Rainwater is unsafe for consumption

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Perhaps one of the most concerning chemicals, though, is perfluorooctanoic acid (or PFOA). This forever chemical is known to cause cancer, and its guideline values have declined by 37.5 million times in the United States.
PFOA is a solid at room temperature. The melting point is 104°F - 122°F. Boiling point is 372°F - 378°F. I'm curious to know how it can get into the atmosphere in order to combine with raindrops. Because of the high boiling point it doesn't want to stay a gas at environmental temperatures. A known source of PFOA exposure is microwave popcorn bags. But the exposure pathway is through the oils, not through airborne PFOA.
PFOA is in municipal drinking water but we know how it got there, and it didn't come from rain.
I think the author, Joshua, stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and thought that meant he could play "scientist" and he misinterpreted the facts.
 
PFOA is a solid at room temperature. The melting point is 104°F - 122°F. Boiling point is 372°F - 378°F. I'm curious to know how it can get into the atmosphere in order to combine with raindrops. Because of the high boiling point it doesn't want to stay a gas at environmental temperatures.
It is partially soluble in water. If I had to guess, I would say that it dissolving in water changes its vapor pressure. Look how much sea salt is in the air, that has a high melting point. Put n-butanol (bp 117.8°C) and water (bp 100°C) together and distill it. The azeotropic mixture of the two will come over at 92.4°C, a temp that is lower than either of their individual boiling points. You cannot judge a mixtures behavior based on the behavior of their individual components. And once something like PFOA is in the air as a mixture, the individual molecules do not readily recombine to make a solid again as they are too far apart. The PFOA particles can stay vaporized and float around. Steam distillation is another great example of this. Many oils that are distilled with steam have boiling points far greater than that of water. Long story short, anything that dissolves in water, even a little, will be evaporating (to some extent) with the water regardless of it's individual BP.
 
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It really doesn’t surprise me with all the geo engineering of our weather going on now days. I don’t understand all the “science “ behind it but “they” are intentionally spraying particles into our atmosphere. Unexplained deaths have been happening in rivers with frogs and fish. I posted a video somewhere on the forum about the poisoning.
 
It is partially soluble in water. If I had to guess, I would say that it dissolving in water changes its vapor pressure. Look how much sea salt is in the air, that has a high melting point. Put n-butanol (bp 117.8°C) and water (bp 100°C) together and distill it. The azeotropic mixture of the two will come over at 92.4°C, a temp that is lower than either of their individual boiling points. You cannot judge a mixtures behavior based on the behavior of their individual components. And once something like PFOA is in the air as a mixture, the individual molecules do not readily recombine to make a solid again as they are too far apart. The PFOA particles can stay vaporized and float around. Steam distillation is another great example of this. Many oils that are distilled with steam have boiling points far greater than that of water. Long story short, anything that dissolves in water, even a little, will be evaporating (to some extent) with the water regardless of it's individual BP.
I did some digging on papers about sources of atmospheric PFOA. One is sea spray that aerosolizes sea water containing PFOA, and the other is some mega flouropolymer plants in China that spew enough PFOA into the atmosphere that the plume can be detected thousands of miles away.
Household and agricultural sources of PFOA pollution don't normally involve boiling aqueous solutions of PFOA, so even though they do contribute to environmental PFOA, I don't think they contribute significantly to atmospheric PFOA. I don't know how much industrial sources in the US contribute though.


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In-Home Water Filtration Options​

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) works to ensure that alternative drinking water or water treatment is provided to homeowners when a release of contaminants has caused drinking water to be contaminated above applicable health standards or health advisory levels. Many homeowners that have poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in their drinking water at levels below such standards or advisory levels, however, have expressed an interest in treating their drinking water.
Water filtration units that use granular activated carbon (GAC, also called charcoal filters) or reverse osmosis (RO) can both be effective in removing the PFAS compounds that commercial labs typically analyze. Generally speaking, RO is more appropriate for treating water at a single location such as the kitchen sink, while GAC is more appropriate when treating all of the water used in the home. GAC, however, does not remove other contaminants commonly found in well water in New Hampshire. Please read on for a better understanding of what you should consider when evaluating your options.
Unless you obtain your water from a community water system, your water is likely to contain other contaminants such as arsenic, uranium, radon, manganese, nitrate and bacteria that present health risks and that are naturally occurring or originate from nearby land uses. It is important for all private well users to test for these contaminants using an accredited laboratory and to ensure that the water treatment technology selected is effective at removing any contaminants that are present at elevated levels. A standard water quality test is also important to complete before selecting and installing a water treatment system to ensure a water system will work properly. For more information about the health concerns associated with common contaminants and technical assistance about removing them from your drinking water, go to the NHDES Be Well Informed Guide. A reputable installer should be used to ensure proper selection, design, installation, operation and maintenance of any water filter system.
https://www4.des.state.nh.us/nh-pfas-investigation/?page_id=171
 

Reducing PFAS in Drinking Water with Treatment Technologies​


Published August 23, 2018

Someone fills a glass with tap water

Per- and Polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that persist in the environment. These chemicals have been used for decades in consumer products to make them non-stick and water resistant. They are also found in firefighting foams and are applied in many industrial processes. Unfortunately, the characteristics that make them useful are the reason they persist in the environment and can bioaccumulate, or build up, in our bodies and the bodies of animals.

PFAS also dissolve in water, and combined with their chemical properties mean traditional drinking water treatment technologies are not able to remove them. Therefore, EPA researchers have been studying a variety of technologies at bench-, pilot-, and full-scale levels to determine which methods work best to remove PFAS from drinking water.
Certain technologies have been found to remove PFAS from drinking water, especially Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), which are the most studied of these chemicals. Those technologies include activated carbon adsorption, ion exchange resins, and high-pressure membranes. These technologies can be used in drinking water treatment facilities, in water systems in hospitals or individual buildings, or even in homes at the point-of-entry, where water enters the home, or the point-of-use, such as in a kitchen sink or a shower.
Activated Carbon Treatment
Activated carbon treatment is the most studied treatment for PFAS removal. Activated carbon is commonly used to adsorb natural organic compounds, taste and odor compounds, and synthetic organic chemicals in drinking water treatment systems. Adsorption is both the physical and chemical process of accumulating a substance, such as PFAS, at the interface between liquid and solids phases. Activated carbon is an effective adsorbent because it is a highly porous material and provides a large surface area to which contaminants may adsorb. Activated carbon (GAC) is made from organic materials with high carbon contents such as wood, lignite, and coal; and is often used in granular form called granular activated carbon (GAC).
https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/reducing-pfas-drinking-water-treatment-technologies
 
I'll tell you a funny story about the difference between well water and city water....
I grew up on well water. Never remember having had anything else until I went to visit my Aunt and grandmother in Maryland one summer (grandma lived with single aunt who was in the Navy). Bottled water haddn't been "invented" yet and I was about 7.

They had city water for the house and well water for the garden (it was an older house). After about two weeks of drinking the water in the house, my aunt was horrified when I was running around the house putting my mouth up to each tap, taking a swallow and then moving on to the next (how uncouth!). Finally I went outside, turned on the hose and was sucking water down like it was going out of style. She thought I had lost my marbles.

I can't explain it. My body just started screaming at me, like i would imagine a drug addict has happen. I HAD TO HAVE the taste of well water, no chemicals, no filters, no chlorine....just well water! I think I would have run down the street to the Chesapeake to take a slurp if I hadn't found the hose, I was that desperate!

Since then I have discovered it might have been something called "Pica" where you become so deprived of certain dietary elements that you start eating things like newspaper, or grass....things that normally would not be considered edible. In my case, I had always had an iron deficiency...

Sometimes removing things from water is not a good thing.

Planning food stores and the dietary elements to which your body is accustomed is important!
 
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I've lived on well water my whole life and never had it tested. A couple wells didnt taste too good and one had a lot of iron. But most of our wells had good tasting water. Our current well is down over 650 feet deep in basalt rock. And is the best tasting water I've ever had. We have some springs around here with really good water too. Sometimes we'll stop and fill our water bottles up with this spring water that comes out right beside the road.
 

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