H20 is cure-all!

With cold weather quickly approaching, and the days getting shorter, it is no doubt that people are feeling the winter pains. Lots of people eat food to cure these pains; it seems to be a natural reaction.

Luckily, a recent study by The University of Chicago Medical Center, shows that drinking water (and eating chocolate, but we're not going to emphasize this!) can blunt pain. This natural form of pain relief may contribute to overeating and obesity in humans.

Researchers studied how rats, given either a chocolate chip, sugar water or regular water infused directly into their mouths, had a delayed response to pain. They also found no difference between delayed responses due to the rat’s chocolate-eating and water-drinking. Exciting news for mice... not so exciting for humans who have easy access to ridiculous amounts of fatty foods.

Peggy Mason, PhD, professor of neurobiology, said that the painkilling effect “can be turned to our advantage." So take advantage of what we've learned from the mice! Substitute that bag of chips for a tall glass of filtered water! And why not start today?

Clean drinking water is a basic right, right?

I just listened to journalist Charles Duhigg, report on the "worsening pollution in American waters" — and regulators' responses to the problem on NPR.

It is an interesting and informative interview on the breakdown of the changing nature of water pollution.

He reported on many current issues concerning drinking water. I know the Water Wise Guy team blogged on the New York Times "Toxic Waters" section previously, however the interest in toxic drinking water is still incredibly high. The following issues he reported on are worth noting:

• 1 in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking contaminated water-- water that contains dangerous chemicals, parasites, bacteria or viruses, or fails to meet federal health standards.
• Unknowingly drinking toxic water causes chemicals to accumulate in the cells of your body— and can take years for anything to show, eventually becoming a cancer.
• Millions of gallons of cow manure waste acts as fertilizer, but if the amounts are excessive, bacteria and chemicals can flow into the ground and contaminate residents’ tap water. In a small farm town in Wisconsin, more than 100 wells were polluted by agricultural runoff.

Duhigg doesn't provide easy answers, but does give us a better idea of what questions we should be asking.

Another reminder to be proactive about drinking water for you and your family.

Yes, it is a Bubbler. And No, You Cannot Drink from it.

Recess is over and kids are racing to the school entrance to be first in line for the drinking fountain—or bubbler, depending on where you are from.

Imagine if once the rush of students approaches the bubbler, a sign above it reads “Do Not Drink: Water is tainted with nitrates, a potential carcinogen and a pesticide that may cause male sterility.” “Do Not Drink” is about the only thing that will register and considering a 9-year-old’s thirst after recess, tainted or not, water will be gulped down. And who can blame the kids? After an intense game of tag, how can you not hit up the bubbler? You played hard! And moms and dads always say to drink eight glasses of water a day. Water is good for you, right?

No unfortunately, not all water is good for you.

Recently, an AP investigation found that contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states—in both small farm towns and inner cities. Scary, I know. According to the AP investigation, 1 out of every 5 schools with its own water supply violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade. That’s a staggering 20% of schools.

Yes, this is really happening. Here are two examples of reported effects of toxic school drinking water:

• In 2001, 28 children at a Worthington, Minnesota elementary school experienced severe stomach aches and nausea after drinking water tainted with lead and copper.
• In Seattle, a 6-year-old girl suffered stomach aches and became disoriented and easily exhausted. The girl's mother asked her daughter's school to test its water, and also tested a strand of her daughter's hair. Tests showed high levels of copper and lead.

Luckily, steps have been taken. See improvement options, according to the article, below:

• Improve Water System: In California, the Department of Public Health has given out more than $4 million in recent years to help districts overhaul their water systems.
• New School Building: After wrestling with unsafe levels of arsenic for almost two years, administrators in Sterling, Ohio, finally bought water coolers for elementary school students last fall. Now they plan to move students to a new building.
• Bottled Water: Many school officials say buying bottled water is less expensive than fixing old pipes. Baltimore, for instance, has spent more than $2.5 million on bottled water over the last six years.

I know Chemistry is a subject in almost every school; it should not be in every school’s water.

Nebraska dealer, Bronson Bosshamer, talks nitrates

All-natural does not mean safe! Make sure you test your water.

Know Your Culligan Man: Doug Oberhamer - Phoenix

The Water Wise Guy crew took some time to get to know Phoenix dealer, Doug Oberhamer. Doug is always full of great insight, and a knowledge of water issues that is second to none. Check out his thoughts in "Know Your Culligan Man."

If you could tell everyone out there one piece of advice when it comes to their home water quality, what would it be?

DO: There is a best quality of water for every use: Utility water plumbed to outside sillcocks for irrigation of landscaping, for swimming pools and hot tubs; softened water installed at the point of entry to the home for bathing, laundering, dishwashing, cleaning, and care of plumbing and major appliances using water; and filtration installed at the point of use for drinking, cooking and icemaking. With only one-half of 1% of all the water supplied in the typical community used for drinking and cooking, it doesn't make sense, economically or otherwise, to treat all of the water to drinking water quality standards.


What do you see for the future of the water industry?

DO: The medical profession telling us what the best quality of water is for most people, and our treating the water to that "recipe." The treatment will include removal of contaminants in the water source, such as pharmaceuticals in the waste stream, and the potential of the addition of minerals found deficient in most diets and determined to promote good health.


What makes your area unique when it comes to water issues?

DO: Living in the desert where water is scare drives a different mindset than areas where water is abundant. We already have all of the water we are going to get, so water conservation and reuse are part of every day living and planning for population growth.

Bottled water debate continued....

I hope everyone's Tuesday is shaping up nicely. I had a couple of people send me this video, and while the production is not fantastic, it still has some interesting facst, figures and angles.

One of the best slides in this piece is the one that points out bottled water users also use the tap heavily and vice versa.

The Water Wise Guy finds himself always engrossed in the tap water vs. bottled water debate, and I am going to let it rest for a moment and let this YouTube clip do the talking with pretty pictures.

Moms and Marines: All the news that's fit to drink...

So here at Water Wise Guy HQ, which is located in a secret location inside a volcano in a remote jungle on an island outside of Argentina, we get alot of Google Alerts - 163 a morning to be precise. When you get so much information over a long period of time, you start to notice strong trends in water news from around the world.

Here are a few trends the Water Wise Guy team has been seeing from the cornfields of Nebraska to the rain of the Northwest to the deserts of Arizona.

1. There are alot of boil orders out there. Period. Water main breaks, flood contamination, etc have caused the ordinary citizen to take extra precaution with their water.

2. Arsenic is a big issue in the Midwest. If you live in the fine cluster of middle states, get your water tested.

3. The New York Times and AP are investigating water quality like it's going of style. But it isn't. The wealth of data these recent research studies have put together is amazing - check them out when you get a chance.

4. Proactive and responsible testing is the way to go if you want to avoid some major health issues. Whether it be the Marines, or expectant moms - water quality must be a priority.

5. No one understands what reverse osmosis is. Read this post and get your learn on.

That's it from the Water Wise Guy today! Drink. Tweet. Repeat.