As consumers of drinking water, shouldn’t the home owner know what is in their drinking water? The San Jose Water Company produces a water quality brochure to let you know what type of contaminants are expected in your drinking water. The San Jose Water Company reported in 2010 that it had several incidence were toxins were known to have increased in levels for homeowners.
Known toxins include:
- Microbial contaminants,
- Inorganic contaminants
- Pesticides and herbicides
- Organic chemical contaminants,
- Petroleum products
- Radioactive contaminants
The San Jose Water Company to combat these pollutants uses chlorination to help clean the water, but despite best efforts, 40% of the water pumped from the Santa Clara Groundwater Basin is polluted. Ground water carries with it these six main pollutants, but it also puts the consumer at risk of heavy metal toxins from storm runoff. Highway 101, 280/680 and 880 are just a few main roadways washing break fluid, metal shavings, dust from brake pads, and the simple wear of transportation vehicles using regular gasoline, and diesel engines during storm surges and storm runoff, leaching toxins into underground water basins.
Carbon Dioxide (CO²) is emitted from the tale pipe of your car, but also is water (H²O), released into the roadway from the tale pipe during the catalytic conversion of Carbon Monoxide, producing CO² and H²O.
There are other alternatives available to help clean drinking water, such as adding microbial membrane filters to help eliminate these toxins. The San Jose Water Company and the Santa Clara Valley Water District however, do not use these basic methods to help reduce toxins. Methods used are ultraviolet light (known as ozone), zaps bugs and microorganisms. This method however does not remove some organic, pharmaceutical, and heavy metal toxins.
Despite their claim to clean tap water, studies from the University of California Berkeley determined that the ingestion of high concentrations of Chromium 6 of more than 0.5 ppb causes stomach tumors and prostate problems. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease has produced a question and answer page about fluoridation of water and why the consideration for the use of fluoride in the treatment of water was suspended. The test results for the overuse of fluoride for older adults have been known to cause human bones to decrease in mass and become more brittle. Water quality standards despite Ozone treatment and Chlorination do not help reduce or eliminate heavy metal toxins. None of these treatments takes into consideration heavy metal toxins leached from major highways and roadways into our drinking water system.
There are technologies to help reduce these affects, but until the consumer becomes aware of the lack of oversight by these companies, water quality standards will continue to become depredated and polluted. With increasing pollution levels, the health and safety of children under the age of eight, aging adults and senior citizens will become severe.
