--- Water in the News! (Focus - Terrorism and your safe drinking
water)

(AOL Users: You may have to cut/paste the URL's below into your browser
in order to view the online articles.)

FEMA-Critical Infrastructures Threatened - Utilities Vulnerable
Peter Beering, a terrorism preparedness coordinator, called water the
"quintessential target" because it has been targeted for centuries in
real conflict and on film. "People typically do not become emotionally
attached to their electric service, natural gas, or telephone, but they
do get very physically attached to the water they consume." Therefore,
interruption of running water or actual contamination of the water
supply is probably the most significant infrastructure loss.
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/cipc/igsep2001.htm

Yahoo - Water Security Tightens After FBI Advisories
US water companies are ratcheting up security in the wake of the
attacks on the United States--from increasing patrols at reservoirs to
shutting down roads--after warnings from law enforcement officials that
the nation's water supply could face sabotage.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010928/hl/water_2.html

ABC - Biological and Chemical Warfare Q & A
Now that terrorists have demonstrated they're capable of carrying out
unthinkable attacks of extreme devastation, some believe the United
States should be on higher alert for a biological or chemical attack,
or an assault on a nuclear facility.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/WTC_chemicalbiologicalqa.ht
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--- Featured Article

Drinking Water and Terrorism: Questions and Concerns -
By Mr. Glenn Meder, Pure Water, Inc. Director - US Sales

Since the horrible events of September 11th, we have received a number
of phone calls from people wanting to know about protecting themselves
against intentional contamination of public water supplies. We have
summarized the majority of these questions for you now...

Is there a potential risk to our water supplies?
We think so, and here's why...

1) Past Experience: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1993 over 400,000 people
got sick from a biological contaminant in the water supply. Over 100
people died!
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9609/02/nfm/water.quality/index.html
There are many other examples in the US of water supplies becoming
contaminated and making people sick. To date these occurrences have
involved unintentional contamination of our water supplies, but the
fact is that our water supplies are vulnerable!

2) Municipalities only test for a small number of contaminants: Of the
60,000 chemicals that can possibly be in our water supplies, our
municipalities only have to test for a little over 100! Even today
municipalities do NOT typically test for contaminants that would most
likely be used in a terrorist effort.

3) It's easy to gain access to our reservoirs: Our vast water supplies
are easily accessible and there is no way we can totally protect them
from contamination (intentional or unintentional).

4) It's possible to bypass our municipal water treatment systems: A
terrorist could bypass your city water system by injecting a
contaminant into the waterline at any point in a city, such as a fire
hydrant or a water pipe from a building basement.

Why is the news saying that a water attack is unlikely?
The news shows are not all saying that an attack is unlikely...
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010928/hl/water_2.html
When you do hear that a water attack is unlikely they are going on the
assumption that water is hard to contaminate because anything that goes
into it will be diluted and will lose it's effectiveness. They are also
counting on the fact that any biological contaminants would be killed
by the municipal treatment system. There are three problems with this
approach.

First, there are some contaminants that are extremely toxic! A very
small concentration of these super-toxic contaminants could cause
severe problems!
Second, biologic contaminants can multiply in the water source.
Bacteria are microscopic, non-green plants and can grow virtually
anywhere. Yes, we can hope that the chlorine that is used to treat the
water will kill the bacteria, but chlorine isn't all that effective on
spores (such as those from Anthrax).
Third, as mentioned before, a smart terrorist can add contaminants to
water systems AFTER the municipal water treatment system, thus
bypassing any treatment method (except an in-home system).

How will we know if there is an attack on our water supply?
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult question to answer. If the
contaminant were a chemical the symptoms would typically manifest in a
short period of time. Symptoms resulting from a biological contaminant
on the other hand, could take many days before being noticed.

Hospitals around the country have been notified to look for specific
patterns of symptoms. If such a pattern occurs they will be able to
figure out what the contaminant is then they will be able to track it
back to it's source.

Your goal should be to protect yourself as well as possible at all
times and to do what you feel is necessary to provide peace of mind for
your family!

What is the best way to protect my family and myself from potential
water contamination?
There are 3 main types of treatment methods available for cleaning
water;
1) A barrier
2) Chemical additive
3) Distillation.

I will briefly summarize each as follows...

1) A barrier system, such as a filter or reverse osmosis membrane,
tries to force water through small holes in the hope that any
contaminants that are in the water are larger than the holes and will
thus be stopped by the barrier. The problem with this approach is that
barriers break-down, crack, clog up and generally deteriorate which is
why you have to change filters every few months. As they deteriorate
the holes in the barrier get larger and let more contaminants pass
through. At any given time you can't be sure how pure the water is.

The main problem with barrier systems however, is that they can become
a breeding ground for bacteria! Bacteria can get trapped in-between the
layers of a filter or membrane and multiply, thus THE WATER YOU GET OUT
OF A FILTER OR RO SYSTEM CAN BE WORSE THAN WHAT YOU STARTED WITH!

2) Chemical additives, such as chlorine and ozone are really only
effective against biological contaminants, and even then shouldn't be
counted upon. Chlorine is not effective against all types of biological
contaminants and may not be effective against spores (such as from
Anthrax). On top of this general unreliability, chlorine itself is a
contaminant that you don't want to expose yourself to in large
quantities. Chlorine is not really a solution for the home or office.

Ozone is another chemical that can be used to kill biological
contaminants, but it is very unstable and is difficult to control.
There are very few home ozone systems because of this reason. There are
some systems available for the office that utilize ozone but their
effectiveness is questionable and they can't be relied upon.

3) The third type of water treatment method is distillation; the
process of boiling water, then taking the pure steam and cooling it
back into water. Distillation duplicates Mother Nature's hydrologic
cycle and produces the highest quality water available. Distillation is
by far the best way to protect yourself against biological
contaminants, including the hard to kill cysts, viruses and spores!

Distillation is the ONLY process that BOILS the water. Health
departments around the world agree that boiling the water is the most
fundamental way to kill biological contaminants. In distillation you
only take the pure steam that comes off the water, thus leaving the
dead bacteria and other contaminants behind! This process produces
consistent results year after year.

Can Pure Water, Inc. guarantee the safety of the water produced with a
Pure Water Distiller against acts of terrorism on the water supply?
It's impossible for us to guaranty anything because we can't predict
the future and we don't know what terrorists would use to contaminate
the water supplies. Distillation is the most effective method available
to protect yourself against biological (and most other) contaminants
that could be in the water. Distillation is the ONLY process that;
1) boils the water for prolonged periods,
2) takes only the pure steam and leaves the contaminants, including the
dead bacteria behind.

It comes down to this; you should take the best step that you can take
to protect yourself and your family from contaminants in your water
REGARDLESS of how the contaminants got into the water in the first
place! YOU are ultimately responsible for your family's health! The
best method that is available for the full range of possible
contaminants is a well-designed distillation system.

One final note, people need to know about this potential risk to their
family's safety so they can make up their own mind. Please forward this
newsletter to as many people as you can and have them sign up for the
newsletter. You will be doing them a HUGE favor!

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