Water is the most important nutrient we consume everyday of our lives. Its the solvent for the foods we eat, transporting nutrients and helping to metabolize or assimilate them throughout our body.

It holds the products of digestion in solution, carrying them through the intestinal wall into the blood stream. The blood-plasms which is 90% water then passes through the human vascular system carrying nutrients to cells and waste product through the skin, kidneys, and bowels. Water is crucial to every bodily function.

Water makes up 75% of your body. You are what you drink.
Water helps maintain proper muscular tone and prevents dehydration.

Water helps make the skin clear, healthy looking, and resilient.

Water helps rid the body of waste and relieves constipation.

Water increases energy levels.

Water suppresses the appetite naturally.

Water is the key to any weight reduction plan.

There is no new water.

Water is regenerated from the earth's surface back to the atmosphere layers where it returns again. This reoccurring process is know as the "Hydrological Cycle." I

In this process, water picks up many toxic chemical in the process, including; lead, zinc, chlorine, berium, selenium, manganese, formaldehyde, aluminum sulfate, etc. Only 3% of the earth's water is fresh. Two thirds of that is ice. Only 1% is readily accessible to man. 80% of the earth's inhabitants have no access to clean water. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a child dies of a water related disease every eight seconds.

Bottled Water

Bottled water manufacturers don't state what is in the water and in most cases are turning back into unhealthy municipal water by adding biocides such as chlorine or fluoride to provide additional shelf life.

Chlorine and your shower

"Taking long hot showers is a health risk, according to research presented last week in Anaheim, CA, at a meeting of the Amercian Chemical society.

Showers - and to a lesser extent baths - lead to a greater exposure to toxic chemical contained in water supplies than does drinking the water. The chemicals evaporated off the water and are inhaled.

They can also spread though the house and be inhaled by others. House holders can receive 6 to 100 times more of the chemical by breathing the air around showers and baths than they would be drinking the water." NEW SCIENTIST 18 SEPT 1986 Ian Anderson

Chlorine used to disinfect indoor swimming pools could be one of the causes behind an astonishing surge in childhood asthma in developed countries in the past few decades, according to a new study.

Children who regularly use swimming pools face a 70 per cent increased risk of developing hay fever, say researchers.

They found youngsters who visited their local pools more than once a month were much more at risk of suffering allergies than those who hardly ever used them.
Researchers blame the chlorine used to keep pool water clean.

They claim chlorine by-products which contaminate the air of indoor swimming pools, irritate the airways and lungs, making them more vulnerable to allergies.

Dr Yvonne Kohlhammer, from the National Research Centre for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, Germany, who carried out the study, warned the link could not be ignored.

Swimming teachers and other people who spend a lot of time near chlorinated pools face an increased risk of breathing problems, Dutch researchers report.

Chlorine reacts with substances such as urine and sweat to create by products that can irritate the respiratory tract, most importantly chloramines, explain Dr. Jose Jacobs of the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands and colleagues in a report in the European Respiratory Journal.

The research team surveyed 624 swimming pool employees and sampled air at six swimming pools. They measured trichloramine levels at all 38 pools included in the study to estimate long-term exposure among employees.

Trichloramines are the most volatile type of chloramine, and are known to irritate the eyes and upper respiratory tract.

Compared to pool workers with the least exposure to trichloramines, such as catering employees or receptionists, swimming instructors were 2.4 times as likely to suffer frequently from sinusitis or sore throat, and faced a 3.4-fold greater risk of chronic cold, the researchers found.

Employees with high levels of exposure were at greater risk of a number of other respiratory symptoms compared to the general Dutch population, ranging from a 40 percent increased risk for tightness of the chest to a more than sevenfold greater likelihood of suffering breathlessness while walking with a person of the same age.

People who reported excessive humidity or inadequate ventilation at work were also more likely to report breathing problems.

Trichloramine exposure is the most likely explanation for the breathing problems identified in the study, given that levels poolside can be three times higher than the established comfort level, the researchers write.

The chemicals could boost a person's risk of asthma, allergies and other breathing problems, they suggest, by making the airways more permeable,

Health and safety regulations for chlorinated pools address water quality, but not air quality, Jacobs and colleagues point out. One possible way to reduce levels of trichloramines might be to improve hygiene among pool users, they add, although enforcing compliance could be difficult.

SOURCE: European Respiratory Journal, April 2007

http://www.who.int/docstore/water_sanitation_health/GDWQ/Microbiology/Microbioladd/microadd5.htm

Tank water is very much a way of life in rural regions however many consumers are not aware of the dangers of drinking untreated water.

Many types of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths may be transmitted by contaminated water supplies. (Pathogens are those microorganisms capable of causing disease.)

http://www.waterquality.crc.org.au/consumers/Consumersp12.htm#T3
Two pathogens commonly found in untreated drinking water are Giardia intestinalis and Cryptosporidium parvum.

Cryptosporidium parvum
As many as 400000 people have been affected by a cryptosporidiosis outbreak transmitted through drinking-water. Occurrence of C. parvum is dependent on season (peaking in Spring and late Summer) and age of the population (children aged 1 –5 years, people with immunodeficiency).

The average incubation period varies widely but is usually about 7 days. Symptoms include diarrhoea, dehydration, fatigue, nausea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, and mild fever. The duration of the infection is generally 7–14 days in individuals with a healthy immune system. Relapses of diarrhoea are common: up to five additional episodes in 40–70% of patients.

Giardia intestinalis
Waterborne outbreaks of giardiasis have been reported for some 30 years. The organism has been found in more than 40 animal species! Occurrence of Giardia is dependent on the age of the population (1-4 years and 20-40 year group), general health (nutrition), predisposing illness and previous exposure.

The average incubation period is 12 to 19 days. Symptoms generally appear at 6 to 15 days. Symptoms include diarrhoea, weakness, weight loss, abdominal pain, and—to a lesser extent—nausea, vomiting, flatulence, and fever. However reports suggest that 16-86% of infected individuals are asymptomatic ie they do not show the symptoms listed above.

In most cases, the infection is acute and self-limiting, with a duration of 2–4 weeks.
Information extracted from World Health Organisation article at http://www.who.int/docstore/water_sanitation_health/GDWQ/Microbiology/Microbioladd/microadd5.htm (all above info from this article)

How do you remove pathogens from the drinking water?

There are a number of products available on the market today to treat household drinking water including filters, chlorine, ozone and ultraviolet sterilisation.

Chlorine, a long time favourite of consumers is beginning to lose its appeal as a safe and effective treatment method. Chlorine treatment produces chemical by-products (early research suggests that these by-products may be carcinogenic ie cancer-causing), is ineffective against Cryptosporidium and has only a limited ability to treat biofilm pathogens.

Emerging Issues in Water and Infectious Disease, p 12 WHO 2003 France

Filters are effective for removing microbes however the filter size must be matched to the size of the smallest targeted microbe. Viruses are the smallest waterborne microbes having a size of 20 to 100 nanometers.

(http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/wsh0207/en/index5.html) Use of the relevant filter for these microbes would result in a severely reduced flow rate such that it simply would not be viable for everyday use.