Healthy Water for Healthy Skin

Swimming in VOC's

I read this very interesting article this morning about Chlorine and swimming pools that thinly disguises the serious health effects of Chlorine, and expertly shifts the emphasis to the actual swimmers.

Any one who deals with Chlorine at any level will tell you that the smell is very much Chlorine, but because it is so volatile it chemically reacts with other substances to form a “cocktail” of unstable, unpredictable Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) all with unknown health and safety issues.

In fact the same reaction occurs in your household water supplies, so you bathe in it wash in it and even drink it! Try filling a glass with water straight from the tap first thing in the morning and give it a good sniff, just like wine tasters do, and you may be unpleasantly surprised.

So it is very important indeed for absolutely every one to have a thorough shower at the pool side (not just at home) before swimming, and also again immediately after to remove Chlorine and VOC’s from your body. There’s probably not very much you can do about breathing in the Chlorine gas given off from the pool, so wherever possible choose a salt water pool that has a very low level of Chlorine in it.

Article
When you walk into the area of an indoor pool, the first thing that likely hits you is the smell of what most of us think is chlorine. But it might surprise you to learn that what's in the air actually has a lot to do with what we bring into the water with us.

And whether it's taking swimming lesson's or doing laps, you're not only immersed in the water, but you likely drink a little, and breath in the air above.

Lurinda Hoogstraten's two daughters visit the Gable swimming pool on WMU's Kalamazoo campus every week. According to state law, they're required shower before jumping in.” They know that's the rules of the pool, that's what they do," said Hoogstraten.
Still, at many indoor pools, people take a dip without rinsing off, which means they bring with them all the lotions, hair sprays, and make up from the day. But the even greater violators are sweat and urine, which like it or not, end up in our swimming pools as well.
"That's why the chlorine is there," said Hoogstraten.

But how does the chlorine actually react? That question brought News channel 3 to Purdue University in Indiana, where researchers are looking at not just what's in the water, but what's in the air.

"You really aren't smelling chlorine, you are smelling some of these by-products," said Purdue Professor of Environmental Engineering, Ernest Blatchley.That's because volatile compounds form when chlorine mixes with the human substances that end up in pool water. Right now, Professor Blatchley says the environmental engineers at Purdue are studying samples from all sorts of sources, looking at levels of sweat and urine.

"They range from lap swimming pools at health clubs, pools at day care facilities, pools at high schools, and also indoor water parks, splash parks," said Professor Blatchley.
The goal is to improve the water and air in indoor swimming areas, in order to protect the health of swimmers.

"Some evidence to suggest in fact there is a link between use of indoor swimming pools and asthma, especially in children," said Prof. Blatchley. "We're interested in other adverse toxilogical effects in humans. What we really are interested in is how to prevent them."

The next study will go beyond sweat and urine, and target skin and hair care products, looking for signs of what happens indoors when people take the plunge.

"They should take it seriously because what they bring into the pool inadvertently will react with the chlorine present in the pool," said Prof. Blatchley. "So they are effecting themselves as well as other people using the pool."

Researchers want to remind swimmers that when they walk into a pool area, it's not chlorine they smell, but the by-products of the chlorine combing with other substances. It's not a sign that the pool is really clean.

How safe is your water?

How pure is your water?

Water when it falls from the sky is as pure as it gets, so why is pollution such a problem, and why do our water authorities need to work so hard to give us safe drinking water?

If the natural order of life is for us to drink naturally pure water to maintain our health and flush toxins from our bodies whilst at the same time carrying nutrients into our cells, why is it that certain “safe” permitted levels of agricultural and industrial pollution are allowed in our drinking water?
It’s simple really if you can’t reach your goals move the goal post!
So by setting a level at which the water companies could manage seemed a good compromise, but as with all of these “safe” levels it is more about profits than it is about our health.

Water companies simply cannot keep pace with continual onslaught of the chemical and agricultural invasion of our water course and rivers, during the early 1960,s when artificial fertilizers and Pesticides became more widely and easily available it was recognised that the ground was becoming sodden with pollution and the general view at that time was it was dangerous and potentially lethal, and if continued at the (then) current rate it would percolate down through the ground to the lower water courses and aquifers there by contaminating our drinking water supplies. At that time a suggested period of thirty years was “guessed” at before that would actually be a serious problem, so instead of doing anything about it, the amount of agricultural fertiliser pollution was increased between 1960 and 2000 by a staggering 450%

The department for environment, food and rural affairs (defra) states, “ Nitrate levels in many English waters, both ground and surface waters, either remain high or are increasing. Nitrate pollution is of concern because it has to be removed before water can be supplied to consumers, and it can harm the water environment. Over 60% of nitrate enters water from agricultural land” and that is just one of the many hazardous poisons invading our drinking water systems!

No one knows the accumulative effect of the individual myriad of agricultural chemicals on the human body or the environment, but what about the totally unknown  “cocktail” effect when all of these chemicals are allowed to mix and form more dangerous and untested toxins, there can be no safe permissible levels allowed, but in the name of profit it will continue.

One known result is that your system becomes over burdened with a new range of toxic substances that it cannot naturally deal with, as well as unbalancing the minerals in your body, upsetting your metabolism, it also diminishes your vitality and creates new excretory problems.

So if agricultural (and industrial) pollution are left in our water supplies at “safe” levels with unknown long-term effects what can the concerned consumer do about it?
The very least that you can do is to run your cold tap for two minutes every morning before drinking from it, as this helps to clear contaminants from your domestic pipework that has dissolved and accumulated over night, (although this will have limited effect on Chlorine) then fill a jug (or jugs) and let it stand for an hour to allow chlorine to vaporise from it and then store in your refrigerator, using it in rotation over a 24 hr period.

You can also use a jug filter if you don’t mind the inconvenience of filling it at regular intervals and then waiting for it to filter every time it runs out, they are low capacity and still take up room in your fridge.

You can also choose to buy bottled water for drinking purpose helping to fuel the fantastic growth in sales over the past decade, proving how concerned million of people in the UK have become about the safety of our drinking water and how little they trust the word of the regulating authorities about safety, but that of course bring a whole new set of problems!

A proper “plumbed in” drinking water filter greatly improves the taste and quality of your existing tap water supply and are very reasonably priced, giving you a continuous supply of great tasting drinking water on tap and just when you want it 24/7 and with no inconvenience.