Aargh - you do not live in Adelaide, Msolga!!
I had a filter thingy - but it broke.
Man, I can't wait to replace it - I have a fluoride mouth wash.
Melbourne water is lovely.
a sampling on the antibiotics in public water supplies question
http://www.purewatergazette.net/antibiotics.htm
Quote:Bacteria that cause everything from ear infections to pneumonia are becoming immune to antibiotics. The primary cause is over-use and misuse by doctors and patients, but significant levels of antibiotics in water supplies could compound the problem.--CBS Evening News.
http://www.seven-creeks.com/id436.htm
Quote: Antibiotics' presence in water is a problem because bacteria exposed to the drugs over long periods could become resistant and pass that trait on to future generations.
Mulroy found E. coli in her samples and discovered a resistance of the three antibiotics. "The level of resistance varied directly with the level of contamination," she added. Similar research has been conducted in Europe for years, said Joseph Bumgarner, a research chemist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mulroy's idea for her project came after reading about a German study on pharmaceuticals in water. Antibiotics end up in tap water because humans and animals don't fully metabolize the chemicals.
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/antibiotic_resistance/page.cfm?pageID=1119
Quote:According to a 1999-2000 report from the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), antibiotics are present in many fresh water sources throughout the United States(http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/est/es011055j_rev.html).
In nearly 50% of water samples collected across 30 different states in 1999 and 2000, USGS scientists detected at least one antibiotic (or, in the case of erythromycin, a breakdown product of an antibiotic). Water from some of the 139 streams and rivers sampled contained as many as 4 or 5 of the 22 antibiotics assayed. (For locations and specific results for each sampling site, see
http://toxics.usgs.gov/pubs/OFR-02-94.)
The most frequently detected antibiotics were four used to treat humans for pneumonias (erythromycin-H20, 22% of samples), "strep" throat (lincomycin, 19%), and middle ear, urinary tract, respiratory tract and HIV-opportunistic infections (trimethoprim, 27% and sulfamethoxazole, 19%). (The latter two antibiotics are often packaged together under the brand name "Bactrim" or "Septra.")
Tylosin, used in beef cattle and swine production, was the fifth most frequently detected antibiotic, appearing in 14% of the samples.
The scientists also detected nine other antibiotics: tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, roxithromycin, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethazine, and sulfamethizole.
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/antibiotic_resistance/page.cfm?pageID=248
Quote:Does the use of antibiotics in agriculture have any connection to infections that are resistant to antibiotics in people?
Yes. While agricultural use of antibiotics may not be the greatest contributor to antibiotic-resistant infections in people, it is significant. The American Medical Association has adopted a formal resolution opposing the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics (i.e., their use in healthy animals). Other expert groups, including the American Public Health Association, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the American College of Preventive Medicine, have taken similar stances. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) considers animal use of antibiotics, for example, to be the major cause of foodborne illnesses that resist treatment with antibiotics. The World Health Organization has called for an end to the growth promoting uses of animal antibiotics important to human medicine.
related links
in food and environment
Rogues Gallery
The scientific data underlying these recommendations, although difficult to obtain, has been accumulating for more than twenty years and is becoming increasingly robust. For example, the connection between the rise in Campylobacter resistant to a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones and use of these drugs in poultry is so compelling that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken the unprecedented action of proposing to withdraw them from the market. Likewise in Europe, the scientific link between resistance to antibiotics in the Enterococci bacteria and use of the antibiotic avoparcin in agriculture justified an immediate withdrawal of avoparcin. The emergence of Salmonella DT104 -- a strain of Salmonella resistant to multiple antibiotics, and an important cause of food-borne illness -- has also been firmly linked to antibiotic use in agriculture. Salmonella causes illnesses that are particularly serious in children, the elderly, and those with impaired immune systems.
ok
i know i'm way keen on this stuff
but ... anti-depressants in the water supply?
http://www.eurocbc.org/drug_found_in_fish_stirs_concern_17oct2003page1348.html
Quote:
Star-Telegram
17th October 2003
Researchers at Baylor University have found traces of an antidepressant in the livers, muscles and brains of bluegills in a Denton County creek, raising concerns about the welfare of the fish and the people who eat them.
The chemical, fluoxetine hydrochloride, is the active ingredient in Prozac. It likely came from a city of Denton wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into Pecan Creek and flows into Lewisville Lake. Traces of the drug that are not absorbed into the body can flow down the toilet and through wastewater treatment plants, which are not designed to filter out pharmaceuticals.
Quote:Brooks' latest research comes on the heels of recent studies he helped conduct while a graduate student at the University of North Texas. That research indicated that some male fish in Denton County are developing female characteristics because oestrogen from prescription drugs is winding up in the water. The oestrogen -- from birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy and other sources -- could reduce the fish population by rendering some males unable to breed.
The issue has garnered national attention in the last few years. In a U.S. Geological Survey study last year, 80 percent of the 139 streams sampled in 30 states, including Texas, contained small amounts of pharmaceutical drugs, hormones, steroids and personal-care products like perfumes.
"It's very common," said Herbert Buxton, coordinator of the Geological Survey's Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. "What this tells us is that these wastewater pathways are worthy of a lot more study."
<can anyone guess that one of my early areas of study and employment (and first publication) was water quality assessment?>
bottled water
our next door neighbour is a retired microbiologist who was a water specialist for the ministry of the environment(ontario). i've had a number of discussions with him over the years regarding the potability of (particularly rural) water supplies. he still does does watertesting for rural property owners. he said that tests show quite a few contaminants that our not considered by government testing. one contaminant that he is particularly concerned about are the so-called 'gender benders'. he also says that many rural water users think that they consider their water safe because "it smells/tastes really fresh". he says that many contaminants do not make the water smell/taste bad, and that people have a false sense of security. he is currently working with the "ice-making industry" and is trying to help them develop better standards.
one of the papers he has published deals with the quality of
BOTTLED WATER .
hbg
ehBeth wrote:...<can anyone guess that one of my early areas of study and employment (and first publication) was water quality assessment?>
I hadn't guessed, ehBeth, but I figured there was SOME reason for your extensive knowledge of the subject.
Many thanks. I'm astonished! I'm giving up water completely as a result. From now on stearing clear of both bottled AND tap water ... instead, drinking only Pepsi!
:wink:
... & no!!!!!! Don't tell me what can be found in Pepsi! I don't wanna know!
Thanks for the link on the Canadian bottled water information, hamburger. Who would have thought there were some many varieties & so many specifications? Interesting!
where i grew up (hamburg), water was always looked upon with suspicion (great cholera epidemic in the 1892- my granfather would talk about it). good HAMBURG (!) beer was considered a much healthier drink. PROST ! hbg
I drink bottled water and the filtered stuff but not because it is "better for you". I drink it because it doesn't taste like a pool or dirt. Gotta love city water.
I only drink mineral water and I even can buy "Gerolsteiner"
at Trader Joe's, however, I do buy these little water bottles with added Fluoride for my child.
Our tap water tastes disgusting.
hamburger wrote:where i grew up (hamburg), water was always looked upon with suspicion (great cholera epidemic in the 1892- my granfather would talk about it). good HAMBURG (!) beer was considered a much healthier drink. PROST ! hbg
If I remember correctly the "Mors, Mors" (which is the second part of the traditional Hamburg greeting [Hummel, Hummel - Mors, Mors] originates from a Hamburg water delivery boy from the early 19th century :wink:
I did the fluoride bunfight on another board -- did a proper nimh job of it too, got a ton of info, at the end of it was convinced that a reasonable amount of fluoride in the water supply is a good thing, and that topical fluoride especially is a good thing. That was about 3 years ago.
There is a LOT of pseudo-science out there re: fluoride.
I get those little Trader Joe's bottles too, sometimes, mostly because sozlet loves novelty and I'm always trying to get her to drink more, so I rotate how she gets her water since she will always drink a ton when it's a new way to do so.
bottled water
walter :
HUMMEL was not a boy but an older fellow as far as i know. i'm wondering why there was only one waterseller ever mentiond. hamburg being a city with a population of well over a 100,000 at that time surely must have had more than one person selling water. have to review some of my books on hamburg. most of the books dealing with the true history of hamburg hardly ever mention 'hummel' , perhaps it's just all folklore. hbg
I drink our local north north tap water, which does taste good, and bottled bubbly mineral water, because I like it.
Different mineral waters taste different from each other largely because of different mineral contents. On my last day in Italy on my last trip, I ate at a restaurant in Viterbo that had strong interest in the Slow Food movement. The name was Il Torre, if any one here happens to be wandering around Viterbo hungry one day... great food, nice people.
Anyway, tired and thirsty from walking all over the medieval section of the city, I decided to order a bottle of mineral water as well as wine to go with my meal/diary writing. I'd had mineral water plenty of times before, but only the "house" mineral water, usually Panna.
They brought me a Water Menu, which had at least five pages, maybe ten, hard to remember - in not particularly large type - of mineral water listings, including charts of the various mineral contents. I picked one on one of the middle pages... and yes, it was delicious.
I'd like to go back there someday and taste more of the range of the different waters.
I don't drink sodas, with caffeine or otherwise, or at least I don't drink them often, as I find them too sweet, and prefer the bubbly water. Here I can get only Perrier, Apollonaris, Gerolsteiner, Pellegrino, and Callistoga, depending on which grocery store I go to.
bottled water
did you realize that
ANTIBACTERIAL SOAP is not particularly good for the environment ? the 'residue'' from antibacterial soap is probably finding its way into our drinking water. as a study from john hopkins university points out, not only is the 'residue' flowing into lakes and streams - and therefor into our drinking water - , and is not really any better than regular soap.
i listened to some dermatologists about two or three years ago, who were at that time warning against the use of antibacterial soap for everyday use. they were mainly concerned about the destruction of 'friendly' bacteria and also about making weak/low level bacteria more powerful by use of these soaps.
it seems that the problems of using these soaps are really getting worse and troublesome.
hbg
Actually I did. I have a degree in bacteriology from back in prehistoric times, and have since then been aware of questions re increasing resistance, etc., and have been worried about the fact that you can hardly find sponges or cleaning products without this antibacterial mishugas.
the detergent industry has really been able 'to put one over' on the consumer ! will they ever clean up the mess they've made ? i wouldn't bet on it. hbg
