August 31st, 2009 | 
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Robert Tell is a health and nutrition researcher currently specializing in drinking water purity and home water filtration systems. Check his website: http://www.filtered-safe-water.com/
Posts Tagged ‘Bathing’
Is Tap Water Really Safe for Bathing and Showering?
Any TV viewer has seen advertisements for some sort of transdermal patch. Normally that patch contains a medication. The person who wears that patch receives a slow and steady administration of that medication. Yet the TV viewers who are familiar with such ads seldom think to ask this question: “Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?”
Few people ask that question, although few people pass-up the chance to enjoy a hot shower. During a hot shower, the pores in the skin allow into the body any chemicals that might hit the skin. If the water from the tap contains any harmful chemicals, then those chemicals can enter the body while some human takes a hot shower.
The above paragraph highlights the reason that every homeowner should ask this question: “Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?” After all, even some of the chemicals that are meant to make water safe to drink can damage the body, if they enter the body through the pores of the skin.
Exposure to chlorine, for example, can cause cancer. The time that most humans spend in a bath of shower allows a generous amount of chlorine to enter the body. In fact, the body can get more chlorine through the skin than it can by having chlorinated water sent down the esophagus.
Moreover, chlorine represents only one of the thousands of chemicals that are in the typical sample of tap water. A showerhead or bathtub faucet allows water with at least 2,100 different chemicals into the tub or shower stall, if it has not been equipped with a suitable filter
In addition, a hot shower causes the formation of huge amounts of water vapor. That vapor contains all of the chemicals that are in the water that passes through the faucet or showerhead. If that water contains chemicals that have gone undetected in a municipal treatment plant, then the person who steps from the bath or shower inhales those same chemicals.
When chemicals are inhaled, they pass immediately from the air sac into the blood stream. The inhalation of chemicals poses a greater danger than the drinking of water that contains those same chemicals. That fact illustrates the significance of the question “Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?”
This question, “Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?” calls attention to a less than obvious reason for purchasing a water filter. Too often, a homeowner simply buys a filter for the kitchen faucet. Too often, a homeowner thinks only about the water that residents and guests are apt to drink. Too few homeowners ever find it necessary to ponder this question: “Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?”
Once a homeowner has realized the importance of that question, then that homeowner appreciates the value of a well-designed filter on a showerhead or a bathtub faucet. If a homeowner should chose to purchase such a filter, then that homeowner ought to consider buying an activated carbon filter
When used in combination with ion exchange filtration and micron filtration, the activated carbon filter does the most effective job of removing unwanted chemicals from the water in a home plumbing system. That combination of filters creates water that is both safe to drink, and also safe enough to stream into a shower stall, or to flow into a bath tub.
Is Tap Water Safe for Bathing and Showering?
Is tap water safe for bathing and showering?
A lot of people never ask the question. It’s a great question just the same. While most of us are concerned about the quality of our drinking water, many of us take a shower in tap water every day without giving it a thought.
But two things happen when you shower:
– You run warm water all over your yourself, opening up the pores of your skin. That water penetrates into the skin and is absorbed.
– You inhale the mist of the shower water, along with the chlorine used in tap water from all municipal water supplies. You also inhale the trihalomethanes (THMs), a group of four nasty chemicals that are byproducts of chlorine use. Chlorine and all four THMs are carcinogens.
Pure water is very beneficial and hydrates the skin. Chlorinated water, however, tends to do the opposite: it dries out the skin.
And you may well inhale more chlorine in shower water than you ingest by drinking it. That chlorine goes to your lungs, which are extremely sensitive to the harsh, inflammatory effects of chlorine and THMs.
If your skin is dry, or you have any skin disorder, it’s especially important that you bathe in pure water.
Small children are especially sensitive to impurities in drinking water. Asthma and bronchitis are growing problems, and chlorine is known to aggravate both conditions.
Finally, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the dangerous chemicals called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are present in one-fifth of the nation’s water supplies.
Here are some of the commonly detected VOCs you could be inhaling in the shower:
– Benzene, from gasoline spills;
– Methylene chloride, an industrial solvent;
– Trichloroethylene, used in septic system cleaners;
– “Perc,” the abbreviation for the foul-smelling stuff used in drycleaning.
So is tap water safe for bathing and showering?
Many of us don’t think so.
That’s probably why shower filters are growing rapidly in popularity. A good shower water filter will effectively remove chlorine, its THM byproducts, and VOCs as well.
The most effective shower filters will typically use a two-stage filter process that takes out chlorine and balances the pH in one step and filters out harmful VOCs and THMs in a second stage.
For more specifics and recommendations, see my website.
Is Tap Water Safe For Bathing and Showering? Want to Know?
When was the last time you thought about this? If the answer is never or it has been awhile, you may be endangering yourself and, most importantly, your family. So you need to inform yourself on the topic.
If you’re wondering is tap water safe for bathing and showering, you’re not alone. Scientists have looked at the question and revisited it. There are specific health problems that are associated with it and many that are aggravated by it. Here’s what you need to know about taking a bath in chlorinated water.
Thousands of other chemicals are found in publicly treated water-supplies, due to industrial spills, farm run-off and other sources. Treatment facilities do what they can to reduce those contaminants, but after all is said and done they add the one with the most potential to do harm after other purification processes are done.
Chlorine is added by the majority of treatment facilities throughout the world to kill pathogens (bacteria, viruses, etc) and to control algae-growth in the pipelines. Chlorine is toxic to the nervous system, but it does an effective job at killing bacteria and clearing cloudiness. When boiling is not possible, adding unscented household chlorine bleach is recommended for emergency situations, in which drinking water has been contaminated.
Many years ago, scientists wondered is tap water safe for bathing and showering. At that time, they said that at levels present in publicly treated supplies, chlorine exposure during the shower is only hazardous to people that are allergic to it. Chlorine filters for the showerhead were originally developed for people that have chlorine allergies.
As time went by, hairdressers began to recommend them for their clients with dry hair and particularly for models. If models did not have a showerhead filter, they were told to wash their hair in bottled spring-water, before an important shoot.
Eventually, dermatologists wondered is tap water safe for bathing and showering, especially for their patients that had dry skin, eczema or psoriasis. It is a harsh chemical and people with skin conditions are particularly sensitive to it. Now, many dermatologists recommend a showerhead filter for all of their patients.
Finally, scientists revisited the question, because the original studies were not conducted using hot water. If you’re wondering is tap water safe for bathing and showering for anyone, the answer is no. When the water is heated, cancer-causing chemicals are released and we inhale them. They are absorbed through your skin and enter the bloodstream by two separate routes. They are known as THMs and they are actually byproducts of chlorine. Scientists originally believed that the only risk of exposure was from drinking, but now, they know better.
The increased incidence of cancer among people with chlorinated water was originally thought to be due to chlorine, itself. When, in fact, it is actually the byproducts produced when chlorine interacts with bacteria that are the problems. THM exposure greatly increases a person’s risk of developing cancer at some point in his or her life.
Most showerhead filters on the market remove chlorine, but do nothing to reduce THM content. Read the performance data carefully, before you buy a product. It’s the only way to be sure that you are actually protected.
Your goal? To start utilizing this information your have just learned. If you buy an effective product, you will not have to wonder is tap water safe for bathing and showering. You’ll know that you and your family are protected and safe.
Answered: is Tap Water Safe for Bathing and Showering?
Even people that seem to understand that our water is not sanitary enough to be drinking can sometimes be heard to ask is tap water safe for bathing and showering? The primary reason that it is not is because of the chlorine that is present, along with the THMs that the chlorine disinfection process produces.
The biggest danger that comes from taking a bath in chlorinated water is that the chemical will be absorbed by your skin. Now if you like to spend time taking long luxurious baths then this could become a problem because the longer that you are sitting in the bath the more chlorine that your body will absorb.
When people ask me is tap water safe for bathing and showering I always point out that one of the most unhealthy things that you can do is sit in a tub of chlorinated water for an hour or more. Medical professionals have stated that spending a lot of time swimming in chlorinated water greatly increased your risk of developing cancer.
The reason that I bring that up is that the maximum amount of chlorine that is legally allowable in a swimming pool is three parts per million, while in your drinking and bath water the allowable limit is four parts per million. This means that the amount of chlorine typically found in your water at home is enough to shut down a public pool.
Is tap water safe for bathing and showering if you don’t spend an inordinate amount of time in the water? For a bath I would say that it was “safer”, but for a shower there is really no safe amount of time. If you are in the shower long enough for the water to produce steam then it is not safe for you to be in there.
Once steam has been produced you have to realize that what you are then breathing in is primarily chlorine. Chlorine vaporizes at a far faster rate than water does, and chlorine inhaled into the lungs goes almost immediately into the bloodstream. You take in about 6,000 times more chlorine this way than if you were to drink water all day.
When someone asks is tap water safe for bathing and showering I always make sure to tell them that there is really no safe contact that we can have with chlorine because it is this very chemical that many scientists and medical professionals pinpoint as the number one cause for the incredible increase in cancer over the last century.
What I tend to advise people to do if they want to keep their families safe is to either invest in both high quality water filters and showerhead filters. Some showerhead filters even have removable wands so that filling up the bathtub is a breeze. You might even opt to simply get a whole house filter to remove all doubt.
Is tap water safe for bathing and showering? You are most welcome to do your own research. For me, the answer is no, it is absolutely not safe I’m afraid.
Bob Goodhand is an advocate for home and personal water purification systems to protect and promote healthy living. Visit his site at http://natural-purified-water.com/
to discover the drinking water filters that Bob recommends.
Is Tap Water Safe For Bathing And Showeringâ??Discover The Disturbing Truth
I don’t know a thing about you, but I’ll bet that you’ve heard the stories about water contamination by drinking, but is tap water safe for bathing and showering? Find out the truth here, and not the hype our suppliers give us.
Studies have revealed that we have over 2100 toxic chemicals coming out of our faucets, including herbicides, pesticides, chlorine and prescription drugs! Not a pretty mixture I’m sure you’ll agree.
So is tap water safe for bathing and showering as opposed to the contamination we get by drinking it? No is the straight answer.
The American Journal of Public Health confirms that up to two-thirds of the harmful effects of chlorine are due to inhalation and skin absorption while showering. When we shower or bathe, the pores in our skin open up and absorb the steam.
When chemicals like chlorine are vaporized, they are over 20 times more concentrated than in water, and so our exposure is even higher.
Bear in mind also that researchers at Rutgers University confirm that we take in the same amount of chloroform (vaporized chlorine) from a 10 minute shower as we would if we drank over 2 liters of water.
Why should we be exposed to this and other people’s medications? The treatment plants use outdated techniques and just add tons of chlorine to disinfect, but the new phenomenon of pharmaceuticals getting into our supply is too much for them to cope with. And it’s getting worse.
Is tap water safe for bathing and showering when we filter it would give a more acceptable answer. And some companies even do specific shower filters which are great if you don’t want to invest in a whole house system to purify all of your water.
The benefits are almost immediate, without the chemicals your hair and skin will retain moisture giving them a healthy young looking appearance.
Investing in a filtration system is the only way forward as it is up to us to protect ourselves. Look for a carbon block system using multi stage filtration as the US EPA recommends this as the most effective type. Is tap water safe for bathing and showering using this type of system? Absolutely!
The very best will remove 99% of all contaminants, check the suppliers performance data sheet to see exactly what it removes.
So I hope this answers your question is tap water safe for bathing and showering, and that you will take action to safeguard your health and at the same time have younger healthy looking and feeling skin.
If you would like to learn more about the types of home filtration systems, including shower filters, that I personally recommend and use, visit my website today.Â
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Ray Hamilton is a dedicated advocate and researcher of the incredible benefits of safe, clean, healthy water. Take a moment to visit his site now at http://www.healthy-filtered-water.com/ and discover which products Ray recommends after extensive research.
Posted in Bath and Shower | 
Tags: Bathing, Disturbing, Safe, Showeringâ??Discover, Truth, Water | 
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