Is California Tap Water Safe To Drink in 2023?
Everyone deserves to have clean, safe, drinkable water in their home. But how do you know if your tap water is safe? What could be in your tap water to make it unsafe to drink? If your tap water is not safe to drink, how can you make it safe? Let’s dive into potential tap water issues and their solutions.
Common Contaminants Found In California Water
It is important to regularly test your water to identify contaminants and take the proper steps to get them removed. Culligan is proud to offer FREE water tests to help get you started on your journey to cleaner, safer water.
• Lead: Aging pipes and plumbing systems can create an easy pathway for lead to find its way into your tap water. Lead exposure can cause serious health problems such as developmental delays in children and high blood pressure in adults.
• Arsenic: Arsenic is a common, naturally occurring chemical found in soil and rock. Arsenic can enter your drinking water and cause skin irritation, circulatory system issues, and increase the risk of cancer.
• Chlorine: While chlorine may not be extremely toxic on its own, when added to water as a disinfectant, it can react with other substances in water to cause harmful byproducts that may cause cancer or reproductive issues.
• Nitrates: High levels of nitrates in drinking water are commonly caused by agriculture and can be harmful to pregnant women and infants.
• Pesticides and Herbicides: Runoff from farms and gardens can contaminate drinking water with the harmful chemicals used in agriculture.
• PFAS: Areas around manufacturers are more likely to have elevated levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS, which are known as ‘forever chemicals,’ cannot naturally decay in nature or the human body.
Depending on the contaminant and the level of exposure, these contaminants can affect Californians in many ways. The short-term effects range from skin irritation and nausea to vomiting and diarrhea. The long-term effects can lead to much more serious concerns such as organ damage and cancer. While these contaminants are not “good” for anyone, they are even more harmful to infants, children, and pregnant women.
How Can I Make Sure My Drinking Water Is Safe?
You can check your water quality report to view what contaminants are in your water and their levels. Regular water testing can help ensure your family’s safety against these harmful contaminants by seeing exactly what is in your water.
Is Bottled Water The Best Way To Drink Water?
It is common to assume that if your tap water is not safe to drink, bottled water is the next best option. Drinking bottled water carries its list of concerns.
• Environmental impact: A single water bottle takes 450 years to decompose, making them a large contributor to plastic pollution. Bottled water requires a significant amount of energy to produce and transport, contributing to greenhouse gases.
• Health and quality concerns: It is common to see bottled water marketed as a “safer” or “better tasting” alternative to tap water. Chemicals and contaminants are what you are trying to avoid by drinking bottled water; however, upon closer inspection of some labels, you may find that they contain contaminants such as microplastics and other chemicals.
• Cost: Bottled water is around 3,000 percent more expensive per gallon than tap water. Bottled water costs an average of $0.64 per gallon, while tap water costs $0.02 per gallon. While there are circumstances where bottled water may be the best choice for drinking water, there are significant environmental, health, and economic concerns associated with its use. It is often better to use a reusable bottle filled with filtered water.
How Can I Make My Tap Water Safe To Drink?
There are a few ways to filter and treat your tap water to ensure it is safe for consumption. The first step to safer water is to schedule a free water test to identify exactly what contaminants are in your home’s tap water. Once the contaminants are identified, your Culligan Man will recommend the right system for your water.
• Reverse Osmosis Filter Systems provide a sophisticated multi-stage filtration that can remove 97% of all the dissolved minerals from your water.
• Whole House Water Filters remove disinfection byproducts and pesticides from tap water.
• Water Softeners offer a solution to hard water caused by high levels of magnesium and calcium.
Having safe drinking water is something every household needs. By scheduling a free at-home water test with Culligan, you can receive a detailed report of all the contaminants in your home’s tap water and a recommendation for solutions. You will have safe, drinkable tap water before you know it!
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