Do you trust your tap water?
Some people buy bottled water by the case; others just turn on the tap. But in a big city like L.A., is that a good idea?
In a report released in 2002, Los Angeles tap water scored "fair" in the National Resources Defense Council's water quality and compliance survey. Although nothing exceeded national maximums, the council found elevated levels of perchlorate, arsenic, radon, nitrates and other contaminants.
The National Tap Water Quality Database has details of some of those harder-to-pronounce contaminants. In some cases, arsenic, tetrachloroethylene and bromodichloromethane -- which are, basically, bad for you -- exceeded non-enforceable health goals. And to be clear, only a fraction of the tests conducted over five years yielded these results.
And maybe a little arsenic isn't so bad. In 2008, L.A.'s tap water was named the world's best (an honor it shared with a district in British Columbia) in the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting championship.
What do you think? Is a little bit of bacteria good for your immune system? Is fluoride in the water good for your teeth? Does taste trump total trihalomethanes?
Tell us your take on the great L.A. tap water debate. Do you drink it?
-- Carolyn Kellogg
Photo credit: Matt Rourke / Associated Press
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Modern science indicates that fluoride-laced drinking water is ineffective at reducing tooth decay, a health hazard and a waste of tax dollars.
There's nothing natural about fluoridated tap water. The fluoride chemical used for fluoridation is captured from phosphate fertilizer companies smokestacks and trucked as hazardous waste to Los Angeles public water departments whose engineers inject it without first purifying it. These fluoride chemicals, silicofluorides, are allowed to contain trace amounts of lead, arsenic, mercury and more by NSF International, the governing body over water additives.
Over 2,500 professionals urge the US Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted, citing scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks. See statement: http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html.
Also, eleven Environmental Protection Agency employee unions representing over 7000 environmental and public health professionals called for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across the country, and have asked EPA management to recognize fluoride as posing a serious risk of causing cancer in people.
Last election day, 53 US cities rejected fluoridation joining a growing list of communities saying "No," to fluoridation.
-- The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Canada’s leading voice on environmental health issues, released a statement opposing fluoridation.
-- May 2009, Great Lakes United (GLU) supports the end of water fluoridation. GLU is made up organizations representing environmentalists, conservationists, hunters and anglers, labor unions, community groups, and citizens of the United States, Canada, and First Nations and Tribes.
-- The National Kidney Foundation dropped its fluoridation support replacing it with this caution: “Individuals with CKD [Chronic Kidney Disease] should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride exposure.”
-- Researchers reporting in the Oct 6 2007 British Medical Journal indicate that fluoridation never was proven safe or effective and may be unethical.
-- “A qualitative review of ...studies found a consistent and strong association between the exposure to fluoride and low IQ,” concluded Tang el al., in "Fluoride and Children’s Intelligence: A Meta-analysis” in Biological Trace Element Research
-- Scientific American editors wrote in January 2008, "Some recent studies suggest that over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland"
-- Dr. A. K. Susheela, a leading fluoride expert, explains in a video why US physicians overlook fluoride as a possible cause of diseases commonly caused by fluoride. http://tinyurl.com/Susheela
-- A study in the Fall 2008 Journal of Public Health Dentistry reveals that cavity-free teeth have little to do with fluoride intake. Researchers report, "The benefits of fluoride are mostly topical…while fluorosis is clearly more dependent on fluoride intake."
-- Research published in Biological Trace Element Research (April 2009). indicates that blood fluoride levels were significantly higher in patients with osteosarcoma than in control groups. Osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, occurs mostly in children and young adults
A Tennessee State legislator who is also an MD is urging all Tennessee Water Districts to stop fluoridation, reported a Tennessee newspaper on 11/29/08. At least 30 Tennessee water districts have already complied with his request
Adverse health effects of fluoride http://www.FluorideAction.Net/health
Posted by: nyscpf | 06/24/2009 at 11:01 AM
Any reports of people in L.A. getting sick from tap water? No? I'm fine with it. Sometimes there's an issue of flavor, but that's based on the pipes in buildings more than on the water sent through them.
Posted by: KateNonymous | 06/24/2009 at 11:05 AM
C'mon, people, read your water quality reports. They'll be a lot more up-to-date, and a lot more specific, than a seven-year-old study.
Posted by: Andrea | 06/25/2009 at 11:37 AM
I trust the water. It's very difficult to rid water of all traces of contaminants. As long as it's at a safe and insignificant level, I'm drinking it.
Anyway, what alternative do we have? If you think bottled water is safer, think again. The EPA regulates LA tap water and they have stricter limits. Bottled water is regulated by the FDA. 22% of bottled water on the market contain contaminants that are sold in this state but still exceed California limits.
Posted by: david | 06/27/2009 at 12:58 AM
While tap water can be if'y in especially bigger cities. Bottled water is not a good solution as the many corporations involved in this swindle use public water resources to fill their plastic bottles. On top of that, chemicals from the plastic bottles have proven to have a toxic effect on the water if not consumed within a reasonable time frame. We need to curb our dependency on bottled water and shift our water spending to the public system as a way of improving the quality. Please check out www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org to find out more information regarding the bottle water industry and sign the pledge!
Posted by: geetha | 07/02/2009 at 01:24 PM