Water Exercise Is Excellent, But There Are Pitfalls

Popular internet doctor Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that  in some ways a water workout may be better than one on land.  He explains that the heart rate during aerobic exercise is slower in water than on land because the pressure of the water helps your blood circulate more effectively with fewer heartbeats.  He explains:

According to the American Council on Exercise, your heart rate will be reduced by as much as 17 beats per minute compared to land exercise, so be sure to keep this in mind if you measure your heart rate to watch your intensity.

When you’re in the water, your heart rate will be lower than on land, even if you’re exercising very strenuously, so you need to listen to your body, not rely on heart rate, to gauge when you’ve had enough.

Dr. Mercola cautions, however, that water exercise has its pitfalls.  Chlorine is a major concern.

Swimming pools typically contain chlorine, he points out,  and along with it, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which are formed when bromide, naturally existent in the source water, and/or organic materials like hair, skin, sweat, dirt and urine react with the large amounts of chlorine used to sanitize the pool water.

He writes:

DBPs are over 10,000 times more toxic than the chlorine itself and have been linked to DNA damage and cancer. In one study, more than 100 DBPs were identified in pool water, and when researchers measured evidence of genotoxic (DNA damage that may lead to cancer) and respiratory effects on swimmers who swam in a chlorinated pool for 40 minutes, they found:³

• Increased micronuclei in blood lymphocytes, which are associated with cancer risk
• Urine mutagenicity, a biomarker of exposure to genotoxic agents
• An increase in serum CC16, which suggests an increase in lung epithelium permeability

This is a serious issue if you swim in chlorinated pools on a regular basis, as your body absorbs higher levels of DBPs by swimming in a chlorinated pool once than you would by drinking tap water for one week! In fact, in one study on trihalomethanes (THMs), one of the most common DBPs, found the cancer risk from skin exposure while swimming comprised over 94 percent of the total cancer risk resulting from being exposed to THMs!⁴ The authors even went so far as to conclude that swimming in a chlorinated pool presents “an unacceptable cancer risk.”

As an aside, DBPs are also the likely culprits for the increased incidence of sinusitis and sore throats among swimming instructors,⁵ as well as the negative impact of chlorinated pools on the respiratory health of children and adolescents. In fact, one study found that in children with allergic sensitivities, swimming in chlorinated pools significantly increased the likelihood of asthma and respiratory allergies.⁶

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up swimming. Swimming in an ocean is an excellent alternative, as is swimming in a lake or other natural body of water. You can also find a way to keep your pool clean from bacteria, algae, and other organisms without the use of dangerous chemicals.

One of the best solutions is NOT to chlorinate your pool and just use a maintenance “shock” treatment every five or six days, which will kill the algae buildup. The shock treatment volatilizes in about 24-48 hours and gives you a several-day window in which you can safely use your pool. You can also reduce the amount of organic material you bring into the pool, and thereby the amount of DBPs created, by showering prior to entering and teaching your children not to urinate in the water.

 Read Dr. Mercola’s full article.

Another Expert Says That People Are Being Urged To Drink Too Much Water

The Gazette has long taken the position that the “8 glasses per day” advice usually given by the medical community is pure nonsense.  A researcher at La Trobe University agrees.

Spero Tsindos of La Trobe University, writing in the June 2012 issue of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, asserts that our bodies need about two liters of fluids per day, not two liters of water specifically.  The Gazette has frequently pointed out the water in the foods we eat is water, so people have vastly different needs for actual water since diets vary considerably.

Mr Tsindos believes that encouraging people to drink more water is driven by vested interests rather than a need for better health.

“Thirty years ago you didn’t see a plastic water bottle anywhere, now they appear as fashion accessories, he writes. “As tokens of instant gratification and symbolism, the very bottle itself is seen as cool and hip.”

He also discusses the role of water in our constant quest for weight loss. “Drinking large amounts of water does not alone cause weight loss. A low-calorie diet is also required. Research has also revealed that water in food eaten has a greater benefit in weight reduction than avoiding foods altogether. We should be telling people that beverages like tea and coffee contribute to a person’s fluid needs and despite their caffeine content, do not lead to dehydration.”

Tsindos says that  people  need to maintain fluid balance and should drink water, but also consider fluid in unprocessed fruits and vegetables and juices of equal importance.

More Information.

Nano Technology Company  Claims Invention of a Self-Filling Water Bottle

An enterprising nanotechnology company believes that it has created a marvelous self-filling water bottle by imitating the natural process of hydration used by the Namib Desert beetle.

NBD Nanotechnologies has imitated the beetle’s uncanny ability to extract water from dry desert air.  The beetle lives in one of the world’s most arid regions (about 1/2 inch of rainfall per year) and has developed a unique survival technique by drinking water that it collects from tiny droplets that its bumpy back collects from the atmosphere.

 Here’s how one writer describes the process:

To drink water, the Namib beetle (genus Stenocara) stands on a small ridge of sand. Facing into the breeze, with its body angled at forty-five degrees, the beetle catches fog droplets on its hardened wings. Its head faces upwind, and its stiff, bumpy outer wings are spread against the damp breeze. Minute water droplets from the fog gather on its wings; there the droplets stick to hydrophilic bumps, which are surrounded by waxy, hydrophobic troughs. Droplets accumulate and coalesce until their combined weight overcomes the water’s electrostatic attraction to the bumps as well as any opposing force of the wind; in a thirty-kilometer-an-hour breeze, such a droplet would stick to the wing until it grows to roughly five millimeter in diameter; at that point it would roll down the beetle’s back to its mouth parts.

The water droplets in fog are, on average, just one one-thousandth of an inch across, and the largest ones are only twice that size. The droplets are so small, in fact, that they often don’t fall downward; instead they get carried sideways or even upward by currents of wind.The trick to drinking fog is getting the droplets to aggregate, so that wind and electrostatic forces no longer overwhelm gravity. When a wind-blown fog droplet lands on a hydrophilic (water-loving) surface, such as clean glass or stone, the drop flattens out because of the electrostatic attraction between the molecules of water and those of the surface. The cross section of the flat drop is too small for the wind to pick it back up. And, because water molecules so strongly attract each other, the flat drop also presents a highly hydrophilic surface to which other droplets can attach.

To mimic nature,  NBD Nanotechnologies layered a surface with hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings, used a fan to pass air over the surface, and managed to get water to condense. This eventually led to the design of a conceptual self-filling water bottle.

The best part, according to the developer, is that it uses virtually no energy and can be run entirely by solar cells and a rechargeable battery.

The company points out that there are  more than three quadrillion gallons of water in the air, which is essentially a massive untapped resource.

More.

 

 

 

Water in China: Some Facts

The United Nations says China is one of 13 countries with extreme water shortages.

The problem is partly demographic.  While China has 20% of the world’s population, it holds six percent of the world’s water resources. but is also exacerbated by rapid and short-sighted development. Rapid and short-sighted development have made this built-in shortage of water worse.

Strong economic growth has turned the country into the world’s second largest economy but at the expense of the environment.

The Yangtze River, once the lifeblood of the country, now flows a foreboding blood red, possibly due to industrial pollution.

Chronic droughts plague important agricultural regions like Shandong province, which produces most of China’s grain.

Within a few years, China’s water demand will reach 818 billion cubic meters, experts say, and yet there’s only 616 billion cubic meters available.

Beijing has about 100 cubic meters of water available per person, well below the U.N. standard of 1,000 cubic meters per person, a threshold used to measure chronic water shortage.

To put things in perspective, China has 25 bathtubs of water per person. The U.S. has the equivalent of 125 bathtubs.

China now has around 300 million people with no access to potable water, resulting in some 66,000 deaths per year, according to the World Bank. It estimates the cost of water pollution to China at $22 billion, roughly 1.1 percent of the country’s GDP.

The Chinese government recognizes the problem and is seeking to cut water consumption by 30%.

China’s rapacious water consumption is in part boosted by an illogical scenario: water, while scarce, is unusually cheap. Water in China, in fact, is really three to five times cheaper than it should be. China is trying to reduce consumption by raising water prices, and this has been taking place slowly since 2009.

As with other areas, however, where public consumption becomes the focus of water saving efforts, in China the largest users and the largest polluters of water are industry and agriculture. They use about 85% of the water in China.

As with other countries, a simple step could save immense amounts of water: fixing leaky pipes. There are literally hundreds of millions of miles of pipe laid around the world that are leaking and wasting water. These are some simple fixes that we could do right away.

 Reference.

 

 

 

 

Reduced Water Flow from the Missouri Threatens to Close Barge Traffic on the Mississippi

A 200-mile section of the Mississippi River may have to shut down due to reduced flow of water from reduced flow from a reservoir into the the Missouri River, which feeds into the Mississippi.  The Army Corps of Engineers announced plans to reduce flow from the reservoir.

The corps annually decreases water releases to ensure adequate reservoir levels and to prevent ice buildup and flooding. This year, already-low river levels caused by drought could shrink to the point that barges carrying grain, coal and other products won’t be able to navigate the Mississippi. The Missouri flows into the Mississippi near St. Louis.

Because of the drought, most vessels on the Mississippi are now limited to a 9-foot draft — their depth in the water.  Going to a 6-foot draft effectively closes the river.

 

 

 

The temporary closure of the Mississippi from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill., could result from an Army Corps of Engineers plan to reduce water flow from a reservoir into the Missouri River starting today, shipping companies and industry groups warn.

Monique Farmer, a corps spokeswoman, says water releases from the reservoir at Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will drop gradually starting November 22 from 36,000 cubic feet per second to 12,000 by Dec. 11. “We need to begin conserving water in our system,” Farmer says. It’s like turning down a faucet: Less water moves into the Missouri, which feeds the Mississippi, so Mississippi levels also drop.

The slowdown in water release threatens to delay shipment of billions of dollars worth of commodities during December and January. It is expected that the low water situation in the Mississippi will eventually result in higher consumer prices.

 More from USA Today.

 

 

Severe Thigh Injury Sustained by Woman Rushing to Buy Water Filter

What is believed to be the first serious injury of the holiday shopping season was sustained by shopper Martha Nicholson as she rushed to buy a countertop water filter earlier today at a Dallas-area water treatment store.

The store, Pure Water Products of Denton, Texas,  following the national trend of beginning the after-Thanksgiving “Black Friday” sales event early, opened its doors to after-Thanksgiving shoppers at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.  “Since we are closed on Black Friday,” store manager Katey Shannon explained, “we decided to provide our customers the opportunity to do their post-Thanksgiving shopping on Wednesday.”

Although the store has the  policy of “same low price every day” pricing and it never has sales, shoppers were lined up in its parking lot well before the 8:00 AM opening.  Mrs. Nicholson, a Garland, Texas resident who had come to Denton especially for the early shopping opportunity, was believed to be fourth or fifth in line when the store opened its doors.  As she raced for the countertop water filter counter, Mrs. Nicholson somehow lost her footing,  fell in the store aisle, and skidded several feet on her right thigh.  It is not known at this time if broken bones resulted or if the injury is only a bad sprain.

Miss Shannon blamed excessive speed for the accident and added that the store’s spacious, unobstructed aisles  might encourage shoppers to move more quickly than is prudent.  “We have clearly visible, friendly signs throughout the store,” Shannon said, “that remind shoppers: DO NOT RUN.  THIS MEANS YOU!”

Commenting on Mrs. Nicholson’s accident, Shannon said, “Look, I’m sorry she hurt her hip, but we warned her not to gallop through the store.”

 

Mrs. Nicholson is still in a Denton hospital and could not be reached for comment.

Miss Shannon said that Pure Water Products recommends “Safe Shopping,” which means avoiding the dangers of crowded stores by buying online.

Water Treatment 101: Scale

Scale  is a serious problem caused by the deposit of hardness minerals (mainly calcium and magnesium).   Hardness can block piping systems, causing the loss of water pressure due to reduced pipe diameter, and it can greatly reduce the effectiveness of home heating systems and hot water heaters. Scaled pipes and appliances waste energy and money.

Scaling is caused by hardness of water.  Hardness is defined, in simple terms, as the amount of calcium and magnesium present in the water.  Hardness is measured either in parts per million or as grains per gallon.  Water treatment professionals most often use grains per gallon.  The conversion is easy: a “grain” is equal to about 17.1  parts per million.

Although there is no absolute standard, water is usually considered  hard enough to cause problems at about 4 grains per gallon, and it is considered hard enough to require treatment at 7 grains per gallon and up. There is no upper limit on hardness, but water of 100 grains per gallon is rare.

The standard residential treatment for hard water is the conventional water softener, which exchanges sodium ions for the hard water minerals, calcium and magnesium. Conventional softeners are proven, reliable tools.  They use salt in the softening process.   In recent years a number of electronic and non-electronic softener substitutes have come on the market. Some of these are more effective than others.  Template Assisted Crystallization (called TAC) is now the most widely used of the alternative scale preventives.   TAC units not only prevent scale buildup but they remove existing scale as well.

 

More information:

Hard Water

How Water Softeners Work

Template Assisted Crystallization

The EPA Has Launched A Program, SepticSmart, To Help Homeowners Care for Their Septic Systems

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 25 percent of U.S. households—more than 26 million homes—and almost one-third of new developments are serviced by septic systems.  If properly built and properly maintained, a septic system can provide years of trouble-free and environmentally safe disposal of wastewater and sewage for a home.

A septic system typically consists of a septic tank and a drain field for the absorption of wastes.   The picture below from the EPA’s website  shows a standard septic setup:

Here’s how it works:

1. All water leaving the home is directed via a single pipe into a septic tank.
2. The septic tank is a buried, water-tight container usually made of concrete, fiberglass, or polyethylene. Its job is to hold the wastewater long enough to allow solids to settle down to the bottom (forming sludge), while the oil and grease floats to the top (as scum).  Compartments and a T-shaped outlet prevent the sludge and scum from leaving the tank and traveling into the drainfield area.
3. The liquid wastewater (effluent) then exits the tank into the drainfield.  If the drainfield is overloaded with too much liquid, it will flood, causing sewage to flow to the ground surface or create backups in toilets and sinks.
4. Finally, the wastewater percolates into the soil, naturally removing harmful coliform bacteria, viruses, and nutrients.

To aid septic tank owners, the EPA recently launched is “SepticSmart” program to promote proper septic system care and maintenance. This national program aims to educate homeowners about proper daily system use and the need for periodic septic system maintenance.  SepticSmart also provides industry practitioners, local governments and community organizations with tools and materials to educate their clients and residents.

Here are some basic tips from SepticSmart:

• Spread out laundry and dishwasher loads throughout the day. Consider fixing plumbing leaks and installing faucet aerators and water-efficient products. Too much water use at once can overload your system, particularly if it hasn’t been pumped in the last couple of years.

• Avoid pouring fats, grease and solids down the drain, which can clog your system.

• Homeowners should have their septic system inspected every three years by a licensed contractor and have their tank pumped when necessary, generally every three to five years. Regular inspection and pumping of a septic system can save homeowners from costly repairs—on average, it costs homeowners $250 to pump their septic system, while the average cost of replacing a conventional septic system is $5,000 – $10,000. As the holidays approach, consider having your tank inspected and pumped.

• Ask guests to only to put things in the toilet that belong there. Dental floss, disposable diapers and wipes, feminine hygiene products, cigarette butts, and cat litter can clog and potentially damage septic systems.

• Remind guests not to park or drive on your system’s drainfield because the vehicle weight could damage buried pipes or disrupt underground flow causing system backups and floods.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/septicsmart.

 

Rialto perchlorate site not harming drinking water, say state health officials

by Josh Dulaney

Contra Costa Times

 

RIALTO – Drinking water near a contaminated manufacturing site in the north end of town is safe and those who work there are not at risk from exposure to chemicals, state public health officials have concluded.

The BF Goodrich site is a 160-acre area where several companies used perchlorate and trichloroethylene during the production of fireworks and other explosives from 1952 to the mid-1980s.

Trichloroethylene is an industrial cleaning solvent that affects the central nervous system and has been linked with various cancers.

Perchlorate is used in rocket fuels and fireworks. Studies have suggested it can interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland and mental development.

 

Before the EPA stepped in, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board oversaw monitoring of the site.

Such sites by law must be cleaned up and companies that dumped the chemicals in many cases are required to pay for the fix.

A settlement agreement between Rialto and the local companies could be signed as soon as December.

The state Department of Public Health worked with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in looking at the health effects of the BF Goodrich site’s chemicals on Rialto residents.

The Atlanta-based federal agency is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Investigators looked at the amount of perchlorate and trichloroethylene in the air, soil and groundwater at the site, and whether workers there and nearby residents since 1952 had contact with the chemicals.

In a report released Nov. 5, investigators said those working at the BF Goodrich site “are not at risk from exposure to chemicals in the soil, soil vapor, or groundwater.”

The groundwater at the site contains perchlorate and trichloroethylene, but is deep enough below the surface not to be a threat, and businesses at the site don’t use it for drinking water, according to the report.

Investigators said the drinking water supplied by the city, the West Valley Water District, the Terrace Water Co. and Colton is safe to drink and “does not put people at risk for health problems.”

Manufacturers dumped the chemical waste onto the ground and into pits on the BF Goodrich site.

The chemicals then leaked into the ground and the Rialto-Colton Basin. Manufacturers stopped dumping the chemicals around 1985, but the pits still leaked, according to the report.

Officials test local drinking water regularly to make sure residents aren’t using water with levels of perchlorate and trichloroethylene that could damage their health.

“The reality is we’re not serving contaminated water to our residents,” Councilman Ed Scott said.

Trichloroethylene testing became a requirement in 1989. Perchlorate testing began in 1997.

According to the report, it isn’t possible to know whether eating vegetables or fruits from a garden would have been harmful before 1997.

Investigators said fruits or vegetables could have contained perchlorate if irrigated with perchlorate-contaminated water, “however, there is not enough information to determine how much perchlorate got into the fruits and vegetables.”

The state Department of Public Health conducted a series of meetings with Rialto residents to learn about their concerns about contamination at the BF Goodrich site.

Most of the concerns were about chemicals in the drinking water and whether they could be linked to thyroid diseases, migraines, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, allergies, skin rashes, miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects.

They also were worried that children exposed to contaminated water began to talk later than normal.

Other residents asked about white residue left by water.

Investigators concluded that the levels of perchlorate locally would not have been high enough to impact an adult thyroid gland, and exposures in the study would not be expected to cause speech delay.

Perchlorate exposure has not been linked to allergies, skin rashes, miscarriages, stillbirths, or birth defects, according to the report.

Trichloroethylene exposure has not been linked to miscarriages or stillbirths, investigators said. But some who have had direct skin contact with the chemical have reported skin rashes.

High levels of trichloroethylene exposure have been known to cause allergies, according to the report.

Perchlorate has not been shown to cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but studies reveal a possible link between trichloroethylene and the disorder.

According to the report, perchlorate hasn’t been linked to kidney cancer, but both animal and human studies have linked trichloroethylene with the disease. It is unclear as to what amount is related to kidney cancer.

Investigators said the white residue that residents see when water dries on a surface is caused by minerals like calcium and magnesium.

High levels of the minerals are not associated with health problems.

Neither perchlorate nor trichloroethylene leaves a white residue, according to the report.

Editor’s Note:  Reprinted from Contra Costa Times.

More from the EPA Website.

Gazette Fair Use Statement

Cesspools Are Still in Use, and the EPA Is Keeping an Eye on Them

Most of us have no direct experience with cesspools, but the EPA is charged with the responsibility of monitoring them.   Although cesspools exist in other states, they are common only in Hawaii.

Cesspools, which are also called “dry wells,”  are underground holes used throughout Hawaii for the disposal of human waste.  Raw, untreated sewage is discharged directly into the ground via cesspools.  This is not a perfect disposal system, because it often contaminates oceans, streams and ground water by releasing disease-causing pathogens and nitrates.

Beginning in 2005,  EPA regulations required all existing large capacity cesspools to be closed and replaced with an alternative wastewater system.   Since 2000, EPA has prohibited the construction of new large capacity cesspools nationwide.  The regulations do not allow an extension of the deadline.

The EPA recently levied a substantial fine against the Lealani Corp. and Poipu Inn, Inc.,  owners of Brennecke’s Beach Broiler for failing to close two large capacity cesspools in Poipu,  Kauai.

The company will pay a $47,455 fine  and has closed and replaced its two large capacity cesspools. In addition, the company paid for and completed a supplemental environmental project costing over $500,000 to connect the County of Kauai’s restrooms at Poipu Beach Park to the Poipu Wastewater Plant.

EPA does not regulate the cesspools of single family homes or those of non-residential facilities that serve fewer than 20 persons per day and dispose of solely sanitary waste. However, these smaller cesspools may be regulated by state and local governmental agencies (e.g., departments of health).

The definition of a “large cesspool” is complicated (and can be read on the EPA’s website), but in general it means a cesspool that serves over 20 people.

Here is what a cesspool looks like and how it works:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More about cesspools from the EPA’s website.