Ensuring Clean Water for All Homeowners Is a Job Best Left to Local Plumbing Superheroes
Plumbers may not get a special day of appreciation like administrative assistants and grandparents, but they're no less deserving of our thanks.
Not only do they deal with the messy clogs, expensive leaks, and other problems that plague our pipes, but they're also part of the system that brings fresh, clean, and safe water right to our doorsteps every second of every day.
Just Another Day: Local Plumbers Bringing Clean Water to Communities in and Around Fargo, ND
Every time you turn on the tap in the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room, and every time you flush the toilet or run the garden hose, you're tapping into an intricate system of plumbing and piping that carries fresh water for miles and miles throughout your neighborhood and city.
During the water’s journey, the pipes keep the water clean, protect it from contaminants, prevent it from getting lost along the way, and ensure it reaches your house ready to drink.
Because of the role these systems have in bringing fresh water from the source to your house, plumbers are an integral part of the system, making them essential in the process that provides your house and your community with water that’s clean and safe.
Water Conservation: Making Your Local Plumber’s Efforts Worthwhile
When you think about how much time, effort, labor, and skill goes into making sure you and your family have clean water, it’s no surprise that you should be taking steps to conserve this precious resource.
The good news is that reducing water waste is quite simple, and all you have to do is change a few habits around the house.
In the bathroom, flush the toilet less, take shorter showers, and don’t leave the water running when you're brushing your teeth.
In the kitchen, use the garbage disposal minimally, reuse cooking water in the garden, don’t run the dishwasher until you have a full load, and fill the sink or a bowl to hand-wash dishes and clean produce. In the garden, plant drought-resistant plants and grasses, collect water with a rain barrel and mulch the soil to preserve moisture.
The Effects of Drinking Unsafe Water
There are a number of pollutants that can make water unfit for drinking, including nitrates, pesticides, herbicides, bacteria, viruses, and heavy metals, to name a few of the most common. Here are some of the side effects associated with these specific contaminants:
Nitrites: Blue skin, respiratory distress, headaches, fatigue, and breathing difficulties.
Pathogens: Nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, and respiratory disease.
Heavy metals: Nausea, vomiting, confusion, numbness, headaches, weakness, joint and muscle pain, and coma.
Pesticides and herbicides: Weakness and fatigue, nervousness, loss of appetite and weight loss, sore joints, and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and skin.
One of the most important things you can do to help out your local plumber with both pipe maintenance and water conservation is a regular leak inspection. Every month or two, check your walls, floors, and ceilings for signs of water damage, and check hoses, faucets, showerheads, toilets, pipes, and appliances for leaks and drips.
This simple inspection could save you thousands of dollars, and thousands of gallons of wasted water that could be used for drinking, cooking, washing, cleaning, and all the other activities you rely on clean water for.
