Health – reducing harmful substances

The waterworks take care of water’s quality until it reaches a household. From the water meter onwards, the owner of the house is responsible for drinking-water’s quality. Due to different materials the pipes are made of, this quality can have changed to a great extent by the time the water is taken from the tap. The amount of substances that accumulate in the piping depends on how long it has not been in use, for example over night or in the holidays. Also, increased temperatures, a low water flow and a pipe’s small diameter are influential.

I.e. water coming from your tap may not present the same values that drinking water originally supplied by the water works does !

Depending on the material that water pipes and their connecting pieces are made of, even health hazards like heavy metals can be found in drinking-water.

	Aqua Select Plus® water filters reduce: - lead - copper - cadmium - lime - chlorine - organic contaminants, e.g. pesticides and PCB

Problem: household piping
Copper pipes

Copper piping is installed in approximately 60% of all households in Germany. Copper was thought to be an ideal material because it is easy to process and was thought harmless. An adult’s minimum daily need of copper is stated to be around 20 – 40 µg, for babies it is 50 µg per kilogramme of body weight.

Intestines, fish, shellfish, nuts, cocoa and many green vegetables are rich in copper.

Especially soft, lime-poor water attacks pipes made of copper or metal. Consequently, copper pipes corrode and high copper concentrations can occur. This is also occurs in copper pipes that were strongly altered when they were installed. The copper content in newly installed copper pipes is heightened until a protective layer settles on the inside walls after approximately a year. In regions with water of a pH-value of under 7,0, copper pipes may no longer be installed.

In adults, any excess copper is excreted by the bile. Sensitive persons can react to tap water with an elevated copper content with symptoms like sickness, vomiting and an irritated gastro-intestinal system. In babies and toddlers, the liver stores the heavy metal. As a consequence, the liver can be poisoned.

Lead drinking- water piping

The reason why plumbers liked to install lead piping over the centuries and millennia, is that it is easy to mould. They rarely considered toxicologic issues. Yet even Hippocrates had warned of lead poisoning 460 years B.C.. (Source: www.stiftung-warentest.de/Umweltkarte:Schwermetalle im Trinkwasser Test 06/2001),

E.g. in Germany, lead piping was used for drinking -water systems until around 1973. Often, mixed material was applied. According to a drinking water regulation, since December 1st 2003 the maximum permissible value of lead is 25 micrograms per litre of drinking water. Starting from January 1st 2013, drinking water may contain a maximum of 10 micrograms of lead per litre. If these permissible values are exceeded, house owners must exchange lead piping for ones made of other materials appropriate to use for drinking water.

How do I recognise lead piping?

In comparison to other materials, lead is soft and can be scratched with a sharp object. The resulting mark shimmers in silver.
Especially soft, acidic water with a high oxygen content dissolves lead. In older pipes, corrosion can lead to a protective layer forming.

The heavy metal lead is not needed by the human organism and can put a person’s health at great risk.

Lead can accumulate in adults’ bones. During pregnancy, lead can by transmitted to the unborn child through its mother’s blood. Lead can disrupt the nervous system’s function and can hinder it from developing properly in foetuses, babies and toddlers. The blood-brain separation does not exist as in an adult’s organism. Lead hinders the production of red blood pigments and is suspected of damaging bio-chemically similar substances.

Especially children are at risk. Their intelligence, learning skills and concentration is often damaged. In other words, lead can make you “stupid“. Lead poisoning can also affect the immune defence and one becomes more vulnerable to infections. Even in microgram quantities, lead acts as a chronic poison and is suspected of causing cancer. The “creeping” exposure to small amounts of lead on a regular basis is especially dangerous.

Zinc coated iron piping for drinking-water

The material is usually only “visible” when the pipes have not been used for several days. Then, the water looks cloudy and is of a rusty red colour.

Iron only dissolves in water, when the zinc coating on the inside of the pipes is damaged. In small traces, iron is vital for human beings. Especially in old pipes with damaged zinc layers, though, harmful substances like the heavy metal cadmium can be dissolved. Cadmium accumulates in the liver and cortex of the kidneys and can lead to kidney failure.

Another possible ingredient is boron:

Boron is only poisonous for humans in high quantities. Plants like willows and fruit trees sometimes react to boron very sensitively. An elevated concentration of boron is usually a sign for household sewage containing a lot of detergents.

Zinc

Zinc is a trace element that is vital for the human organism. It must be absorbed via ingestion. An adult needs approximately 0,2 mg of zinc per kilogramme of bodyweight every day. Children even need five times the amount. Only large amounts (150-times the daily intake) can damage your health. If the zinc concentration in water coming from zinc-coated piping is normal, the water can be consumed without hesitation.

Chlorine

Chlorine is often added to tap water in order to prevent bacterial contamination.

Aqua Select Plus® water filters reduce the amount of chorine in water and are consequently useful travel companions.

Water supplying companies are allowed to add chlorine to drinking water in the form of chloric gas or sodium hypochlorite. This way, morbiferous germs are killed.

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