Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
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July 18, 2000, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section F; Page 8; Column
1; Health and Fitness
LENGTH: 1225 words
HEADLINE: PERSONAL HEALTH;
On Tap or Bottled,
Pursuing Purer Water
SERIES: This is the second of two
columns about the body's need for water.
BYLINE:
By JANE E. BRODY
BODY:
Americans have
long felt safe drinking their water out of the tap, and with good reason. For
the most part, public water supplies and even well water throughout the country
are highly unlikely to make anyone acutely ill.
The occasional failures
of public systems to operate properly are few and attract national attention,
like the sanitation breakdown in Milwaukee in 1993 that precipitated an outbreak
of cryptosporidiosis, sickening 400,000 people and causing 100 deaths. But in
recent years concern has been mounting about less obvious potential hazards in
drinking water, especially residues of pesticides and industrial wastes, lead
from old pipes and compounds formed by chlorine and organic
matter that are believed to be cancer-causing.
The concern about water
safety has prompted millions of Americans to reject the water that comes
straight from the tap, resulting in two new growth industries: bottled water and
filtration systems.
In New York a section of the state's public health
law and regulations established by the federal Environmental Protection Agency
require the annual issuance of a public statement describing the city's water
supply and the quality of its water. The current report states that the quality
of the city's drinking water "remains high and meets all health-related state
and federal drinking water standards."
But this raises a new question:
are the standards high enough? Do the compounds called disinfection
byproducts, or DBP's, that are formed when water is chlorinated
pose a significant health risk, doubling a water drinker's chances of developing
bladder cancer and perhaps causing some miscarriages? And what about turbidity,
which results when particles of clay, decaying plants or even parasites become
suspended in the water? In the same year as Milwaukee's water disaster,
excessive turbidity in Philadelphia's municipal water led to scores of emergency
room visits and hospitalizations, mainly of children and the elderly, who
developed gastrointestinal illnesses after drinking turbid tap water.
Furthermore, standards set for water sent from the source do not take
into account contamination from old lead pipes along the way to the tap. Lead
levels should always be below 15 parts per billion, but to find out how much
lead may be in your water, you must have it tested.
Getting the Lead
Out
Meanwhile, if your tap has been unused for six or more hours,
you can flush out the lead by letting the water run until it is cold (30 seconds
to 2 minutes) before collecting it for drinking or cooking.
To find a
certified lab that can test your water for lead, turbidity, arsenic, parasites
and trihalomethanes (the most common DBP's), call the Environmental Protection
Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline, (800) 426-4791. Likewise, if your water
comes from a well, you will have to get it independently tested.
Selecting a Filter
"Filters vary widely in what they can
remove, how much they cost and how expensive they are to maintain," states the
June issue of Nutrition Action Newsletter, a publication of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest in Washington.
There are table-top
carafes that require frequent refilling, faucet-mounted units that can be
switched from a filter to a nonfilter position and under-the-sink units that
supply filtered cold water from a separate spigot or the main faucet. Prices
range from about $20 to $500 and replacement filters can add up to $25 to $150 a
year. Before shopping, determine what you want to remove from your tap water,
what you can afford and the degree of convenience you desire.
A carafe
uses a carbon filter that improves flavor and removes chlorine,
DBP's and lead, but not microorganisms. Carafes are inexpensive and particularly
handy for use in bathrooms and bedrooms.
Faucet-mounted, counter-top and
under-the sink filters use more sophisticated carbon filters, some of which can
remove cryptosporidium (look for a label stating NSF certified for Standard 53
cyst removal).
There are also rather expensive countertop, under-sink or
basement systems that cleanse water by a process called reverse osmosis. The
process works slowly and wastes a lot of water; it also removes beneficial
fluoride from the water.
Finally, there are systems that distill water,
taking out everything but pure water. Unfortunately, valuable minerals and
fluoride, as well as flavor, are lost in the process. And water that is so
"soft" (that is, free of minerals) is associated with an increased risk of heart
disease.
Once in the store, check the available products for a
certification statement by NSF International, an independent testing
organization.
If all you care about is the water's taste, odor or color,
look for a product that meets Standard 42. If you are also concerned about
health effects, for example, from microbial cysts, lead, asbestos, pesticides
and herbicides, mercury and turbidity, look for a product that meets Standard
53. The label will list only what the product is certified to do.
For $5
you can buy an NSF book, "Water Wise -- The Consumer's Guide to Safe Drinking
Water," which lists all the units tested by NSF and what they remove. Write to
NSF International, 789 N. Dixboro Road, P.O. Box 130140, Ann Arbor, Mich.,
48113-0140, or call toll free (877) 867-3435. The Web site is www.NSF.org.
Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions on how often to change
the filter cartridge. Failing to do so could result in a reversal of the desired
effect, spewing unwanted organisms or chemicals into your drinking water.
Bottled water may or may not be safer than what comes from your tap.
Most bottled water sold in the United States comes from underground springs that
are supposed to be pollution-free. Mineral water is spring water that has a
minimum of 250 milligrams of dissolved minerals in each liter, and sparkling
water is spring water with added carbon dioxide to create the fizz. About a
quarter of bottled waters, including Pepsico's Aquafina or Coca-Cola's Dasani,
start out as municipal water, and they must say so unless the water is filtered
or disinfected before bottling.
The Food and Drug Administration
regulates bottled water and requires that all products be tested annually for
chemical, physical and radiological contaminants. The International Bottled
Water Association requires all its members to test annually for other
contaminants still under review by the F.D.A.
Keeping the Standards
Unannounced inspections by the NSF determine whether all members of
the association are in compliance. Bottled waters certified by NSF are listed in
its "Water Works" guide. But keep in mind that certification does not mean a
water is free of contaminants, merely that the level of contamination is below
certain allowable limits.
Note, too, that, according to a recent study
at Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry and Ohio State University
College of Medicine and Public Health, only 5 percent of bottled water tested
contained the recommended levels of fluoride.
If children are given
mostly bottled water, a fluoride supplement would be a sensible idea. The
researchers also found that while most bottled water contained lower levels of
bacteria than tap water, about 20 percent of the bottles tested had far higher
bacterial counts.
http://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Chart: "Filter Certification"
NSF
International is an independent organization that certifies water filters at
different standards depending on what the filter does.
STANDARD
53
REDUCES:
Cysts (cryptosporidium, giardia), lead, mercury, lindane
(pesticide), atrazine (herbicide), 2,4-D (carcinogen), asbestos, turbidity,
trihalomethane (carcinogen).
STANDARD 42
REDUCES:
Chlorine, taste and odor, small sediment particles.
(Source: NSF International)
LOAD-DATE: July 18,
2000 
