and the District of Columbia substantially exceeded the voluntary standards established by the bottled water industry.
Unlike tap water, where consumers are provided with test results every year, the bottled water industry does not disclose the results of any contaminant testing that it conducts. Instead, the industry hides behind the claim that bottled water is held to the same safety standards as tap water. But with promotional campaigns saturated with images of mountain springs, and prices 1,900 times the price of tap water, consumers are clearly led to believe that they are buying a product that has been purified to a level beyond the water that comes out of the garden hose.
To the contrary, our tests strongly indicate that the purity of bottled water cannot be trusted. Given the industry's refusal to make available data to support their claims of superiority, consumer confidence in the purity of bottled water is simply not justified.
(Blue Gold Water Blog)
By the way, it is getting more expensive to simply maintain the tap water quality that we have now and the long term water stored in the ground in Minnesota has been decreasing. So expect the tap water costs to also rise. Just to make the whole negative picture about your water complete! |
