As more and more chemicals are used within the United States, the risk of those chemicals contaminating our water supplies continues to rise. These chemicals can have some serious consequences when it comes to quality of the water in your home. Today we’re going to talk about the effects of chemicals in our tap water and what you can do to remove them!
How do chemicals get into tap water?
There are thousands of different types of chemicals that are used for industrial and agricultural activities all around the United States. Much of our source water is located near these activities, and those chemicals seep into the water as it flows to our local treatment plants. Even after water leaves the treatment plants, traces of these chemicals are still present in the water that comes out of our taps.
In addition, chemical compounds known as THM’s are created when chlorine is added to our water supplies, and traces of chemicals from pharmaceutical drugs are commonly detected in tap water around the country.
Are chemicals in tap water regulated?
The EPA only regulates around 100 different contaminants in our water supplies. There are, however, more than 60,000 chemicals used within the United States. That leaves thousands of chemicals unregulated, some with known health effects and others that we don’t know much about.
A recent study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and the EPA found traces of 18 unregulated chemicals in the drinking water from more than one-third of utilities in the United States (and the study only tested for 251 chemicals).
What are the health effects of chemicals in tap water?
Many of the chemicals that are found in our drinking water supplies are linked to negative health effects, especially after long-term exposure. These health effects vary wildly, and many of them are linked to serious diseases such as cancer.
Even the unregulated chemicals mentioned in the study above have been linked to many different health problems, including:
- Infertility
- Thyroid disease
- Cancer
- Immune system problems
- Increased LDL cholesterol levels
Remove chemicals in tap water with a home filtration system
A home water filtration system is your best defense against the chemicals in our tap water. A filtration system will remove the traces of the chemicals that your treatment plant was unable to get rid of, and it will protect you from the thousands of different unregulated chemicals that could possibly be in your home’s water supplies.
If you have any questions about chemicals in tap water, or if you’d like a water treatment system serviced or installed in your home, contact EPA Water Consultants. We service and install Hague water filtration systems in Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including towns like East Norriton, Elverson and Emmaus, PA.