Water for Life. Health & Wellness… That is the PUR2o tag line, but what does that really mean? Our number one goal is to educate people, ensuring everyone we help has safe water that keeps them healthy, enhances their state of wellness, and most importantly gives them the best opportunity at a healthy long life. I feel the majority of our uphill education battle in the water business boils down to one simple reason: water is completely clear, and we cannot see the microscopic contaminants lurking inside. Because we can’t see them, we don’t realize (or sometimes don’t want to believe) they exist.
As more and more studies are coming out about the safety concerns of contaminants in water, more and more studies are also coming out about how those contaminants affect our long-term health.
What is considered “Safe Water”, is water that isn’t going to make you horribly sick; meaning it doesn’t carry bacteria and disease that can kill within hours or days. Up to 3.4 million people, mostly children, die annually from water-related diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery. In the US the number is very, very low, with only around 30-thousand cases of waterborne dysentery each year, and on average fewer than 30 deaths annually from water borne illness. This is because of our local water treatment plants; the disinfection process, as well as the chemicals added to water such as Chlorine. But now these chemicals, their by-products, and other trace chemicals put into our water supply, are being found to not only be unsafe in the long term, but have become a silent killer of Americans.
Data is linking contaminants in water to many health concerns. A build-up of chemicals over months and months, or years and years, in our bodies and is resulting in critical illnesses.
In 2018, the Pentagon identified 126 military bases with on-base or off-base drinking water or groundwater contamination of PFOAs and PFOS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl) collectively abbreviated as PFAS. This group of 5-thousand man-made chemicals is linked to cancers, birth defects, developmental delays, higher risk of miscarriages, as well as liver and kidney issues. PFAS are chemicals, which are used in consumer goods to make them water resistant and heat resistant. They are present in household goods, food and clothing materials, and some disposable food packaging. The reason they are showing up at military bases in large quantities is these chemicals are also used in firefighting foam, which the military uses in its training.
As we covered in a blog in February of 2019, about a year after the Pentagon discovered the concerns at military bases, a press conference was held by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discussing the dangerous levels of these chemicals in Long Island public water supplies. Now, let’s not be naïve and think that these chemicals just popped up. They were there already when the Pentagon tested the military base water, so people on Long Island have been drinking these contaminants for a long time.
Among all the other evils presented by PFAS is these chemicals are FOREVER chemicals…they do not break down in the environment, and scientists and researchers are now finding them also in our food supply.
In 2015, testing conducted in Newark, NJ, showed lead levels of 27 ppb (parts per billion) in some residential homes. Now the city of Newark is paying attention, and pledging to change all the lead pipes in the city within 3-years. In the meantime, the city is distributing bottled water to residents. Some residents, however, have been drinking water with elevated lead levels for up to 4-years, so far, and possibly an additional 3, based on their lead lines being changed and their access to bottled water. Seven years of exposure to lead for a child could result in irreversible brain damage. They need to stop drinking this water immediately.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been conducting studies on the link between cancer and contaminants in the water supply. Those studies come out of California, but we can easily notice similar contaminants in tap water across the country.
These are some of the contaminants that were part of their study and their recommended levels for health, as well as their legal limit.
These studies focus on the understanding that our bodies store some of these chemicals and contaminants overtime. In fact, now researchers are saying that over a 70-year lifetime drinking contaminated tap water leads to contaminant build-up in our systems. Additionally, the research revealed around 15-thousand cases of cancer in California alone were caused as a result of drinking contaminated tap water. You can follow the link and enter your zip code to see what your local tap water tests show.
Now this alone is a scary fact, but let’s put that into context. A lifetime ago (some 70 years or so) some of the contaminants present in our water supply today did not exist, or they did not exist in the quantity found today in our world. Things such as PFOAs and PFOS are not yet on this list, but only because studies have not linked someone drinking them for 70 years and dying of cancer…yet.
It is also important to note that levels of these contaminants in water supplies are not necessarily over the legal or recommended limits. For example, let’s take Arsenic. We have all heard about Arsenic poisoning being slow and steady, as it can build up slowly in our systems, and as you can see from the chart above, around 71 million people are exposed to Arsenic above the recommended health levels every day in their tap water. In the EWG study, it says, “across the state (of California), 47% of estimated lifetime cancer cases (caused by water) is due to arsenic pollution.” According to the EWG database, California’s average Arsenic levels are 2.94ppb, above the recommended 0.004ppb levels, but still way below the federal legal limit of 10 ppb, showing that low levels are still causing cancer over long-term exposures.
That’s why the best amount of any contaminants to drink is ZERO! We always recommend, at minimum, a reverse osmosis filtration and purification system installed under the sink in the kitchen with its own dedicated faucet for drinking and cooking water. Of course, we offer many other options even for full house filtration and, obviously, our famous PUR2o Alkaline Plus Drinking Water systems, but as scientists collect more and more data on both new and old contaminants plaguing our water supplies, the best course of action is to remove everything you can from the water you drink.
Although some things can be done by the government and your local city to combat water contamination, doing so remains a challenge. Municipalities cannot provide us with drinking water free of disinfecting products, because we would just be welcoming bacteria back into our lives and people would be getting sick and possibly dying. It’s 100% up to us at the point of entry into our homes, or the point of use in our kitchens, to filter, purify, and clean that water again, eliminating the chance of us or our family, and especially our children one day developing cancer or another chronic or critical disease just because they were drinking water.
At PUR2o we educate, educate, educate, so that we hopefully never hear of anyone dying of cancer from these dangerous chemicals because they have been drinking clean water. Because we don’t want to sit and wait for people to die, or develop chronic illness before we do anything about it…at PUR2o we are acting now.
About PUR2o
We are striving to provide as many people as possible with filtered, purified, naturally alkaline and ionized water for drinking and cooking straight from the tap, for three reasons. We care about the health of YOU, the health of our PLANET and the health of your POCKET!
THE HEALTH OF YOU
Our goal is to provide as many people as possible with pure, crystal clear, safe & healthy water.
PUR2o Alkaline water is shown to benefit: Overall health and energy, weight management, muscle stimulation, brain power, digestive system, mood, body temperature, youthfulness, complexion, lifespan, and boosting your immune system.
THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET
We are also committed to creating a greater awareness of how plastic and plastic bottles are polluting our planet and our bodies by providing the best water out of your tap, eliminating the amount of plastic we dispose of and how much water we consume out of plastic bottles.
THE HEALTH OF YOUR POCKET
Aside from all the health benefits of Alkaline Water, you save a tremendous amount of money with our systems! Did you know?…. If you drink eight glasses of water each day, it will cost approximately $55 per year; vs $1,700 if you were to drink the same amount of bottled water instead. The PUR2o system pays for its self in only one year by one persons water consumption.