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Rainwater everywhere on the planet is unsafe to drink

Germinator

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Rainwater everywhere on the planet is unsafe to drink due to levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS that exceed the latest guidelines, according to a new study by Stockholm University scientists.

Commonly known as 'forever chemicals' because they disintegrate extremely slowly, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) were initially found in packaging, shampoo or makeup but have spread to our entire environment, including water and air.

"There is nowhere on Earth where the rain would be safe to drink, according to the measurements that we have taken," Ian Cousins, a professor at the university and the lead author of the study published in Environmental Science and Technology, told AFP.

A compilation of the data since 2010 that his team studied showed that "even in Antarctica or the Tibetan plateau, the levels in the rainwater are above the drinking water guidelines that the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) proposed", he said.

Normally considered pristine, the two regions still have PFAS levels "14 times higher" than the US drinking water guidelines.

The EPA recently lowered its PFAS guidelines significantly after discovering that the chemicals may affect the immune responsein children to vaccines, Cousins noted.

Once ingested, PFAS accumulate in the body.

According to some studies, exposure can also lead to problems with fertility, developmental delays in children, increased risks of obesity or certain cancers (prostate, kidney and testicular), an increase in cholesterol levels.

Cousins said PFAS were now "so persistent" and ubiquitous that they will never disappear from the planet.

"We have made the planet inhospitable to human life by irreversibly contaminating it now so that nothing is clean anymore. And to the point that's it's not clean enough to be safe", he said.

"We have crossed a planetary boundary", he said, referring to a central paradigm for evaluating Earth's capacity to absorb the impact of human activity.

However, Cousins noted that PFAS levels in people have actually dropped "quite significantly in the last 20 years" and "ambient levels (of PFAS in the environment) have been the same for the past 20 years".

"What's changed is the guidelines. They've gone down millions of times since the early 2000s, because we've learned more about the toxicity of these substances."

Cousins said we have to learn to live with it.

"I'm not super concerned about the everyday exposure in mountain or stream water or in the food. We can't escape it... we're just going to have to live with it."

"But it's not a great situation to be in, where we've contaminated the environment to the point where background exposure is not really safe."


https://phys.org/news/2022-08-rainwater-unsafe-due-chemicals.html


...then there is the issue of the on going drought in the South Western USA


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-river-water-level-60-minutes-2022-08-14/


which isn't being addressed by political leadership


In his time at the California State Water Resources Control Board, Max Gomberg has witnessed the state grapple with two devastating droughts and the accelerating effects of climate change.

Now, after 10 years of recommending strategies for making California more water resilient, the board’s climate and conservation manager is calling it quits. The reason: He no longer believes Gov. Gavin Newsom and his administration are willing to pursue the sorts of transformational changes necessary in an age of growing aridification.


https://www.latimes.com/california/...drought-official-blasts-newsom-administration


sigh,...
 
Yes. I was reading about PFAS the other day. Rather depressing and all that but still, we'll just have to live with it or try to find some
way (if possible) to neutralize it. Thanks DuPont and Teflon.> Not actually their fault...didn't know.
 
It's remarkable, but I've always suspected that it would just be a matter of time. Everyone who lets rainwater charge their cistern has to now make sure they have adequate filtration on the outflow before use. In fact, we're at the point were very little water should be consumed at all without undergoing home filtration, including deep well water, and city water. Very few municipalities provide water so pure that it wouldn't help to filter it before consumption.

Which reminds me, I often bottle and refrigerate my tap water for drinking without running it through a filter, so I haven't been taking my own advice. Time to clean out the Brita again, and be more vigilant about what I drink.

🌧️
 
I think we're going to see all irrigation in California and other nearby states banned at some point in the next few decades.
I hope there might be exceptions for some farming, but I am by no means sure of that.

Maybe it won't get that bad....but that's been said before.
 
My first thought was "won't bacteria arise to eat PFAS?" so it was pleasing that Phys.org had an article on that:


"Microbial fungi" not bacteria, but still.
 
In the 1960s, I could drink stream water when hiking and camping up high in the mountains. Now, even people that go off the grid deep in Alaska have to boil that water. Oh well.
 
In the 1960s, I could drink stream water when hiking and camping up high in the mountains. Now, even people that go off the grid deep in Alaska have to boil that water. Oh well.

It probably never was completely safe. Bears shit in the woods you know.
 
My theory is that if you mix water with good scotch the PFAS is neutralized. I firmly believe that (hic).
 
My theory is that if you mix water with good scotch the PFAS is neutralized. I firmly believe that (hic).

Or you could try Ouzo. That stuff is effective against all forms of life :sick:
 
Rainwater everywhere on the planet is unsafe to drink due to levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS that exceed the latest guidelines, according to a new study by Stockholm University scientists.

Commonly known as 'forever chemicals' because they disintegrate extremely slowly, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) were initially found in packaging, shampoo or makeup but have spread to our entire environment, including water and air.

"There is nowhere on Earth where the rain would be safe to drink, according to the measurements that we have taken," Ian Cousins, a professor at the university and the lead author of the study published in Environmental Science and Technology, told AFP.

A compilation of the data since 2010 that his team studied showed that "even in Antarctica or the Tibetan plateau, the levels in the rainwater are above the drinking water guidelines that the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) proposed", he said.

Normally considered pristine, the two regions still have PFAS levels "14 times higher" than the US drinking water guidelines.

The EPA recently lowered its PFAS guidelines significantly after discovering that the chemicals may affect the immune responsein children to vaccines, Cousins noted.

Once ingested, PFAS accumulate in the body.

According to some studies, exposure can also lead to problems with fertility, developmental delays in children, increased risks of obesity or certain cancers (prostate, kidney and testicular), an increase in cholesterol levels.

Cousins said PFAS were now "so persistent" and ubiquitous that they will never disappear from the planet.

"We have made the planet inhospitable to human life by irreversibly contaminating it now so that nothing is clean anymore. And to the point that's it's not clean enough to be safe", he said.

"We have crossed a planetary boundary", he said, referring to a central paradigm for evaluating Earth's capacity to absorb the impact of human activity.

However, Cousins noted that PFAS levels in people have actually dropped "quite significantly in the last 20 years" and "ambient levels (of PFAS in the environment) have been the same for the past 20 years".

"What's changed is the guidelines. They've gone down millions of times since the early 2000s, because we've learned more about the toxicity of these substances."

Cousins said we have to learn to live with it.

"I'm not super concerned about the everyday exposure in mountain or stream water or in the food. We can't escape it... we're just going to have to live with it."

"But it's not a great situation to be in, where we've contaminated the environment to the point where background exposure is not really safe."


https://phys.org/news/2022-08-rainwater-unsafe-due-chemicals.html


...then there is the issue of the on going drought in the South Western USA


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-river-water-level-60-minutes-2022-08-14/


which isn't being addressed by political leadership


In his time at the California State Water Resources Control Board, Max Gomberg has witnessed the state grapple with two devastating droughts and the accelerating effects of climate change.

Now, after 10 years of recommending strategies for making California more water resilient, the board’s climate and conservation manager is calling it quits. The reason: He no longer believes Gov. Gavin Newsom and his administration are willing to pursue the sorts of transformational changes necessary in an age of growing aridification.

https://www.latimes.com/california/...drought-official-blasts-newsom-administration


sigh,...
I read that the other day, It's sad and crazy.
 
My theory is that if you mix water with good scotch the PFAS is neutralized. I firmly believe that (hic).
There's a legendary anecdote about a Hollywood studio reporter following the alcoholic W.C. Fields around for some period of time, and finally asking him, "Do you ever drink water?" His famous response: "I never drink anything that fish **** in."

🥃
 
It probably never was completely safe. Bears shit in the woods you know.

There was more fish than bear shit. Still, it was safe to drink. Your water provider must measure what's in the "safe" tap water you get from them. Find out what's in your water.
 
There was more fish than bear shit. Still, it was safe to drink. Your water provider must measure what's in the "safe" tap water you get from them. Find out what's in your water.

A lot of minerals, but due to chlorination, not a lot of bacteria.
The only outdoors water I would drink without boiling, is snow melt.
 
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