We've been living in our house for about a year now, and drinking the well water the entire time. I've developed health problems and needed an MRI, EKG, and some shots. My brother, sister and mother have developed health problems too. The only good thing that seems to have happened to us would be not having to move and our dentist being really impressed with the condition of our teeth. \nA couple of days ago, we found out that our well water is has nearly 14 times as much arsenic as is allowed, 6 times as much floride, 9 times as much Iron and so on, so forth. We've been told not to drink or cook with it. My doctor thinks the only reason I held out so long(my families health issues started about half-a-year ago)is because I have low iron count and the water was actually improving my system.\nThe water doesn't taste bad like city water, it tastes pretty good. How do we fix it so it's drinkable? It's supposedly soft water, but the only solution we know deals with hard water. Please help.
119782
I'm surprised that whomever tested it didn't also recommend a filtering system.  You're probably looking at buying a reverse-osmosis filtering system with a carbon-block add-on.  You'll spend upwards of $500 but it will allow you to drink your water again.\n\nReverse osmosis works by forcing the water molecules through tiny pores--anything larger than the water molecule is "brushed off".  (That's not a great description but the best I can do w/o coffee.)\n\nYour local home improvement center can walk you through the steps of choosing and installing.  I did mine myself in about 4 hours.  And if *I* can do it, you can.  ;-)
294640
Do you have it in writing and exactly what does it say?  If the contract calls for potable water and what you have is drinkable then you are probably out of luck, even though it may taste bad or have a lot of minerals in it.  If all you have is an oral commitment then you have next to nothing.
433204
The only option I can think of is buying one of those large backyard pools that you fill up yourself and use your hose to fill it up, since that water doesnt affect you. I am allergic to chlorine so I need antiheistamines whenever I go swimming in a pool, and sometimes even when I drink tap water that hasnt been filtered. I have no problem in the ocean or river though. Rivers are fresh water and are generally cleaner than the water we drink. I cant stand the salt in ocean water and can react to that too though. GL with finding a solution.
269469
Maybe you lack in iron/Ferrous stuff...try iron pill supplements, I know when I feel tired, I take it for a straight week (with plenty of water throughout the days) and I feel ok
311452
The more plain water one drinks, the lighter the urine becomes, it sounds concentrated.\nIf he drinks about 64 ounces a day, water, nothing else, and it lightens up, that may be the trick.\nIf it continues, he might have blood in his urine.\nWatch, and take the necessary medical precautions!
324921
It's zero points because it has no nutritional value to speak of... a bit of vitamins but little else.  Check the sodium content too.  Too much could get you dangerously close to the daily max, which will cause your body to start retaining water.
105216
This is a physiology thing. You can say it detoxifies your system. Show me papers about it published in JAMA, and then maybe I'll buy it. \nDistilled water is pure H2O, and is hypo osmotic. In fact it has no osmotic pressure what so ever, therefore the nature of osmotic pressure is drive the fluid to dilute the other fluids on the other side of the membrane (I.E. the tissues inside your body). Well, the dH2O will increase your blood volume acutely. This means you will be hypertensive. (So automatically if you have a cardiac condition this is a poor idea. This will increase the work your heart has to do.) \nHowever drinking dH2O without replacing your electrolyes (K, Na, Mg, Ca), can be very detrimental. Specifically acute hypocalciemia (low calcium blood levels) can cause acute heart failure. Heart tissue requries Ca entry into the cell for proper contraction and signal conduction.\nI forgot to mention that the hypocalciemia comes from blood volume dilution, not it comes from the tap water.\n\nNot to mention trace minerals found in tap water are essenial for normal cellular function. Specifically, zinc. (search zinc finger domains on pubmed.com to see what I am talking about). \nHope you find this medical student's perspective has been informative.\n\nYou seek proof, no? You'll have to dig up a physiology text book, on cellular osmotic balance.\n\nI will say that tap water can cause the same hypocalciemia however you must drink much, much more of it to be aborbed(bulk flow). To the same acheive the same blood volume. (i.e. gallons in a few hours)\n\nThe H+ and Cl in your stomach are mainly secreted in response to lipids, amino acids and sugars. (You'll again need a physiology textbook, it will tell you the same thing). Not to mention those ion concentrations are not close to what is in tap water.\n\nI will admit I'm not a big fan of aromatic compounds in my water but theres other things that concern me more.\n\nYes a little glucose and KCL, not a bad idea, but then you pretty much have gatorade right there.\n\nOsmosensitive mechanisms contribute to the water drinking-induced pressor response in humans.\nLipp A - Neurology - 27-SEP-2005; 65(6): 905-7\nFrom NIH/NLM MEDLINE \n\n\nNLM Citation ID:\n16186532 (PubMed)\n\n\nFull Source Title:\nNeurology\n\nPublication Type:\nJournal Article\n\nLanguage:\nEnglish\n\nThis compared saline (iso osmotic) versus distilled water.
500231
nothing very serious happened...continue your diet (tip: for 2 days drink more water).......but chemical diets must not take much long in order not to put in danger yourself
287217
Crystal light is good too and they have little packets you can buy that are just the right size for bottled water.  It basically makes flavored water, but they are sugar/caffiene free.\n\nI've heard that even though diet drinks don't have the sugar, they have an extreme amount of sodium.  Not to mention the aftertaste. \n\nHowever, this comes from someone who can't give up Dr. Pepper.  I swear they put something in that stuff to make you not be able to give it up.\n\nOh yeah, I saw a show last night (Dr. Mehmet Oz) that said that drinking sodas of any kind is what leads to atheriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, which in turn, leads to heart disease.  Needless to say, I'm trying to quit!
560623
He needs to switch to drinking water, unfortunately he probably wont do that.  The sugar and acids in Mt Dew is probably one of the worst! I have seen some horribly decayed teeth because patients sipped on this drink all day long. \nTry to get him to chew sugarless gum with Xylitol as the 1st ingredient.  While nothing he does can help the cavities he has already, hopefully if he changes his habits, new cavities will not form.  Brushing as often as possible, flossing, and rinse with ACT Fluoride rinse at night. \nMost importantly he needs to calm down his 'drinking'.  Have him drink it fast, don't sip all day long, and after wards swish with water.\nThere are dental schools that could see him at a reduced fee, call a local dentist and see if they know of somewhere he could go.  He really needs to get the cavities treated before they get worse and possibly turn into root canals to treat (quite a bit more pricey).  There are also 'loan' programs that dental offices offer so he can pay over time.\nGood Luck!
25247
Why do you abuse this Answer system with your propoganda?  You didn't want an answer, you wanted to spew your pseudo-scientific garbage, and it looks like it failed.\n\nFluoridated water is safe and it's use is supported by REPUTABLE groups such as the ADA, AMA, WHO, CDC and hundreds of other scientifically SOUND organizations.  For a list of these please go to\n\nhttp://www.fluoridefacts.org/fluoride/flu_supp_org.asp\n\nMost groups that are against this tend to be fringe, self-serving groups who use scare tactics, innuendo, pseudo-science and other despicable techniques.  When faced with OVERWHELMING evidence from the scientific world I am sure you whip out the "conspiracy" BS too.\n\nThe vast majority of communities and people do not fall for this garbage and thus have a healthy fluoridated water system. \n\nYou should be ashamed of yourself for yourself for posted such poorly-documented pap.\n\nI am sure you are probably against the chlorination of water too.  Chlorine is poisonous too.....
175228
I like Tap water! We have very good tap water here and it is better and cheaper for you! It has fluoride in it already!(which is important for your teeth!)
116831
There are still 1.3 billion people with insufficient drinking water supplies, 13,000 people die each day from illnesses related to their drinking water. Even filtration provides little more than an expensive, even fatal, illusion. If the filter has been in place too long, which is hard to determine, bacteria flourishes and the danger is greater than ever. The costs for new filters must also be considered. This leads to a situation where users, particularly in poorer countries, risk their health and their lives due to lack of money. The UV sterilisation method, often over-estimated, requires a lot of maintenance and is often only able to sterilise. Suspended solids are often insufficient, chemicals and heavy metals are not removed.\n\nWater distillation, however, offers a perfect solution, as has been demonstrated by vapour compression and multi-stage condensing. Individual households on the other hand, particularly in the USA, make use of smaller distillation apparatus, in which drinking water is produced and connections also made to ice-cube machine.\nIn Germany, however, public opinion still views distilled water as a health risk. In fact the very opposite is the case. All minerals contained in water are inorganic and are only expelled from the body with great difficulty, if at all. The result is calcium deposits, stones in the bladder, gall-bladder and kidneys. Even expensive mineral water has minerals which are more often detrimental to health than beneficial, the remainder having a mostly homeopathic effect. In order to satisfy our mineral intake requirements from drinking water alone, we would have to drink some 2-3 cubic metres of water per day. In fact, we satisfy our mineral requirements with our food intake. The disadvantage of distillation up to now has been its relatively high energy consumption.\n\nSolar distillation plants have already been around for a number of decades, first being used in the 1950’s, mainly for the desalination of sea water. Large collecting areas supplied whole villages and industrial plants. These developments sadly came to a halt as a result of the enormously lowered prices for energy derived from oil and atomic power.\nSince 1985, Wilfried Rosendahl has been further developing solar distillation on Gran Canaria. His success is viewed as a sensation by experts. By using his process it is possible to produce drinking water economically, from small units as well as large ones. The price of water produced from a medium sized unit (>1 m³/d) is less than 3 Euro per cubic metre!\n\n \nThe principle is amazingly simple. Untreated water like sea water or contaminated water is added to an upper channel in controlled amounts. From there it drips over wicks and a black coloured absorber fleece through the collector. A part evaporates from the energy of the sun and the steam condenses under the glass cover. The condensation runs into the condensation channel. The remaining untreated water is collected in front of it and diverted out of the side of the collector. Both the untreated water channel and the condensation channel have supply points on the sides. Since there are no moving parts the whole system requires almost no maintenance.\n\nAlthough this seems simple today, the development process required solutions to numerous problems. A result was the use of stainless steel for all components that were in contact with water, use in sea water or brackish water required a special alloy. Different textiles were tested for their suitability as an absorber fleece. The important factor is good capillary characteristics with water content as low as possible, also resistance to rotting. A special dye was developed for the colouring. UV resistance is a must. Resistance to salt water and capillary characteristics are further requirements, coupled with non-toxicity, these proved to be a problem in the first months of operation, where many of the dyes tested emitted toxic fumes, which entered the drinking wa
579102
Been down that trail. 20 years of up to 5 --  20 ounce sodas a day. At first I cut down to cans, still 5 or so a day... Then, started cutting down on the amount of cans until I got to 1 a day, then I started pouring out part of that, meanwhile I started drinking hot green tea, and fruit juices that didn't have the high fructose corn syrup in them. Started taking vitamins. It finally became a ritual that I enjoy at both ends of the day. Gives me a minute of peace and calm while I drink it. (You can't imagine how much the vitamins and getting off the soda helped my stress level go down.) Green tea  is an antioxidant, fights cancer, wrinkles... so you can't go  wrong. Oh, I have to add a cap full or two of lemon juice to the tea, tastes better that way. Try Lipton Jasmine and Orange with Passionfruit. It is the best I've had so far. Good luck, stick with it, it's not easy. And if you fall off the "wagon" get back on, we're all up there pulling for you. (Took me a while of trying and failing, but I haven't had a soda all this year, and don't plan to. They stress me too much. Oh, and brush after drinking the lemon juice, the acid isn't good for your tooth enamel. --- But it is good for getting your bodies yeast under control. It turns alkaline in your body...So just drink up and brush.)
112066
Are you sure you are allergic to the water itself rather than something IN the water? I ask because it is odd that it would only affect you on the outside, because I would think being allergic to the water itself would cause reactions internally too.\n\nI'm personally allergic to chlorine (and bromine), so I can't go swimming in pools or I break out in a horrible rash.  I also get a small amount of eczema from taking showers (the amount of eczema is directly proportional to the amount of chlorine in the water).  Since I don't generally drink pool water, I don't have problems drinking tap water. But chlorine in the air makes me sick (from pools or cleaning solutions).\n\nI have actually heard of someone being allergic to water, on I think Ripley's believe it or not.  But she would get hives from crying, and she couldn't drink water either. She could drink juice or milk though if I recall correctly.
329252
Anything high in iron helps to build red blood cells, but does nothing for blood pressure. Potassium can help lower blood pressure, but I have no idea if Guinness has a lot of potassium. She could get the same results with vegetables or vitamins, so it is probably an excuse. Nothing is wrong with drinking one beer a day, though. In fact, doctors now say that ONE alcoholic beverage per day can help prevent heart attacks in the same way aspirin does, by thinning the blood. However, more than ONE per day can be detrimental to a person's health. If she is having one a day, I wouldn't worry about it.
402288
That is why I only trust on tap water from home with a system that would remove most or allchemicals and metals in the water. Others have bacteria and metals that make you become poisoned, damage your nerves or make you ill.