Our Drinking Water

I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man.  ~Henry David Thoreau

Image found here

I very strongly believe the above statement, yet perhaps it is not quite so if your drinking water becomes contaminated.  Of course the authorities say this will never happen, they are there to reassure us.

Yet with the current pattern of receiving nil to very little rain in our region the risk of heavy metals being leached into our water supply is very real.  The extreme drought is causing our earth to turn into acid sulphate soils from which can leach heavy metals.  The CSIRO is mapping where this is happening in an attempt to manage the acid levels in soils.  You can read a bit more about what is going on in this news story of last April.  That was almost a year ago and the drought is certainly not broken. We have had hardly any rain in that time, despite the fact that other parts of our country are in flood.  So I wonder what is happening currently.

On the weekend we discovered that we have some cadmium, a heavy metal, in our bodies.  Yes, I do, our precious little Eee and Ess do, and my Generous Gentlemen does as well.  We are probably getting this from our water supply although it does come in other means.  It shouldn't be in our water supply, authorities would tell us it is only there is safe levels. How a heavy metal can be safe at all in our systems is simply beyond me.  They impact the way our brain works and deals with every process in our bodies.  They don't simply go away, the body must deal with them appropriately.  As well as this, cadmium shouldn't be in our system as our water is filtered.  Our filter states that it removes traces of heavy metals from our drinking water.  It was only replaced last December and I don't believe it has lasted long enough if cadmium is getting through already.

At the moment I am feeling a little pensive.  My darling daughters are fighting a virus which causes them to have a fever, sleep lots and becoming seeming better only to fall down again soon thereafter.  Twice I have thought Ess was over it, twice she returned to me with earaches and dark eyes and the need to rest.  Those of you who know Ess, know that she "never gets tired" :). Her nature right from when she was a baby!

Some of this might be speculation, but it does concern me.  At the very least be sure you have your drinking water filtered and that your filter is replaced as often as recommended.  If you are uncertain about heavy metals, ask your health practitioner.  On a greater level, I do wonder where we are headed in this big old world.  Have a little look at this graphic to see what the world might be like in 2050 or so when the world might be 4ºC warmer or so.  If we make it that far.