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As public awareness grows about lead in toys and precautions are being taken to reduce exposure to lead… the same effort is needed as it relates to water.

If you live in a home with running water, your water most likely contains lead. How much lead? I don’t know but there are ways to test, filter, and significantly reduce the amount of lead in your water (which we’ll get to later).

A few years back an artists wrote a compelling song about water. It wasn’t one of those songs you hear on the radio…at least it never made rotation on any of the stations I listened too. The recent oil spill in San Francisco made me think about the song because there’s a line in it in which the artist says:

Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause oil tankers spill they load as they roam cross the sea

Today I had to play the song a few times (its always been a favorite you can listen to it by clicking on the video below) but now I’m feeling the lyrics even more.

We just paid our water bill the other day and today I find myself pondering what exactly are we paying for? What the hell is in that water that we get the pleasure of paying for every month? What am I paying for when I buy a bottle of Aquafina and whats the difference between what comes out of my sink or shower head and bottled water?

For as long as I can remember my grandmother has always boiled her water. It didn’t really make sense to me as a kid but I certainly get it now! Am I just a housewife with too much time on her hands?Read this before you answer that rhetorical question:

“New World Water” by Mos Def

New World Water make the tide rise high
Come inland and make your house go “Bye” (My house!)
Fools done upset the Old Man River
Made him carry slave ships and fed him dead nigga
Now his belly full and he about to flood somethin
So I’ma throw a rope that ain’t tied to nothin
Tell your crew use the H2 in wise amounts since
it’s the New World Water; and every drop counts
You can laugh and take it as a joke if you wanna
But it don’t rain for four weeks some summers
And it’s about to get real wild in the half
You be buying Evian just to take a fuckin bath
Heads is acting wild, sippin poor, puffin dank
Competin with the next man for higher playin rank
See I ain’t got time try to be Big Hank,
Fuck a bank; I need a twenty-year water tank
Cause while these knuckleheads is out here sweatin they goods
The sun is sitting in the treetops burnin the woods
And as the flames from the blaze get higher and higher
They say, “Don’t drink the water! We need it for the fire!”
New York is drinkin it (New World Water)
Now all of California is drinkin it (New World Water)
Way up north and down south is drinkin it (New World Water)
Used to have minerals and zinc in it (New World Water)
Now they say it got lead and stink in it (New World Water)
Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Push the water table lopside
Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause oil tankers spill they load as they roam cross the sea
Man, you gotta cook with it, bathe and clean with it (That’s right)
When it’s hot, summertime you fiend for it (Let em know)
You gotta put it in the iron you steamin with (That’s right)
It’s what they dress wounds and treat diseases with (Shout it out)
The rich and poor, black and white got need for it (That’s right)
And everybody in the world can agree with this (Let em know)
Consumption promotes health and easiness (That’s right)
Go too long without it on this earth and you leavin it (Shout it out)
Americans wastin it on some leisure shit (Say word?)
And other nations be desperately seekin it (Let em know)
Bacteria washing up on they beaches (Say word?)
Don’t drink the water, son they can’t wash they feet with it (Let em know)
Young babies in perpetual neediness (Say word?)
Epidemics hopppin up off the petri dish (Let em know)
Control centers try to play it all secretive (Say word?)
To avoid public panic and freakiness (Let em know)
There are places where TB is common as TV
Cause foreign-based companies go and get greedy
The type of cats who pollute the whole shore line
Have it purified, sell it for a dollar twenty-five
Now the world is drinkin it
Your moms, wife, and baby girl is drinkin it
Up north and down south is drinkin it
You should just have to go to your sink for it
The cash registers is goin “cha-chink!” for it
Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Got the fish lookin cockeyed
Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause it’s all about gettin that cash (Money)

Said it’s all about gettin that cash (Money) [x9]
Johny cash (Money)
Roseland cash (Money)
Give me cash (Money)
Cold cash (Money)
[Repeat to fade]

Cash rules everything around me,
Move!

Here are some tips for improving the quality of your water.

Flush Your Pipes Before Drinking
Anytime the water in a particular faucet has not been used for six hours or longer, “flush” your cold-water pipes by running the water until it becomes as cold as it will get. (This could take as little as five to thirty seconds if there has been recent heavy water use such as showering or toilet flushing. Otherwise, it could take two minutes or longer.) The more time water has been sitting in your home’s pipes, the more lead it may contain.

Only Use Cold Water for Consumption
Use only water from the cold-water tap for drinking, cooking, and especially for making baby formula. Hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead.The two actions recommended above are very important to the health of your family. They will probably be effective in reducing lead levels because most of the lead in household water usually comes from the plumbing in your house, not from the local water supply.

Have Your Water Tested
After you have taken the two precautions above for reducing the lead in water used for drinking or cooking, have your water tested. The only way to be sure of the amount of lead in your household water is to have it tested by a competent laboratory. Your water supplier may be able to offer information or assistance with testing. Testing is especially important for apartment dwellers, because flushing may not be effective in high-rise buildings with lead-soldered central piping.

Water purification
There are two primary ways to treat water: boiling and adding bleach. If tap water is unsafe because of water contamination (from floods, streams or lakes), boiling is the best method. Cloudy water should be filtered before boiling or adding bleach. Filter water using coffee filters, paper towels, cheese cloth or a cotton plug in a funnel.

Boiling
Boiling is the safest way to purify water. Bring the water to a rolling boil for 3-5 minutes. Let the water cool before drinking.
Purifying by adding liquid chlorine bleach
If boiling is not possible, treat water by adding liquid household bleach, such as Clorox or Purex. Household bleach is typically between 5 percent and 6 percent chlorine. Avoid using bleaches that contain perfumes, dyes and other additives. Be sure to read the label. Place the water (filtered, if necessary) in a clean container. Add the amount of bleach according to the table below. Mix thoroughly and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes before using (60 minutes if the water is cloudy or very cold).