If you are like most people, every day you fill a glass with water, take a shower with your home’s water, use water for cooking and care for the plants in your yard and home with water. However, is the water in your home actually safe? While the national municipal water supply is generally safe according to EPA standards across the board, private well water and municipal water supplies locally can have contaminants that are hazardous for human consumption. The contaminants, bacteria and chemicals that you cannot see, taste or smell can still hurt you, but you will never know that they are there without water testing. At Atlantic Blue Water Center, we are here to help homeowners determine if their water is safe to drink and, if it is not, help them find the right filtration solutions to protect their health.
How Is Tap Water Regulated?
Before you can understand whether or not your tap water is safe to drink, it’s important to understand how tap water is regulated. Tap water is delivered to homes through a multi-faceted process that takes water from sources like groundwater, runoff water sources or rivers and transports it to a water tower or reservoir. Once it arrives, it will be treated, filtered and tested for chemicals and bacteria multiple times. On average, city tap water is tested 100 times a month. Then, the water is delivered directly to homes and businesses to use it.
The national agency in charge of setting requirements for tap water is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It’s important to know that there are many substances and chemicals that have not been researched enough for the EPA to regulate them, and there are hazardous substances that can be present in “safe” amounts in your water. These federal drinking water standards also have not been updated in almost two decades. That means that, depending on your definition of what is safe to drink, you could be drinking water every day that contains hazards.
What Could Be Inside of Your Tap Water?
We encourage all of our customers to have water testing performed through Atlantic Blue Water Center. You can also get an idea of what has been found in your local water supplies by visiting the Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database. It lists the broad range of contaminants found in almost 50,000 utilities in every state.
The group has found that tens of millions of Americans are drinking water that contains pesticides, hexavalent chromium and other hazardous contaminants. Just because there are limits set on the water, it does not mean that the contents of the water are not harmful. For example, polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) are connected with some cancers and hormone disruption. However, they are completely unregulated in our water supply. Some of them are present in low enough levels to meet the demands of the EPA, but again, that does not mean that the water is safe to drink.
How Can You Protect Your Family and Make Your Tap Water Safe to Drink?
Working with an experienced water testing and treatment company like Atlantic Blue Water Center is essential. We offer water tests that can show you exactly what is present in your water supply, whether you use a private well or rely on city water. Many of the contaminants present in water are invisible to the human eye and completely odorless, so you could be taking in dangerous substances without ever realizing it. Over-the-counter water tests often vary in their accuracy, but working with us can ensure accurate results that are easy to interpret. Beyond our tests, we have the knowledge and experience to connect you with concrete solutions to your water quality issues.
Once your water test has been completed, our experts will work with you to find the right solution or combination of solutions to make sure your water is safe to drink. From filtration devices to reverse osmosis systems, there are many different options that can be used to deliver safe, clean water to your family. The most commonly detected contaminants in water are often byproducts of the disinfection and treatment processes, and in-home water filtration can remove them without adding more chemicals into the mix.
Make Sure That Your Home Water Supply Is Safe to Drink with Atlantic Blue Water Center
We provide water treatment and water softening solutions for homeowners that want a cleaner water supply and softened water that is safe and appropriate for use in all of your appliances. We’re also focused on providing additional education on water treatment, water quality, and issues associated with water contaminants. Call us at (410) 751-9200 to schedule your in-home water testing appointment today.