Let’s Talk About Bacteria (and Water)

Possibly, if you read my last post, you were alarmed at my mention of finding high Staph Aureus in my stool test. Yeah, same. So what is it exactly and how do you get it?

A good friend called me up to talk about my results and also was concerned about this. He said it must be in the tap water: seeing as Texas doesn’t have a lot of natural water readily available, it treats and reuses sewage water to become “clean” tap water for us to use. But the Staph in sick people’s urine and feces can get into the water, and it has been found in sewage treatment plants around the country (see this.) Apparently, chlorination is supposed to get rid of this bacteria, but some untreated water can get into the drinking supply. Now, I’m not saying it’s definitely in our water, but it could be.

I wont go into much detail about staph aureus as it is easily searchable on the internet, but basically it's a common bacteria that normally lives on the skin and often in the nasal passage. Staph infections are what many of us have heard of that people can get in hospitals or elsewhere. They can be very serious and difficult to treat as the bacteria is becoming resistant to many antibiotics. As far as for atopic dermatitis, I have heard many times that people with this skin diagnosis often have high staph aureus levels. Is it causal or just associated? I'm no scientist so I don't know, but it's worth thinking about.

But back to clean drinking water. I’ve got an AquaTru Reverse Osmosis Filter for my drinking water at home. I’ve had it for about a year now. Does that not filter out the bacteria? I found that RO can filter out much bacteria but may not catch it all. My friend recommended boiling my water as well as filtering it. I can’t help but think, Is this a third world country or something? Of course that’s exaggerating, but it’s kind of crazy how our tap water is generally considered clean but certainly contains many harmful things.

Further research led me to find that UV light is the most effective filtration against harmful bacteria and viruses. Some filtering systems include UV light filtration. Perhaps I can just set some glass bottles in the sun (https://modernsurvivalblog.com/health/how-to-purify-water-with-sunlight/) when I don’t have the tools to boil water.

As for bathing, I have a filter on my shower as well. This one helps remove “200+ harsh chemicals and contaminants, including VOC’s, heavy metals, lead, pesticides, chloramines, chlorine, fluoride, herbicides, pharmaceuticals and odor.” Maybe it doesn’t get rid of bacteria and viruses, but I can avoid drinking that water. Here’s the one I use].

However, since I travel so often, it’s pretty hard to get that clean water without my trusty filters or a stove to boil water. On one flight sequence, I saw my colleague pilot with the outer pockets of her suitcase stuffed with large filled water bottles. She told me she takes her water with her, because she has a Berkey filter at home. I thought that was pretty cool of her, although I didn’t see myself doing that because of how heavy water is. My suitcase is already so heavy that adding water would just be an inconvenience. However, in the past few months, I’ve followed suit of the crazy water-carrying pilot. Now I bring a liter of water for each day I’ll be gone, ideally in a glass bottle but sometimes in metal that’s been RO (Reverse Osmosis) filtered. I used to carry around my metal water bottle and refill it anywhere I went that had a “filtered” water fountain. But unfortunately, I’m seeing why those really can’t be trusted. I did a quick internet search on the water fountains found at the DFW airport, and they really don’t filter out much! Sure you can buy water, but then there’s the issue of them being in plastic bottles, with the plastic leaching into the water. But we do the best we can.

I can’t help but think about all the tap water we unthinkingly consume – in that coffee to go, in the ice in our drinks, sodas, teas. It’s really difficult to control it by bringing everything from home with me. Leaving home feels like I’m going on an adventure in the Wild West, needing to bring my water supply with me; not because of a lack of water out in the wild, but because of a lack of free clean water.

Beautiful river on a recent layover in Montana