tap water

beni · Post by **beni** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 4:14 am

I think, perhaps, I have found the cause of my bloating when at home, I wrote to you asking why I didnt bloat whilst on our 7 week trip to Mauritius but bloat almost daily at home, as soon as I got home it started again so I stopped drinking tap water as this was the only thing that I could think of, surprise, No bloating since, do you think the tap water here could agrivate my system?, it is the only thing different except the air!!!!!! Beni

draperygoddess · Post by **draperygoddess** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:20 am

Well, what in the world?!! I cannot imagine what would be in tap water, but the proof's in the pudding, as they say!

harma · Post by **harma** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:57 am

maybe depending on the quality of the tap water (or better said what is added to it)? The part of Holland where I am from the quality of the tap water is as good as a bottled water (sometimes they claim it is even better), it is ground water of a very good quality. On the other hand, the water in Jordan I would never drink from the tap, especially not in Amman. To make the water "clean and pure" chlorine is added to it. Although I do make tea of it (too lazy to carry so many bottles of water). I sometimes have the idea the chlorine in the water irritates my skin.

Post by **tex** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:37 am

Hi Beni,

It's certainly possible that something in the water might cause such a problem. It would be interesting to see what a thorough analysis would show. The rural water system that I'm on sends out analysis data about once a year. They test for dozens and dozens of chemicals and various contaminants, and the things that are tested for, (and that actually show up, in small amounts), are enough to cause me to wonder why it doesn't make me sick, sometimes, (even though it easily meets all the government standards for safe drinking water).

Tex

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:12 pm

Tex I would wonder if there were a low level bacterium that once reintroduced would cause a reaction.

As far as the govt standards I laughed those off when I built the houe in 1995. I put in a 3 stage reverse osmosis system in that covers all water in the house, not just a single faucet.

Joe

beni · Post by **beni** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:36 pm

thanks for the replys, I know for a fact they add chlorine and floride to our water, right now I am drinking bottled water and my daughter brings me water from her private deep ground well, 250 ft deep, no problems with that, we are strawberry farmers and cant use overhead irrigation from the mains as the chlorine kills the young plants, I didnt have problems before I developed MC, in Ireland a lot of people have wells and they dont have added floride but they dont have rotton teeth, I wonder why its in mains water, My husband suggested, I drink a glass of tap water to see if I bloat but I am a coward, last time I bloated he said I looked 12 months pregnant ( I am 58! ) and it really felt like all my organs were being pushed out of their natural place, perhaps I should have our tap water tested or spend thousands and have a well drilled!!!, crazy thing is the water supply for our townland flows through our farm before it gets to the purifying pumping station and back to us via the tap, any more thoughts ?BENI

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:04 pm

I can't drink unfiltered water any more than I can use bleach. My skin and insides are as sensitive to chlorine as my insides are to gluten. I can't even stand the smell. And where I live the smell of chlorine in the water is strong, so I have a pur water filter on my kitchen faucet. I KNOW that drinking water can make people with sensitivities sick.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:27 pm

crazy thing is the water supply for our townland flows through our farm before it gets to the purifying pumping station and back to us via the tap

Yikes!! That would freak me out. I would call the local water authority and ask for a report from the last time the water was tested. They are required to test all the time and make the information public. You may be sensitive to one of many chemicals in your water - and I don't mean just the ones they added on purpose like chlorine or fluoride. The farming pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer run-off into your water source would be enough to make anyone sick! You mention it runs through your farm. Have you developed any sensitivity to products you use on the farm?

I'm anti-flouridation, and I have a nickel allergy (nickel is common in tapwater) but I refuse to drink bottled water forever. I'm also weary of the reverse osmosis process becuause it removes so many minerals which are hard to put back in the natural doses. Reverse osmosis also wastes several gallows of water for every gallon it filters (not very green). I took a VERY LONG TIME researching the filter for my kitchen sink during my home remodel. I wanted to get a multi-stage filter that would remove at least some of the flouride and most of the heavy metals. I ended up with a Dalton brand filter that includes an extra cartridge for flouride and heavy metals. I love that water. There are other excellent brands too, like Aquasana.

I imagine you could order your own private test of your local water, hopefully with samples from different days and different times.

Post by **tex** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:09 pm

Joe wrote:Tex I would wonder if there were a low level bacterium that once reintroduced would cause a reaction.

Most public water supplies contain at least some level of coliform bacteria that can be traced to fecal contamination, (such as E. coli - the presence of E. coli bacteria is almost always associated with fecal contamination, (from either animals or human waste). As you probably know, E. coli have also been found in elevated numbers in the intestines of a majority of patients who have Crohn's disease. That may well be true of MC patients as well, but I'm not aware that it has ever been researched.

At any rate, the levels of such bacteria are kept below "safe" levels, by adding chlorine to the water. It's possible that some people may be affected by even the very low tolerance rates of fecal contamination that are allowed, and many are probably affected by the negative effects of chlorine. If you want to read some depressing information, here are some of the negative health attributes that chlorine has been documented to cause:

http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/j ... p089.shtml

Tex

beni · Post by **beni** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:54 am

thanks for replys,I am sure its the chlorine, Feb. is a busy month for me but in march I will try our tap water again and if I bloat I will invest in a filter for the whole house as I have noticed I have itchy skin here as well but dont when I am away, really I hardly need proof! thanks for the link Tex, makes for scary reading

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:20 am

Zizzle wrote: I'm anti-flouridation,

Me too. Glad to hear of another.

Love, Shirley

draperygoddess · Post by **draperygoddess** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:02 am

When we moved into our new house in Tennessee, we had the water tested and found the chlorine content was worse than my daughter's pool! We put in a whole-house treatment system, which does seem to help--we are all much less itchy. I've never noticed a digestive connection with tap water, but it makes sense.

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:10 am

Zizzle and Shirley wrote:I'm anti-flouridation

When I was in school, it was easy to tell which kids lived in the city, and which ones lived in the country. All the city kids had teeth that were stained brown, by the high levels of fluoride that occurred naturally in the well water that the city used. (These days they have to take most of it out, to meet state specs). I remember my grandfather complaining that the only way he could water his garden, was with a sprinkler, because if the water wasn't aerated, the chemicals would "kill the ground", and after a few years, nothing would grow there. Even with aeration, he still had to move his garden every couple of years or so.

To me, the water tasted nasty, so I never drank it, but the people who lived there never noticed the taste, because they were used to it. The kids I went to school with would have made perfect "before" pictures for teeth-whitening ads. The problem is, there was no way to remove the stain, at least not back in those days, other than to grind off part of the enamel.

Tex

GF-aka Oma · Post by **GF-aka Oma** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:34 pm

I never drink tap water~

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:29 pm

80% of bottled water is, in fact, purified, expensive tap water. Coca-Cola recently settled some lawsuits about its Dasani water. There are also no safety standards that bottled water must abide by. You could put toilet water in a jug and call it spring water. It seems even the purification processes don't do much more than your average Brita filter. Then there's all that plastic building up in landfills or being burned all over the world. The answer is not to drink bottled water, it's advocating to get flouride and other contaminants out of your community's water, and investing in a good filtration system. And if you drink fancy juices, iced teas, soda, OJ, soup, or anything bought in a can or jug, you can be sure it was reconsituted with some city's tap water.