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U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#71

Post by ravenstine »

ryanmercer wrote: post #39
knorker wrote: post #27

So next time I go to the US I should bring a LifeStraw? This is an actual question: How much do these filters help against the type of contamination that's in US drinking water?

Products like the LifeStraw/Sawyer/Katadyn won't filter most chemicals. To remove some chemicals you need to use distillation and distillation is only good if the boiling point of a given chemical is higher than that of water. LifeStraw even states >Chemicals, salt water, heavy metals and viruses will not be removed. http://help.lifestraw.com/en/articles/2507813-does-the-lifes... Sawyer states >Taste >The Sawyer filt…

Seychelle seems to have more advanced filters:

https://www.seychelle.com/water-filters

> The Radiological filter removes the four basic zones of contamination: aesthetic (chlorine, taste and odor), chemicals (from industry and agriculture), dissolved solids (heavy metals such as lead, mercury, chromium 6) and up to 99.99% of radiological contaminants such as gross beta, radon 222, alpha radium 226, plutonium, uranium, cesium 134 and 137. Removes up to 90% of fluoride. (Not to be used with salt water.)

> The RAD/ADV filter removes up to 99.99% of chlorine, chemicals (VOC’s), heavy metals, radiological contaminants and up to 90% of fluoride. It removes up to 99.9999% of bacteria and viruses, as well as 99.9% of giardia and cryptosporidium. The RAD/ADV filter can be used for emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and radiological contamination. Just like the Advanced filter the RAD/ADV filter is ideal for traveling around the world and used with water of unknown quality. (Not to be used with salt water.)

So there's a chance that these might be able to remove other chemicals and perhaps microplastics.

The Berkey filter also seems to remove quite a few contaminants:

https://www.berkeyfilters.com/pages/filtration-specification...

I wonder if there will be a boom in the water filter industry after more mainstream articles come out about the problem and the government eventually starts recommending them openly.

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#72

Post by lm28469 »

hkai wrote: post #54
bronlund wrote: post #6

"The United States has among the cleanest air and drinking water on Earth."

How is that not correct? I don't recommend you drink tap water anywhere in Africa, China and India. People over there would envy water quality in the US.

I'm afraid that when you have to compare the "#1 world super power" to Africa, China and India to make a point you already lost the argument

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#73

Post by patentatt »

Frost1x wrote: post #57
matthewdgreen wrote: post #48

It is constantly amazing to me that "cover up the existence of poisonous chemicals in your drinking water" is a viable position for a democratically-elected officeholder to have. What a world we live in.

Democracy is mostly a facade anymore, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, we haven't gone completely south to a dictatorship--there are many protections in place to keep things from falling apart but nonetheless I feel as though we're in the decline in the respect of being democratic. The underlying failed assumption in our representative democracy was that representatives would represent their constituents' interests…

The argument against term limits is that it empowers the ‘consultants’ and advisors who have the historic and institutional knowledge with none of the public scrutiny or oversight.

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#74

Post by JSeymourATL »

CptFribble wrote: post #67

This problem has been brewing for a long time, and is likely worse than any of us can grasp. Here's an enlightening read: (warning: it's long) https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/welcome-to-b...

Terrific article, thanks for sharing!

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#75

Post by chongli »

Frost1x wrote: post #57
matthewdgreen wrote: post #48

It is constantly amazing to me that "cover up the existence of poisonous chemicals in your drinking water" is a viable position for a democratically-elected officeholder to have. What a world we live in.

Democracy is mostly a facade anymore, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, we haven't gone completely south to a dictatorship--there are many protections in place to keep things from falling apart but nonetheless I feel as though we're in the decline in the respect of being democratic. The underlying failed assumption in our representative democracy was that representatives would represent their constituents' interests…

I think democracy was always problematic. Its original form, direct democracy, was vulnerable to the tyranny of the masses.

Representative democracy, long described as the solution, really isn’t. Representatives are self-interested, just like everyone else, and so we cannot expect them to be purely faithful executors of their respective mandates.

What we did not expect, and perhaps are now beginning to, is that human beings are endlessly resourceful when personally motivated. Laws, norms, and institutions are static structures, simple obstacles for people to overcome when they really want to. It has always been far more difficult to build defences than it has been to build new weapons to overcome them. This is the great challenge for lawmakers, judiciary, law enforcement, and anyone who is interested in the preservation of a free and open society.

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#76

Post by dfxm12 »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #48

It is constantly amazing to me that "cover up the existence of poisonous chemicals in your drinking water" is a viable position for a democratically-elected officeholder to have. What a world we live in.

It just goes to show the priorities of the electorate. If one assumes people vote in their own best interest, the question then becomes, what are they interested in? Maybe not the physical health of themselves or their children...

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#77

Post by corey_moncure »

_qwfv wrote: post #70
matthewdgreen wrote: post #48

It is constantly amazing to me that "cover up the existence of poisonous chemicals in your drinking water" is a viable position for a democratically-elected officeholder to have. What a world we live in.

This is pretty much the end state for Neoliberalism (which has been the prevailing mode for both parties). There's such an emphasis on protecting business and capital, and almost none on protecting the people.

In your view, what happens to the people when business and capital fail?

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#78

Post by jimkri »

anoplus wrote: post #28

I would be interested to know what is the current trust level of the residents on the gov and EPA in the different states. Not far from my living area a new gas rig started operating where the gov, contractor company and EPA (EPA of my country that is) argue the chemical emissions doesn't pose health risks (same for sea water pollution risk), while self-funded environmental organizations argue otherwise and show inco…

I don't think crowd-funded organizations will totally replace the government, I do think they will start taking action where the government has failed or enables the bad actors. I feel that there are plenty of business opportunities for companies that want to improve the world instead of destroying it. Your example is a great example.

I've been thinking a lot lately about starting a company that focuses on improving water quality, working with waste water treatment, and working on CO2. Going forward I think this problem will continue to get worse and there needs to be companies that are trying to solve these issues.

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#79

Post by mrfusion »

nchovies wrote: post #55
mrfusion wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think britAs and the like work somewhat at removing pfas. They’re large organic molecules and they excel at removing those.

do you have a source for this? i can't seem to find much on pfoa removal/reduction and brita filters

I believe the brita type filters are considered activated carbon? If so here’s a source:

https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/reducing-pfas-drinking-wa...

Re: U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

#80

Post by CryptoBanker »

anoplus wrote: post #40
CryptoBanker wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes are the original crowd funding

Right, but I think modern crowd-funding is inherently designed for trust, otherwise people won't fund. Taxes are not an option for the payer - for a reason - but still I think its lacking on the trust element, which is fundamental to a functioning society. Maybe then the crowd-funded bodies are meant to keep an eye on the government to do its job.

Trust? How many crowd funded campaigns fail to deliver on their products? Even to their initial backers?
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