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Sources Of Drinking Water for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
DFW is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartered near the airport and is the fourth busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements and the twelfth busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic in 2017 but is the water in the fountains safe to drink? Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's water supply comes from 6 reservoirs and the Elm Fork of the Trinity River: Grapevine, Lewisville, Ray Roberts, Ray Hubbard, Fork and Tawakoni. Ray Hubbard is the only reservoir completely owned and operated by the City of Dallas, Texas. Although there is an aquifer below the Dallas/Fort Worth area, well water hasn’t been used for multiple years due to the aquifer's poor water quality.
Dallas Water Utility uses settling, filtering, chemicals, and ozone disinfection to purify its drinking water: Chloramine (a combination of chlorine and ammonia, which is less hazardous than chlorine alone) and ozone for are used for disinfection; lime and iron sulfate are used to remove suspended solids and for corrosion control; and activated carbon is used to control taste and odor. Fluoride (A known neurotoxin) is also added to the water to prevent tooth decay.
Source: Dallas Water Utility
Contaminants Found in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's Water Supply
(Detected above health guidelines)
1,2,3-Trichloropropane
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, also known as TCP, is an organic "Man Made" chemical found in some groundwater supplies. The TCP contamination in our water is believed to have come from soil fumigants. Soil fumigants in use today no longer contain TCP. What are the risks of drinking tap water with 1,2,3-Trichloropropane? Unknown. Exposure to high levels of 1,2,3-trichloropropane for a short time causes eye and throat irritation. Animals exposed died after breathing air containing 1,2,3-trichloropropane at levels higher than we have in the environment. When rats breathed it at levels lower than those that irritated humans, they developed eye, nose, and lung irritation, and liver and kidney disease. The main health effect in both animals and people is damage to the respiratory system. When animals swallowed 1,2,3-trichloropropane at high levels, they died from liver and kidney damage. When exposed to moderate levels that did not cause death, the animals had minor liver and kidney damage, blood disorders, and stomach irritation. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Arsenic
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Arsenic occurs naturally in soil and bedrock in parts of the United States. Commercial activities that could have left arsenic in our soil and water include, apple orchard spraying, coal ash disposal, use of pressure treated wood. Arsenic has no smell, taste, or color when dissolved in water, even in high concentrations, so only laboratory analysis can detect its presence and concentration. What are the risks of drinking tap water with arsenic? Cancer. Chronic exposure to arsenic is also associated with an increased risk of skin, bladder, and lung cancer. There is also evidence that long-term exposure to arsenic can increase risks for kidney and prostate cancer. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Atrazine
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Atrazine is herbicide used frequently on corn, sugar cane, sorghum, non-specific herbicide and other crops on industrial sites. The herbicide Atrazine is widely used today because of its efficiency at reducing the loss of crops due to the interference of weeds. Furthermore, it also eliminates the need for inter-row cultivation in sorghum and other crop fields. It is a hormone disrupter that harms the male and female reproductive systems of people and wildlife. What are the risks of drinking tap water with atrazine? Cancer & Reproductive Issues. There is also evidence that Atrazine is an endocrine disruptor, causes cancer, and reproductive issues. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Bromodichloromethane
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Bromodichloromethane is one of the total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) that formed when disinfectants, such as chlorine, are used to treat tap water. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Bromodichloromethane? Cancer, Kidney & Liver Damage. Bromodichloromethane and other disinfection byproducts increase the risk of cancer and may cause problems during pregnancy. In recent animal studies, the main effect of eating or drinking large amounts of Bromodichloromethane is injury to the liver and kidneys. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Bromoform
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Bromoform (also known as tribromomethane) is a possible contaminant of drinking water that has been chlorinated to kill bacteria and viruses that could cause serious waterborne infectious diseases. Bromoform may form when chlorine reacts with other naturally occurring substances in water, such as decomposing plant material. What are the risks of drinking tap water with bromoform? Liver & Kidney Damage. Some studies in animals indicate that exposure to high doses of bromoform or dibromochloromethane may also lead to liver and kidney injury within a short period of time. Other animal studies suggest that typical bromoform or dibromochloromethane exposures do not pose a high risk of affecting the chance of becoming pregnant or harming an unborn baby. However, studies in animals indicate that long-term intake of either bromoform or dibromochloromethane can cause liver and kidney cancer. Although cancer in humans cannot be definitely attributed to these chemicals, it is an effect of special concern, since many people are exposed to low levels of bromoform and dibromochloromethane in chlorinated drinking water. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Chloroform
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Chloroform, is a total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) which is formed when disinfectants are used to treat tap water. Most of the chloroform found in the environment comes from industry. Chloroform enters the environment from chemical companies and paper mills, It is also found in waste water from sewage treatment plants and drinking water to which chlorine has been added. Chlorine is added to most drinking water and many waste waters to destroy bacteria. Small amounts of chloroform are formed as an unwanted product during the process of adding chlorine to water. What are the risks of drinking tap water with chloroform? Cancer, central nervous system (brain), liver, and kidneys. Cancer of the liver and kidneys developed in rats and mice that ate food or drank water that had large amounts of chloroform in it for a long time. We do not know whether liver and kidney cancer would develop in people after long-term exposure to chloroform in drinking water. Based on animal studies, the Department of Health and Human Services has determined that chloroform may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen (a substance that causes cancer). Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Chromium (hexavalent)
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. The movie Erin Brockovich alerted the public to the great suffering the little town of Hinkley, California experienced due to hexavalent chromium in their drinking water. Today, Hinkley is little more than a ghost town thanks to continued water contamination, health concerns, and plummeting property values. Chromium (hexavalent) is a carcinogen that commonly contaminates American drinking water. Chromium (hexavalent) in drinking water may be due to industrial pollution or natural occurrences in mineral deposits and groundwater. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Chromium (hexavalent)? Cancer. A 2008 study by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, found that chromium-6 in drinking water caused cancer in laboratory rats and mice. That study and other research led scientists at the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to conclude that chromium-6 can cause cancer in people. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Dibromochloromethane
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Dibromochloromethane, one of the total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), was used in the past to make other chemicals such as fire extinguisher fluids, spray can propellants, refrigerator fluid, and pesticides. It is now only used on a small scale in laboratories. In the environment, dibromochloromethane is not found as a pure liquid, but instead, it is found either dissolved in water or evaporated into the air as a gas. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Dibromochloromethane? Liver & Kidney Damage. Animal studies indicate that long-term intake of dibromochloromethane can cause liver and kidney cancer. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Dichloroacetic Acid
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Dichloroacetic Acid is one of the five haloacetic acids and a member of the chloroacetic acids family. It is an essential chemical compound in medical research, especially in cancer treatment. This type of chloroacetic acid is a trace product of the process of chlorination of drinking water. Dichloroacetic Acid can get into water systems through improper disposal of waste from pharmaceutical factories. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Dichloroacetic acid? Cancer, Reproductive Issues, Child Development. Dichloroacetic Acid in drinking water may cause health problems during pregnancy, liver and kidney damage, reproductive difficulties, eyes and nerve problems, and an increased risk of getting cancer. Dichloroacetic Acid is common in municipal water since it is a trace product of the chlorination of drinking water. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Radiological Contaminants
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Radiological contamination of water is due to the presence of radionuclides, which are defined as atoms with unstable nuclei. In an effort to become more stable, a radionuclide emits energy in the form of rays or high-speed particles. This is called ionizing radiation because it displaces electrons, which creates ions. The three major types of ionizing radiation are alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays. Radiological contaminants leach into water from certain minerals and from mining. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Radiological contaminants? Cancer. Over and over again, regardless of the source, long-term exposure or brief exposure in high doses, leads to cancer. Cancers of the bone, liver, stomach, lungs, skin, kidneys, thyroid gland, and most other tissues are common, and medical science is still discovering other maladies that may be cancer-related. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) are the result of a reaction between the chlorine used for disinfecting tap water and natural organic matter in the water. At elevated levels, TTHMs have been associated with negative health effects such as cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes. Now a study by government and academic researchers adds to previous evidence that dermal absorption and inhalation of TTHMs associated with everyday tap water use can result in significantly higher blood TTHM concentrations than simply drinking the water does. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs)? Cancer. Studies from around the world including the United States & Europe have found that drinking tap water that carries Total Trihalomethanes increases the risk of developing cancer. In animal studies, all trihalomethanes cause liver, kidney and intestinal tumors. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Trichloroacetic Acid
3rd party independent testing found that this utility exceeds health guidelines for this drinking water contaminant. Trichloroacetic acid will get into your drinking water when naturally-occurring organic and inorganic compounds found in the water reacts with chlorine or other disinfectants used to purify drinking water. Trichloroacetic acid is one of the group of five haloacetic acids regulated by federal standards. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Trichloroacetic acid? Cancer & Pregnancy Issues. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), individuals exposed to the compound in excess of the "Maximum Contaminant Levels" during the duration of several years are prone to an increased risk of getting cancer. Long-term exposure to the chemical will increase your chances of acquiring a tumor. Oral exposure or the drinking of contaminated water may cause problems during pregnancy. It can also cause developmental issues to the fetus. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
Fluoride
There is a drinking water standard of 4 ppm for fluoride but there is no health guideline for this contaminant and much is not known about the effects of fluoride long term on the human body. This water utility did not exceed the drinking water standard for fluoride but fluoride was found in their water. Fluoride occurs naturally in surface and groundwater and is also added to drinking water by many water systems. The fluoride that is added to water is not the naturally occurring kind, the main chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water are known as “silicofluorides” (i.e., hydrofluorosilicic acid and sodium fluorosilicate). Silicofluorides are not pharmaceutical-grade fluoride products; they are unprocessed industrial by-products of the phosphate fertilizer industry (Gross!). Since these silicofluorides undergo no purification procedures, they can contain elevated levels of arsenic — more so than any other water treatment chemical. In addition, recent research suggests that the addition of silicofluorides to water is a risk factor for elevated lead exposure, particularly among residents who live in homes with old pipes. What are the risks of drinking tap water with Fluoride? Unknown. A growing body of evidence reasonably indicates that fluoridated water, in addition to other sources of daily fluoride exposure, can cause or contribute to a range of serious effects, including arthritis, damage to the developing brain, reduced thyroid function, and possibly osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in adolescent males. Find out more about this contaminant and how to remove it here.
What are the best type of filters to remove these contaminants?
Water sources can contain contaminants that impact your long term health, the taste & smell of the water and other microbiological contaminants that can actually make people sick shortly after drinking. Fortunately, there are water filtration products that remove many of the impurities from water. These filters often use activated carbon. Activated carbon is a form of carbon processed to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption of contaminants or chemical reactions. Two dominant carbon filter choices are solid activated carbon blocks and granular activated carbon filters.
Filter Design
Granular activated carbon filters have loose granules of carbon that look like black grains of sand. These black grains of carbon, are dumped into a container and the water is forced to travel through the container to reach the other side, passing by all of the grains of carbon. Solid block carbon filters are blocks of compressed activated carbon that are formed with the combination of heat and pressure. These filters force the water to try to find a way through the solid wall and thousands of layers of carbon until the reach a channel which leads the water out of the filter. Both filters are made from carbon that’s ground into small particulate sizes. Solid carbon blocks are ground even further into a fine mesh 7 to 19 times smaller than the granular activated carbon filters.
Flow Channels & Less Contact Time
As water continually pass through Granular Activated Carbon filters, flow channels begin to develop that allows the water to flow around the carbon. Flow channels also develop between the granules, leading to less effective filtration as there’s less contact between the water and carbon. Solid carbon blocks are much tighter and won’t even let through microbial cysts like giardia and cryptosporidium (7 to 10 Microns in size). However, solid carbon block filters are so tight that they can often get plugged up with organic & non-organic matter, forcing owners to replace them on a more regular basis. This is why when you are using a Brita water pitcher filter (granular activated carbon), the filter will keep going and going long after it has stopped removing any water contaminants.
Carbon Block vs Granulated Activated Carbon
The granular activated carbon filters are cheap and simple to manufacture, which is why most water filtration companies choose this method for manufacturing (ex: Brita, Woder). Solid Carbon Block Filters on the other hand take longer to manufacture and are more expensive but with this expense, you get superior contaminant removal because the water must take a tortured path through thousands of layers of compressed carbon before it reaches your drinking glass.
Better Filtration
The solid carbon block filters like the one used in the Epic Smart Shield & Epic Water Filter pitchers, remove more contaminants than the granular activated carbon filters due to the larger surface area and the tighter filters, this is why Epic Water Filters has standardized on the solid carbon block design for our water pitchers and our under the sink water filter. Unfortunately, granular activated carbon filters do not do enough to reduce contaminants, this is why they are not used when there is a chance of bacteria or cysts in the water. They are truly not "Epic" so that is why we have passed on this design and let our competitors like Woder, Brita, Pur, and Invigorated Water use these loose packed carbon filters for sub-par contaminant removal.
Solid carbon block filters, on the other hand, have millions and millions of different sized pores that cause the water to take a long slow path to get through the filter, increasing the contact time that the contaminated water has with the carbon. During this contact time is when contaminants adhere to the carbon and are removed from water. This happens during a process called adsorption, the other filtration method that carbon blocks use is called depth filtration where the thickness of the filter comes into play to help remove contaminants as they have to pass through this carbon walls.
With solid carbon block filters the contaminants are in contact with more carbon for a longer period and therefore have more time to remove stubborn contaminants like lead (Epic Pure Pitcher 99.9% removal), fluoride (Epic Pure Pitcher 97.8% removal), and PFCs (Epic Pure Pitcher 99.8% removal). Carbon blocks can remove chlorine more effectively, eliminate undesirable odors, and removal of endocrine disruptors like volatile organic compounds. The granular activated carbon particles move around, so the filter does not have as much uniformity throughout, unlike the solid carbon blocks.
April Jones
A hiker, blogger, and water quality expert...