Are There Carcinogenic Contaminants in Your Tap Water?

Before the pandemic, cancer was the second leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 600,000 families lost loved ones to cancer in 2019. You can reduce your risk of developing this fatal illness by avoiding carcinogens or cancer-causing substances. Unfortunately, carcinogens may be lurking in your tap water or well water.

Recent Discover of Carcinogenic Water Contamination in the U.S.

A recent study conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found a worrying number of carcinogenic contaminants in drinking water across the country. They discovered 22 carcinogens in total, including:

• Arsenic: can cause cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate.
• Chromium-6, or hexavalent chromium: can cause respiratory cancer and other severe health conditions, including but not limited to pulmonary congestion, edema, kidney and liver damage.
• Disinfection by-products: includes several different chemicals used to disinfect water (such as Chlorite, Chloroform, Trihalomethanes (THM), and Haloacetic acids), all of which can cause cancer and can have other extremely harmful side effects.
• Radioactive elements: includes a wide range of dangerous cancer-causing elements (such as Radium, Uranium, Strontium-90, and Tritium) with a list of additional health effects.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): includes another long list of harmful cancer-causing elements used in solvents and pesticides (Benzene, Trichloroethylene, 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, and many more), which can have other hazardous side effects.

According to EWG’s accumulative risk assessment, four Americans out of 10,000 will develop cancer in their lifetime due to carcinogenic contaminants in water. To put that into perspective, that is about the same amount of people in the U.S. who develop cancer due to air pollutants. Therefore, their study concluded that action needs to be taken to decrease the chemical contaminants in drinking water across the country to protect public health.

EWG’s findings are concerning. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from drinking water laced with carcinogenetic contaminants.

What You Can Do to Avoid Drinking Carcinogenetic Contaminants

Testing your water is the most critical step you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. It is especially beneficial to have it tested if you have well water since your water is not monitored or treated by the EPA like city water. Many water treatment providers will test your water at little or no charge. For example, residents in the Lakeland, Florida area can reach out to Tri-Florida Water Treatment for a FREE in-home water assessment.

Once you have received the results, you can assess whether or not you should install a point-of-use water purifier or a whole-home water treatment system. If your water has high levels of carcinogens, a whole-home water treatment system that purifies all the water you use for drinking, bathing, cleaning, cooking, and swimming is the best option. Any contact with water contaminated with high levels of carcinogenic substances could be harmful.

Switching to bottled water is not recommended. However, you may be surprised that it isn’t the top option. A bottled water quality investigation by EWG discovered that bottled water brands’ products don’t live up to their marketing. Through testing, they found 38 pollutants in bottled water equal to or exceeding tap water contamination levels. In addition, Consumer Reports uncovered that bottled water is significantly less regulated than city water. If you want assurance that your water is safe and clean, a water purification system is far more reliable and inexpensive than using bottled water as a replacement.

Take the first step today by scheduling a FREE, in-home water analysis with Tri-Florida Water Treatment!