Water + Health (Part One)

Beauty is often discussed as an outside-in topic. We theorize about the best skin creams, laser treatments, and filler placement. Now, beauty is starting to be re-examined with an inside-out perspective: What should our diets look like? Should we be taking beauty supplements?

This has led to a nationwide craze about water. How often have you seen a beauty “glow up” where drinking upwards of a gallon a day is recommended? Unfortunately, this mentality has spread throughout the social media world, and now it seems like common knowledge that more water = better. Sometimes, though, more just = more.

Water is important. But it’s better to focus on the quality of the water, rather than how much you drink. Our bodies range anywhere from 55-70% water. You can go a long time without food, but less than a week without water. Obviously, at that point, you’d take whatever water you could get. On a daily basis, however, it’s important we examine our water sources and decide whether they’re actually beneficial--or harmful.

It might be surprising to know that water quality in the US is unreliable. Rhode Island ranks number one when it comes to water quality, but just a few years ago, places like Flint, MI had water so contaminated it was not only undrinkable, but a severe health hazard.

Unfortunately, Flint isn’t the only one. Several cities in California have severely contaminated water, and we’re not the only state with that problem. Cities like Jacksonville, FL, Houston, TX, and Omaha, NE have been discovered to have illegal and unsafe levels of chemicals in their water supply. Omaha was even found to contain unsafe levels of atrazine, an herbicide known for causing birth defects. 

San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the US, also happens to have some of the worst water in America. Eight chemicals were found to exceed health recommendations, and two were at illegal limits, as set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One of the two chemicals found at illegal levels was manganese, a naturally-occurring mineral. You’ll find it in nuts, legumes, tea, whole grains, leafy greens, and seeds. In small doses, it’s essential. In excess, however, it causes permanent neurological impairment. In mild cases, symptoms like irritability, aggression, and hallucinations will occur. In severe cases, excess manganese can cause permanent tremors, difficulty walking, and spasms in the facial muscles. 

Using data from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), San Diego was also found to contain illegal levels of trihalomethanes. This mouthful of a word is a group of four chemicals including chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform. These four chemicals occur when disinfectants--think chlorine--are used to eradicate microbial contaminants. In other words, when disinfecting products like chlorine are added to a water source, it will kill any bacteria, but at a cost: toxic chemicals like trihalomethanes will form. 

Trihalomethanes have been linked to cancer in several research studies, as well as reproductive issues, including miscarriage. Unfortunately, chlorine is an extremely common additive to public water supplies. In some ways, this is understandable; it keeps us safe from microbial contaminants. But is the trade-off worth it?

Counties like Riverside County, CA are also dealing with severely contaminated water, but other places have the whole water thing figured out. Paris, France has one of the cleanest water infrastructures in the world. Water is treated using natural methods, like oxygenation and UV light. Paris’s tap water is so clean and controlled, even the water runoff along sidewalks is tested. In addition, their water has carefully managed levels of healthy minerals, including calcium and magnesium, which make it the perfect drinking water. Even better is the level of accessibility: Paris has over 1200 water fountains that are free to use, and several fountains even have naturally-occuring levels of minerals that can aid in certain health conditions. The 13th, 16th, and 18th arrondissements (administrative districts) contain Albien fountains. Albien fountains flow directly from an underground aquifer, and are high in iron and fluorine. Of course, just like manganese, these naturally occurring minerals can be dangerous if taken at too high of levels. However, while excess manganese in the US’s water supply is a result of industrial manufacturing and is at levels deemed unsafe, the Albien fountains contain water that is sourced directly from Mother Nature, at levels that are regularly tested, deemed safe, and even beneficial.

Now, if you don’t live in Paris and you do have to worry about water quality, you might be thinking, That’s why I have a water filter! Unfortunately, there is a very important distinction here, and it comes down to two words: filtered vs. purified.

In water lingo, filtered simply means the water has passed through a filter of some kind. Usually, if it’s a good filter, this can remove most of the large contaminants. Typically, filters are great for removing heavy metals, like lead, but small contaminants won’t be removed, like viruses, bacteria, and pharmaceuticals. So, while a water filter can be helpful if you need somewhat-clean water in a pinch, it’s not a great everyday solution.

Purified water, on the other hand, means that the water has been cleaned so thoroughly, it is, in fact, purified. This is a much more rigorous process, usually requiring at least a twelve-step reverse osmosis system where the water is pushed back and forth through numerous filters, and perhaps exposed to high levels of oxygen and/or UV light. Unless this water is remineralized, it officially becomes pure H’s and O’s, or what is more commonly known as distilled water. We’ll get more into that in Part Two, but for now, just make sure you understand the difference between filtered and purified. 

So now we know water from the tap is out unless you live in Paris or Rhode Island and filtered water isn’t necessarily a whole lot better. What about bottled water?

Many consumers (about 40%) assume that bottled water is safer than what comes from their tap. While bottled water does usually go through some sort of cleansing process, that’s not always the case.

Bottled water is regulated by the Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) since it’s technically a “food” product. However, in data provided by the agency itself, their inspections of bottled water facilities have declined by 33% between 2008 and 2018. Generally, the FDA allows bottled water companies to run their own tests. What this means is that companies are essentially self-regulated. Sure, contaminants found in their water can’t exceed certain levels--but it’s up to the company to report it.

The FDA also has a policy that water containing dangerous levels of contaminants can still be sold. All the company has to do is label it somewhere on the bottle. However, in every case where a bottled water company has been found to sell water with illegal levels of contaminants, not once has the company actually self-regulated and labeled its water correctly. Basically: if a bottled water company isn’t properly decontaminating their water, they most likely aren’t being regulated by the FDA to insure 1) the company is actually performing independent testing; 2) their water contains contaminants at acceptable levels; or 3) if the company does have poor quality, that they are accurately labeling their water to reflect this.

This leads to poor self-regulation in what has become an incredibly large industry. Each year, the bottled water industry makes upwards of $31 billion dollars. While it would be lovely to trust these companies, there have been far too many cases where bottled water has been found to be contaminated, and no recall, fine, or notification to the public has occurred. Most recently, Sweet Springs Valley Water Company was found to have water contaminated with E. coli. E. coli infections range from mildly uncomfortable symptoms to being potentially deadly. The owner of Sweet Springs was asked if she had considered notifying the public, or doing a recall. She responded that she would if the FDA wanted her to--but no recall or notification was ever done. Meaning, of course, that there were most likely people who became infected with E. coli without ever knowing the source. This is just one example of how the quality of bottled water isn’t reliable, and most likely not a great source for your everyday H2O needs.

If you’re thinking of packing up and moving abroad to Paris, don’t go just yet! This may have been a lot of nerve-wracking information, but next week, we’re going to talk about what kind of water is safe to drink, how to get it, and how much you should actually be drinking. We’ll also go over how this can affect your health and beauty, and ways to incorporate water as a beauty ritual.

The author of this blog, Layla Hanson, is a writer and project manager for Infinity Aesthetics, specializing in holistic media production. You can see her popping in and out of the office from time to time to snap photos for our Instagram and website. Feel free to say hi and offer to pose for a picture!