Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by William Ladd on October 10, 2010 at 12:59am

After reading all of this, I'm gonna get paranoid about drinking anything! No wonder people are going bonkers. If what you say is true then there is little chance of any water being safe to drink. And what about the animals? If they drink this water then wont these contaminants be concentrated within the meat from them?

Bill L.
aka Bummy

Permalink Reply by Brian Oram, PG on October 10, 2010 at 7:01am

This manual presents a summary of the drinking water regulations and highlights some of the existing problems in PA. The problems are
1. lack of construction standards;
2. about 50% are positive for total coliform and about 10% have e.coli - about 50% can be fixed by simple shock disinfection.
3. In some areas we have elevated levels of arsenic and nitrates, but we rarely have a problem with salt, chloride, heavy metals, volatile Organics, pesticides, synthetic organics, etc.

The goal is not to get paranoid, but at least care enough to at least have the water checked for general water quality. have a good day.

Brian

Permalink Reply by William Ladd on October 11, 2010 at 1:32am

Hey there Brian. Dont take me too seriously about being paranoid about water.

Without a doubt hundreds of thousands of people have water problems to deal with. My water supply is from a private spring. Once in awhile I find critters in it, (snakes and frogs) and one day I found a dead woodchuck that got trapped in it when his burrow collapsed behind him as he broke thru into the holding tank. The water had an off flavor for a time but no one got sick.

The human body is made to deal with small amounts of bacteria and other contaminants. Vaccinations and the various shots provide the (seeds) to start the body producing antibodies to combat these things. When the body is overwhelmed by these contaminates then you have a serious situation.

The Mad cow scare and the bird flu scare and many other such things all went away with little or no real effect. Meat from pigs is a little iffy. Best to cook it thru.

I am more worried about drug use, smoking, alcoholics, unsafe drivers on the roads, irresponsible hunters who shoot at everything that moves.

Your post is very informative and I thank you for posting it.

Bill L.
aka Bummy