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Healthy
Water For Your New Baby
Perhaps
you’ve just learned that you’re
pregnant, or maybe the little bundle has already
arrived and your thoughts have turned to home
safety. While cribs and car seats traditionally
get most of the attention, many parents are
now beginning to look at other environmental
health risks that may impact their baby. Home
water quality is certainly one of the environmental
factors that many families are examining, and
for good reason.
Recent
history shows us that the water we drink –
water that we’ve mostly taken for granted
– has the potential to negatively impact
our health. In 1993 the gastrointestinal parasite
Cryptosporidium contaminated the municipal drinking
water of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One hundred deaths
were directly attributed to this outbreak. In
2000 a deadly strain of e.coli bacteria entered
the Walkerton, Canada municipal water supply.
Hundreds of residents of this small Canadian
town became ill and seven people ultimately
succumbed to the illness. |
While
these cases are certainly newsworthy and temporarily
capture the interest of the general public, it is
still shocking the number of home owners who choose
not to purify the water that they use for making baby
formula and for bathing their little one. Perhaps
even scarier still is the number of rural dwelling
families who assume that their well water is safe.
In the absence of nation-wide studies, several smaller
scale studies have shown that twenty to forty percent
of wells in any given area are contaminated with e.coli
or coliform bacteria at any given time. The presence
of e.coli bacteria indicates contamination by animal
or human feces.
Diligent
rural dwellers that have their water tested are not
necessarily safe either. Water quality varies tremendously
with rainfall levels, air temperature, and even air
pressure. Just because your water tested OK one day,
does not ensure that it is safe the next. Consider
also the limited testing capabilities of laboratories.
Typically it is only e.coli and coliform bacteria
that are tested for. In the Milwaukee example above
it was a rarely-tested-for parasite called Cryptosporidium
that infected thousands ultimately killing dozens.
There are several other new waterborne parasites that
only a handful of labs in the nation have the ability
to test for.
So
what is a new parent to do? Depending on whether you’re
on city water or getting your water from a well, the
answer to this question varies. Since most city water
supplies are heavily chlorinated, bacteria and other
living organisms aren’t usually a concern. The
best water purification options for this group would
be a reverse osmosis system (R.O. system for short)
or a countertop water distiller. Both of these devices
remove virtually all of the chemical contaminants
found in city water.
The
rural dweller on a well should probably be most concerned
about potential bacterial contamination. The easiest
and least expensive way to ensure your water supply
is free from dangerous living organisms is with an
ultraviolet (UV) water purification system. A UV system
is a steel chamber that is plumbed on the home’s
water main. A UV lamp inside this chamber zaps any
bacteria or other dangerous microbes as the pass through.
The zapped organisms are rendered harmless by the
UV light and eventually die.
So
what will this cost? The average RO system or countertop
distiller will run about $600. A UV system is about
the same. If you’re handy and want to do the
install yourself, you can usually save a few hundred
dollars buying any of these products from a reputable
online reseller.
Source: C. Reid Thornley is a B.Sc.
Biology and a former research associate for a world
class water purification manufacturer. He has been
a presenter for the US Water Quality Association and
he now owns and operates aQuatell - Water Purification
Made Easy!
http://healthbabycare.blogspot.com/2008/07/healthy-water-for-your-new-baby.html
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