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Following are a selection of articles and excerpts of
articles dealing with better health
using water, the components of water and the dangers of poor water quality. Select the one you are interested in or read them all.
- Cryptosporidium?
- Chlorinated Water & Bladder Cancer
- Chlorine & Heart Disease
- Anatomy of Back Problems
- The Flow of Water
- The Structure of Water
- Lax oversight
raises tap water risks
- Miracles of Water - Amazing Secrets
for Health & Wellness
Cryptosporidium, first described in 1907, wasn't recognized as
a cause of human illness until 1976. It's a protozoan parasite that can
infect a variety of animals. At least four species are recognized; with
Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) primarily responsible for clinical
illness in humans and animals.
In the environment, Cryptosporidium exists as a resilient,
infectious, round oocyst about 4 to 6 microns in diameter. The oocyst is
the "suitcase" for the infectious material inside. When ingested in
drinking water, oocysts pass through the stomach into the small intestine.
The oocysts split open, releasing sporozoites which invade the cells lining in
the gastrointestinal tract. Infested cells lining the intestine appear
normal, but their ability to absorb water and nutrients is severely impaired.
Cryptosporidium is widespread in the environment.
Oocysts have been found in rivers and streams, lakes and reservoirs, raw and
treated sewage, and treated surface water. Once introduced into water, the
oocyst can survive for weeks even at low temperatures. The organism has
been found in many domestic animals and wildlife.
Cryptosporidium may not necessarily be found in every surface
water supply and when the organism is found in a particular supply
concentrations can vary greatly. All surface water supplies are at risk
for contamination, though some sources may be at greater risk than others.
Groundwater is typically free from the oocysts because of the filtering action
of soil, but groundwater under direct influence of surface water is susceptible
to contamination.
Disease symptoms of Cryptosporidiosis include diarrhea,
abdominal cramps, nausea, occasional vomiting and low grade fever. Typically
symptoms last 10-14 days, may linger off and on up to 30 days and can persist
for extended periods. Some people infected as a result of an outbreak in
Milwaukee, WI, in April 1993, were still experiencing disease symptoms one year
later. The disease can be fatal for immunosuppressed people. In severe
cases, the disease can develop into a prolonged, life-threatening cholera-like
illness.
The number of oocysts that must be ingested to cause infection
in humans isn't known. Studies indicate that as few as 10 or even less
than 10 oocysts, can be infectious to humans, but additional studies are being
conducted by the EPA.
Tests to detect Cryptosporidium are difficult procedures and
few appropriately trained personnel are available to conduct them.
Interpreting the public health significance of monitoring data is equally
difficult. An absence of oocysts doesn't mean they were never present or
never will be present.
Cryptosporidium oocysts resist chlorinating.
Disinfecting of C. parvum oocysts with chlorine or monochloramine at typical
treatment concentrations has almost no effect, even after several hours contact
time, and chlorine dioxide has been only somewhat effective. Ozone is
the most effective disinfectant against C. parvum oocysts; it can
inactivate the oocysts completely if applied properly. Filtration and
watershed protection are the only conventional control practices available.
Greater than 97 percent removal of oocysts can be achieved with proper
coagulation and filtration. Turbidity is traditionally used to monitor
filter performance, but it's a poor indicator of oocyst removal, particularly
for source waters with turbidity levels less than 5 NTU's. Municipal
filtration plants should have an operational turbidity goal of less than 0.1 NTU
to effectively remove oocysts.
Cryptosporidium isn't currently regulated but is on the U.S.
EPA's drinking water priority list for possible regulation.
WASHINGTON - Long term drinking of chlorinated water
appears to increase a person's risk of developing bladder cancer as much as 80%,
according to a major new study scheduled for publication later this month. The
study, which will be published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute,
has raised concerns both inside and outside the federal government about how the
public will react to the findings.
It is the latest in a series of studies since the mid-1970s to
suggest a link between chlorinated water and bladder cancer, but the first in
which people with the disease and people without were interviewed in depth about
their water consumption. Chlorine itself is not believed to be the problem.
Scientists suspect that if the cancer link is true, the actual cause of the
bladder cancers is a group of chemicals that form as a result of reactions
between the chlorine and natural substances and pollutants in the water.
"If it is chlorine by-products, and we do not know that for a fact, there are
ways to reduce them without stopping chlorination, Cantor said.
Findings from the new study are based on 1,630 people
diagnosed with bladder cancer and 3,027 cancer-free individuals. They
indicate the risk of developing the malignancy is related to both the amount of
chlorinated water and the number of years it was consumed.
Chlorine & Heart Disease?
from Health Freedom News March 1981 & February
1987
Ironically, the very process by which we cleanse our water of
infectious organisms - chlorination - is responsible for creating carcinogens,
or cancer-causing substances, even from otherwise innocent chemicals in water.
Worse, the chlorine can combine with those same dangerous pollutants in water
that we've described to form such carcinogens as chloroform, carbon
tetrachloride, bischloroethane, and other chemicals collectively labeled
trihalomethanes.
At the start of the 1980's, more than 300 different organic
chemicals had already been identified in American drinking water. Most of
these are likely contributors to the ever-increasing rate of malignancy among
our populace: from one in five people coming down with cancer ten years ago to
one in four today. Over 800,000 U.S. citizens are cancer victims each
year. Chronic exposure to carcinogens from drinking one and a half or more
quarts of municipal tap water every day of your life provides a significant
cumulative health hazard.
Joseph M. Price, M.D., attending physician at Saginaw General
Hospital, Saginaw, Michigan, says "In the process of atherogenesis, chlorine is
the essential agent (atherogenesis does not occur to a clinically significant
degree in the absence of chlorine, regardless of diet and other contributing
factors). "Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times",
he declares. "It is an insidious poison. Most medical researchers
were led to believe it was safe, but now we're learning the hard way that all
the time we thought we were preventing epidemics of one disease, we were
creating another. Two decades after the start of chlorinating our drinking
water in 1904, the present epidemic of heart trouble and cancer began."
Furthermore, Dr. Price strongly suggest that senility of the
aged really is a combination disease with a single cause chlorine. The
blood flow to the brain becomes impaired not only by the development of
atherosclerotic plaques in the arteries feeding the brain but also by a direct
impairment of the micro-circulation of the brain itself - a second and distinct
result of chlorine ingestion.
The potent cancer-causing trihalomethanes, created by the
chlorination process itself, come about when chlorine combines with natural
organic matter such as decaying vegetation. Then, trihalomethane chemicals
such as chloroform and bromoform are formed and able to permeate a city's water
system. They are known also to be prime causative agents for athrosclerosis and
its inevitable result, the heart attack or stroke.
Anatomy of Back Problems
by Valerie H.
Free - The Science of Living Water, Complimentary Healing.
In America, over 40 million people suffer from back problems.
It is estimated that back pain results in health costs of $80 billion a year for
these sufferers. Every year, in America alone, over 250,000 people are
operated on - often for a second or third time. According to Dr.
Batmanghelidj, many of these back problems start with trouble in the discs in
the spinal cord.
The spinal column is made up of twenty four vertebrae.
Lodged between these twenty four vertebrae are twenty three cushioning discs.
These discs are the spinal column's spacing and shock absorbers. Inside
the nucleus of the disc is a gelatinous material containing water and salt.
When the discs are fully hydrated and firm, they are effective wedges, between
the vertebrae, particularly in the lumbar region, reducing the demand on the
back muscles. The nucleus of the disc absorbs 75 percent of weight of the
structure above it and also dulls the shock waves that travel upward through the
spine.
However, if the discs are not fully hydrated, they become thin
and unable to effectively pack the joint. This condition forces the joints
to become weight-bearing , eventually causes inflammation and bone damage.
As such, it becomes the increasing responsibility of the back muscles to keep
the body upright, causing muscle strain and, subsequently, pain. Between
the disc and the bone plate of the vertebrae lies a layer of cartilage whose
gliding ability can be substantially diminished by dehydration and further
contributes in inflammation and pain.
Before damage occurs, nature's solution is to hydrate the
discs with water while the weight of the body is off the discs during sleep.
To accomplish this, there must be enough free water in the region of the discs
for rehydration. Dr. Batmanghelidj in his book, How to Deal with Back
Pain and Rheumatoid Joint Pain, provides information, insights and exercises
for back and joint pain sufferers. He observes, pain killers can
temporarily mask the pain, but they do not repair the cause while water often
can. Satisfying the body's need for water should be the first treatment
before chemical intervention.
As we learn more about the effect of electro-magnetic patterns
on the human body, we realize the importance of removing negative imprinting and
restoring positive energy to the water we consume. Water is the most
important source of energetic conduction in the body. The water we consume
can change the electrical system of our body. For example, distilled water
is not a conductor of electricity in or out of the body.
The cell is the basic unit of life. Although size and
shape of cells vary with function, every cell contains a nucleus and cytoplasm.
The nucleus contains DNA and serves as the cell's control center. The
cytoplasm is a jelly-like substance, 85% water, which contains enzymes, amino
acids and other molecules needed for cell function. Most cells have a
membrane which contains protein receptors that regulate the flow of substances
in and out of the cell.
Most of us have been told that the foods we eat provide raw
materials for energy in the body. That is true, but there are other
sources also. Within the cell, microscopic organisms, mitochondria, are
intimately involved in the production of energy in the form of ATP by utilizing
specific proteins which are embedded in the watery matrix of the cytoplasm.
Like a life energy battery, ATP, powers cell growth, cell division and the
manufacturing and secretion of final products of each particular cell type.
Water can also play other important roles in the body.
For example, water can behave as a solvent, a re-hydrator and a conductor of
electrical and magnetic fields. Electrically charged water can also behave
like an antioxidant.
There is no substitute of a healthy balanced diet, rich
antioxidant materials such as vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, as well as
other nutrients and minerals. However, these substances are not
necessarily the best source of those free electrons that can block the oxidation
of healthy tissue.
Micro-clustered and structured water, which is slightly
alkaline and has smaller clusters, passes easily through the cell membrane where
it contributes electrons to quench free radicals, thus reducing their damage to
cells.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analysis reveals that tap
water and well water consist of clusters of ten to thirteen H2O molecules.
Several processes can reduce these clusters to half their normal size, reduce
the surface tension and make them more biologically active.
Micro-clustered and structured water is capable of passing
through the semi-permeable cell membranes with greater ease than regular water.
Consequently, it has the ability to hydrate more quickly and effectively.
All cell functioning is improved by hydration. Brain cells are
particularly responsive to minute changes in their water content. The
presence of beneficial vibrational and magnetic field patterns can add to the
benefits being distributed to every cell in the body.
As we age, the collagen matrix beneath the skin breaks down
and our bodies become increasingly dehydrated as shown in the hand of a
grandfather compared to the well hydrated, absorbent skin of a child. One
of the easiest ways to see the effects of structured or micro-clustered water
with low surface tension is to spray some on your hand. If your hand is
free of creams, water will not bead. It will pass into the skin cells with
little or no wetness on the surface of the skin.
Seeds and plant cells also respond well to bio-energized
waters. Used in agriculture, this water improves both yield and the
quality of the crops without any chemical fertilizer. Produce sprayed or
soaked with this water, retains a fresher taste and lasts longer. See the
difference for yourself by soaking only half of the fruits or vegetables bought
in the supermarket in clustered/structured water. Flowers remain fresh
twice as long when sprayed and placed in a vase filled with energized water.
Click below for more information on devices which structure and micro-cluster
water.
Pure Charge Energetic Spa Tri-Vortex Charger
Plates
Water Magnets
Water is a polar molecule having a positively
charged side where the two hydrogen atoms are found and a negatively charged end
where the oxygen atom is located. The angle between the two hydrogen atoms
with respect to the single large oxygen atom is 105 degrees. This unique
polarized structure of the water molecule allows it to create hydrogen bonding
between various water molecules, much like small magnets are linked together
with the alternative north and south poles attracted to each other.
Water then forms clusters of charged molecules
which form distinct structures and can store information. In fact, water
can be viewed as a large liquid crystal analogous to the liquid crystals which
are found on a digital wrist watch display. This hydrogen bonding of water
creates it unique characteristics important for life such as its surface
tension, its heat storage capacity, and its greatest density at 4 degrees
centigrade so that ice actually floats on water at 0 degrees centigrade.
More importantly, within the structured
bonding of water molecules, information important for living systems can be
stored. Water molecule structured patterns constantly change yet form
resonances which can be determined with sophisticated modern infared
spectroscopy to determine the cluster structures within the water.
Electrically alive water has unique
information structures imbedded within the living water matrix which in turn
affect living systems when people drink such water. This water is created
by various means including magnetics and other structuring approaches.
Indeed, water has a memory which has been demonstrated by Dr. Jacques Benveniste,
who showed that water, even at levels where no physical molecules of the
original substance are still present, continues, to have biologically active
capacities and can effect cells as well as isolated physiological systems.
Lax oversight raises tap water
risks
By Peter Eisler; Barbara Hansen; Aaron Davis
Wed., Oct. 21, 1998
FINAL EDITION USA Today
Section: NEWS
Page 15A
WASHINGTON -- When it comes to the nation's drinking water, there's no
punishment for pollution.
Each day, millions of Americans turn on their tappharma and get water that
exceeds legal limits for dangerous contaminants. Millions more get water that
isn't treated or tested properly, so there's no telling if it's clean. Many
people get sick. A few of them die.
And most of the time, nobody does anything about it.
A USA TODAY investigation finds that the federal and state programs charged with
enforcing the nation's safe drinking water laws aren't working, undermined by
inadequate funding, inaccurate data, a soft regulatory approach and weak
political support. Even the worst violations of drinking water laws have just a
1 in 10 chance of drawing legal action by the government.
At the same time, powerful new pollutants imperil the water supply, from
hard-to-kill bacteria to industrial and agricultural toxins. Yet water systems
increasingly rely on aging pipelines, deficient treatment equipment and poorly
trained operators to make the water safe.
USA TODAY did hundreds of interviews and undertook a computer analysis of
millions of records from the nation's 170,000 regulated water systems covering
1993-97, from the largest serving 6.6 million people in New York City to tiny
operations with just 25 customers, such as Hanks Trading Post in Flagstaff,
Ariz.
Next year will be the 25th year that the Safe Drinking Water Act has been law.
But the newspaper's investigation found that grave problems diminish its
promise:
About 40,000 of the 170,000 water systems, serving about 58 million people,
violated testing requirements and purity standards last year. About 9,500 water
systems, serving 25 million people, had ''significant'' violations, which the
Environmental Protection Agency defines as posing the ''most serious threats to
public health.''
From 1994 through the start of 1997, only about 10% of all significant
violations drew enforcement action from government regulators. In fact, fewer
fines and lawsuits are imposed under safe drinking water laws than any other
major environmental statute.
More than a quarter of all significant violators have been in that category for
at least three years. Among systems with significant violations at the end of
1996, for example, 35% still were out of compliance as of Aug. 1 -- a year past
the eight-month legal deadline to return to compliance or sign a binding
agreement to do so.
Eleven states have yet to implement all of the Safe Drinking Water Act's
contamination limits. At least 13 states don't meet federal guidelines dictating
that they inspect water systems every three to five years. A half-dozen have not
given their water programs the authority to levy fines.
The EPA has overlooked states' failure to uphold safe drinking water laws. It
never has used its authority to take control of a state regulatory program, and
the agency is more than a year behind in completing required assessments of the
drinking water programs in at least 11 states.
The computer database that serves as the EPA's primary tool to monitor the
170,000 public water systems is so flawed that even the government acknowledges
that, used alone, it's an inaccurate measure of which systems provide clean
water from the tap.
None of this is to say that most Americans don't get clean water -- they do. The
vast majority of people are served by large water systems with good records;
most serious problems crop up in small systems.
Regulators and water system operators rightly note that the 40,000 water systems
that violated safe drinking water laws in 1997 constitute less than a quarter of
all systems nationwide. The 9,500 systems with ''significant'' violations make
up only 6%.
But experts warn that the combination of poor enforcement and growing threats to
water purity is bound to lead to trouble.
''The attitude is, 'Until there's a big body count, there's not a problem,' ''
says James Elder, former head of the EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking
Water. ''We haven't documented many major outbreaks, so everybody claims the
(regulatory) system is working.''
New contamination threats
Most academic and government studies suggest that a million or so Americans
suffer gastrointestinal sicknesses each year from bad drinking water, and as
many as 1,000 may die. In some areas, water contamination is suspected in
cancers, miscarriages and birth defects. And the growing number of people who
live with weak immune systems -- chemotherapy patients, transplant recipients,
people with AIDS -- means the toll is likely to rise.
But no one knows for sure.
The most common symptoms of waterborne illness, nausea and diarrhea, usually get
blamed on stomach flus or bad food. So, while the government has for years
listed contaminated drinking water as a top environmental health threat -- the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people with immune deficiencies
should consider boiling all tap water -- there's been little call for strong
regulation.
''Right now, we've got a sleepy (regulatory) program nationwide, and we have a
public that just assumes it will get clean water,'' says Steven Walden of Texas'
Water Utilities Division, a relatively aggressive oversight operation.
''But we've got . . . a lot of new threats to worry about,'' Walden adds. ''And
with drinking water competing for resources with everything from roads to
libraries . . . there's not much support for spending money to make (the
program) work.''
Consequences are everywhere: For five years, Boston has failed to meet
requirements that it filter its water; in DeKalb, Ill., the water has exceeded
federal limits for radium since they were imposed 22 years ago; in Ottawa
County, Ohio, the Gem Beach Utility Co. has refused since 1994 to meet treatment
requirements for the water it draws directly from nearby Lake Erie.
Most water problems tend to be in places no one has heard of: little towns,
mobile home parks, rest stops, private developments. Their smaller water systems
are more likely to lack the equipment and staff needed to meet legal standards
-- and more likely to escape regulators' attention.
The last time a major waterborne illness hit a big city was 1993, when a
parasite in Milwaukee's water killed 111 people and made 403,000 sick. It
remains the worst outbreak in modern U.S. history, but there have been others
since, from Las Vegas to Austin, Texas, to Alpine, Wyo.
Americans are beginning to notice: A recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll found 47%
of respondents won't drink water straight from the tap.
Congress and the Clinton administration have tried to address the concerns. They
revamped the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996, providing more loans and grants to
help water systems and state oversight programs comply with the law. Next year,
utilities will start sending consumers detailed water quality reports.
''The law certainly has made the situation much better than it would be
otherwise,'' says Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who helped shape many of its
provisions. ''But we've got to push for stricter enforcement and greater
commitment (to compliance). We still have very serious problems.''
Illness in a small town
If state regulators had been making the required inspections of the water system
at The Corner Store in Groveland, N.Y., they would have seen an accident waiting
to happen.
But they never came.
They never found that the popular convenience shop, which sold gas, beer,
sandwiches and pizza, had a broken chlorinator and no filtration for the water
from its shallow well. They never told the store's operators that the water
system had to meet legal standards.
On June 22, 1996, John and Loretta Linsner paid the price.
The couple had The Corner Store cater a high school graduation party for their
daughter, and bacteria from the store's water got into the food. Salmonella and
Plesiomonas shigelloides, a rare tropical bug, poisoned the Linsners and more
than 100 friends and family. They were racked by diarrhea and nausea.
''It was terrible,'' John Linsner says. ''All I could do was go from bed to the
bathroom. I couldn't even walk. . . . Our (83-year-old) neighbor had to go to
the hospital in an ambulance.''
The Linsners' story is typical: Small water systems serving 500 people or fewer
account for 86% of all systems with significant violations of drinking water
laws.
These systems can be in remote towns or in suburban developments, mobile home
parks or other communities that haven't hooked up with major water supplies.
They can serve small businesses, rest areas or public facilities such as schools
and hospitals.
''In the big city, there's more (oversight) and money to spend on good water
systems,'' says Susan Seacrest, formerly on EPA's National Drinking Water
Advisory Board and now head of the Groundwater Foundation. ''Go to small towns,
everything looks clean, but many have decrepit systems that no one pays
attention to. Then you go to a farm or a little store with a shallow well and no
treatment . . . and you better bring bottled water.''
In The Corner Store's case, the New York Department of Health, which regulates
water systems, didn't even know there was a system they should have been
checking. The agency hadn't registered it.
''The treatment certainly wasn't adequate for the kind of water source (the
store) had,'' says Michael Burke, director of New York's Bureau of Public Water
Supply. ''They should have been monitoring (for contaminants). They should have
had an annual inspection.''
Investigators eventually tied the contamination to waste washed into the store's
well from a poultry farm and manure-covered fields.
Burke says the total lack of oversight was an anomaly but concedes that state
regulators have trouble keeping tabs on the smallest of New York's 10,000 water
systems.
''Our problems,'' he says, ''are no different than the problems you're seeing
nationally.''
In one respect, the Linsners got lucky: The bacteria that hit them can kill
babies, elderly people and others with weak immune systems.
Now, the Linsners test their well water. They never drink water at campgrounds
and avoid it in restaurants and rest areas. They even wonder about it at church
socials.
''People say, 'Oh, we have good water. We won't have a problem,' '' Linsner
says. ''But they don't know.''
A troubled law
The Safe Drinking Water Act is a tough one to follow -- and a tough one to
enforce.
Passed in 1974, the law requires any water system serving 25 or more people to
regularly test its water and comply with contamination limits.
But over time, the law has grown increasingly complex. It has been amended again
and again to meet the new threats posed by tougher bacteria, industrial waste
and agricultural runoff. Water systems, which were required to test for 13
contaminants, now must test and treat for more than 80 substances, from
pesticides and fertilizers to such naturally occurring toxins as radon.
States are supposed to enforce the rules with their own oversight programs,
empowered to go after lawbreaking water systems with orders, fines and lawsuits.
The EPA is supposed to take action when a state does not -- and take over a
state's water program if it consistently fails to do its job.
It's not happening. Why?
Money. Financial problems undermine drinking water laws at every level.
The nation's 55,000 water systems that serve residential communities need $12
billion in new equipment and pipelines to meet legal requirements, according to
a 1997 EPA study.
''Some utilities willfully violate (drinking water rules) because they don't
like the regulations, but usually it's a matter of not having resources'' to fix
a problem, says Bevin Beaudet, past chief of Palm Beach County (Fla.) Water
Utilities and a board member at the American Water Works Association, a major
industry group.
Pursuing every violation is ''beyond the states' resources,'' adds Dave Spath,
chief of California's drinking water division. ''We deal first with larger
systems that have 'significant' problems. With smaller systems, which may have
an equal public health risk but to a far smaller population . . . you get to
whatever you can.''
State officials complain Congress doesn't provide the funds promised by the Safe
Drinking Water Act. Federal grants typically pay 40% of state program costs;
states say 75% is proper.
And EPA lacks the resources to step in when states fail. This year, the agency
will devote $5.1 million and roughly 80 staff members to enforcing drinking
water laws -- about a quarter of what it allots to policing air pollution.
Approach. Regulators often take a soft tack with lawbreaking water systems.
''The people who run these systems aren't polluters; Their interest is in
providing good water,'' says Mike Keegan of the National Rural Water
Association, which represents small systems. ''They shouldn't be treated like
paint manufacturers or poultry operations.''
In fact, a 1997 EPA study found 4,258 water systems nationwide with a chronic
history of significant violations of drinking water laws and found that most
lacked needed equipment or operator expertise. Only 568, or 13%, were seen as
''recalcitrant,'' meaning they had no interest in compliance.
Lawsuits and fines ''are a last resort,'' says David Leland, head of Oregon's
drinking water program and chief of the Association of State Drinking Water
Administrators. ''We take a more helpful approach. It's not the traditional idea
that we have to hammer these folks because they're polluting.''
In 1997, states and the EPA issued fines against only 215 water systems for
violations of safe drinking water laws. At the federal level, the EPA levied
just $17,600 in administrative penalties nationwide. That's the lowest amount
under any major environmental law and compares to $3 million in such fines filed
against air pollutors.
Politics. Cities, towns and counties run a third of all regulated water systems.
Many others -- private systems run by businesses, homeowners associations or
resorts -- also have a public constituency.
So, if regulators order a system to buy required equipment or fine it for
failing to meet a legal standard, it creates budget strains and tax burdens.
''Not infrequently, you get a call from a political official -- a governor, a
member of Congress,'' says John DeVillars, EPA's New England regional
administrator. ''They say, 'What are you doing? This isn't popular.' ''
DeVillars and other regulators believe drinking water laws can work, despite
political fallout. But the toll is clear.
Eleven states haven't even implemented all the Safe Drinking Water Act's rules.
The last of those rules should have been in place by mid-995.
California, for example, still lacks requirements that water systems check lead
or copper contamination; Virginia hasn't adopted limits on chemical and
radiological contaminants.
Yet the EPA has never taken over a drinking water program.
''The message is it's OK to violate the law,'' says Erik Olson of the Natural
Resources Defense Council. ''You can fill a telephone book with excuses, but the
bottom line is we have water systems that are repeat, significant violators and
they're getting off scot-free.''
was it the water?
In DeKalb, Ill., the notion that money and politics steer enforcement of
drinking water laws does little to ease the pain of Kathleen and Lon Clark.
For 22 years, state studies found DeKalb's water has had up to twice the legal
limit of radium, a naturally occurring, radioactive element linked to bone
cancer, leukemia and other illnesses. Three years ago, the Clarks' 10-year-old
son, Max, died of bone cancer. Medical science never will know what caused Max's
illness.
But ''we'll always wonder if it was the water,'' says Kathleen Clark, an
accountant, who blames officials' inaction for the questions that haunt her
family. ''DeKalb should have been taking radium seriously all along.''
The story of how DeKalb and hundreds of other communities evade radium rules
speaks worlds about the breakdown in enforcement of drinking water laws, pitting
human health against budget concerns, science against politics.
In 1976, under Congress' orders, the EPA set a ''safe'' limit for radium -- one
that, based on scientific estimates, would allow for no more than one
radium-related death among every 10,000 people relying on a contaminated water
supply.
In Illinois alone, about 80 water systems serving 322,000 people still exceed
that limit.
State and local officials say they don't enforce the rule because, among other
things, compliance is too costly: Scores of communities would need expensive
treatment equipment. In DeKalb, pop. 35,000, costs would run over $8 million, or
more than $230 per person.
Critics also cite continuing scientific debate over how high the radium limit
should be.
''There's a question of cost vs. health risk,'' says Ronald Matekaitis, DeKalb's
city attorney, who contends the radium threat doesn't justify the cleanup tab.
''You can always make everybody's environment safer, but how much money should
you commit?''
Such questions prompted the EPA to agree in 1988 to review the radium standard
-- a process now extended until 2000.
For now, the old standard remains in place, and the resulting wait-and-see has
effectively meant that neither state officials nor regional EPA managers has
pursued enforcement.
In DeKalb, however, that has upset many residents.
''I'm willing to pay a lot more in taxes for clean water than things like roads
or parks,'' says Jim Lahey, a retired accounting professor. ''Health comes
first.''
Lahey and 10 other residents sued DeKalb in 1996 to force compliance with radium
rules for drinking water. Last year, an agreement ended the lawsuit without a
trial, and the city has said it will meet the radium standard, but not until
2002.
Today, DeKalb blends its well water with cleaner supplies to lower radium
levels, but even so, state estimates find that tap water still exceeds the limit
by 50%.
Tough road ahead
State and federal regulators say the problems with enforcement of drinking water
laws haven't gone unnoticed, and many hope the answers lie in Congress' 1996
amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act.
''In the last three or four years, we began to see (enforcement) actions on the
part of the states drop off dramatically, and that was tremendous cause for
concern,'' says Robert Perciasepe, who until August was the EPA's top
administrator for water. ''There are problems that need to be dealt with. We're
changing the system to address the underlying issues.''
But there already are indications that one of the changes seen as most important
-- more money for water programs -- won't make much difference.
Federal funding for drinking water programs has climbed 30% since 1996, to $93.8
million this year.
The added federal funding is a step in the right direction, says Steven Gordon,
president of the American Water Works Association and director of Detroit's
water system. But it ''isn't going to help much.''
This year, for example, Michigan's share of that money ends up being about $30
million, Gordon says, compared with a ''capital budget for drinking water, just
for Detroit, (at) about $2 billion. Those numbers aren't good.''
''The grants are up, but we're still way short,'' adds David Leland, the Oregon
drinking water chief. ''We can only do what's required . . . to the tune of what
the feds give us to run our program.''
And what is not required is a step many see as crucial to the success of
drinking water laws: inspecting systems to catch problems before they occur.
Federal guidelines say states should perform ''sanitary surveys'' once every
three years for larger water systems, once every five for others. But those are
guidelines, and 13 states don't adhere to them.
Oregon regulators did 570 sanitary surveys from 1993-96. That would average out
to one survey every 19 years for each of the state's 2,700 water systems, USA
TODAY found.
Connecticut, Indiana, Washington and Alaska averaged at least 11 years between
surveys in 1993-96. Hawaii didn't survey any of its 148 systems in that time.
As far back as 1992, congressional investigators at the General Accounting
Office were urging stronger sanitary survey rules. One report called surveys
''one of the most effective tools states can use to help ensure compliance (with
drinking water standards) and correct problems before they become serious.''
Yet neither the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments nor any related EPA rules set
binding survey requirements.
The toll
This summer, the tiny town of Alpine, Wyo., permanent population 470, felt the
brunt of the nation's trouble in enforcing its safe drinking water laws.
When all was said and done, the town's water had infected scores of people with
E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria. And the potentially deadly contaminant, until now
associated mainly with food, was established as a serious threat to water.
''We always thought we had the best water in the world,'' Mayor Donn Wooden
says. ''We've learned a lot.''
Wyoming is the only state that hasn't implemented any Safe Drinking Water Act
rules. The state has no regulatory program for drinking water. It has repeatedly
declined federal requests to set one up.
So it's up to the EPA to regulate the more than 700 public water systems in
Wyoming. And the federal agency does that -- from Denver.
''We provide as much public health protection as we can,'' says Jack Rychecky,
who heads the EPA's Wyoming program. ''It's awfully hard to be overseeing water
systems in Wyoming from Denver.''
In Alpine, the EPA hadn't yet completed a review meant to determine whether town
water, drawn from a local spring, needed chlorination or other treatment. The
analysis would have shown that the water was at risk for contamination from
surface runoff.
The threat was realized just before July 4, when the people of Alpine began
turning up sick, many with the bloody diarrhea that signals E. coli's sometimes
fatal attack on intestinal blood vessels.
State and federal health officials swarmed in, ultimately concluding the
contamination probably came from animal waste that washed into the town's
spring. They found 68 confirmed cases and at least 150 suspected cases of E.
coli poisoning. Nineteen people were hospitalized; two children and one adult
were in critical condition; no one died.
Rychecky says the EPA has ''taken the lessons of to heart'' and is scrambling to
finish assessing Wyoming's water systems.
And there's new recognition that it takes vigilance to assure clean water, no
matter how pristine the surroundings.
Says Mayor Wooden: ''It's like a fly flying around in a room, and the fly
happened to land in our glass.''
Hard lessons: John and Loretta Linsner, and more than 100 friends and family,
got sick from food prepared with bad water from a convenience shop in Groveland,
N.Y. Haunted by questions: Kathleen and Lon Clark of DeKalb, Ill., say they'll
always wonder if it was the water that led to bone cancer that killed their son
Max.
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Miracles of
Water - Amazing Secrets for Health & Wellness
excerpts taken from "Your Body's Many Cries for
Water" by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj 1995
Cure #1: Water
prevents and cures heartburn. Heartburn is a signal of water shortage
in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract. It is a major thirst
signal of the human body. The use of antacids or tablet medications in the
treatment of this pain does not correct dehydration, and the body continues to
suffer as a result of its water shortage.
Tragedy: Not
recognizing heartburn as a sign of dehydration and treating it with antacids
and pill medications will, in time, produce inflammation of the stomach and
duodenum, hiatal hernia, ulceration, and eventually cancers in the
gastrointestinal tract, including the liver and pancreas.
Cure #2: Water
prevents and cures arthritis. Rheumatoid joint pain - arthritis - is a
signal of water shortage in the painful joint. It can affect the young as
well as the old. The use of painkillers does not cure the problem, but
exposes the person to further damage from pain medications. Intake of
water and small amounts of salt will cure this problem.
Cure #3: Water
prevents and cures back pain. Low back pain and ankylosing arthritis
of the spine are signs of water shortage in the spinal column and discs - the
water cushions that support the weight of the body. These conditions
should be treated with increased water intake. Not a commercial treatment,
but a very effective one.
Tragedy: Not
recognizing arthritis and low back pain as signs of dehydration in the joint
cavities and treating them with pain killers, manipulation, acupuncture, and
eventually surgery will, in time, produce osteoarthritis when the cartilage
cells in the joints have eventually all died. It will produce deformity
of the spine. It will produce crippling deformities of the limbs.
Pain medications have their own life threatening complications.
Cure #4: Water
prevents and cures angina. Heart pain - angina - is a sign of
water shortage in the heart/lung axis. It should be treated with increased
water intake until the patient is free of pain and independent of medications.
Medical supervision is prudent. However, increased water intake is
angina's cure.
Cure #5: Water
prevents and cures migraines. Migraine headache is a sign of water
need by the brain and the eyes. It will totally clear up if dehydration is
prevented from establishing in the body. The type of dehydration that
causes migraine might eventually cause inflammation of the back of the eye and
possibly loss of eyesight.
Cure #6: Water prevents and
cures colitis. Colitis pain is a signal of water shortage in the large gut.
It is associated with constipation because the large intestine constricts to
squeeze the last drop of water from the excrements - thus the lack of water
lubrication.
Tragedy: Not
recognizing colitis pain as a sign of dehydration will cause persistent
constipation. Later in life, it will cause fecal impacting: it can cause
diverticulitis, hemorrhoids and polyps, and appreciably increases the
possibility of developing cancer of the colon and rectum.
Cure #7: Water and
salt prevent and cure asthma. Asthma, which also affects 14 million
children and kills several thousand of them every year, is a complication of
dehydration in the body. It is caused by the drought management programs
of the body. In asthma free passage of air is obstructed so that water
does not leave the body in the form of vapor - the winter steam. Increased
water intake will prevent asthma attacks. Asthmatics need also to take
more salt to break the mucus plugs in the lungs that obstruct the free flow of
air in an out of the air sacs.
Tragedy: Not
recognizing asthma as the indicator of dehydration in the body of a growing
child not only will sentence many thousands of children to die every year, but
also will permit irreversible genetic damage to establish in the remaining 14
million asthmatic children.
Cure #8: Water
prevents and cures high blood pressure. Hypertension is a state of
adaptation of the body to a generalized drought, when there is not enough water
to fill all the blood vessels that diffuse water into vital cells. As part
of the mechanism of reverse osmosis when water from the blood serum is filtered
and injected into important cells through minute holes in their membranes, extra
pressure is needed for the "injection process." Just as we inject I.V.
'water' in hospitals, so the body injects water into tens of trillions of cells
all at the same time. Water and some salt intake will bring blood pressure
back to normal!
Tragedy: Not
recognizing hypertension as one of the major indicators of dehydration in the
human body, and treating it with diruetics that further dehydrate the body
will, in time, cause blockage by cholesterol of the heart arteries and the
arteries that go to the brain. It will cause heart attacks and small
or massive strokes that paralyze. It will eventually cause kidney
disease. It will cause brain damage and neurological disorders, such as
Alzheimer's disease.
Cure #9: Water
prevents and cures early adult-onset diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is
another adaptive state to severe dehydration of the human body. To have
adequate water in circulation and for the brain's priority water needs, the
release of insulin is inhibited to prevent insulin from pushing water into all
body cells. In diabetes, only some cells get survival rations of water.
Water and some salt will reverse adult-onset diabetes in its early stages.
Tragedy: Not
recognizing adult-onset diabetes as a complication of dehydration will, in
time, cause massive damage to the blood vessels all over the body. It
will cause eventual loss of the toes, feet and legs from gangrene. It
will cause eye damage, even blindness.
Cure #10: Water
lowers blood cholesterol. High cholesterol levels are an indicator of
early drought management by the body. Cholesterol is a claylike material
that is poured in the gaps of some cell membranes to safeguard them against
losing their vital water content to the osmotically more powerful blood
circulating in their vicinity. Cholesterol, apart from being used to
manufacture nerve cell membranes and hormones, is also used as a "shield"
against water taxation of other vital cells that would normally exchange water
through their cell membranes.
Cure #11: Water cures
depression, loss of libido, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, multiple
sclerosis, and muscular dystrophy. These conditions are caused by
prolonged chronic dehydration. They will clear up once the body becomes
well and regularly hydrated. In these conditions, exercising one's muscles
should be part of the treatment program.
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