Dear SA Water: What the Heck is Coming Out of My Tap?

The following is not a scientific study, do your own research on websites like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Medical Health Research Council (NMHRC), etc, and read what these people say despite the fact that they support flouridation.

This blog is merely anecdotal evidence of what is happening in one residence in Mount Gambier, and I refer to my previous blog in acknowledging that I am opposed to Flouridation of water for the following reasons;
1)  water should be as un-contaminated as possible, but I accept that chlorination is necessary to prevent
     bacteria that cause illness and/or disease;
2)  Flouridation is not about water quality, it is allegedly added to address a health issue and/or medical
     condition; it is medicating the populace via the water supply.
3)  even if it is true that Flouridation of water has any effect on dental health, there are many who argue
     that those effects are negative, eg, a 'brittling' or hardening of outer tooth and softening of the inner;
4)  drinking flouride means that it only touchs the targetted area very briefly before entering the boby;
5)  I have genuine concerns about what effects flouride (and particularly the specific chemical used in Mt
     Gambier) have on those internal systems that act to remove pollutants, eg, kidneys, lymph system, etc;
6)  concerns that bone density and/or structure and/or function are negatively affected, eg, does flouride
     artificially harden bone, possibly causing problems with marrow function and blood production, etc, 
     (these are very broad descriptions of possible issues, not a medical statement of fact);
7)  vast amounts of flouride gets dumped into the environment via showers, toilets, gardens, etc, without
     going anywhere near a tooth.

There are concerns about where the flouride comes from, eg, is it literally an industrial waste product being disposed of via the water system? Is it a plot to 'stupify' the populace and make them more compliant via the effects that flouride has (allegedly) on reducing brain growth and/or activity?

I do not believe that flouride via softdrink made with, for example Adelaide water, in any way compensates for the sugar, caffeine, colours, preservatives, etc, in that softdrink; it is not a supportable position.

There are many theories, accusations, and statements of fact circulating about 'water flouridation'; again, check it out for yourself, but I would ask you check this out.....I'm looking through the fence at the Blue Lake pumping station at the warning sign...right....now! It looks roughly like this; picture a sign set out literally as below with actual skull and crossbones with TOXIC 2.3 written beneath, all in a diamond, where I've written it (yes, I know you get it....I'm just saying)

               CHLORINE                               picture of skull and crossbones   
               (???)     1017                                             TOXIC
             HAZCHEM    2XE                                        2.3                     
                                                             (beneath this 2 small diamonds I couldn't read     
                                                              that I think refer to gas and ignition issues???)
and beneath that;                                 
         SODIUM FLOURIDE                       large skull and crossbone
            FLOURODOSE                                            TOXIC
              (???)      1690                                                  6.1
            HAZCHEM   1690

Warning Will Robinson
Big skull and Crossbones - Sodium Flouride Flourodose - Class 6.1 TOXIC; again, just look it up for yourself and I'll try to get a closer look to suss out what the other badges say.

It is impossible to prove or disprove what I believe is happening, and there are issues of chlorine and the 'hard' nature of the Calcium Carbonate (dissolved Limestone) saturated groundwater, but when I watered my garden from the tap (2010/11) shortly after flouride was added to Mt Gambier's water supply, virtually all my small native grasses and kangaroo paws, etc, (effectively anything under about one foot high) died.

All of my stone fruit (nectarines, peaches, etc) and my apples, pears, etc, all immediately stopped growing and ripening, and the same with the grapes; my entire garden went into a 'suspended animation' clearly in shock from the watering; I had a bumper crop of greenish golf balls and many bunches of 'peas'.

I also lost my 4 year old banana palm, several small grape vines, and several luxurious beds of 'Baby's Tears' that just curled up and died literally within days.

Weeks later everything was exactly the same, and when some fruit eventually did ripen it was all stone with very little flesh around it, and the grapes eventually just got picked off by the birds.

There was no such reaction prior to the flouride being added; I had watered without issue.

Last year (2011/12) I had virtually no fruit anywhere in my garden, but there was record rains and I did not water from the tap once; this year my garden was booming and then I had to water it.

Due to the lack of rain (maybe 10mm in the last 3 months, even longer) I exhausted my rain water supply some time ago and have taken specific measures to try and avoid what I experienced in Summer 2010/11, namely re-filling my small (500 litres) tank from the tap and leaving it for several days and therefore introducing the tap water gradually so as to avoid the 'shock response' of 2010/11; didn't work.

My garden has done exactly the same thing as described above; and everything smaller than a tree appears to be dying, and my very expensive Raspberry vines just dropped all their leaves and appear to be dead, but I wont really know what damage has been done until next season.

Strangely, the citrus trees and strawberries appear to be reasonably good.

However, out the front where I never water, the same things that have died out the back, eg, the native grasses, succulents, etc, are struggling but are doing just fine given there's been almost no rain.

And the dog will not drink it when I fill his bowl from the tap, and he'll drink out of the front drain, off the footpath, out of my ponds, etc.

I appreciate the feed-back that I was a little bit vague about my position on this issue, I perhaps have over-compensated with the role of 'devil's advocate' in the previous blog, and I hope this clarifies my personal position; I think I might have to go to SA Water with a bill for everything that their tap water has killed in my garden and the many kilos of fresh fruit I've lost, and a bill for the inferior product that I've had to buy to replace it.

I can't water my garden out of the tap, and there's just no way I'm drinking it....and to think I mocked Adelaide for drinking the Eastern states refuse water...(previous post)

Tomorrow: Mount Gambier Bus Shelter - Graeme Greenwood's The Border Watch article.
Graeme needs to get out of the sun and under that shade sail.