Water is an essential part of life and extremely important for good health, but do you know the dangers of chemicals in your tap water? Although free and cost-effective, the chemicals used to treat tap water can be harmful to your health and the health of your family.
To make tap water safe enough for drinking, chlorine and other chemicals are used to kill bacteria and pathogens. However, the real truth is that chlorine does not really kill algae and instead, the two will combine to form trihalomethane gases. Trihalomethane gases have been linked to miscarriages in women, not to mention rectal, prostate, colon, and bladder cancers. So the next time you give your loved ones a glass of tap water, consider the harm it could bring to their health.
If you want to check if the tap water in your home is loaded with harmful chemicals such as chlorine, there are water testing kits you can get from local home centers and online.
One of these testing kits are the chlorine drops test kits. Although they are commonly used to check the presence of chlorine in swimming pools, you can use them for your tap water as well. With these kits, you’re going to need two glasses of water, one containing filtered water (if available) and the other one with tap water. Next, pour at least 5 drops from that testing kit into the glass of tap water. As soon as those drops come in contact with the tap water, you should notice the tap water slowly turning yellow, indicating the presence of chlorine.
There should be no color change if you want to do the same test with the filtered water. Try adding some more drops to the filtered water and observe if it turns yellow. If it doesn’t, then it’s chlorine-free and safe for drinking.
Another type of water testing kit that you can use at home comes in packages of strips. These strips have reactants that change color when in contact with contaminants in the water. These strips are not a hundred percent accurate but at least they can tell you if there are contaminants present in your tap water.
If you’re really concerned about the health of your family, tired of buying bottled water, and worried about the chemicals affecting your plumbing, then it’s time to invest in a home water treatment system. If you’re living in Las Vegas, Henderson, or Boulder City check out Sin City Plumbing’s services and water filtration systems. What sets us apart from the rest is our Halo 5 Series Water Purification system — it’s a five-stage purification and conditioning system with the patented HALO ION Inline Water Conditioner. You can call us at (702) 431-6502 or email us at contactus@sincityplumbing.com.