What is perchlorate and why is it in our tap water? Perchlorate is a chemical commonly used to make rocket propellants, ammunition, fireworks, matches, and signal flares. It also occurs naturally in some fertilizers. Perchlorate seeps into groundwater in many places, mainly near military installations which use a large quantity of rocket fuel. Perchlorate has been found in high concentrations in 26 states so far, contaminating tap water of an estimated 16 million people. Although perchlorate is on the EPA’s list of unregulated contaminants to monitor, local water treatment facilities are not required to remove it from public water supply. Perchlorate is one of the many chemicals FreshPure Waters removes.
Ongoing Battle for Regulations
The Environmental Protection Agency reviewed perchlorate in 1998, 2005, and 2009. It is on the EPA’s list of contaminants observed by the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR), which requires large and small public water systems to test for, but not to regulate, different chemicals in tap water. The EPA took a big step in 2011, confirming that perchlorate meets Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA) criteria. However, no official limit was set. In response, some states like California and Massachusetts proactively decided to regulate perchlorate independently of the EPA.
“Perchlorate may have an adverse effect on the health of persons; perchlorate is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood that perchlorate will occur in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern; …regulation of perchlorate in drinking water systems presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for person served by public water systems.”
-Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA proposed specific limits in late 2019, However, in May of 2020, the Trump Administration announced it would not regulate perchlorate, effectively revoking the EPA’s 2011 findings. So, for the foreseeable future, perchlorate will persist as an unregulated contaminant. (New York Times).
Perchlorate & Your Health
Perchlorate has been shown to have a significant negative impact on our bodies- in particular, the thyroid. Here’s a little anatomy:
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland that resides in your throat, right above the Adam’s apple. It makes and releases hormones which regulate a wide range of functions including your metabolism, mood, sleep cycle, and digestion. Your thyroid uses iodine as a building block to make these hormones. This is largely the reason that iodized salt was introduced in the US in 1924. (Discover Magazine).
Side note: Seaweed is a great source of iodine.
Perchlorate inhibits your body’s ability to use iodine in the production of thyroid hormones. When your thyroid cannot produce enough hormones to manage all these systems, symptoms of hypothyroidism appear. (PubMed)
Symptoms of Hypothyroidism:
- Dry Skin
- Constipation
- Dry, cracking hair
- Weight Gain
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Sleep Issues
The concern doesn’t stop there. As with MANY contaminants in drinking water, perchlorate’s effects on pregnancy are detrimental to the neurological and cognitive development of a growing baby. (JECM).
Hot Spots for Water Contamination
Perchlorate, which dissolves easily into water, has been found in 375 large utilities that serve a total of 16 million people. Hot spots include Northern and Southern California, Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, among many others. “But those records do not include smaller water systems, so the number of Americans drinking water contaminated with perchlorate is likely much higher.” (EWG). Check the Tap Water Database, a tool to check your local water report for perchlorate.
FreshPure Waters is Perchlorate Free
If you live in one of these “perchlorate hot spots,” we highly recommend drinking filtered water. The following two methods are effective at removing perchlorate:
- Ion Exchange
- Reverse Osmosis
FreshPure Waters uses both of these methods for all three types of water we offer (Alkaline, Reverse Osmosis, and Deionized). Our water is third-party tested for perchlorate to ensure it has been effectively removed the water we produce. We are proud to have a system that removes a vast range of unregulated contaminants like perchlorate.
References
Discover Magazine. (2013). How Adding Iodine to Salt Boosted Americans’ IQ. Retrieved from https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/how-adding-iodine-to-salt-boosted-americans-iq
Environmental Protection Agency. Perchlorate FAQs. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/perchlorate-drinking-water-frequent-questions#how-remove
Environmental Protection Agency. Perchlorate in Drinking Water/ Retrieved form https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/perchlorate-drinking-water
Environmental Working Group. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/contaminant.php?contamcode=A031
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. (2014). Maternal Perchlorate Levels in Women With Borderline Thyroid Function During Pregnancy and the Cognitive Development of Their Offspring: Data From the Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Study. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/99/11/4291/2836745
New York Times. (2020). E.P.A. Opts Against Limits on Water Contaminant Tied to Fetal Damage. Retrieved on May 18th, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/trump-drinking-water-perchlorate.html
PubMed NCBI. Perchlorate: Health Effects and Technologies for Its Removal from Water Resources. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681191/
Water Supply. (2019). Review of perchlorate occurrence in large public drinking water systems in the United States of America. Retrieved from https://watermark.silverchair.com/ws019030681.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAjEwggItBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggIeMIICGgIBADCCAhMGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMBwEttlr2-0zVcfADAgEQgIIB5FDnvSJHb-69emZqEhcDwrv-FSA_SNbkz6BORUnfEo1zztbhzgdBMks8I6Iqhw_dafnH-SANCp26GDvAF7NOkQ4pAVDpurrVTb7QhkF-RCaAGdNFFOWD9t0Uem6W3vU0DaTtmWUummtQi50vvgF5I0eA-8n4sdY15PxI7w2Ff0UotmkiTyg0xdQd-lw4Lj3aXvdEvJsvAsR5nN7Z1vP0h5gab1pnlFBckjq1XTvIQR_ltiftxR53DJovleVYn3u5RDAIp_8Wx_WTGm1V-x7EJpQRby3-OUI7a70dFfkwlI0GT9mJ_cGOtYnxcTMvYxvCZcPTkGn9TJ-P23TPZdeYtl9sb8zj5bsxNJqyqdLc-Z6cofIpFSsyVGWwuRteikbjlSwPsOBVFEMN6mGKvukCZjSodNOeJ2DKAxE2qbatTVIyoP34APYZ7kZHwON9fEfKldgJd5BdSxXI_fElDoUeceKCJ6I_gnRpgGYMoNJojlCJV_qaNJYSdYicpHLA-mepDZlJx8YzMSq5F-uZQ-2I7kH4_uaIXeikhGy2YQdeuchxSHhtoUAT77oCJwiCHrHhdYJUI7bTdlv2xkSxsnINmigGKT0UIfaILOlJLjShI1LNLKq4_Pwezal0ULCixjqW-KOmu_4