Just how clean is that glass of water you just poured from the tap?
For senior Kylie Bruggeman, it’s just not clean enough.
“We did a water lab in Chemistry 116 last year where we tested the water,” she said. “There’s just so many disgusting things in there, and it’s not safe to consume that in the body. The EPA can do as much as they want: It’s just not safe enough.”
When it comes to water quality in Vermillion, having good water is a priority for employees at the Melvein D. Stiegelmeyer Water Treatment Plant. Superintendent Randy Isaacson said his staff tests the quality of the water coming through the plant every three hours, measuring the pH and hardness of the water, as well the chlorine and fluoride levels.
Isaacson said they also send samples of bacteria and fluoride into the state each month for monitoring.
“We haven’t had a bad sample in years,” he said.
Fluoride and chlorine are the only chemicals that the plant adds to the water, Isaacson said – fluoride for dental health and chlorine as a disinfectant.
Although the presence of fluoride in drinking water has caused some controversy in the United States, Jacob Kerby with the Biology Department at USD said people should only worry about chemicals in the water when there’s significant exposure to them.
“I think people underestimate the body’s natural ability to repair itself,” Kerby said. “There’s a concept in toxicology that the dose makes the poison. Prolonged exposure to heavy amounts will have health impacts.”
Isaacson said South Dakota law mandates an optimum amount of 1.2 parts per million of fluoride in drinking water, but there are no laws regulating the amount of fluoride in bottled water.
Kerby, who is monitoring the effects of freshwater quality on frogs in the Missouri River, said a threat to local water quality might come from pesticides and herbicides which leak into the soil from surrounding farms. He said there’s a “strong possibility” that there are traces of pesticides in Vermillion’s water, especially the herbicide Atrazine, which has been linked to causing hermaphroditism in frogs.
Vermillion’s drinking water comes from an underground aquifer, which would have a lower quality and would retain more pesticides than a flowing source of water, Kerby said.
“I’d be very surprised if there weren’t,” he said. “The concentration of (Atrazine) is what’s important. I drink tap water without any concerns, but if my wife were pregnant, I’d use filtered water.”
Bruggman attended a presentation on the subject of Atrazine and water quality last year at IDEAfest, which was another driving force behind her switch to filtered water.
Kerby said a water filter will remove most traces of pesticides that treatment might have missed, and Bruggman said she uses a Brita water pitcher and drinks bottled water whenever filtered water is not available.
But for some, the choice to go for bottled and filtered is less about health concerns and more about taste.
Since she came to school in the fall, freshman Jennifer Arens has stopped drinking water from the tap.
“I can’t stand (the taste),” Arens said. “The taste is pretty important. If it’s a little stale or something’s off about it, I just can’t drink it.”
Sophomore Tyler Klatt said he believes Vermillion water “tastes funny” compared to the drinking water in his hometown of Watertown.
“I can’t say it’s better or worse, it just tastes different,” he said.
Klatt said he doesn’t buy much bottled water because he has a Brita filter pitcher instead, but the bottled water industry is booming across the country.
According to a study from the Columbia Water Center, Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year and in 2008, U.S. bottled water sales topped 8.6 billion gallons.
Julie Madden, supervisor at the Neuharth Café on campus, said their location sells at least a dozen bottles of water a day and at least 40 to 50 bottles in a week.
Madden said she has no problem with the taste of Vermillion’s water, and that the best drinking water has a “pure taste” to it.
Isaacson said the only thing the plant does to improve the taste of the water is run it through an aerator to dissolve gases that would affect the taste and odor of the gas.
“If we didn’t do that, the phone would probably be ringing off the hook,” Isaacson said.
Isaacson said the plant gets “very few” complaints about the quality of Vermillion water, averaging around four to five calls a year.
Arens and Klatt both said they don’t pay much attention to the presence of chemicals in their water. Klatt said he knows a few other people who filter their water just because it’s more “economical” than buying bottled water.
Reach reporter Jessica Kokesh at Jessica.L.Kokesh@usd.edu.
2 comments
Those promoting fluoridation simply refuse to read the current research showing it is ineffective and dangerous to health. Go to (www.fluoridealert.org) and read several scientific articles.
Read the letter from Dr. Hardy Limeback ( DDS, PhD Biochemistry) --- Head, Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto entitled "Why I am now officially opposed to adding fluoride to drinking water"
He was the principal research advisor to the Canadian Dental Asociation for over 10 years in promoting fluoridation. His letter is an apology to other dentists and the public.
Over 140 Research studies listed, including:
Increased risk of bone cancer -- 13 studies
Lead, arsenic, radium contaminants causing toxic water -- 10 studies
Link with fluoride and other cancer -- 12
Fluoride causes birth defects -- 5
Fluoride affects the immune systems -- 12
Fluoride is neurotoxic (brain, nerves, lowering IQ) -- 11
Etc.
Also see the petition signed by over 2600 professionals opposing fluoridation.