Jugs Ceramics

11 Oct, 2007 in art pottery by admin

Jugs Ceramics

The Last Public Defense (water Treament Plants) Failed - Drugs Found in our Drinking Water!

You are drinking "Recycled Drugs"! How devastating is that sound?

An expert on antibiotic resistance at the University of Illinois. Christian Daughton, a Chief of Environmental Chemistry for the EPA warns, “Water pollution by drugs is a newly emerging issue.”

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

So how are all these drugs getting in the water in the first place?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Some fraction of every dose a person takes passes through unmetabolized and is evacuated by the body and flushed into sewage systems. Sewage treatment plants are meant to remove the more familiar kinds of pollutants, and typically do not remove pharmaceuticals from waste water as it is cleaned up and released back into the environment, eventually to find its way into other water supply systems.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the Associated Press discovered that drugs found in our drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.

Although levels are low -- reportedly measured in parts per billion or trillion -- and utility companies contend the water is safe, experts from private organizations and the government say they can't say for sure whether the levels of drugs in drinking water are low enough to discount harmful health effects. These chemicals do not go away or just evaporate into thin air. Instead, it will accumulate and stay in the water. Worst of all, most water filter do not remove these drugs or chemicals. The level of drugs in our drinking water consume by our children or grand children will be much higher than ever.

Alarmingly sad, but there’s no national strategy to deal with them — no effective mandates to test, treat, limit or even advise the public. Some researchers, environmentalists, health professionals, water managers and bureaucrats like Associated Press, FDA, Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Defense Council, International Bottled Water Association, National Geological Survey, Water Works Association and many more basically has little measure or control over what is the safety level of Pharmaceutical Drugs content in water. Most do not have the regulatory firepower in enforcing the proper measure, leaving the last defence to our home water purifiers. Though pharmaceutical sales are rising, plants that cleanse sewage or drinking water are not required to remove drugs. They aren’t even required to monitor for them.

So, does that mean we have to drink what ever water is being supplied to us? What about the drugs in the drinking water? The answer is "if the government can protect us, we will have to gear up and protect ourselves. Having to install the home water filtration system, so it is effectively removing not only the contaminants and toxics, but as well as the drugs found in our drinking water.

There are variety of home water purifiers available in the market, but as I said, not all will effectively block all the pollutants and drugs in which the molecules are smaller than water. Below are few tips to consider while choosing the right home water purification systems.

Distillation

This remove basically everything from the drinking water. The contaminants and toxics, as well as the important trace of minerals which is vital to our body system. The product is unhealthy water which do not benefit much to our daily water consumption.

Reverse Osmosis

The process remove almost all the trace of minerals but leaving some chemicals, especially the molecules which are smaller than water.

Activated Carbon Water Filters

Most often found in the jug type portable filters that are widely available at kitchenware stores. This is the most basic form of filtration and will remove chlorine, some chemicals, mercury, large parasites and particulates. Unfortunately, it won't remove bacteria, asbestos, most radioactive compounds, some heavy metals and fluoride.

Ceramic Carbon Water Filters
As the name suggests this type of filter is comprised of two parts, ceramic and carbon. This gives it the ability to filter out a wide range of contaminants. Some are also impregnated with silver to further reduce numbers of microorganisms as silver is a powerful antibiotic. These filters usually come as a cartridge that sits under the sink in the kitchen and is plumbed into the water supply and the filtered water is then sent to a counter top tap. A ceramic carbon filter will remove a large amount of contaminants including most bacteria and parasites, cysts, chlorine, some radioactive contaminants, most solvents, pesticides and chemicals as well as some heavy metals.

Still doesn't remove fluoride, some heavy metals, viruses and very small microbes.

Multi-Stage Water Filtration System

It's obviously one typical type of water filtration system can not remove all the harmful particles, but keep the beneficial minerals as ideally required by our body. The best water filtration system would be the multi-stage water filtration system or combination of water purification system which compliment each other to deliver the purest water as nature intended for our daily consumption and hydration.

I can't stress enough the importance to focus on these area instead of the brand or price (it's meaningless to have cheap or expensive branded stuff that do not serve the purpose of water filtration). You must be very particular in choosing the right drinking water filtration system that work, so you are wise in comparing the price as well as the effectiveness to your precious health.

About the Author

Alvyn Khoo is a health researcher on water purification issues. He helped 2 teams of people promoting home water purifier from 2 reputable companies in Asia but later decided to stay independent and neutral on his patient in home water purifiers system. Visit his site now at http://www.absolute-filtered-water-site.com to get the facts on how to choose the best water purification system.

Pottery Artists?

I need a list of potters who did ceramics and vessels such as (Vases, jugs,c ups, plates etc...)

Lucie Rie, Bernard Leach and Grayson Perry (who won the Turner prize in 2004 I think)

Turning plates on the pottery wheel by Wayne Norris