Bottled water purchased from store safe for children w/compromised Immune syste
Im a mommy with children who already have preexisting health issues including a son with ntractable seizures. I am extremely concerned about the implications of what is happening with the nuclear plant in japan and how I can protect my childrens already fragile health. With that being said I have observed many individuals on this forum mention bottled water as being safe. So, is bottled water purchased at the store safe? Is there any safety than others? Is there any type of filter I can purchase for showers and brushing teeth that will cleanse the water of the fall out particles from japan any assistance would be sincerely appreciated.
Dear Mom, Go with the water
Dear Mom,
Go with the water bottles labeled 'distilled' or 'de-ionized' if available. At Wallmart those are the 'purple-top' gallon jugs. I expect they are available in other local stores as well.
The water in those bottles was, generally speaking, from water wells. The water coming from those wells has been safely in the ground since the last ice age about 15,000 years ago.
Then, at the bottling plant:
Sediment filtered, charcoal filtered, 'fines filtered', Reverse Osmosis filtered and then distilled.
The rest of the family will be fine, with the RO water (with minerals added for taste). Or you can 'do it yourself'.
You can install an under sink RO unit in the kitchen and a smaller undersink distiller or deionizer which uses the RO unit water as the input water. Ultraviolet light modules can inexpensively provide water sterilization on the product water side.
underground water or reverse osmosis
Spring water from the local Whole Foods is the same as Crystal Geyser, which is an underground source. It would be very expensive to buy it for drinking, cooking, bathing, etc, but if you can afford it, more power to you.
A slightly less expensive compromise would be to buy spring water for consumption, and reverse osmosis (from one of the machines at grocery stores like the Berkeley Bowl, Whole Foods, etc. - 39 cents a gallon) for bathing.
Most importantly, as I understand it, is to keep the radioactive particles out of your body, so if you can only afford to do one or the other, I would (and do) focus on drinking the safest water I can find.
I would not drink reverse osmosis, because there is some controversy whether or not it may leach nutrients from your body. I have used it for years, and personally found that it impacted me negatively, so am now drinking spring water, which does not have the same impact on me.
Water filtration is tricky, especially since chloramine or fluoride are both added to our local tap water, and both are toxic. Carbon filters don't take care of either problem, and reverse osmosis removes most, but comes with above mentioned problems.
For info about chloramine, see www.chloramine.org
For info about fluoride, see www.fluoridealert.org
I would also urge you to seek out nutritional support to help remove radioisotopes from your body. I find this article helpful: http://planetthrive.com/2007/12/antidotes-for-x-rays/
HOT Water
It is a good idea to review the literature, when selecting bottled water.
Water sourced from underground reservoirs via natural springs or waterwells is often associated with low radionuclide content. This is not always the case. So for example, the Saratoga Springs are located approximately 25 miles north of Albany, New York and just south of the Adirondack Park. The disclosed radium content of Saratoga Springs is Radium 226 Pico Curies per Liter.
http://geoheat.oit.edu/pdf/bulletin/bi035.pdf
Other underground radiological contents are provided for reference.
http://www.island-ikaria.com/nature/springs.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Hot_Springs,_British_Columbia
http://www.nestle-watersna.com/pdf/PR_BWQR.pdf
Those two excellent websites
Those two excellent websites make the point of filtering bath and shower water.
It is high time the water flowing through our taps received more scrutiny.
I agree with you about drinking RO water. It is neither natural nor optimal. Spring water can be good but I do not like mine sitting for extended periods in plastics and the cost does quickly add up.