Welcome to a new series called Ask A Naturopath. In this series, we explore health and wellness topics with local naturopathic doctor Laura Kostrzewski. This time, we will consider the importance of drinking water quality and ask the question, “What’s in our water?”
Upcoming topics on the list include sunscreen ingredients, seafood toxicity concerns, and why indoor air quality is important.
Is the quality of drinking water in your city good?
Even if you don’t live in a city with the freshest drinking water supplies, you probably think the quality of your city’s drinking water is fine. Although most cities in the United States generally have safe drinking water, it’s still important to know what’s in your water.
For example, tap water in San Diego is rated safe to drink. But because San Diego imports up to 90% of its tap water from the Colorado River and Northern California, many people complain about the taste. You’ll have to travel long distances to reach America’s greatest cities.
Along the way, the water is chlorinated for safety and often incorporates various other minerals. You can expect San Diego drinking water to contain everything from copper to bromate.
To find out if San Diego’s drinking water quality is up to par, we asked naturopath Laura Kostzewski. Here’s what she had to say:
About the Doctor:
Dr. Laura Kostrzewski is originally from San Diego and earned her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Sorrento Valley. Currently, Dr. K sees patients in person at his Del Mar office or via telemedicine. Her areas of focus include women’s health and neurodegenerative diseases. She is trained in Dr. Bredesen’s Cognitive Decline Reversal Program and has extensive training in hormone replacement therapy.
Question: Why is water quality important?
The importance of drinking good water cannot be underestimated. Our bodies are made up of approximately 60% water, so proper hydration is extremely important for a variety of reasons. One of my favorite reasons is that it supports the detoxification process in the body. Some of the ways we detoxify include urinating, defecating, and sweating, all of which require water. Common problems people experience when hydration is suboptimal are headaches, poor skin quality, fatigue, and other health problems.
I would like to emphasize that we do more than just drink water, as by consuming water we are exposed to many chemicals (some of which we will discuss below), toxins, and bacteria. sufficient Water is important, but drink it clean and Pure Water makes a difference. This means that the water is filtered to remove contaminants such as microplastics, heavy metals, and other toxins. The following paragraphs will tell you more about San Diego’s water quality and discuss solutions to improve it.
question: So what is in San Diego tap water?
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a great resource that you can use to study water quality in different cities. It should be noted that “legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated for approximately 20 years.”2 A quick look at San Diego’s water identified a total of 30 different contaminants in San Diego’s water, 16 of which exceed the health guidelines identified by EWG. The Environmental Working Group has stricter guidelines for “safe” levels of chemicals in water, and in many cases these are below established legal limits. For example, the legal limit for arsenic in our water is 10 ppb, while in San Diego it is 0.0901 ppb. The EWG health guideline is 0.004 ppb due to the potential cancer effects of arsenic exposure or toxicity. Another major toxin found in San Diego water is uranium, which can also contribute to the development of cancer upon exposure. Again, while the EWG has stricter guidelines than legal limits, San Diego’s water still contains more uranium than the EWG identifies for optimal health. Masu.
We strongly recommend that you test your tap water using the EWG Water Database and take appropriate steps to ensure that your water is contributing to your health, rather than harming it.
question: So what kind of water should you drink?
at home:
I always recommend installing a water filtration system in your home. Hopefully, this is a system that can reduce the amount of toxins in most water. EWG has a great table that shows different contaminants and identifies which filtration systems can remove them from water. It is clear that the most important filtration mechanisms are activated carbon filtration and reverse osmosis, so I almost always recommend these options to my patients. I personally have a Berkey water filter at home that I refill with water every few days and use for the whole family to make drinks, food, and even coffee. One of the environmental downsides of reverse osmosis is the amount of wastewater produced. An undersink system requires approximately three times the amount of water that ends up going into the tank to fill it. We previously had a GE RO system that we purchased at a hardware store and noticed that our water bill was being reduced because the system was not running day and night to keep it full. Ta.
At the end of the day:
If you’re drinking water on the go, we recommend using a stainless steel or glass water bottle. I always recommend against using plastic drinking water bottles, both refillable and disposable.
The main reason I don’t recommend using plastic is because the many chemicals it contains can be endocrine disrupting. In fact, there are 144 known chemicals or chemical groups found in plastics that pose a risk to human health.1 For the most part, BPA (Bisphenol A) is a “trendy” plastic to avoid, and you’ll often see labels that say “BPA-free.” However, we believe that it is generally best to avoid all plastics, as the alternative chemicals used may also likely have negative health effects. According to the Endocrine Society, nearly everyone has endocrine-disrupting chemicals in their bodies, which can contribute to hormonal problems, diabetes, cancer, neurological problems, and other health concerns. There is a possibility. These are especially dangerous when exposed to pregnant women, as they can cause DNA modifications that affect the fetus and even future generations.1
Additionally, single-use water bottles are extremely wasteful and harm marine animals. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight.3 Additionally, animals die from consuming plastics in water and suffer from reproductive abnormalities due to the endocrine disrupting effects of the chemicals found in these plastics.3 I always advocate anything that can be done to minimize this.
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Kostrzewski, please visit her website NDLaura.com to learn more about her areas of focus or to schedule a consultation.
References:
- Endocrine Society. “Plastic poses a threat to human health.” Endocrine SocietyEndocrine Society, December 15, 2020, https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2020/lastic-pose-threat-to-human-health.
- Environmental Working Group. “EWG’s Tap Water Database: What’s in Your Drinking Water?” EWG Tap Water DatabaseEnvironmental Working Group, 2023, https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=CA3710020.
- Laniger, Gwen. “Marine plastic pollution.” EHNEnvironmental Health News, November 7, 2022, https://www.ehn.org/ocean-plastic-pollution-2654378379.html.
