Most people take it for granted that they have high-quality water that is safe and healthy to clean. But as Flint and other situations have shown, you can never take that fact for granted. Not to scare anybody, but there are situations in which water may quickly get contaminated and cause many concerns.
As a result, it is crucial to understand the types of things that might create an unhealthy and impure water supply. Then, you need to know what kind of symptoms might occur if you’re not careful. And knowing a few different care methods may help to avoid severe and long-term health issues.
Things That May Dirty Your Water
If you are worried that you have an unhealthy and impure water supply, many things could be getting into your water. The scary thing here is that it is often quite hard to know exactly what types of contaminants have gotten into the water and what you can do to manage them.
For instance, you may need to work with septic engineers to spot potential sewage complications that could worsen your water. Or you may end up with contamination from many outside sources that seep into your water and cause difficulties with its overall quality and its health content.
Therefore, it is essential to know what can get into your water pipes and what you can do to manage this issue. First, we’ll talk about a few of the most common of these infections items and what kinds of health problems that they may trigger if you end up ingesting them at any point:
- Various Types of Bacteria – It is not uncommon for bacteria to get into plumbing systems and cause many issues. For example, e. coli and coliform bacteria may quickly spread from many contaminated pipes. This problem can cause issues like venous disease and other conditions that may require the help of a high-quality medical professional to assess, manage, and help your overall health properly.
- Various Minerals – It is not uncommon for land clearing operations to reveal a large number of minerals and metals that could end up in your water. Things like nitrates, lead, fluoride, arsenic, radon, and even radium can end up in your water. Many of these items can cause severe brain damage and developmental issues and make it harder for many people to develop as an individual.
- Many Types of Medicines – Unfortunately, many people dump their medicines down the drain or into the sink instead of taking care of them through the proper channels. This mistake can be a problem because it will cause an unhealthy and impure water supply. It could also affect your health if these medications are designed for more specific uses and trigger health complications.
- Human Waste – Waste from sewage lines probably makes up the most common type of contaminants in your water. And while things like UV water treatments may help to minimize this problem, you still might end up with high concentrations of urine, fecal matter, and even soap and other cleaning products in your water, triggering a pretty broad range of potential complications as a result.
- Other Types of Contaminants – It isn’t uncommon for dirty water to contain microbial pathogens, various types of parasites, viruses, chemicals, home heating oil pesticides, herbicides, and petrochemicals. Even small amounts of these items can be pretty damaging to the body and mind and may require you to get high-quality medical attention to minimize the impact that they may have on your body.
As you can see, there are many things that could create an unhealthy and impure water supply. Most of the time, these problems occur separately from anything that you’ve done. That is a tiny bit of relief, though, because if you didn’t cause it, you might not even realize that you have an issue.
Thankfully, there are many ways to manage this problem. For example, you can install water filters on your system to temporarily remove these contaminant items. You can also work with professionals to replace your pipes and your water system to help eliminate the risk of dirty water.
And help keep you from experiencing any damage to your home related to contaminated water. Particularly if your pipes burst due to dirty water, a water damage restoration company may help you out. However, you may also need to go to the doctor if you experience any health symptoms associated with dirty and dangerous water.
Health Symptoms Associated With Dirty Water
When you have an unhealthy and impure water supply, you will probably know reasonably quickly because you’re likely to experience many health symptoms when you consume water. These issues may not develop immediately but are likely to become problematic if you let them worsen and develop.
But how does dirty water like this develop in the first place? Sometimes, it has a lot to do with your housing options. Or your plumbing or water supply could simply be quite old and liable to damage. Whatever the situation, the health issues that you experience are nothing that should be taken lightly.
Therefore, it is important to watch yourself – and your children – for various health symptoms. Unfortunately, many of these issues may seem similar to other health problems, which can make it hard to diagnose lousy water. However, if you watch for these signs and others, you may have a better idea:
- Flu-Like Issues – Many of the contaminants in your water will cause flu-like symptoms, including intense vomiting, nausea, and much more. Sometimes, these symptoms may go away temporarily if your water is the waste clears a little but worsen if the waste gets thicker in your water.
- Fever Symptoms – If you or someone in your family keeps developing an intense fever but shows no other symptoms or is not otherwise sick, they could have drunk some dirty water. This factor all depends on different elements that may vary based on the contaminants in the water.
- Intense Intestinal Distress – Do you experience a lot of cramping when you drink water or even have blood in your stool? There’s a chance that your contaminated water could be affecting your digestive system and cause a myriad of health issues that may be hard to manage this problem.
- Energy Problems – When you feel sluggish or have difficulty getting your energy up to acceptable levels? Then, you might have dirty water that is causing you severe health issues. Make sure that you spend attention to these symptoms and note when they start developing in you.
- Concentration Concerns – Do you have difficulty concentrating on essential things like your homework, keeping your house in great shape, or other concerns? Then, you might have an unhealthy and impure water supply that is causing issues that impact your overall health in many ways.
- Behavioral Issues – Sometimes, young children contaminated by insufficient water may have behavioral issues that make them unruly. These could also be related to some developmental problems caused by dirty water, concerns that could be either temporary or permanent, depending on the situation.
If you’re worried that you have an unhealthy and impure water supply, it is vital to assess symptoms like these and make sure that you get immediate medical care. Poisoning of this type can be quite dangerous and require proper treatment to avoid any health issues.
And you may need to work with Medicare insurance and other types of coverage if your children are involved. But, unfortunately, many of these diseases will be worse for young children and could impact their overall development in a myriad of ways that could be painful and hard to manage.
Typically, it is best to pay attention to your water long before you experience any of these health symptoms. First, however, it would be best if you had a pretty good idea of the general state of your water based on a few different tell-tale signs. Let’s go over them below to make it easier to diagnose this issue properly.
Other Symptoms of Poor Water
If you experience any of the symptoms above, it is crucial to know how to diagnose an unhealthy and impure water supply. In addition, other symptoms are not related to your health that require you to check your water supply and pay attention to various elements of its quality.
You should notice these issues quite easily simply by tasting or smelling your water most of the time. Therefore, you will likely KNOW when your water is terrible simply by this problem alone. However, some contamination issues may not cause taste or odor changes, complicating this problem further.
Therefore, it is essential to know what kind of concerns you need to understand before you go through the process of replacing or fixing your water supply. Just a few of the most common symptoms that you’re likely to notice if you have a contaminated water supply for your home include:
- Bad Taste – If your water tastes funky or unappealing, there is an excellent chance that you have an unhealthy and impure water supply. This situation will vary depending on what kind of pollutants you may have in the water but may be pretty obvious most of the time for most people.
- Nasty Smell – When you run your water, do you notice a foul odor coming from the tap? Or does the water itself have a very bad smell? Unfortunately, this situation is not unusual with dirty water. Usually, it requires you to find either a filter for your water supply or to get your whole system replaced and cleaned.
- Discolored Water Issues – When you run cold water, does it look reasonably discolored and muddy? And does the hot water appear to be just fine when you run it? This situation is often a result of a contamination at your water source that is not shared with your electric water heater.
- Water Remains Discolored After Running – Sometimes, your water may be discolored only for a few moments after it starts running. If so, there may be water in your pipes or another non-severe issue. However, if your water stays discolored for several minutes, contamination is likely.
- Weak Water Pressure – Sometimes, contaminated water may cause insufficient water pressure in your system by making it harder for water to flow through your pipes. This problem only indicates dirty water if other symptoms are associated with it, as insufficient water pressure may also occur with leaks.
What kind of discoloration can you expect if you have an unhealthy and impure water supply? First, expect color changes, including a red, green, blue, yellow, or brown tint to your water. Don’t worry about being unable to notice these changes – they will be very obvious to you as you check your water.
And if you believe that you have dirty and contaminated water, you should immediately talk to a plumbing specialist and stop using your water. If you do need to use it, you can boil it on a stove to kill bacteria and viruses. However, this step does NOT remove waste like fecal matter.
Instead, we strongly recommend that you go to another place to stay, such as a friend or family member’s house or even a hotel, until your water problem is fixed. If you cannot leave your home, buy bottled water to drink and for cooking and shower or bathe at other people’s houses to stay safe and healthy.
If you believe that you have an unhealthy and impure water supply, it is vital to reach out to a medical professional right away to get help. Then, you should contact a plumbing professional to learn more about what kind of repairs and fixes are possible to keep your plumbing safe and free of damage. So, please make sure that you work with a team who you can trust to handle these problems and keep your home safe from the dangers of serious plumbing contamination.
