Yesterday a friend texted me about a nearby drinking water scare…
She received this letter from their township, which is right by where we live.
A local news report said, “The letter is a result of elevated levels of total trihalomethanes, or TTHM. TTHM is a byproduct formed when chlorine, used to clean water, and organic material, like plant matter, combine. Long-term consumption of TTHM over the course of years can cause kidney malfunction, liver problems and cancer. The State of Michigan allows TTHM in drinking water at a rate of up to 80 parts per billion.”
That's really reassuring…
Read the whole article and watch the news video here.
It's good that they do frequent testing and found the problem before it went on for years, we certainly don't need another “Flint” drinking water scare ramping up over on our side of the state now, but if a lot of TTHM is bad, do I even want a LITTLE in the water my family drinks?
My friend said, “My husband normally turns his nose up at our water filter, but he opened this letter and was freaking out.”
THEN, not long after that issue came more bad news…
The international Hush Puppies shoe brand has left a toxic footprint in neighborhoods north of Grand Rapids.
Dangerous Scotchgard chemicals used to waterproof the shoes in the Rockford-based Wolverine World Wide tannery were dumped on the ground in sites around the Rockford area in the 1960s and 1970s.
The chemicals quietly polluted groundwater and drinking water wells for decades – and state and local officials are now trying to determine the scope of the problem. A cancer study is underway, and wells are being tested.
Wolverine used a 3M Scotchgard waterproofing agent for its famous Hush Puppies shoes for decades that contained PFAS which have spread to the Rogue River in Rockford and poisoned drinking water supplies in Plainfield Township. (Source)
This drinking water scare has the whole area totally freaked out, and rightly so. 🙁
I was never so happy to already have a water filter, but this reminded me of what Jill said in the post, Why Flint Michigan is our wake-up call:
“This serves as a wake-up call for all of us to take the health and safety of our families into our own hands. History has shown time and again what a bad idea it is to outsource that responsibility to our city, state, or federal governments.”
If you haven't looked into water filters yet, here's some information to help you:
- Why Flint Michigan is our wake-up call — Jill explains more in that post about the very worst of the dangerous contaminants in publicly treated water and tells about the countertop model they have — they looked into the popular Berkey water filter, but it was out of their budget, plus it's so bulky and takes up a lot of counter space. Be sure to read the tips there for extending the life of the filters, and she also talks about how water pitcher filters and water bottles are NOT a safe option.
- Here's my post on why we ditched our reverse osmosis system and I tell about the under-counter system we got instead and why I realized that RO water was not what I wanted my family drinking. Hint: it strips the water of everything, good and bad, even the healthy minerals! Whereas this one takes out all the bad, but leaves in the good stuff.
More posts you might like:
- “The Great Culling” – Worried About Fluoride Safety? “The countries that have banned the use of Fluoride are: China, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Hungary and Japan. All these countries have said that Fluoride is ineffective and that it's toxic and should not be used! We're still using it. There's something wrong here.The use of the public water supply to deliver medicine is pretty bizarre if you think about it. Once you put a medicine in the drinking water, you can't control the dose, because you can't control how much people drink. You can't control who gets it because it goes to everybody. If you ask a pharmacist if there's any drug in his store that was safe enough to give to everyone, young people, old people, sick people, and give it to them in any dose, they'd laugh at you, it's ridiculous, there's no way you can give out a medicine without being able to control the dose!“
- Read about this garden hose filter or get one here. (Removes Chlorine, Chloramines, VOCs, & Pesticides/Herbicides)
- Suffering from Digestive System problems? (IBS, colitis, constipation, etc.)
Joanie Blaxter says
It’s also not just about drinking poisons, it’s also about breathing them in steam and soaking in them in hot water, so important to also have an effective filter on the shower and bath.
“The steam we inhale while showering can contain up to 50 times the level of chemicals than tap water due to the fact that chlorine and most other contaminants vaporize much faster and at a lower temperature than water. ”
https://www.foodrenegade.com/chlorinated-showers-baths-kill-gut-flora/
We also need to be aware that a big part of the Flint scandal was political leadership that switched from a public to privatized water system, in other words, a monopoly. What other options do water customers have than what comes out of their tap? We all know the standards used for a public water system aren’t what we want them to be, but at least it’s more accountable to its customers than a privatized monopoly.
Erica Kavaky says
I freaked out when the notice came in the mail. Luckily (I guess) I live south of where they said it occurred in our township. Disappointing for sure
Tracy says
Any idea of a good filter for arsenic, uranium, and possibly antimony? The wells here are all contaminated with it.
KitchenKop says
Tracy, at this post you’ll see a chart that shows everything it takes out:
https://kellythekitchenkop.com/why-we-ditched-reverse-osmosis-drinking-water/
Kelly