Safe water is an immense need for public health. People around the world need safe water for domestic usage, irrigation, food preparing, personal hygiene, etc. An increase of access to safe water can help the world to improve life expectancy in a matter of time. This is why it’s important to have safe drinking water everywhere. So that you can drink water safely from anywhere and don’t even need to think that, is bathroom sink water safe to drink? Or is drinking tap water safe, or is water from bathroom sink? We will answer all of these in the following section. Also, what do you think? Is bathroom water safe to drink in USA? Read below to match your thoughts.
Table of Contents
Safe Drinking Water- Concepts, Benefits, Principles and Standards
- Safe Drinking Water Concepts
Wait! When did you have your last sip of water? Moments ago? Is it safe enough? Probably yes! People like you, me or most of us tend to waste gallons of safe drinking water. We don’t even care whenever we waste a drop of water every day. But, it’s a matter of sorrow that billions of people and children lack safe drinking water around the world. They don’t get free access to it.
Water is an essential substance that helps you to stay alive only when it’s considered safe. When you use any portable water for your hygiene, food preparation, and to quench your thirst without facing any harm to your health, can be considered as safe drinking water. To be clinically safe, it needs to meet the proper standard quality chemically, physically and biologically.
Safe drinking water standard varies from country to country, as the parameters are not the same everywhere.
- Safe Drinking Water Benefits
So, why safe drinking water is important? Why everyone deserves to have access to safe drinking water? Here are some beneficial reasons to answer these questions.
Water helps to stay hydrated. It also balances the blood pH and keeps the internal organ and cells healthy consistently. Cells need water to generate energy every moment. Also, if you don’t drink safe drinking water, fatal diseases like typhoid, cholera and hepatitis A can occur anytime. Contaminated water is highly responsible for these diseases. Another important benefit is, water helps to get rid of toxins from your body continuously.
Like many other countless effects, water is helpful for agriculture and proper sanitation. In order to maintain proper hygiene, it’s highly impossible to think of another better alternative to water.
- Safe Drinking Water Principles and Standards
As we said earlier, the proper safe drinking water quality standard is not as similar worldwide. Countries like United States, Russia, and Canada hardly follow the usual quality standard from WHO. This happens because the safety standard for a particular individual is not the same depending on the origin. Like people from Africa have already developed resistance to some of the water-related disease.
US Environmental Protection Agency set limits for around 90 contaminants to mark the drinking water safe for US residents. To protect human health, EPA set the legal contaminant limit, which can be achieved by today’s technologies. Here are more standards from EPA to follow.
Importance of Access to Safe Drinking Water
It’s mandatory to have access to safe drinking water for everyone. Especially in this covid 19 scenario, it helps to increase the immunity. Our body requires the perfect composition of safe drinking water as it helps to function all our internal organ properly.
Humans do not just use water for their vital needs. Instead, safe water benefits us all around every day. From cleaning our household chores to build massive structures, we require proper safe water almost everywhere.
Is It Dangerous to Drink Water from a Bathroom Sink?
You should not be drinking water from the bathroom sink. It’s not safe for your health. The key problem is that most of the older buildings use lead piping for their plumbing systems which make it dangerous to drink the water. Don’t think that it may be safer to drink the water if the buildings are new. There is a chance that newer buildings are using copper piping which usually requires soldering of lead.
Moreover, there is a huge chance to have metal poisoning if you drink water from bathroom sink. Also, EPA says there can be the availability of chromium six if there is a leakage in the water supply. You won’t even be able to detect as chromium is odorless.
Ask yourself again is bathroom sink water safe to drink? Another risk factor you should think about before drinking bathroom sink water. It can be dangerous if it contains asbestos. You can get Legionnaire disease if you are unlucky.
Nowadays, some water supply system is used to add fluoride to prevent tooth decay, but it can be harmful and cause neurological damage.
Which Water Is Safe for Drinking?
We already know the quality standard for water varies around the world. According to WHO, around 71% of the global population get access to safe drinking water.
Though you will find most tap water looks good, it’s quite impossible to consider it safe you wish to drink. Likewise, you can even drink water from bathroom sink by seeing the watercolor of it. But, do you know is bathroom water safe to drink in USA? Or Is your water from bathroom sink same as kitchen?
Most travelers suffer a lot to drink pure water while travelling globally. Experts say it’s safe to drink water usually in Japan, New Zealand, Australia Western Europe and North America. But, still it’s better to assume most of the outside water is unsafe to drink. The thing is, how to determine the safe water to drink? We would suggest primarily to look for any traffic stop.
It’s better to avoid buying bottled water from the street hawkers as there could be some issue with the original packaging. You can also find safe water in the menu of any restaurant but avoid if you find any mentions of ice in there. There are thousands of way to purify water scientifically though. But, commercially available testing kits tend not to cover every contaminant.
We know, drinkable water should be transparent in color, odorless and also should feel good whenever you wash your hands with the soap. But, these parameters are not always enough to determine the safety of the water. Microbes that cause diseases like diarrhea can contain in the water and possess odorless and transparent characteristics.
Experts suggest checking database from CDC for the confirm source of safe water.
You will find Travelers’ Health option there, and you should search there by your desired destination. The section is structured with most of the useful tips for the travelers, which also includes info on safe local safe tap water. CDC suggests avoiding wells or tap water sources. They also recommend not to drink tap water ices. Keep in mind that you can’t be too careful most of the time.
How Do You Get Drinkable Water?
You can boil water before drink to remove the contamination of parasite. Boil for about a minute and let the water cool gradually. Let all the sediment and heavy particles settle in the bottom so that you can decant at the right time.
Iodine tablet is another solution, but experts say to avoid this process for long term usage. It’s dangerous for the thyroid patient and pregnant women.
If you do not find these tablets, you can apply two drops of common chlorine bleach as a last way for an emergency.
You can also carry a personal filtration bottle which should be portable in size and consist activated carbon capsule system. This system will help to remove microbes, especially bacteria and micro plastics.
UV lights can also be used to purify, but it hardly removes the heavy metals and the sediments from the water.
Nowadays, it’s common to use an electric purifier to make the water safe. This can easily clean most of the available pathogen from your drinking water.
Safe Drinking Water in Massachusetts
Around 1700 safe public water systems can be found in Massachusetts. It has much safest quality drinking facility in the country which maintains good quality standards.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) applies the tests for the following contaminants to perform the quality of water systems: Heavy sediments, Pesticides, Bacteria and Solvents of industries.
If any of the unusual particle or microbe is found, they are given time to apply a process to eradicate the contaminants. Otherwise, the system is announced out of service. To maintain the safe water policy in Massachusetts, now water suppliers need to submit the sample report on 100 contaminants for a particular area. Around 93 per cent of Massachusetts residents depend on public safe water supplies as the drinking water source. Rest of the residents manage their safe water need from their private wells. Stat says the residents are drilling about 7,000 privet wells every year.
8 Signs That Your Tap Water Might Be Dangerous to Drink
EPA says most of the US residents enjoy the safest and reliable drinking water supply. Do you know drinking water contains a mixture of minerals and other pollutants? Most of them are harmful and lead to fatal diseases. It’s highly important to check for the signs of your tap water to measure how dangerous it can be.
1. Check If the Watercolor Is Orange Or Brown.
If you find your sink water to be brown or orange-colored, be sure about the presence of iron in huge amount. Brown or orange-colored water usually denotes the presence of this could be due to the rust from old water pipes.
2. Look for the Oily Films
There is a probably chance to find oil drops in your sink water due to some poor filtration or leak in the water main.
3. Taste to Check the Metallic Vibe
You will be hardly able to find any taste from the pure drinking water. But, whenever you find any bitter or metallic taste in your drinking water, it concludes the presence of risky substances which include industry pollutants or chemicals as well.
4. You May Find Unusual Taste in Your Sink Water.
It would be best if you rely on your taste buds whenever you find any unusual taste while drinking. The taste can feel like fishy, bitter or oily, which should help you to get a decision to change your sink.
5. Chlorine Smell
Do you know why chlorine is used in pool water? It helps to clean the harmful microbes like bacteria and others. So, it may be used to make the water clean but will not taste quite right for you. An excessive amount of chlorine for long term usage can be dangerous to your health.
6. Rotten Egg like Smell?
If you feel the smell as bad as rotten egg, definitely sulfur has been mixed somehow into your water. Like chlorine, you can get rid of sulfur from your sink water with the help of a water filter. It’s completely normal to get the presence of sulfur in your drinking water as sulfur is produced naturally in the ground.
7. Experiencing Flat Baked Breads
You are preparing the morning breakfast and found your slices of bread are becoming flat? No, it’s not your fault. The chlorine is the culprit for this flat effect.
8. Foamy And Cloudy Water
Municipal Water Suppliers Mostly tend not to filter out the minerals from your drinking water. This is why it can be a reason to create foamy like cloud water. But, these harmful contaminants should disappear as time goes by. If not, then this can happen due to the presence of bacteria.
Related Post: Is Boiling Tap Water the Same as Filtered Water?
FAQ
1. Is It Safe to Drink Tap Water from the Bathroom?
Usually, it’s not safe to drink water from the bathroom. It may look transparent and odorless, but necessarily it doesn’t conclude to be safe enough to drink.
2. How Can You Make Your Bathroom Sink Water Safer?
Though, it’s advised not to drink water from the bathroom directly. But, to make the bathroom sink water safe, you should replace your fittings regularly. You can also use a small amount of chlorine so that the pollutants get out of it.
3. Can I Drink Water Out Of the Bathroom Faucet?
You can drink water from the bathroom faucet at your own risk. It can contain an excessive amount of microbes, chemicals or other contaminants which can lead you to serious health damage.
Conclusion: Currently, there is a huge crisis of safe water globally. We hardly feel the hunger for this. We get access to the drinkable safe water every day so easily. Still, we can’t ensure our sink water safety due to the lacking in maintenance. Ensuring safe drinking water is a must thing to do. If you are travelling, you should also check before drinking. If you feel confused and find a tap or sink to fill your water pouch, you can ask the locals is that tap water safe to drink or not. Always keep in mind not to compromise with the safe drinking water anywhere.