I am of the school it can never be productive to announce bad news unless you can bring a sound and reasonable solution, right with it.
So, before we go any further: Home Depot (where I got mine) or any of the bigger home stores should have a shower/bathtub filters, mine was $25 or so. No guage, but you can tell when it needs replaced, the water gets oily. (if anyone has a better brand/location/cheaper cost, please LMK)
I use PUR for tap filters, cuz I heard Dupont is a big, global polluter and they make Brita. Brita tap filters seemed less expensive to buy and replace, but I spend a lil' more on PUR cuz Toxic Pollution is a Big Enemy of Enviro Girl's, of course
Whole House Osmosis sounds safest of all (nothing but pure H20, whole house, goes on your water line) but that's at least 3K, I heard and has to be professionally installed by a plumber and then you'll have those filter costs. I buy osmofied (sp?) water sometimes, it tastes even better than filtered! YUM!
As part of the Right to Know Act, the EPA had to legally let U.S. Citizens know what Toxic Chemicals are released into our local air, water, dumped on and pumped into our earth. They call it the Toxic Release Inventory and it is cumbersome, not user-friendly and it isn't helpful (it's the min. the Polluter Protection Agency could put out to calm down the Enviro Folk).
When I first contracted Morgellon's, started to seek answers, I thought about Pittsburgh tap water being drawn from our 3 toxic green rivers and years of industry pollution.
I was shocked to find that 1. the TRI reporting is done solely by an employee of the polluting company and 2. they are seriously allowed to go back and later change the data (yes - as in, let's wait until the NIH health stats show that Benzene causes cancer and you go back and change your data so your boss doesn't get sued.)
So, I found this org
OMB Watch | Promoting open government, accountability, and citizen participation since 1983 (gov watchdog) and they intro'd me to this Right to Know website: This is the same EPA TRI-data, just much more user-friendly and helpful. And they offer a Frozen Data and a Current Data section - so if the information is changed, you can see that!
My concern with Pittsburgh water is there's NO way millions of pounds per year of ammonia, cyanide, toulene, etc. all mixed together can be safely shocked OK with chlorine, like a swimming pool. I don't believe a word in my annual water report. It's spin. Osmosis needs to be mandatory. No way you can fix The Burgh's Toxic Soup w/more chemicals, I say!
Until we have confirmation what causes and happens to us with Morgellon's, it seems like we suspect IT attracts parasites, it sounds to me like it may attract metals, dunno about chemicals:
Here's how to find out what's released in your local Enviro. I'm still not even doing organics now, but this is what made me not touch tap water since 2006. It scared me. I apologize if this is traumatic, but it is your Right to Know. See above, there are solutions. I think purer water and not acquiring more metal residues and chemicals, even through our skin in the shower, will GREATLY expedite our healing!
RTKNet: The Right-to-Know Network | rtknet.org: The Right-to-Know Network
Be safe - Be well!,