Natural Disasters and Their Effects on Drinking Water

Did you know natural disasters and their effects on drinking water could cause an increase in toxins?

What is the link between natural disasters and toxins? It's not an aspect of natural disasters we commonly think of, but it is a major concern.

For obvious reasons, natural disasters, like floods, hurricanes, and wildfires, can do a lot of damage and cause destruction to property and lives.

This can be devastating, as you know if you’ve ever experienced one.

But there is another danger that can cause just as much damage and we don't even realize it.

How Do Natural Disasters Affect Drinking Water?

Natural disasters tend to loosen the soil and industrial waste areas, releasing chemicals that are usually intact.

Think about when a home is destroyed by a tornado or hurricane.

All of the toxins within that home and the construction of the home are flung around and released into the atmosphere.

Heavy metals like chromium and nickel also seep into the soil or waterways due to flooding and wind.

Scientists have studied communities recently affected by hurricanes and found that the levels of carcinogenic PCBs tripled in the soil.

Toxin levels in the people of the community had also more than doubled the national average due to exposure to toxins in the food, water, and air.

Drinking-water systems can pick up those leftovers when mains break or floodwater enters a plant. Utilities then test and often post a boil or do-not-drink notice until the sealed system is flushed.

Major Ways Natural Disasters Contaminate Drinking Water:

• Flooding can cause sewage overflow and runoff from industrial sites.
• Wildfires release ash and chemicals that settle into reservoirs and lines.
• Hurricanes can destroy infrastructure, releasing household toxins.
• Tornadoes scatter construction debris containing harmful materials.
• Heavy rainfall loosens soil, allowing heavy metals to move toward groundwater.

How to Avoid Toxins After Natural Disasters

Is it possible to completely avoid toxins after a natural disaster?

Researchers are still studying how badly supplies are affected. We don't fully have an answer yet, and we don't fully know every long-term health effect.

What you can control at home is the tap you drink after the utility says the tap is back, plus water you stored before the storm.

Drinking Water After a Disaster

Berkey gravity elements reduce many chemicals in municipally treated tap water, including metals in published tests — see heavy metals.

That is useful when the tap is city water again and you want chlorine and metals down. It is not a claim that floodwater or a broken well is fine if it goes through the chambers.

If you already own a Berkey, keep using it for drinking, cooking, and pet bowls — filled from the city tap or from tap you stored in food-grade barrels.

Royal size: Royal Berkey. Official replacements: Berkey Phoenix filters.

You will not dodge every chemical in the county. You can lower what is in the kitchen glass once the tap is treated city water again.

Before the Next Storm

Read Ready.gov for your hazard. Store tap water on a high shelf. Know how to shut the house valve.

After a notice lifts, dump the first flush if the utility says to, then fill the upper chamber as usual.