Since the horrible events of September 11th, we have received a number of
phone calls from people wanting to know about protecting themselves against
intentional contamination of public water supplies. We have summarized the
majority of these questions for you now...
Is there a potential risk to our water supplies?
We think so, and here's why...
1) Past Experience: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1993 over 400,000 people
got sick from a biological contaminant in the water supply. Over 100 people
died!
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9609/02/nfm/water.quality/index.html
There are many other examples in the US of water supplies becoming
contaminated and making people sick. To date these occurrences have involved
unintentional contamination of our water supplies, but the fact is that our
water supplies are vulnerable!
2) Municipalities only test for a small number of contaminants: Of the
60,000 chemicals that can possibly be in our water supplies, our
municipalities only have to test for a little over 100! Even today
municipalities do NOT typically test for contaminants that would most likely
be used in a terrorist effort.
3) It's easy to gain access to our reservoirs: Our vast water supplies
are easily accessible and there is no way we can totally protect them from
contamination (intentional or unintentional).
4) It's possible to bypass our municipal water treatment systems: A
terrorist could bypass your city water system by injecting a contaminant into
the waterline at any point in a city, such as a fire hydrant or a water pipe
from a building basement.
Why is the news saying that a water attack is unlikely? The news shows are not
all saying that an attack is unlikely...
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010928/hl/water_2.html
When you do hear that a water attack is unlikely they are going on the
assumption that water is hard to contaminate because anything that goes into
it will be diluted and will lose it's effectiveness. They are also counting on
the fact that any biological contaminants would be killed
by the municipal treatment system. There are three problems with this
approach.
First, there are some contaminants that are extremely toxic! A very
small concentration of these super-toxic contaminants could cause severe
problems!
Second, biologic contaminants can multiply in the water source.
Bacteria are microscopic, non-green plants and can grow virtually anywhere.
Yes, we can hope that the chlorine that is used to treat the water will kill
the bacteria, but chlorine isn't all that effective on spores (such as those
from Anthrax).
Third, as mentioned before, a smart terrorist can add contaminants to
water systems AFTER the municipal water treatment system, thus
bypassing any treatment method (except an in-home system).
How will we know if there is an attack on our water supply?
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult question to answer. If the
contaminant were a chemical the symptoms would typically manifest in a short
period of time. Symptoms resulting from a biological contaminant on the other
hand, could take many days before being noticed.
Hospitals around the country have been notified to look for specific patterns
of symptoms. If such a pattern occurs they will be able to figure out what the
contaminant is then they will be able to track it back to it's source. Your
goal should be to protect yourself as well as possible at all times and to do
what you feel is necessary to provide peace of mind for your family!
What is the best way to protect my family and myself from potential water
contamination?
There are 3 main types of treatment methods available for cleaning water;
1) A barrier
2) Contact Methods
3) Evaporation and Precipitation
I will briefly summarize each as follows...
1) Barriers. The raw water passes through or is forced through a
barrier. The barrier is designed to remove the contaminants allowing only
purer water through. These barriers can be constructed of carbon, porous
ceramics, sand, paper or synthetic fabric to name a few. Sediment filters,
carbon filters and reverse osmosis are all examples of barrier methods of
water purification. The problem is that the barriers can become clogged with
contaminants or loose their integrity with hair-line cracks or can be
ruptured. In some instances seals leak. Additionally, the barriers
themselves can provide the breeding ground for bacteria and algae. The
performance of barrier purification systems drop over time, but even when
new, may provide specific or very selective purification.
2) Contact Methods. Some processes, such as ozone and UV, require
contact with the water to be effective. With ultra-violet light, rays of a
certain wavelength that disrupt living cells are brought in contact with the
contaminants in the water. If the water is cloudy or turbid the contact is
not made as effectively. Ozone is a highly activated gaseous molecule of
oxygen which wants to return to a more stable form. As such when it contacts
certain contaminants in the water it renders them harmless or in other ways
changes them. The problem with ozone is that it requires thorough contact
with the water to work effectively. This does not always occur.
3) Evaporation and Precipitation. Distillation is a process that
operates differently. The water undergoes prolonged boiling and water
molecules lift from the surface of the water as steam, leaving virtually all
contaminants behind. The steam rises and forms a concentration of water
droplets which then precipitate to become high purity distilled water. As
distillation does not rely on a barrier or on complete contact with the
contaminated water it is generally recognized as being the single
most-effective method for broad spectrum water purification. Because
distillation relies on a physical process that lifts the pure water
molecules from the contaminated water, it can provide very high purity water
consistently. T. J. Clark has experience with all the processes
mentioned above but prefers the reliability of distillation over other
purification methods.
Distillation is the ONLY process that BOILS the water. Health
departments around the world agree that boiling the water is the most
fundamental way to kill biological contaminants. In distillation you only take
the pure steam that comes off the water, thus leaving the dead bacteria and
other contaminants behind! This process produces consistent results year after
year.
It comes down to this; you should take the best step that you can take
to protect yourself and your family from contaminants in your water REGARDLESS
of how the contaminants got into the water in the first place! YOU are
ultimately responsible for your family's health! The best method that is
available for the full range of possible contaminants is a well-designed
distillation system.
