The startling truth about your drinking water.

What is in your drinking water?

Everyone needs food to survive.  Our population is estimated to almost double in the United States alone by 2050.   It is further estimated that in 4 years our countries consumption of meats will also double. In order to accommodate growing meat demands, livestock production has become increasingly more industrialized.

The use of antibiotics in Industrialized livestock farms has become a common management practice. They are used to control bacterial pathogens that cause disease and especially as growth promoters to produce marketable meat quicker.

Let’s stop right here! Do you really want that?

I am not writing an article so that you will give up eating meat. I’m writing an article how that affects our drinking water. When we as a society demand more and more something has to give.

Antibiotic contaminated groundwater and surface water are threatening the health of humans.  Seventy-five percent of antibiotics delivered are not absorbed or used by the animal. These contaminated manures eventually end up in groundwater and surface waters as a product of runoff.

In no way am I proposing a vegetarian diet or kill off the American farmer/farms. My point is this, we need to stop demanding more and more. Most Americans aren’t even aware that a serving size is a 1/2c veggies or 6 oz of meat. Overeating leads to so many health problems but that is for another blog post.

In order to eliminate this problem, I propose to ban the use of all non-therapeutic and sub-therapeutic antibiotics in livestock. Administering only therapeutic antibiotics will constrain bacteria from becoming resistant and infecting surrounding area waterways.

With that said, I do understand that the ban on antibiotics for sub-therapeutic and non-therapeutic purposes will have an economic impact on meat production and sales. The practice of antibiotic overuse has resulted in animals weighing more at the time of slaughter.

We have to decide if we are willing to pay the farmer upfront for quality meat or pay later with our health from antibiotic ridden drinking water?  I say pay the farmer upfront to make a profit to stay in business long term.  We need clean drinking water.  It is our own fault.

Moving On…

What else can be in our drinking water? Do you know? Let’s take a look.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, has recently been detected in groundwater samples at such high levels that 41 percent of them exceeded the limits of quantification. Groundwater feeds springs, wells, and aquifers – the natural source of drinking water — and when contaminated, threatens the health of everyone who depends on it.

Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, has long claimed that Roundup is safe and environmentally friendly, but studies show it does not readily break down in the environment.  They can’t claim this any longer.  A recent lawsuit Monsanto has to pay $294 million dollars to a man with cancer.

Glyphosate has been linked to more than 20 adverse health effects, including birth defects, infertility, and cancer. It’s also a wise choice to have your well or city water tested for contaminants, and install a whole-house filtration system to remove pollutants.

I ask this, why do we keep poisoning ourselves on a daily basis using glyphosates around our homes. Even if hiring goats isn’t the best option for you, you can make up a natural solution to kill the weeds on your property without using Glyphosates.

Herbicides are not biodegrading in the soil, it is trickling down below the soil to the groundwater.  These findings have devastating environmental and human health implications.   Glyphosates are the most widely used herbicide in the world and is being found virtually everywhere it has been tested.

Think long term when you are about to spray herbicides on your property. What are you doing to your drinking water and that of others? Take responsibility that we as humans must change our ways. Our environment depends on it. We must have clean drinking water.