Sep 17, 2009 7:23 pm US/Pacific
Study Finds Benefits For Some To Filter Tap Water
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
Even with treatment, tap water may contain small amounts of certain contaminants. Some reports suggest how even water that meets current U.S. standards may still make certain people sick. A new study done in the Bay Area not only backs that up, but adds a possible solution.
Researchers focused on Sonoma County, a region that is celebrated for its wine and agriculture, thanks in part to its water.
As with the rest of the Bay Area, the drinking water must meet certain standards. But in this study, researchers did not test water quality but the older residents living here who drink it.
Professor Jack Colford is an epidemiologist at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health and lead author of the study.
"We were most concerned about whether elderly individuals might benefit from additional water treatment in a system where water quality is very high such as Sonoma's", Dr. Colford explained.
He said even with current U.S. water quality standards, there's a question whether some people may need additional protection, such as the elderly, children, people on cancer chemotherapy.
In the study, researchers installed specially designed high-end water filters in the homes of nearly one thousand older Sonoma County residents. The contraptions not only filtered water, they zapped it with ultraviolet light.
"We were trying to do this in very rigorous way, to make the water as good as we possibly could with excess treatment at home," said Dr. Colford.
Half of the filters worked, the other half were fakes.
No one knew who got what. Six months later, the filters were swapped. Still no one knew.
After a year, the impact of the true filters was impressive.
"We found about a 12 percent statistically significant reduction in gastrointestinal illnesses we were measuring, the kind of mild illnesses that keep you home for a day or two," said Dr. Colford.
But that mild illness can be a severe problem for the elderly.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal government are constantly reviewing and revising drinking water standards. These agencies will look at reports like these and determine whether standards are sufficient, if they need to be changed, or whether certain groups need to take additional precautions.
Both the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control currently recommend that patients with immunocompromised systems may want to consider using filtration systems that employ reverse osmosis or a one micron filter; distilled water or to boil their tap water.
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