Warning: Survival Water Filters Add Aluminum to Water

I was originally warned about the dangers of ingesting aluminum in the early 70s when reading, “Back to Eden” by Jethro Kloss, and have avoided aluminum cooking pots since then.

More recently, I’ve become interested in provision of water for prepping and survival, and promote non-electric gravity water filters in my book “The Truth About Simple Unhooked Living,” as a practical solution. Everybody should have a gravity water filter for water security during times of emergency. They are able to clean water without electricity, so are useful during all sorts of power grid failures. The focus in my book is removal of bacteria and pathogens from emergency water sources, not heavy metals.

I was not aware until today, thanks to laboratory tests conducted by Mike Adams, that many popular gravity filters add aluminum to “purified” drinking water.

Adams’ tested various filters for their ability to remove toxic heavy metals from water, including: lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic, and elements with radioactive isotopes: uranium, strontium, cesium. His tests were not concerned with pathogens.

As it turns out, certain gravity flow water filter systems add aluminum to the water being filtered because aluminum is commonly used as a flocculant. (Flocculant means: “a substance that promotes the clumping of particles, especially one used in treating waste water”).

Big Berkey and Zen Water Systems produced by far the best results overall in Adams’ tests, removing nearly 100% of most toxic elements…Crystal Drop and Doulton filters performed very poorly, failing to remove significant quantities of toxic elements.*

The filters he tested are:

• Big Berkey black ceramic elements with arsenic / fluoride add-on elements
• Zen Water Systems Alkaline Water Filter
• ProPur Water Filter with All-in-One Filter Elements
• Crystal Drop Water Filter
• Doulton Water Filter
• Pur water filter
• Brita water filter
• Seychelle water filter
• Culligan water filter
• Mavea water filter
• WaterMan Mini water filter
• ZeroWater water filter

See the results on www.WaterFilterLabs.com.

NOTE 1/24/15: I just noticed the above link is a 404. Here are a couple that lead to Mike Adams’ water filter testing articles:

http://labs.naturalnews.com/Water-Filter-Test-Results.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/047620_water_filter_lab_tests_arsenic_removal.html

“None of the manufacturers paid us for testing. All the tests were conducted independently and using ICP-MS laboratory instrumentation with parts per billion sensitivity,” Adams writes.

The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) says aluminum is the most abundant element on earth and we will always have some exposure to low levels of it from eating food, drinking water, breathing, and from consumer products like antacids, antiperspirants, and cosmetics. However, they say,  “exposure to this substance at high levels may be harmful.”

So, are our bodies absorbing aluminum from other sources as well, and how much is too much?

Dr. Russel Blaylock makes the controversial assertion that dangerous levels of aluminum are being spread all over the earth via chemtrails, and this can harm our nervous systems. Chemtrail activist Rosalind Peterson says there is actually no proof that would hold up in court, of chemtrails spraying aluminum. However, she refers to extensive documentation on this YouTube clip,  that large amounts of aluminum are being showered down on us via US military rocket testing. In addition, the CDC says aluminum is commonly injected into humans via vaccines.

In the face of conflicting information about sources and amounts of aluminum in the environment and skyrocketing incidences of neurological disorders like autism, it seems prudent for survivalists and preppers to avoid gravity water filters that release aluminum into water we intend to purify.

If you agree that this is a concern, read Mike Adams report on the various popular gravity water filters to find out what minerals, at what levels, they are capable of filtering out.

Maybe this data from the ATSDR will help you figure out how much aluminum is considered normal by our government, and how much is too much:

Levels of aluminum in the air generally range from 0.005 to 0.18 micrograms per cubic meter (ìg/m³), depending on location, weather conditions, and type and level of industrial activity in the area.

Aluminum levels in urban and industrial areas may be higher and can range from 0.4 to 8.0 ìg/m³.

The concentration of aluminum in natural waters (e.g., ponds, lakes, streams) is generally below 0.1 milligrams per liter (mg/L).

…Water is sometimes treated with aluminum salts while it is processed to become drinking water. But even then, aluminum levels generally do not exceed 0.1 mg/L. Several cities have reported concentrations as high as 0.4–1 mg/L of aluminum in their drinking water.

People are exposed to aluminum in some cosmetics, antiperspirants, and pharmaceuticals such as antacids and buffered aspirin.

• Antacids have 300–600 mg aluminum hydroxide (approximately 104–208 mg of aluminum) per tablet, capsule, or 5 milliliter (mL) liquid dose. Little of this form of aluminum is taken up into the bloodstream.

• Buffered aspirin may contain 10–20 mg of aluminum per tablet

• Vaccines may contain small amounts of aluminum compounds, no greater than 0.85 mg/dose.

“The EPA has recommended a Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) of 0.05–0.2 mg/L for aluminum in drinking water. The SMCL is not based on levels that will affect humans or animals. It is based on taste, smell, or color.”

I don’t know what they are talking about. Anybody?

*All tests were conducted by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, via ICP-MS instrumentation with parts per billion sensitivity using methodologies based on EPA 200.8, using nitric acid digestion, sample normalization, 4-point external standards calibration and in-run calibration checks. The Natural News Forensic Food Lab is pending ISO 17025 certification.