94% of Tap Water in the U.S. Is Contaminated by Microplastics | Hacker News Reader

94% of Tap Water in the U.S. Is Contaminated by Microplastics

time.com

22 pointsboplicity19 comments

Our water, like much of our food, is poisonous. Though at low enough levels that it can take years or decades before the chronic health problems begin to show up.

The CDC recently found in a study that ~80% of people have glyphosate in their urine.

These scaremongering articles about "X is Contaminated by Y" are so tiring.

With the sensitivity of today's testing tools, you can find at least a trace of absolutely anything in tap water if you want to.

And sure, we should study the impact of microplastics on human health in more detail. But these hysterical titles... ugh.

Buy an RO system for your drinking water at home if you're worried. At the very least it'll taste better than the tap.

Tangentially: What is a water filtering system that you are personally using and can recommend?

Am thinking here about microplastics, FPOA, drug residues...

Reverse Osmosis is the gold standard

Thanks for that info. Does that also remove beneficial nutrients like calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc?

Yes, but my current understanding is that these minerals are in very miniscule amount, like 1% RDA a cup. You are able to remineralize after RO, automatically as part of the system, if you would like. I don’t, because I already supplement magnesium and calcium levels aren’t a typical concern.

I think the trade off is well worth it to ensure there’s no lead, plastic, hormones, or hexavalent chromium at all.

Cost is around ~$300 initial, $50/yr filters, and maybe $5/yr increased water usage.

Alright, seems reasonable. Where do you buy your filters from?

Amazon or the mfg website.

Do standard water filters (like Brita) have any ability to filter out microplastics or are they too micro?

Not to my knowledge no

They also make no claims that it does & if it did I'd imagine their marketing dept would be all over that

Definitely noticed tangible changes on limescale levels though, so it does seem to filter that well

I stopped drinking tap water when I learned about the whole fluoride thing.

What water do you drink? A lot of bottled water comes from tax supported municipal water sources through water rights loopholes, so you could be paying more just to drink similar water.

Unfortunately, I feel like this comment encapsulates the current state of the western world in a nutshell:

Let’s build a new complex system around bottling plastic, delivery trucks, with competing brands for sale at 10x the price instead of publicly maintained aqueducts and pipes that have been used successfully since Roman times, and advocating for rigorous standards and fixing issues at the source.

Bottling water doesn’t scale and has significantly more waste (C02 from trucking diesel exhaust and plastic)

Bottled water is still going to have plastic inside it like the problem in the title.

Reminder that humans have only been drinking plastic for the last 100 years of our existence. This could be having far reaching consequences.

Not the person you're replying to, but for a couple hundred bucks you can get a Berkey filter that very effectively removes things like flouride, etc.

Berkey filters look like a scam to me: https://archive.ph/ixmXD

The fact that they refuse to get certified / conduct any independent rigorous testing (like in NSF/ANSI certification) should have clued you in.

"We also cut open a pair of Black Berkey filters to see how they are constructed and to look for evidence that, as Berkey marketing claims, they contain “at least” six different filtering elements. We found that though the Berkey filters are larger and denser than filters from Brita and 3M Filtrete, they appear to share their filtration mechanisms: activated charcoal impregnated with an ion-exchange resin."

I've used one for a while and it's amazing. You can taste the difference. You can put water with food coloring/dye through the filter and it will come out clear and delicious. Brita pales in comparison.

Granted, I was not aware of the certification stuff and I suppose that could mean some of their claims are misleading, but I've been very happy with their product.

What's the problem with fluoride?

One possible issue is that flouride has antibacterial properties and changes the microbiology of the mouth. This has some obvious good effects (fewer cavities) but might have other unknown side effects.

I’d personally rather avoid something toxic (even if only small doses). My teeth will be fine

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