Whether you have just celebrated the birth of a new baby or have already gone through a few sleepless nights with a young one that arrived a few months ago, you know you need to keep your baby safe from danger… so you have car seats, plugs for electrical outlets, gates by the stairway, childproof locks on the lower cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom, etc. You may have even stopped smoking and/or invested in a better air filters for your furnace and/or air filters for your air conditioning unit to make sure your baby has clean air to breathe at home.
Now think about this: The last time you made bottles for your little one, did you give any thought to the quality of the water you mixed in with that nutrient-rich, and usually very expensive, formula or cereal?
Even if you boiled the water before use, which would effectively kill off most microorganisms, contaminants such as heavy metals (i.e. lead and mercury) will remain in the water and actually become greater in concentration.
So if boiling the water first may not make the water safe, then what will?
If you take a stroll down through the baby section of your local Wal-Mart or Kmart you will see that you can buy purified ‘baby water’ in various bottle sizes… which means purchasing the products would a support the bottled water industry and many people do NOT want to do that.
With pretty much all other options exhausted, it looks as though point-of-use water filtration systems such as countertop, faucet, and undersink water filters may provide the most economical, convenient, and environmentally friendly solutions.
How Do Know If I Have Good/Bad Water?
We get emails asking that question in an email at least three or four times a week and we answer the same way each time: TEST YOUR WATER or HAVE YOUR WATER TESTED.
Another good place to start involves requesting a copy of your local water system’s most recent Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). If your local water system serves more than 100,000 customers the Federal Government requires that it make its CCR for the previous year available on a public web site by July 1st.
Keep in mind, though, that the CCR reports the quality of water as it exited the water treatment facility, not the quality of water as it came out of your tap. Only testing water at your tap will tell you the full story about the quality of your tap water.
For assistance with drinking water testing, take a look at the following links:
