Tap water toxicity- Risk assessment
If we are living in a city where we are sure that the tap water is pure this still does not mean that the water is “pure”.
Milos Pokimica
Written By: Milos Pokimica on December 8, 2020
Medically Reviewed by: Dr. Xiùying Wáng, M.D.
Updated June 9, 2023Water purification is a big business, especially in countries that do not have clean sources and tap water toxicity is a big issue. More than a billion people even to this day drink filthy water and do not have any form of sanitation. Diarrhea to this day due to poor sanitation kills an estimated 842,000 people every year globally. By 2025, 1.8 billion people are projected to be living in regions with absolute water scarcity. Water is big business, and the business will grow.
On the other hand, even if we have tap water in our homes tap water toxicity can be one of the contributing factors to our toxic overload. People who are in the business of water purification often don’t do good science and are more interested in profit.
There are a couple of ways we can try to lower our toxic load. A natural toxic chemical that we are exposed to and mane made POPs (persistent organic pollutants) are here to stay and there is little we can do to avoid exposing ourselves to environmental pollution except eating organically grown food that is low on a food chain and moving to more unpolluted cities, but there is another line of actions we can take.
First, we can start with the most basic stuff like the water we drink. If we cannot escape chemicals in our food, we can try to eliminate them from the water we drink.
If we are living in a city where we are sure that the water source is pure this still does not mean that the water is “pure”. It just means that it is in the range of accessible toxicity for the chemicals that they measure. Bottled water for that matter also might not necessarily be safer, cleaner, or of higher quality just because it is bottled than water straight out of the faucet. It is a more complex issue that depends on individual case-to-case scenarios. As a consumer, you should know that there in some cases bottled water can be even more polluted than tap water. All of the sodas, beverages and all other items you will find in the grocery store are made with regular tap water. And there are hundreds of chemicals and pollutants in tap water that are there and are not tested for safety levels and some are toxic and are added deliberately like fluoride or chlorine.
The CDC considers fluoride as one of the ten public health achievements of the 20th century. It is viewed as a triumph over tooth decay. Today most of the toothpaste sold contains fluoride and 72% of all water in the US is fluoridated. The first use of fluoride was for the eradication of vermin and ever since it was a crucial ingredient in rat poison and insecticides. In the early days of fluoride use, it was only known as a poison not just for men, but for the environment as well. It was a crucial ingredient in the Manhattan project and nuclear weapons too. It was added to Auschwitz’s water supply and the water of Siberian gulags for its effect on the human mental state. It is hazardous waste from the phosphate fertilizer industry which cannot be dumped into the streams or sea by international law and cannot be used locally because it is too concentrated.
Because of public awareness, most of the fluoride is removed in most countries in the world and it is illegal but chlorine is not. But wait, chlorine itself is proven to be a toxic cancer-promoting mutagen. It is not a well-known fact outside of the research community but there was a line of research that lasted for decades into this matter. People who drink chlorinated water for a prolonged period have an increased risk of cancer, especially bladder cancer. The number that studies have shown is around 27 percent. If you drink tap water you have a 27 percent more risk for bladder cancer. There is also some evidence of an increased risk of certain types of birth defects. In these types of studies is hard to prove cause-and-effect meaning if The Environmental Protection Agency estimated that between 2 to 17 percent of bladder cancer cases in the United States are just because of the drinking water does that mean that those people would be alive if they didn’t drink tap water. Even if you want to avoid it you are most like to be unsuccessful because tap water is used everywhere in the food industry as a standard. For example, all sodas are made from tap water. No food company is going to use deep spring water or even just regular filtered water as source water because that would be an economically unsustainable practice.
Adding rat poison fluoride and then chlorine to our water to fight against microbial contaminants has created new contamination in the form of “disinfection by-products.” The chlorination of drinking water for microbiological safety also interacts with organic matter in the water’s source which results in the creation of chlorinated compounds. These disinfection byproducts pose a health risk and so far there are more than 600 of them have been identified.
There are ways to reduce the risk of the creation of these toxic byproducts in the first place through the better initial removal of source water’s natural organic matter. The cost of upgrading and the infrastructure to run these types of drinking water systems is very high and in most countries, it would be not implemented. Even the US government in some cases has a hard time just keeping heavy toxins out of tap water. All we have to do is to remember the Flint tragedy.
However, there are still other pollutants in tap water that water plants do not test like inorganic metals and microplastic fibers (83% of the samples were contaminated worldwide), and other nanoparticles that we cannot measure. When a substance is in the nanometer range what that actually means is that the substance is small enough to penetrate a cell and that means it can penetrate all organs including the brain. There are some studies done, and it has been proven that microplastic has an effect on wildlife but human studies are not here yet.
Microplastics have the ability to absorb toxic chemicals as well, and research on wild animals shows that they are released into the body. Microplastic was also found in a few samples of commercially bottled water tested in the US. The problem is that they cannot exceed safety levels because there are none. No safety level regulation, only guidelines.
Ever hear of trihalomethanes (TTHMs), which are linked to bladder cancer, skin cancer, and fetal development issues, and hexavalent chromium made notorious by the film Erin Brockovich, or Radium-226 and Radium-228? All of these contaminants I just mentioned always had been detected above legal guidelines.
For hundreds of other contaminants, the government does not impose any requirements at all. One of the most prevalent toxins such as perchlorate and PFOA/PFOS (chemical cousins of Teflon) occurs in millions of Americans’ tap water. Because the EPA does not regulate them, they do not show up in any statistics. Sensitive groups of people, like pregnant women and children, are at higher risk for health complications, especially from the list of following contaminants that are regularly detected in tap water like lead (this is a bigger problem in towns with older water systems), and atrazine (endocrine-disrupting substance is one of the most regularly detected pesticides in US waters) and vinyl chloride (used to make PVC plastic products).
I will not list all of the detected pollutants it would be a long read. Logically in my mind, only clean water in our current environment and the only water that I use for cooking and drinking is distilled water.
References:
Passages selected from a book: Pokimica, Milos. Go Vegan? Review of Science Part 1. Kindle ed., Amazon, 2018.
- Villanueva, C M et al. “Meta-analysis of studies on individual consumption of chlorinated drinking water and bladder cancer.” Journal of epidemiology and community health vol. 57,3 (2003): 166-73. doi:10.1136/jech.57.3.166
- Hwang, Bing-Fang, and Jouni J K Jaakkola. “Water chlorination and birth defects: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Archives of environmental health vol. 58,2 (2003): 83-91. doi:10.3200/AEOH.58.2.83-91
- Grellier, James et al. “Assessing the human health impacts of exposure to disinfection by-products–a critical review of concepts and methods.” Environment international vol. 78 (2015): 61-81. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2015.02.003
- Tak, Surbhi, and Bhanu Prakash Vellanki. “Natural organic matter as precursor to disinfection byproducts and its removal using conventional and advanced processes: state of the art review.” Journal of water and health vol. 16,5 (2018): 681-703. doi:10.2166/wh.2018.032
Related Posts
Do you have any questions about nutrition and health?
I would love to hear from you and answer them in my next post. I appreciate your input and opinion and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I also invite you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more diet, nutrition, and health content. You can leave a comment there and connect with other health enthusiasts, share your tips and experiences, and get support and encouragement from our team and community.
I hope that this post was informative and enjoyable for you and that you are prepared to apply the insights you learned. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your friends and family who might also benefit from it. You never know who might need some guidance and support on their health journey.
– You Might Also Like –

Learn About Nutrition
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Medical Disclaimer
GoVeganWay.com brings you reviews of the latest nutrition and health-related research. The information provided represents the personal opinion of the author and is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH GoVeganWay.com
NEVER APPLY ANY LIFESTYLE CHANGES OR ANY CHANGES AT ALL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ IN GoVeganWay.com BEFORE CONSULTING LICENCED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.
In the event of a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911 immediately. GoVeganWay.com does not recommend or endorse any specific groups, organizations, tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned inside.
Editor Picks –
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Latest Articles –
Plant Based News
-
Basement Bar Crowned Best Vegan-Friendly Restaurant in Britain
on December 3, 2023
-
Is Nutella Vegan? The Best Dairy-Free Alternatives
on December 3, 2023
-
‘Groundbreaking’ Study Of Identical Twins Finds Benefits Of Plant-Based Diet For Heart Health
on December 2, 2023
-
Meat Lobby ‘Plans To Sell Itself As Sustainable’ At COP28
on December 1, 2023
-
Bird Flu Has Reached Antarctica – Is Your Diet Killing Penguins?
on December 1, 2023
-
Joaquin Phoenix Wore A Plant-Based Hat For ‘Napoleon’
on December 1, 2023
-
Try These Spinach And Potato Rostis With Tofu
on December 1, 2023
Top Health News — ScienceDaily
- Can preeclampsia be prevented?on December 1, 2023
Preeclampsia is a mysterious condition that occurs in about one of 10 pregnancies without any early warning signs. After 20 weeks or more of normal blood pressure during the pregnancy, patients with preeclampsia will begin to experience elevated blood pressure and may also have increased levels of protein in their urine due to hypertension reducing the filtering power of the kidneys. Prolonged hypertension due to preeclampsia can lead to organ damage and life-threatening complications for […]
- Pathogens use force to breach immune defenses, study findson December 1, 2023
New research has revealed a previously unknown process through which pathogens are able to defeat a cell’s defense mechanisms with physical force. The discovery represents a potential game-changer in the fight against intracellular pathogens, which cause infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and chlamydia.
- Human behavior guided by fast changes in dopamine levelson December 1, 2023
A new study shows that dopamine release in the human brain plays a crucial role in encoding both reward and punishment prediction errors. This means that dopamine is involved in the process of learning from both positive and negative experiences, allowing the brain to adjust and adapt its behavior based on the outcomes of these experiences.
- Scientists work to bring tissue regeneration to replace root canal treatmenton December 1, 2023
Scientists are testing a novel technology to treat endodontic diseases more effectively through tissue regeneration instead of root canal therapy. Because the technology promotes formation of the type of stem cells that can differentiate into dentin (tooth), bone, cartilage or fat, it has huge potential for the field of regenerative medicine beyond the tissues in the teeth. It could be used to grow bones in other parts of the body.
- A patch of protection against Zika viruson December 1, 2023
A simple-to-apply, needle-free vaccine patch is being developed to protect people from the potentially deadly mosquito-borne Zika virus.
- Replicating the structure of bird featherson December 1, 2023
Researchers at ETH Zurich have created a material traversed by a network of channels the size of micrometres in the same way as the microstructure of a bird’s feather. To do so they have developed a new method based on the phase separation of a polymer matrix and an oily solution. The new material could be used in batteries or filtration.
- Why reading nursery rhymes and singing to babies may help them to learn languageon December 1, 2023
Phonetic information — the smallest sound elements of speech — may not be the basis of language learning in babies as previously thought. Babies don’t begin to process phonetic information reliably until seven months old — which researchers say is too late to form the foundation of language. Instead, babies learn from rhythmic information — the changing emphasis of syllables in speech — which unlike phonetic information, can be heard in the womb.
PubMed, #vegan-diet –
- A microalgae docosahexaenoic acid supplement does not modify the influence of sex and diet on iron status in Spanish vegetarians or omnivores: A randomized placebo-controlled crossover studyon December 2, 2023
CONCLUSIONS: Spanish vegetarians had lower iron status than omnivores. Consumption of eggs and dairy products increased the risk for iron deficiency, but a microalgae DHA supplement had no effect. Dietary strategies to increase iron bioavailability in vegetarians, particularly in lacto-ovo vegetarians and women, are recommended.
- Cardiometabolic Effects of Omnivorous vs Vegan Diets in Identical Twins: A Randomized Clinical Trialon November 30, 2023
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial of the cardiometabolic effects of omnivorous vs vegan diets in identical twins, the healthy vegan diet led to improved cardiometabolic outcomes compared with a healthy omnivorous diet. Clinicians can consider this dietary approach as a healthy alternative for their patients.
- The Effects of Vegan Diet on Fetus and Maternal Health: A Reviewon November 30, 2023
Veganism, a way of eating that forbids goods produced from animals, is rising in acceptance around the globe. This thorough analysis investigates how a vegan diet affects fetal growth during pregnancy, highlighting the need to maintain ideal maternal nutrition. The idea of “early life programming” emphasizes how a pregnant woman’s lifestyle impacts her unborn child’s health. Nutrient consumption during pregnancy makes it essential to have a healthy eating routine. While a carefully […]
- Plant-based recovery from restrictive eating disorder: A qualitative enquiryon November 30, 2023
CONCLUSIONS: These findings present a unique insight into the role that plant-based eating may play in recovery for some restrictive eating disorders. The data demonstrated that motivations to control food intake may contribute to the decision to eat plant-based. However, for these individuals it provided a “gateway” to a new more meaningful relationship with food. These findings highlight some of the risks and benefits of eating plant-based in recovery and an important role for health…
- Long-term remission of type 2 diabetes through intense lifestyle modification program – A case serieson November 29, 2023
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) remission is being widely accepted and documented as feasible through calorie restriction and bariatric surgery. Recent studies with lifestyle changes have also shown T2D remission; however, long-term remission through lifestyle modifications is not yet established. Though glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a universally accepted indicator of glycemic status, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) would be a more robust marker in understanding whether the metabolic abnormalities […]
Random Posts –
Featured Posts –

Latest from PubMed, #plant-based diet –
- A microalgae docosahexaenoic acid supplement does not modify the influence of sex and diet on iron status in Spanish vegetarians or omnivores: A randomized placebo-controlled crossover studyby Elena García-Maldonado on December 2, 2023
CONCLUSIONS: Spanish vegetarians had lower iron status than omnivores. Consumption of eggs and dairy products increased the risk for iron deficiency, but a microalgae DHA supplement had no effect. Dietary strategies to increase iron bioavailability in vegetarians, particularly in lacto-ovo vegetarians and women, are recommended.
- Healthy dietary patterns, genetic risk and gastrointestinal cancer incident risk: a large-scale prospective cohort studyby Yimin Cai on December 2, 2023
CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to DASH and hPDI were associated with a lower risk of some gastrointestinal cancers, and these two dietary patterns may partly compensate for genetic predispositions to cancer. Our results support the development of precision medicine strategies that consider both dietary patterns and genetics to improve gastrointestinal health.
- An attacin antimicrobial peptide, Hill_BB_C10074, from Hermetia illucens with anti-Pseudomonas aeruginosa activityby Leila Fahmy on December 1, 2023
CONCLUSIONS: Combining predictive tools with in vitro approaches, we have characterised Hill_BB_C10074 as an important insect antimicrobial peptide and promising candidate for the future development of clinical antimicrobials.
- Cardiometabolic Effects of Omnivorous vs Vegan Diets in Identical Twins: A Randomized Clinical Trialby Matthew J Landry on November 30, 2023
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial of the cardiometabolic effects of omnivorous vs vegan diets in identical twins, the healthy vegan diet led to improved cardiometabolic outcomes compared with a healthy omnivorous diet. Clinicians can consider this dietary approach as a healthy alternative for their patients.
- The composition and function of the gut microbiota of Francois’ langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi) depend on the environment and dietby Yue Sun on November 30, 2023
The microbiota is essential for the extraction of energy and nutrition from plant-based diets and may have facilitated primate adaptation to new dietary niches in response to rapid environmental shifts. In this study, metagenomic sequencing technology was used to analyze the compositional structure and functional differences of the gut microbial community of Francois’ langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi) under different environmental and dietary conditions. The results showed that in terms of […]
- Genetic depletion does not prevent rapid evolution in island-introduced lizardsby Stéphanie Sherpa on November 30, 2023
Experimental introductions of species have provided some of the most tractable examples of rapid phenotypic changes, which may reflect plasticity, the impact of stochastic processes, or the action of natural selection. Yet to date, very few studies have investigated the neutral and potentially adaptive genetic impacts of experimental introductions. We dissect the role of these processes in shaping the population differentiation of wall lizards in three Croatian islands (Sušac, Pod Kopište, […]