City water friend or foe?

The front of the pamphlet that I received boasted of the purity of Grand Rapids City water. The pamphlet claimed that you don’t need to travel anywhere or buy any bottled water, because some of the purest stuff around is coming right out of your faucet. Let’s take a look at the purity of city water.

As I skimmed over the listings of pollutants in the “Grand Rapids Water System Quality Report for 2006,” everything looked pretty good, it seemed like the water was fresh, and mostly free from impurities. The danger in City water isn’t so much the impurities that they don’t take out, but the heavy chemicals they put back in.

For anyone who has lived in the country their whole life (like me) you have noticed the difference the first time you take a shower in the city. It smells like a pool. The chemical that is put in city water is Chloride, which basically is what’s placed in your pool. The Chloride is put in the city water to help kill bacteria (the same reason you put it in your pool.) Since the water must travel a long distance from the city water plant to your kitchen sink, Chloride (not chlorine) is put in the water. So Chloride is a pretty strong chemical that is in charge of cleaning water up.

Think of chloride as a wrapper for your water. If you went to the store and you saw a loaf of bread without a wrapper on it, you might not buy it, because you don’t know who sneezed on it right? On the other hand, once you buy a loaf of bread that is fully wrapped, you want to make sure you take off the wrapper before you eat it. Chloride is the same way; we need to remove the wrapper before we drink it.

Chloride although serving a great purpose of protecting water is dangerous to your body. A natural digestive system has healthy bacteria (or flora) located throughout it, from mouth to anus. What did we just learn that Chloride does? KILLS Bacteria. That is great in your water pipes, but not so good in your body. By killing all the bacteria, you stop your body from proper digestion, and promote the growth of unhealthy bacteria, and create a sterile system. Improper digestion leads to all sorts of health problems from ulcers to acne, to malnutrition.

Fluoride (not fluorine) is also added to many U.S. cities drinking water. It is estimated around 60% of U.S. cities are drinking fluoridated water (I actually believe GR might have been the 1st city to add fluoride. Anyone know for sure?) Fluoride has been added to the drinking water in belief that fluoride keeps teeth from decaying. The fluoride found in our water is the same fluoride that the dentist applies, and is found in our toothpastes.


“What the commercials don’t say is that fluoride was known in the early 1900s as an excellent rat poison. According to Robert Carleton, former scientist with the EPA, fluoride is more toxic than lead, and not quite as toxic as arsenic. It’s a waste product of many heavy industries—derived from the production of pesticides, fertilizers, aluminum, iron, steel, copper, lead, uranium, brick, cement and glass, among others.

Studies over the years have pointed to fluoride as a possible carcinogen, a bone-weakening agent and even a reason for decreased fertility among women. As the Oakland Tribune writes, a few grams of the stuff is enough to kill you.” (www.naturalchoice.net)

Greg, what you need in your body is not chemically derived “fluoride,” what you need is naturally occurring “fluorine.” Fluorine is a naturally occurring element that has been found in some drinking water out west. People who live in these cities have a very low occurrence of tooth decay. Fluorine has been dubbed the “Decay resistant” element. A few foods that are naturally high in fluorine are: Avocados, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Garlic, Spinach, and tomatoes. Likewise “Chlorine” not “Chloride” is a naturally occurring element that has been praised as a body cleanser. Chlorine occurs in Bananas, Beans, Celery, Strawberries, pineapple, and lots of other fruits and veggies.

This is where the fluoride craze started. Either way, it is one thing to brush with fluoride; it is a completely different story to ingest it day after day. Whether fluoride helps teeth or not, it was never meant to be drunk.

Other than filtering your water (I’ll cover that later.) You can set your city water in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours and most of the chloride and fluoride will burn off. You also can squirt some lemon in your water and let it sit for 5 mins; this will burn some of it out too.
They danger may not lie in what the city doesn’t take out, but what they put in.