“We had thousands of typhoid (cases) here in the city. As soon as we opened up the treatment plant here and started doing just very basic treatment, the cases of typhoid went down from about 1,200 down to about 200," said Jeff Swertfeger, treatment superintendent at Greater Cincinnati Water Works.
Have you ever taken a moment to consider the countless scientific advancements that make modern life longer, healthier and safer than life 100 years ago and just sort of gone, "Nah, I'm good"?
If so, "raw water" might be the beverage trend for you.
Proponents of the raw water movement, which advocates the consumption of untreated, unfiltered spring water instead of fluoridated, filtered tap water, apply the same logic to H2O that other groups have applied to things like meat and produce: If it's been treated with any chemicals at all, it must be bad. If it hasn't, it must be good.
This has gone poorly for clean-eating advocates who consume produce tainted with diseases such as E. coli, and experts stress it's likely to go just as sideways for anyone who decides it's a good idea to pay $36.99 for the privilege of consuming water that could contain the all-natural taste of parasites, bacteria, animal waste and -- surprise! -- pesticides.
Public water treatment isn't just about putting fluoride, which Live Water startup founder Mukande Singh described as "a mind-control drug" and qualified experts at the CDC described as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the last century, in. It's also about taking harmful substances, both natural and synthetic, out.
As Vox pointed out, there are some legitimate reasons to take issue with the United States' water grid and the systems managing it -- many in Flint, Michigan, lack access to safe drinking and bathing water years after their situation first drew national attention. However, water outbreaks and crises remain rare in the United States compared to the remainder of the world, and trading one potentially unsafe system for a definitely unsafe system won't do anyone any favors.
In their desperation to avoid what they believe is the chemical grasp of Big Brother, raw water drinkers can place themselves in serious danger and expose themselves to chemicals that are actually, provably harmful to their health.
And they're paying for the privilege.
