Quote:Drinking 'raw water' could cause raw diarrhea

High-profile Bay Area denizens are skipping tap water in favor of drinking unfiltered, untreated, and expensive “raw” water that comes straight out of the ground, Nellie Bowles reports for The New York Times. Proponents claim that raw water’s health benefits include naturally occurring minerals and microbes. But the reality for any inadequately treated water from the tap or a spring is that those minerals can sometimes include arsenic, and those microbes can be deadly.

The trend is borne of distrust for the public water supply, Bowles writes — including the disinfection processes the water undergoes, the fluoride that’s sometimes added to it, and the lead pipes that might carry it. But adding fluoride prevents tooth decay. (“There is no scientific evidence that fluoride is a mind-control drug, but plenty to show that it aids dental health,” Bowles writes.) And disinfecting water is key for preventing the spread of dangerous viruses, bacteria, and parasites.

In fact, civilizations have been trying to clean up their water supplies for millennia. As early as 1500 BCE, the ancient Egyptians are said to have clarified cloudy water using techniques similar to ones we use today, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency. “Sanskrit and Greek writings recommended water treatment methods such as filtering through charcoal, exposing to sunlight, boiling, and straining,” the report says.

(01-04-2018 08:24 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Maybe they will all catch something and die. Worse things could happen.

(01-05-2018 12:41 AM)Bull_Is_Back Wrote: