I am suffering from bladder cancer. Could it be linked to chemicals in tap water? | Opinion
In October, nine environmental groups banded together to sue the California State Water Resources Control Board to pressure the board to implement nitrogen fertilizer restrictions proposed by the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board. A recent Tribune story on the news paints a broad brush that implicates growers’ unwillingness to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer contamination that may be impacting the safety of our drinking water (by leaching into groundwater).
Yet, there is a bigger picture here.
Opinion
While perceived to be safe by most, municipal drinking water can be affected by a variety of contaminants. I am suffering from bladder cancer and while the cause may not have anything to do with water, it certainly could. I’ve lived in many places besides the Central Coast and always took drinking water for granted — as most do. It is certainly safe from some scurrilous diseases such as cholera, giardiasis and hepatitis that crippled people in the distant past, but in order to promote public safety, our municipal water systems have added compounds including chlorine (or, more precisely, a derivative called chloramine, a disinfectant).
Other chemicals, such as naturally occurring arsenic and lead from pipes, have continued to leach into water supplies, depending on where you live. That means you are likely not drinking pure H2O.
A family member of mine works for a water treatment plant in a nearby county. We once had a discussion about the chemicals added to drinking water to make it supposedly “safe.” He was absolutely adamant that treatment today prevents some of the aforementioned scurrilous diseases that killed millions before such chemicals were added to our water supply. Touché. But I still have my doubts about what and how many additives pure H2O needs to make municipal water safe.
My cancer may have come from something as obvious and pervasive as breathing polluted air (I grew up in smoggy L.A.) or from a genetic predisposition. But I simply did not engage in the most likely and established causes, including smoking and drinking alcohol.
Believe me, you do not want to get bladder cancer. I just returned from having surgery at Stanford and I have had a couple other surgeries here locally — one at French Hospital Medical Center and the other at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. The disease is insidious and strikes men mostly in their 70s (I am 76).
My urologist said it was just “bad luck,” but until perhaps a couple of years ago I was healthy as a horse. I still play tennis competitively and hike and bike (between surgeries and doctors’ appointments). Even now, I don’t see myself as sickly, but psychologically, it’s been a real strain due to the continued interventions.
Out of caution, my wife and I now drink only pure bottled water.
I do hope our local farmers will be a little more cautious about toxins that can leak into the groundwater. Municipal water cannot eliminate these unless they do reverse osmosis, which is expensive.
I understand totally if you feel you need to continue drinking water from the tap or cooking with it. The price is certainly right and you can’t beat the convenience. But understand that water is not pure if it is laden with chemicals that may or may not be harmful. And too often we just don’t know.
William Seavey has co-run a small, home-based bed and breakfast in Cambria. He’s also worked for an HMO, a community college health outreach organization and as a journalist for Popular Science Magazine.
