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Water-For-Health

The Dew Drop® Purewater Newsletter

www.dewdrop.co.za

Issue 1 - Volume 2 - Spring 2000

 Contents
  1. Our Mission.
  2. Did You Know That? Water Authorities and Tap Water.
  3. Local SA (and African) News Stories Relating To Water Issues and Our Water Systems. NB! Unfortunately some of the articles are no longer available on-line, all we can share with you is the small amount of text we had originally. Apologies for this.
  4. International News Stories Relating To Water and Water Issues.
  5. Fluoridation Reconsidered? - by Gar Smith
  6. What Would You like To See in This E-Zine?
  7. How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe.
  8. Water-For-Health Archives.
  9. Our Guarantee to You.
  10. About Dew Drop® Purewater

1. Our Mission
Our mission is to bring you news and articles of an international and national nature. It is hoped that this will not only inform you, but also provide you with material to enable you to decide for yourself, about issues relating to the water that you drink and ultimately your health.
2. Did you know that? Water Authorities and Tap Water
 Water authorities around the world do what they can to make our tap water as healthy as possible to drink. Bearing in mind that approximately 65% of residential water is used outside of the home, not for drinking purposes; it is far too expensive to treat all that water so that it is as healthy to drink as you and I would like. So our tap water is treated only to minimum standards, by sedimentation, filtration, chemical conditioning, and disinfection with chlorine. the toxic metals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, they are all still in there when it comes out of your tap. So are the 50 or so chemicals used in the water treatment. So are the bacteria killed by the chlorine. So are the carcinogenic trihalomethanes from the chlorine itself, that are known to cause liver and colorectal cancers.

Oh, tap water will not kill you, or even make you obviously sick, but there is no way your body can function properly on poisons. The point is, you do have a choice and can choose to purify your drinking water further.

The quality of our bones, muscles, brain, blood, tissues and lungs, their performance and resistance to disease and injury, is thus wholly dependent on the quality, amount and regularity of consumption of the water we drink.

Adapted from Dr Michael Colgan's book "Optimum Sports Nutrition" (Advanced Research Press, 1993 p19-22)

We must drink CLEAN, PURE water
 
3. Local SA (and African) News Stories Relating to Water Issues and Our Water Systems
Quality of Harare water threatened 00/06/20 HARARE, Zimbabwe (COMTEX) - www.chemafrica.com - Information at hand shows that the foreign currency shortage has had a negative impact on virtually all council departments and the problem was now threatening water treatment and supply. Town House sources said the municipality was facing shortages of water treatment chemicals which were imported from different countries.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Flood of thinners in Germiston this morning 00/07/21 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - www.chemafrica.com -  Around five o’clock this morning a storage tank at a Germiston solvent recycling plant "burst" - releasing about 20 tons of thinners-contaminated with water into the surrounding roads and storm water drains.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line.
Budget-slashing can be perilous to your health - www.bday.co.za - Aug 10 2000 04:27:46:000AM David McDonald Business Day 2nd Edition - IN MAY an E. coli outbreak killed at least seven people and made another 2000 very sick in the town of Walkerton, Canada. Although a relatively small town reliant on well water, Walkerton lies in the heart of Ontario, the richest and most industrial province of Canada. Something as basic and preventable as E. coli bacteria is not supposed to kill people in a place like this, and the incident sent shock waves through an otherwise complacent populace that has long taken clean, potable water for granted. So why did it happen in Ontario, and what is the significance of this incident to SA?

To read the full article see: http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/0,3523,674989-6078-0,00.html

4. International News Stories Relating to Water and Water Issues
State hit over slow cleanup Tuesday July 18 08:47 AM EDT - By Denis Cuff , TIMES STAFF WRITER - www.yahoo.com - State regulators rarely fine or issue cleanup orders to service stations with tanks leaking the gasoline additive MTBE, hampering California's effort to scrub out toxic pollutants from its ground water, environmentalists said Monday in a report. As a result, threats to drinking water supplies in the ground will linger for years, said the Environmental Working Group, a national organization based in Washington, D.C., that does computer analysis of hazardous pollution trends. Gov. Gray Davis has banned MTBE, a carcinogen, by the end of 2002, but many ground water basins and soils already are contaminated.
Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 
Plant Dumps Sewage Into Rio Grande - Friday July 14 11:01 AM ET - www.yahoo.com - RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) - Up to 500,000 gallons of untreated sewage flowed into the Rio Grande after a mechanical problem at a treatment plant. The state Environment Department warned people down river from the plant near Albuquerque to stay out of the Rio Grande. Officials said they were unsure Thursday night how far the waste had travelled. Tito Madrid, director of field operations for the agency, said the sewage from Waste Water Treatment Plant No. 2 went into the river over a four-hour span Thursday. ``Rio Rancho staff is trying to fix it and mediate the damage,'' he said. ``The discharge now is a lot clearer, and sludge and solids aren't present in the water.'' Madrid said the spill would not affect Albuquerque's drinking water because the city uses deep wells to tap into the aquifer.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Water contamination leads to class action suit against petroleum firms - www.chemafrica.com - 00/07/12 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A class action lawsuit was recently filed against 11 petroleum companies in the United States that manufacture and distribute methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and gasoline containing MTBE. The lawsuit includes claims for negligence, strict liability and conspiracy. (England v. Atlantic Richfield Co., Ill. Cir. Ct. Madison Cty., No. 00L331).

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Eagle Creek Reservoir gets initial dose of algae-killer - www.yahoo.com  Indianapolis Star -Thursday July 27 07:47 AM EDT - By David Rohn - Water experts began pumping an algae-killing chemical Wednesday into the 7-billion-gallon Eagle Creek Reservoir in hopes of producing cleaner-tasting tap water. Indianapolis Water Co. officials expect to use nearly 9,000 gallons of Cutrine-Plus to kill a blue-green algae bloom that has spread wildly since May. The bloom has been blamed for fouling drinking water for as many as 27,000 customers who live north of 56th Street and west of Township Line Road. Organic chemicals from the dying algae produce the rank taste and odor. Because of the massive die-off from chemical dosing, the water could taste worse for the next two weeks.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Brazil's Petrobras reports new leak - Monday July 31, 3:43 pm Eastern Time - www.yahoo.com - RIO DE JANEIRO, July 31 (Reuters) - A Brazilian pipeline ruptured over the weekend spilling close to 270 gallons (1,000 litres) of the toxic fuel additive MTBE, the latest in a series of oil industry accidents this year, state oil giant Petrobras said on Monday. MTBE, the industry acronym for methyl tertiary butyl ether, is a toxic substance often added to gasoline to boost combustion rates. It is known to cause cancer in animals. Residents in Paracambi, a town about 44 miles (70 kilometres) northwest of Rio de Janeiro, complained of nausea and a strong chemical smell on Saturday. Petrobras said it immediately shut down the OSRIO pipeline that runs between Brazil's ``steel city'' of Volta Redonda, 84 miles (135 kilometres) northwest of Rio, and Japeri, which neighbours Paracambi. Petrobras said the company discovered a small hole in the pipe on Sunday, and that there is only a ``minimum chance'' of the leak contaminating ground water.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Doctors Identify Work Illness - www.yahoo.com - Monday July 31 8:09 PM ET - By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, Associated Press Writer - OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - A four-year study by government-paid doctors that was released Monday suggests conditions at a former uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge caused illnesses among workers. The health problems are not cancers caused by radiation. Rather, doctors linked a variety of illnesses - from trembling hands to asthma - to hazardous materials in the former K-25 plant. At a briefing Monday, Bird and his colleagues worried about ways such unlikely people as secretaries and cafeteria workers could have been exposed to heavy metals and other hazardous materials. Recently disclosed documents suggest that piping at the K-25 complex could have been connected in a way that allowed contaminated water to be sent into drinking water pipes. [Editors Comment]: What have the standards been like at our SA Atomic Energy Corporation - is there a chance of employees being exposed to similar hazardous material?

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Scientists Decipher Cholera Microbe - www.yahoo.com - Wednesday August 2 2:15 PM ET - By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer - WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists have developed the genetic blueprint of cholera, a step that may point the way to better vaccines or treatments for the ancient terror that has claimed millions of lives around the world and remains a hazard in many nations. Once widely feared, epidemics of the diarrhoea-causing disease occurred regularly in the United States and other western nations before modern water- and sewage-treatment processes were developed in the late 19th century.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Drinking Water Cause of Death in Mexico - www.yahoo.com - Monday August 14 10:52 AM ET - By Rosario Torres Limon - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Water may be the source of life. But in Mexico, it is also a cause of death. Frequently contaminated with faecal matter, pumped through aquifers that date back to Aztec times, and fouled by industrial and domestic waste, Mexico's drinking water is an environmental catastrophe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report. ``In most regions (of Mexico), the water is qualified as contaminated, either strongly or excessively,'' the OECD said in its study released Thursday.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

22 Charged in Toxic Waste Dumping  - www.yahoo.com - Tuesday August 15 11:12 AM ET - TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Three chemical company executives and 19 workers were charged Tuesday with dumping tons of toxic waste into a river that serves as a main source of drinking water in southern Taiwan. Prosecutors said the executives could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of attempted homicide in the incident, which caused an uproar last month in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city. Local authorities shut down the water supply for four days after three men were caught pouring the cancer-causing solvent dimethyl benzene into a tributary of the Kaoping River from a tanker carrying more than 100 tons of the waste.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

Worst water-main break in memory cripples KC's supply - www.yahoo.com - Tuesday August 15 07:47 AM EDT - By MATT CAMPBELL, LYNN HORSLEY and CHRISTINE VENDEL - The Kansas City Star - A water-main break thought to be the worst in Kansas City's history cut service to 150,000 people, closed businesses and forced residents to boil drinking water Monday. Though workers restored service in a few hours, a boil-water order remained in effect Monday night from the state line to Eastern Avenue and from the Missouri River south to 63rd Street. Officials cautioned against drinking unboiled tap water until the lines had been fully flushed of pathogens. The boil order was expected to be lifted later today.

Unfortunately the full article is no longer available on-line. 

5. Fluoridation Reconsidered?
Fluoridation Reconsidered: Industrial waste in drinking water doesn't stop cavities. -by Gar Smith

Last year, Hardy Limeback, announced that he no longer supports fluoridation of municipal drinking water. What makes this news is that Mr. Limeback is the Head of Preventative Dentistry at the University of Toronto and, for the previous 12 years, he was a leading proponent of fluoridation for the Canadian Dental Association.

"The message has to go out," Limeback stated, "Fluoride is a drug ... There hasn't been a single study to show that exposure over a lifetime is safe." Limeback's change of heart came after a review of the scientific literature convinced him that there was little if any evidence that swallowing fluorides was a safe or effective means of protecting teeth. In
his public statements, Limeback noted that "The 16-page report from the Earth Island Journal, 'Fluorides and the Environment' is a tremendous resource."
 
See the link below for the full article:
  http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/sum2000/wr_sum2000fluoride.html
See the www.dewdrop.co.za, "Links" page for further links on this subject and others.
6. What Would You Like to See in this E-Zine?
Is there anything in particular that you would like to see in this e-zine, which is not here? Please let the Editor know what it is and we will do our best to oblige. Please send an e-mail to info@dewdrop.co.za telling us what you would like to see.
7. To subscribe and unsubscribe
You have received this issue of the Dew Drop® Purewater "Water-For-Health" newsletter because you subscribed to the list. If at any time, however, you wish to unsubscribe, send an e-mail to info@dewdrop.co.za with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line, you will no longer receive it.
 
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8. Water-For-Health Archives
Past issues of this e-zine can be found on www.dewdrop.co.za under the [ Library ] section or click here [ Archives ].
9. Our Guarantee to You
Our guarantee - we will not use your e-mail address for any other purpose (unless permission is received from yourself) but to send you this newsletter.
10. About Dew Drop® Purewater
Dew Drop® Purewater are South African manufacturers of bottled distilled water (for drinking and medicinal purposes), home and commercial distillers. To learn more about us, why we recommend distillation as the best method of purifying your water and where you can purchase the product, please visit our website at www.dewdrop.co.za. If you are interested in steam distilling your own water rather than purchasing it in bottles, visit our [ Products ] page for details on the brand new, made in South Africa, MK1 Automatic Counter-Top Steam Distiller. You can also click on any of the links at the top and bottom of this e-zine and your browser will take you straight to us.
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