Water, water everywhere...
Water, Water Everywhere... But Not a Drop to Drink
Anyone who's had Montezuma's revenge in Mexico knows this truth: water quality matters.
Ancient civilizations understood this. They boiled water, distilled it, or fermented it into beer and wine to kill parasites and bacteria. Modern water treatment plants continue this tradition, but they've added chemicals that solve one problem while creating others.
Your tap water won't give you dysentery. But the treatment process introduces compounds that disrupt thyroid function, compete for essential minerals, and accumulate in your tissues over decades.
Here's what's actually in your drinking water, and what you can do about it.
What's in Your Tap Water
Most urban and suburban homes connect to municipal water systems. Treatment plants use a multi-step process to make water safe for consumption.
Step 1: Aluminum sulfate for clarification
Aluminum sulfate helps sediment settle out of water, making it clearer. The aluminum residue stays in your drinking water at low levels.
The research on aluminum accumulation remains contentious, but links exist between chronic aluminum exposure and Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and certain cancers. Your body doesn't need aluminum. It has no biological function. Every molecule you ingest is waste your system must process and store.
Step 2: Chlorine for sterilization
Chlorine kills bacteria and keeps water sterile through the distribution system. This prevents waterborne illness outbreaks that killed thousands before modern sanitation.
The trade-off? Chlorine competes with iodine for absorption in your body. Your thyroid needs iodine to produce thyroid hormones that regulate metabolism, energy production, and cellular function.
When chlorine occupies iodine receptors, your thyroid gets starved. Subclinical hypothyroidism, brain fog, weight gain, and fatigue follow.
Chlorine also generates disinfection byproducts (trihalomethanes) when it reacts with organic matter in water. These compounds show strong correlations with increased cancer rates in long-term exposure studies.
Step 3: Fluoride for "dental health"
Many treatment plants add fluoride to prevent tooth decay. Like chlorine, fluoride competes with iodine for thyroid receptors.
Fluoride accumulates in bone tissue, the pineal gland, and other organs over time. The supposed benefit (slightly harder tooth enamel) doesn't justify systemic exposure to a compound your body can't use and struggles to eliminate.
Both chlorine and fluoride are halogens. They're chemically similar to iodine, which is why they successfully hijack iodine binding sites throughout your body.
The new problem: Chloramines
Some treatment plants now use chloramines (chlorine + ammonia) instead of straight chlorine. Chloramines persist longer in distribution systems, which reduces bacterial regrowth in pipes.
They're also harder to filter out, more toxic to aquatic life, and produce different disinfection byproducts than chlorine alone. The long-term health effects are less studied, which doesn't mean they're safer. It means we're the experiment.
Your Options for Clean Drinking Water
You can't control what the treatment plant adds to municipal water. You can control what reaches your glass.
Why basic filters don't work:
Refrigerator filters and Brita pitchers use activated carbon to remove chlorine taste and some particulates. They don't remove fluoride, chloramines, heavy metals, or pharmaceutical residues.
They improve taste. They don't address the core contamination issues.
What actually works:
Berkey gravity filters use both activated carbon and specialized media to remove fluoride, chlorine, chloramines, heavy metals, and most contaminants. No electricity required. Filters last years.
This is the minimum standard for drinking water if you're on municipal systems.
Reverse osmosis systems remove nearly everything, including beneficial minerals. If you use RO, you'll need to remineralize the water or ensure you're getting minerals from food and supplementation.
Whole-house filtration systems address the full exposure picture. You absorb chlorine and chloramines through your skin when you shower. Steam inhalation delivers volatilized chemicals directly to your lungs.
Whole-house systems cost $10,000-$15,000 installed, with annual maintenance around $1,200. They remove fluoride, chlorine, and chloramines before water enters any faucet or showerhead in your home.
Expensive. Also comprehensive.
The Bigger Picture
Water quality is part of a larger pattern. Regulatory agencies approve interventions (fluoridation, chloramination) based on acute toxicity data and theoretical benefits, not long-term accumulation studies or interaction effects with other environmental exposures.
Your thyroid doesn't care about public health policy. It cares about whether it can access the iodine it needs to function.
The people designing water treatment protocols aren't thinking about subclinical hypothyroidism or halogen competition. They're thinking about preventing cholera outbreaks and meeting EPA standards.
Both goals matter. But you're the one living with the consequences of chronic low-level exposure.
For more on supporting your body's detoxification systems and mineral balance, visit the Fuel Your Body pillar page. And read the companion post on choosing the right TYPE of water to maximize hydration and mineral delivery.
Ready to optimize your health and performance? Dr. JJ Gregor uses Applied Kinesiology and functional health approaches to help patients achieve their wellness goals at his Frisco, Texas practice. Schedule a consultation to discover how nutrition, stress management, and lifestyle optimization can support your overall health.
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