While it is important that we all drink water regularly in order to replace the water that we lose throughout the day via sweating, breathing, urination and other natural bodily functions, it is just as important if not more so that the water that we do drink is not contaminated.
There are millions of deaths globally every year, most of them being children who die from water-related diseases from drinking contaminated water and unhygienic sanitation. This is often unavoidable because those in rural areas do not have any other water available for drinking or toilets so they defecate and do everything else in the rivers or other nearby water sources.
How drinking contaminated water affects your health depends on the type of contaminant(s) that are in the water:
- Cryptosporidium is a pathogen that can sometimes be found in the water supplies and which cause a gastrointestinal disease that is often fatal.
- Nitrates, which pose an immediate threat to infants, can contaminate water. Nitrates are converted to nitrites in the intestines, and this can prevent the blood from transporting oxygen to all regions of the body. This is not such a problem in older children, whose bodies contain an enzyme that restores the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.
- Lead from old water pipes can contaminate water and can lead to both physical and mental developmental problems in infants and younger children. Adults who drink water contaminated with lead for a number of years can develop high blood pressure and kidney problems
- Fluoride is used in many countries to promote better dental health in children, even though it has been proven that it can cause a pathological condition called fluorosis, resulting from an excessive intake of fluorine. Fluoride has also been linked to cancer, especially bone cancer in young boys.
There are also other contaminants that can be found in drinking water, even in municipal drinking water, and the best way to ensure that your drinking water is contaminant and chemical-free is to make use of a mains or point-of-use (POU) water cooler that attaches to your water mains, and get the supplier to fit is with a really good filter like the Living-Water Triple Action Carbon Filter.
Living-Water has a great range of both bottled water coolers and mains water coolers and will come out to give you a free water needs assessment and quote for the water cooler that would best suit your needs and budget, so contact them today.
