Waterborne diseases like infectious hepatitis,  bacterial dysentery, cholera, and giardiasis were common until fairly recently.  Throughout the world, health impacts were staggering. Entire villages in Europe were wiped out by plagues in the 11th and 12th centuries.   In 1848 and 1849 in a single cholera epidemic alone, 53,000 people died in London.

In 1854 Dr. John Snow, a London obstetrician, carefully plotted the locations of the illness and compared his findings to the subscriber lists of two private companies that provided water for London. His research showed that cholera occurred with greater frequency among the customers of one of the companies–the one that drew its water from the lower Thames river which was contaminated by London sewage. The other company used upper Thames water, which was less polluted.

Dr. Snow’s maps indicated a strong correlation between cholera cases and the proximity to the intersection of Cambridge and Broad Streets. The obvious conclusion was that the main cause of the cholera epidemic was the water drawn from a community pump on Broad Street.

The picture above depicts Dr. Snow removing the handle from the Broad St. pump. Below, an artist’s rendition of the deadly pump before Dr. Snow’s discovery.   For more details. 

Larvicide Manufactured By Monsanto Partner, Not Zika Virus, True Cause Of Brazil’s Microcephaly Outbreak: Doctors

By Alyssa Navarro, Tech Times

 

  A group of Argentine physicians claim that the sudden microcephaly outbreak in Brazil was not caused by the Zika virus, but by a larvicide injected into the country’s water supplies.

The microcephaly outbreak in Brazil, which coincided with the spread of the Zika virus, continues to stun the world, even months after the incident was first reported.

Pregnant women all over the world have been advised to take caution. The Zika virus infection has been linked to newborn babies with the birth defect microcephaly. This is a congenital condition in which babies are born with unusually tiny heads.

The notion, however, has recently been challenged by a group of Argentine physicians. The group suspects that the Zika virus is not to blame for the rise in microcephaly cases, but that a toxic larvicide introduced into Brazil’s water supplies may be the real culprit.

Not A Coincidence?

According to the Physicians in Crop-Sprayed Towns (PCST), a chemical larvicide that produces malformations in mosquitoes was injected into Brazil’s water supplies in 2014 in order to stop the development of mosquito larvae in drinking water tanks.

The chemical, which is known as Pyriproxyfen, was used in a massive government-run program tasked to control the mosquito population in the country. Pyriproxyfen is a larvicide manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical, a company associated with Monsanto.

“Malformations detected in thousands of children from pregnant women living in areas where the Brazilian state added pyriproxyfen to drinking water is not a coincidence,” the PCST wrote in the report.

For instance, the Brazilian Health Ministry had injected pyriproxyfen to reservoirs in the state of Pernambuco. In the area, the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the Zika virus, is very high, the PCST said.

 

Pernambuco is also the first state in Brazil to notice the problem. The state contains 35 percent of the total microcephaly cases in the country.

The group of Argentine doctors points out that during past Zika epidemics, there have not been any cases of microcephaly linked with the virus. In fact, about 75 percent of the population in countries where Zika broke out had been infected by the mosquito-borne virus.

In countries such as Colombia where there are plenty of Zika cases, there are no records of microcephaly linked to Zika, the group said.

When the Colombian president announced that many of the country’s citizens were infected with Zika but that there was not a single case of microcephaly, the allegations soon emerged. Some 3,177 pregnant women in the country were infected with Zika, but the PCST report said these women are carrying healthy fetuses or had given birth to healthy babies.

Remain Skeptical

On its website, Sumitomo Chemical says pyriproxyfen poses minimal risk to birds, fish and mammals.

However, the evidence is overwhelming. The Washington Post reported in January that after experts examined 732 cases out of 4,180 Zika-related microcephaly, more than half were not related to Zika at all. Only 270 cases were confirmed as Zika-linked microcephaly.

On top of all the suspicions, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been careful not to explicitly link Zika to microcephaly.

“Although a causal link between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly — and I must emphasize — has not been established, the circumstantial evidence is suggestive and extremely worrisome,” said WHO General Director Margaret Chan.

In the meantime, scientists are currently racing toward developing a vaccine for the mosquito-borne infection.

While there is no solid proof yet that the larvicide causes microcephaly, the local government of Grande do Sul in the southern portion of Brazil suspended the use of the chemical larvicide pyriproxyfen.

 Source: Tech Times.

Pure Water Gazette Fair Use Statement

Parts per Million, Parts per Billion

Gazette Technical Wizard Pure Water Annie Answers Another of Life’s Perplexing Water Treatment Questions

The constituents that are dissolved or suspended in water, whether they are natural minerals or serious chemical contaminants, are usually measured in either “parts per million” or “parts per billion.” Another way of expressing the same values is “milligrams per liter” or “micrograms per liter.”

There are a variety of ways to express these same values.

mg/L or ug/L

ppm or ppb

are the same.

The u is sometimes written as the Greek letter µ, but the meaning is the same.

When you read a water test, the first thing you need to notice is what the unit of measurement is.  Is the contaminant being reported as parts per million or parts per billion?  To say the least, this is important, because one part per million represents a quantity one thousand times greater than one part per billion.  I won’t bother with the old “if you cut a pie into a million pieces” explanation.

To convert parts per billion to parts per million, divide by 1,000.  If the EPA’s maximum allowable (MCL) for an industrial chemical is 2 ppb, dividing 2 by 1,000 gives you the allowable in ppm: 0.002.

If a water test reports in mg/L, you get the ug/L by multiplying by 1,000.  If a test finds 0.015 parts per million of a substance, it’s the equivalent of 15 parts per billion.

Parts per trillion, by the way, is usually expressed as ng/L (nanograms per liter) and 1 ug/L = 1000 ng/L.

It is hard to think through the relationships between water contaminants because they vary so greatly and are seldom expressed in the same denomination.  For example:

The current “allowable” (MCL) for nitrates (which many cities in Iowa are finding  hard to meet) is 10 parts per million.  That’s 10,000 parts per billion, or 10,000,000 parts per trillion.

The current allowable for arsenic is 0.010 parts per million.  That’s 10 parts per billion or 10,000 parts per trillion.

The current allowable for lead is 0.015 parts per million. That’s 15 parts per billion or 15,000 parts per trillion.

There is no national allowable for the likely carcinogen 1,2,3 -Triclopropane (TCP), but California’s proposed limit is 5 parts per trillion.  That’s 0.005 parts per billion or 0.000005 parts per million.

Softening Water with Potassium Chloride (KCl)

Postassium chloride (KCl) can be used as a substitute for traditional water softener salt to regenerate residential water softeners.  It is a popular alternative because of both  health
and environmental concerns associated with regular softener salt. Although KCl costs more than conventional softener salt–a lot more in some areas–use of potassium is increasing. A number of questions arise when softener users considered switching to potassium.  The informal FAQ below, based on information from William Wist et al., Water Softening with Potassium Chloride, answers most of these.

Do you need a special water softener if you plan to use potassium chloride?

No, any standard water softener will run on either salt or potassium.

Are changes in equipment needed if you switch from NaCl to KCl?

For normal salt settings, no change is needed. For extremely low salt doses (e. g.,  4 lbs. of salt per cubic foot of resin), however, a slight increase might be needed.  Four lbs. to 4.5 lbs., for example.

Can potassium chloride be added to a tank that already has salt in it?

Yes, there’s no incompatibility  issue if you mix the two.

Can a softener running on KCl be used to remove iron and manganese from well water?

Yes, in reasonable amounts, just like salt.

Does KCl soften water as effectively as NaCl?

Yes.

Are there any negative health issues associated with drinking water that has been softened with potassium chloride?

No, except for with a small number of people who are at risk of potassium overload.

Can KCl be used to water house plants?

Yes. Keep in mind that, as with any water, excess water should be allowed to drain from the bottom of the pot.
Can you put KCl-softened water in a fish tank?

Not a good idea. No softened water is recommended for use with fish.

How about dogs and cats?

Yes, its good for them.

How about lawn and garden?

No problem. In fact, potassium is a plant nutrient. However, avoid giving your plants too much of a good thing. It’s best to alternate between watering with hard and softened water to provide a balance of nutrients.

The Water Quality Association Addresses Frequently Asked Questions about Lead in Water

 Because of the ongoing problem of lead in the water of Flint, Michigan, the Water Quality Association of America (WQA), a not-for-profit organization of water treatment dealers, prepared a concise FAQ to help answer the many questions about lead. Below, we’ve excerpted the highlights.

What are potential health effects from lead?

Lead poisoning often displays no outward symptoms; however, irritability, weight loss, vomiting, constipation, and stomach pain are possible signs to look for. Young children and pregnant women are at the greatest risk, even from short-term exposure. Reduced cognitive development and neurobehavioral deficits are associated with blood levels less than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood in children. Therefore, there is no safe level for lead to be present in the blood of children. Individuals will adsorb more lead if they have poor nutrition than those with better diets.

Can a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter be used to detect lead in drinking water?

No. There have been some misconceptions around TDS Meters. These meters cannot measure lead specifically; they detect the conductivity directly related to the concentration of combined total dissolved solids such as minerals, salts and metals. The typical sample of tap water in the U.S. contains approximately 350 parts per million (ppm) of TDS, which, as a whole does not on its own indicate a health concern and in many cases is used as a means to enhance taste of water.  Lead concentration is found 1000 times lower at the parts per billion (ppb) level, and is too small to be detected without sophisticated instrumentation. Moreover, because TDS meters don’t measure individual ions, lead cannot be detected on its own.

Where can I go to get my water tested?

Water testing should be done be a certified testing laboratory.[4] WQA strongly recommends water testing be conducted at each point of use in accordance with appropriate sampling procedures. The water should be checked after a period of disuse before a specific water treatment product is selected. Water conditions can change, so the water should be tested both before a treatment product has been installed and at regular intervals following installation. Studies have shown the reported levels of lead found in some Flint, MI water results are higher than conditions under which the manufacturer set the replacement recommendations for filters in published manuals. A list of certified labs in Michigan can be found here.

How do I maintain a filter once it is installed?

Always follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions and contact the manufacturer to confirm usage and capacity. To ensure the manufacturer can provide the most accurate recommendations, have test results for lead and iron on hand for review.

Where do I find a product certified for lead reduction?

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited entities offering product certification include: WQA’s Product Certification Program, NSF International, International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, and Underwriters Laboratory. All of these certifiers have product listings. To find products certified by WQA for lead reduction, click here. Contact information for local professionals and manufacturers of certified products can also be found wqa.org.

More about lead from the Pure Water Products website.

Pure Water Products Urges Safe Shopping Practices at Groundhog Day Sale

In spite of signs throughout the stores urging observance of the store’s “Safe Shopping” policies, the big Pure Water Products Groundhog Day sale at its Denton, TX store can be dangerous.  At last year’s event, the shopper  pictured above in the foreground slipped in the Reverse Osmosis Parts aisle and skidded, getting a nasty bruise on her hip and breaking the index finger on her left hand.

PWP’s  Groundhog Day Sale has been a big event in North Texas for a number of years, pulling shoppers from the the Dallas/Ft.Worth area into the company’s Denton location in record numbers. Its popularity is attributed to not only to low prices but to the fact that Groundhog Day is the first big shopping event of the year.

Store manager Katey Shannon says, “People have recovered from Christmas and ready to get going again. When we open the doors at 2:00 AM on Groundhog morning, they’re lined up and ready.”

Shannon says that low prices are the key. “Our everyday prices are so low that when we apply the 15% store-wide Groundhog markdown, some products actually come out below zero. With quick-connect fittings, for example, we actually pay people to take them. John Guest reducing tube tees this year are going for -$o.21–that’s a negative 21 cents each. No wonder people are lining up.” Shannon added that shoppers with a practical turn of mind take advantage of the sale to stock up on items they may need down the road, like dry pellet chlorinators, seal and spacer kits for iron filters,  and vacuum breakers for retention tanks.

“So please,” says Shannon, “come early and stay late, but most of all observe the rules given on the Safe Shopping signs displayed throughout the store. Most shopping injuries can be avoided by common sense.”