If you follow current events in water quality, one contaminant that you’re sure to come across at some point is arsenic. Because this is such a growing concern, many homeowners are curious about where arsenic comes from and what effects it has on our bodies. So today we’re going to talk about the effects of having arsenic in your drinking water and what you can do to remove it!
What is arsenic?
Arsenic is a semi-metal and one of the elements in the periodic table. It is odorless and tasteless, and is found in natural deposits from the earth.
How does arsenic get in our drinking water?
Arsenic can get into our drinking water in a couple ways. The first is via natural erosion of earth deposits that allow the metal to seep into source water. The second is via runoff from agricultural and industrial activities, which produce arsenic as part of their waste.
For many years, low doses of arsenic were relatively dismissed as a health hazard. However, public health researchers have recently changed their minds about the metal, and they now believe that it can be detrimental to our health even at very low doses.
The EPA currently limits the levels of arsenic in drinking water at 10 parts per billion.
What are the health effects of arsenic in drinking water?
Consumption of arsenic (whether at high or low doses) has been linked to many different health effects, including:
- Stomach pain, nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Respiratory problems
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Increased risk of various cancers, including: bladder, lung, skin, kidney, nasal passage, liver and prostate cancer
How can you remove arsenic from your drinking water?
The good news about arsenic is that it can be removed using many different filtration methods at home. Reverse osmosis, ion exchange and carbon filtration have all been shown to be effective at removing arsenic from your water. NC Water Consultants offers a number of different water treatment systems that utilize these filtration techniques. Contact us for a free water quality analysis and we’ll match you with the perfect solution!
If you have any questions about arsenic in your drinking water, or if you’d like a water treatment system serviced or installed in your home, contact North Carolina Water Consultants. We service and install Hague water filtration products all over North and South Carolina
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