December 5, 2025 • 26 mins
Brown, sulfur-smelling water stamped “healthy” by the lab was the wake-up call: legal doesn’t always mean safe. We sit down with water treatment expert Sidian Kaufman to unpack the gulf between regulatory limits and what’s best for long-term health, and we map out practical, affordable steps to turn your tap into a trusted source—no plastic bottles required.
Sidian explains the EPA’s MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) versus MCLG (health-based goal) and why the “feasible” standard can leave you drinking water that technically passes while still carrying avoidable risk. We share gripping real-world stories, including a shallow-well household dealing with cryptosporidium that standard tests missed, and a city water case where a spike in chlorine byproducts—like dibromochloromethane—coincided with serious concerns. These moments reveal how chronic, low-level exposures often fly under the radar and why targeted testing and tailored filtration change outcomes.
We also tackle microplastics and nanoplastics—the everywhere problem that turns bottled water into a Trojan horse. With studies estimating tens of thousands of particles per liter in bottled water, we focus on practical defense: reverse osmosis under the sink for drinking and cooking; nanofiltration or ultrafiltration for whole-home protection; and simple behavior shifts like using stainless steel or glass bottles and avoiding heat-cycled plastics. Along the way, we dig into skin and hair issues tied to hardness, how to prioritize a real test panel (metals, VOCs, chlorine byproducts, PFAS), and why builders are starting to make filtration standard in new homes and remodels.
If you’ve wondered whether your water is truly serving your health, this conversation gives you a clear roadmap: test smarter, filter where it counts, and carry clean water without plastic. Subscribe, share this with a friend who still buys bottled, and leave a review with your biggest water question—we’ll answer it in a future episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:24):
Hi, how are you?
This is Demaris Grossman, andthank you for joining in on the
Mindfully Integrative Show.
So today we have an amazingguest, Sidian Kaufman, and he
will tell you all about hisobsession with water, but not
really obsession, but hispassion in water and you know
what is in our water and why hehas made it more pure in the
northwest area, I believe.
(00:46):
And he'll tell you more aboutit.
So nice to meet you.
How's it going, Sidon?
SPEAKER_00 (00:49):
It's great.
Thank you for having me on,Demaris.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (00:52):
Of course.
I appreciate you taking thetime.
So tell us a little bit.
One, tell us a little fun factabout yourself, something people
don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
Something people don't know.
I don't know.
I've been on so many podcastsrecently.
I've I've said way more aboutmyself than I ever thought I
would.
Okay.
All right.
Well, maybe just a fun littleokay.
Wait, I have something.
I am actually I'm making a I'vebeen working on like a comic, a
comic book.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
Cool.
SPEAKER_00 (01:20):
As random as that is.
SPEAKER_02 (01:21):
Yeah, I'm trying to write a little screen, screen
film play, like a little youwere doing, yeah.
Yeah, but it's more of justlike, oh, that's fun, but I'm
like, oh, what am I what am Idoing?
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
When you're when it's not your only thing, it
takes like decades, right?
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (01:37):
That's just like my more of like, oh, that sounds
nice.
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (01:42):
But that might work out.
What's the what's the comic bookabout?
Like or the gist.
SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
I mean, it's called it's called Prism Prison.
I actually even have a websitefor it.
It's it's kind of a veryfuturistic kind of
world-building thing.
I think I have six comics madealready.
I'm not the artist, I'm only thewriter.
So I have to like save up money,pay an artist to develop it,
that kind of thing.
So I've been that makes sense.
(02:08):
Doing it, I've been doing it for15 years now.
SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
Oh, that's so neat.
Yeah, I did a children's book,and I remember when I was
picking my artist to do thechildren's book.
And yeah, and then to to growthe children's series, it's
like, oh wait, that's right.
I have to put that.
Yeah, like you said, you have topit the money together and
really have a good, a goodscript and stuff.
So I I get you there.
And we just do that part is justbecause, right?
SPEAKER_00 (02:29):
Yep, exactly.
Just because it's fun.
SPEAKER_02 (02:32):
Yeah, I I I get you.
That's what happens.
We're creatives, you know.
So talk to me a little bitabout, you know, your passion in
water, but also kind of why whatbrought you on the show.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
Well, I I like talking about water, and I I
like that your show is is reallyfocused on health.
And those are really related.
I I got into water treatmentbecause of a funny little
incident when I was a propertymanager where there was some
(03:05):
brown, rotten egg, smelly waterthat I took to a lab, and the
lab said, This water is healthy.
After they did the test, theythey gave it back to me and
said, This water's healthy.
And I'm like, What?
They didn't give me the waterback because that would have
been too weird.
They just got gave me a reportsaying the water's healthy.
And I was like, How is thathealthy?
(03:26):
Did you see the water?
And then they they correctedthemselves and they said that
it's within the legal limits.
And that brought me down arabbit hole.
I mean, I re had to research.
I I the original owner of PureWater Northwest, the company I
own now, the original owner isthe first person I reached out
(03:47):
to to talk about that.
And he explained what was goingon with the legal level versus
the health level set by the EPA.
And the the EPA has two levels.
They they actually have morethan two, but they have two
primary levels, the MCL and theMCLG.
So the MCL being the legallevel, uh arsenic, for example,
(04:10):
has 0.01 parts per millionallowed in water.
And arsenic being on theperiodic table, it's everywhere.
If you look at a Department ofEcology map for arsenic, the
entire United States is coveredin red.
So arsenic's going to be inwater, but removing it down to
(04:30):
zero is incredibly difficult.
So the EPA sets these standardsbecause, well, they even say
right on the website, the MCLGis the is set as, I'll see if I
can directly quote it, is set asclose to the MCL as feasible,
taking cost and other factorsinto consideration.
(04:51):
The MCLG being the health level.
So the upshot of that is thewater you're drinking is going
to legally be allowed to beabove the health level set by
the EPA.
That got me into watertreatment.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
There's so many things there, right?
So many things that are there'sso many parts of that.
So what when you say pure,you're pretty much trying to
take out of all the impuritiesof the water or just all of
these like things.
Like what tell me more aboutthat.
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
Yeah.
So in water, what we want is wewant it to be low enough that if
you drank it for a hundredyears, it wouldn't be that big a
deal.
That's that's like the goal withwater.
Getting it down to zero isbasically not possible.
(05:48):
It costs millions of dollars ina laboratory to get water down
to pure H2O.
And then as soon as it's exposedto air, it's instantly not pure
H2O anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
So you uh you can't get pure, pure, pure, pure, pure
H2O, really.
And if you did, it actuallywouldn't be that healthy to
drink because it's a solvent andit will immediately start
pulling.
If you were to drink it, itwould immediately start pulling
stuff out of your body into it.
So that is yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:21):
See, we need minerals.
We still need minerals in thebottom.
SPEAKER_00 (06:24):
So that's true.
You don't get a ton of mineralsfrom water, but you need a water
to have a balance, yes.
Um, you just you want it lowerthan is generally available.
The the water you get frombottled water is usually tap
water that's been run throughone or more kinds of filters.
And what what those filters arereally determine that whether
(06:48):
the water's good or not.
And then there's an there's anironic balance with bottled
water.
I know we're we're on a newtopic now, but we're there's an
ironic balance with bottledwater where if you get it too
pure, it will start leaching theplastic off the bottle.
SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
So you've just like you've defeated the purpose of
having a quality water becausenow you're just in place in a in
a plastic bottle formanufacturing purposes.
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
That's right.
And because of that, that's whywe're in business.
That's why that's why I got intowater treatment, because it is
best for people to get theirwater from their house and put
it in a glass or metal bottle.
That's what's best.
SPEAKER_02 (07:33):
Because most of the time it is being distributed in
plastic bottles or plasticcontainers.
SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
Yeah.
So if you can get ultra purewater right out of your faucet,
and by ultra pure, I don't meanlike actually ultra ultra pure.
I mean that's very more purethan is delivered by the
municipalities, and then put itin a glass or metal bottle, then
you're gonna have very goodwater.
Your water will be better thanyou can get from a store.
(08:00):
And that's that's our goal.
That's basically that's mymission is for people to have
that at their house.
SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
Are you able to do this nationwide or just in the
north, northeast, northwest?
SPEAKER_00 (08:11):
Northwest.
I I can do it nationwide,actually.
I have a lot of since I've beenpodcasting, I have a lot of
clients reaching out to me fromelsewhere.
SPEAKER_02 (08:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
And when that happens, I can just mail them a
system.
SPEAKER_02 (08:24):
So oh, that's good.
Oh, that's good to know.
So when we have those thatonline and you know, I'm on the
East Coast, you're on the WestCoast, like, you know, reach out
to people that, you know, we'dlove to have that, you know,
these amount of things that areavailable, I feel like it's it
should be added.
So, what have you found that hasbeen the most, you know,
(08:44):
byproducts or harm for patientfor people, for clients that
you're like, all right, I haveto change this?
Or what have you seenhealth-wise that has come up?
That's good.
I guess there are two questions.
First, what have you seen thehigh probability of in in the
water?
And then second, what kind ofhealth conditions or things have
come up because of it?
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of surprising stuff.
I've had a I ran into a familywho was losing their mind
because they were they hadcryptosporidium in their water.
SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
Oh my goodness.
And explain to people whatcryptosporidian is.
SPEAKER_00 (09:21):
It's just very, it's a very rugged and very dangerous
bacteria.
So it is, it's it's not a it'snot a bacteria you want to be
drinking consistently.
It and it was surprising.
I the levels must have been lowbecause it wasn't really killing
them, it was making themmentally unstable.
SPEAKER_02 (09:42):
Unstable.
Wow.
And how did one how did youdetect it in this scenario?
And then did they were they ableto get treated antibiotics and
all that or whatever?
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
Yeah, they they were, they were able to get it
treated, and we detected ithonestly because the they
thought it was they came to usand they were a little manic,
actually, right?
So they were somewhat nottrusting anyone they talked to.
So I had to handle them withvery gentle care.
(10:12):
It was a very unusual situation,actually, because most of my
clients, I can just get straightto the point, but I had to be
very, very cautious with what Isaid with them.
And then they they thought itwas metals, I thought it was
metals, so we we searched forthat first.
The metals were not bad enoughto really be causing that.
Where I was like, Oh, are wegonna find mercury?
SPEAKER_02 (10:34):
Like, yeah, yeah, I could see that lead, mercury,
something like that.
Very, oh hey, that might be it.
SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
Yeah, exactly.
And like they they did not thinkthat they were going like
downhill mentally.
They did not think that,obviously.
So I I couldn't say anythinglike that to them.
I just was looking for it.
And then I researched otherpossible causes, and
cryptosporidium actually cameup, and so I was like, okay,
(11:02):
that doesn't actually normallyget tested on a bacterial
bacterial test.
So what I did was I did aheterotrophic plate count to
identify that whether or notbacteria was present in the
water at all, and that dididentify that.
And then I did a broad spectrumpanel of different types of
bacteria, and Cryptosporidiumpopped.
(11:23):
And I was like, wow.
And so it was just like wherewas it coming from?
SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
Do you know the source?
I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00 (11:29):
They well, they were on a well, and so the source of
the well water was a rivernearby.
Oh so it was a shallow well,yeah.
Yep, it's not a common.
I've I've been doing this sevenyears myself now, and it's the
only time I've ever run intocryptos for a dame, actually.
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
But I've only heard of it like in the textbooks and
like one in the hospital.
So, like for me personally, no.
Have I ever seen no, but I'veyou know, um heard of it, you
know.
Yeah, and there's so manydifferent, you know, organisms
that can really do a number likelegionnaires and you know what I
mean, like the whole nine.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
Yeah.
So and then another client, thisperson was actually on city
water, they were on a mean, theyweren't on a well, they were on
a municipality, and themunicipality was just known for
solving their what so everymunicipality has to consistently
test, like do monthly tests onthe water.
(12:28):
And they they had a problemwhere they would this particular
municipality, when they ran intoanything, they would just overdo
it with chlorine.
And so what what this this ladyhad a miscarriage and she was
pregnant again, and she just didnot want to risk that the water
(12:50):
was the cause.
And normally, normally we don'tthink the water is going to be
the cause of a miscarriage, butyou know, we that that would be
a rare cause, right?
And proving a proving a causallink is nearly impossible, but
we did a test anyhow, and thedibromo chloromethane, which is
a chlorine byproduct, was justoff the charts.
(13:14):
And dibromochloromethane cancause that kind of problem in
some cases.
So she she's pretty convincedthat that was the cause of her
miscarriage.
Obviously, you cannot in any waysay that because a miscarriage
can be caused naturally and itcan be caused by external
factors.
There's just so many possiblecauses.
(13:35):
But the the water, it smelledlike fish because of an amine
off-gassing.
And so it was just very yeah, itwas very difficult to because it
didn't smell like fish untillater.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Like oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (13:53):
Yeah.
When I got there, it smelledlike fish.
So she hadn't been drinking itby that point, but she was
before.
So when I when we finally did asolution for them, it was it was
I I actually had to uh I had tobuild something kind of unusual,
but the uh the solution worked,and they're they have great
(14:13):
water now.
And she was in school at thetime and she's developing a
whole like school.
She she changed her entire likethesis to this situation she
went through, and she's now likeit uh developing something
around it.
But that was another veryunusual one.
SPEAKER_02 (14:34):
That's what I'm saying.
Where we talked briefly aboutyour passion, like when your own
stuff becomes your passion.
Yeah, you just you you yourealize that hey, I I gotta
gotta get some of thisinformation out into the world,
you know.
SPEAKER_01 (14:46):
Exactly.
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Yeah.
Um that that sounds veryinteresting.
And I and I don't discount herfeelings of it being a
possibility, you know.
I mean, lead paint causes, youknow, a lot of mental
debilitating for children andpeople, you know, so things are
there's a lot of environmentaland micro things.
(15:10):
And we were briefly talkingabout microplastics before.
There's so many environmentalthings that can cause issues.
And the water is something thatyou would like on a daily,
that's like we need to live anduse instead of having these
sugary junk drinks.
It's like you just want to comeand have a glass of water, you
know, and we need it and hope itto be healthy.
SPEAKER_00 (15:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:37):
What and then you were talking about the
microplastics.
What has that been like a bigthing now?
Is it new in the like I feellike it's a big thing in the
news, or have you just seen it alot in in your in your work?
SPEAKER_00 (15:49):
Yeah.
So we we have a lot of ourclients calling us and asking us
about microplastics.
And how they are found inwastewater treatment plants,
which means they are they aregetting through our body into
the wastewater treatment plantsto some degree.
(16:12):
But there is they the problemwith microplastics is they
attract pollutants like asponge.
So if it was just plastic, thatcould cause some potential
inflammation in your body.
Just literally by sitting inyour body, right?
Doing just being plastic, itcould cause inflammation.
(16:33):
But the the known problems withmicroplastics are like the the
jury's still out, basically.
It's all still under study, howmuch oxidative stress, how much
DNA damage is caused.
But because they attractpollutants like a sponge,
microplastics existing in theenvironment create this random
(16:56):
factor for humans where anythingcould be caused by them.
Like it could be that theythey're they kind of remind me
of Forever Chems in the sensethat it is completely unknown
what the result of this existingin our environment will be.
(17:19):
And studying it is incrediblydifficult because it's so like
you have to have longitudinaldata in order to actually know,
right?
SPEAKER_02 (17:30):
Yeah, yeah, and that takes that takes time.
SPEAKER_00 (17:33):
Exactly.
That takes time.
So, I mean, every major watersource on earth has
microplastics now.
That's that's without a doubt.
Every river, every ocean,rainwater, groundwater, all of
it all has microplastics at somelevel.
And so bottled water, what wasthat?
SPEAKER_02 (17:57):
I said how sad.
SPEAKER_00 (17:58):
Yeah, it is sad.
Bottled water, of course, hasmuch, much, much more.
The NIH did a recent study onit, found roughly 20,000
particles of microplastics perliter of bottled water, which is
just nuts.
And then there's there's alsothe consideration of
microplastics versusnanoplastics, nanoplastics just
(18:22):
being way a thousand timessmaller, right?
And then there's every range inbetween.
So most wastewater treatmentplants remove 90 to 95 percent
of microplastics, and so despitethat, billions of particles
(18:43):
still reach our environmentdaily, and then we we drink
them, if that makes sense.
So to avoid microplastics, oneshould not drink from bottled
waters, they should avoidbottle.
I mean, and by bottled I meanplastic bottles, they should
(19:03):
avoid to some degree plasticcontainers, but if the
container's been kept cold andnot like if it's the type of
food that's cold from start tofinish and refrigerated the
whole way, there's going to beless of it in that, if that
(19:23):
makes sense.
So refrigerated or frozen stuffthat's in plastic is not going
to be quite as bad as stuffthat's allowed to heat up and
cool down and heat up and cooldown, which happens with bottled
water pretty much every time.
So that's the those are theconcerns about microplastics and
(19:44):
um getting rid of it in your ownkitchen is pretty easy.
A reverse osmosis system will doit.
If you want it for your wholehouse, you have to get
nanofiltration orultrafiltration, which is like a
0.02 micron filter that you canget for your whole house.
(20:06):
And yeah, that's basically theway to go.
SPEAKER_02 (20:09):
But no, I mean, it sounds also pretty important.
It would be great if like allthe houses or the newer builds
kind of had this as its normal,you know, as the norm, but I
guess there's probably has to bepolicies and changes.
SPEAKER_00 (20:22):
I'm working on that too.
I I'm I'm talking to buildersall the time.
I I've I've got my uh mypartnership going with at least
a dozen different builders inWashington, and they're trying
to offer some sort of watertreatment to every new builder
remodel.
Because yeah, it's it'simportant.
SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
No, that's amazing.
I I think it's very important.
Before we leave today on theshow, what would you like to
share with the audience?
One last uh tidbit ofinformation, and then of course
we'll put all of yourinformation on the your bio and
and how to reach you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
Yeah, what I would suggest to everyone is that with
their own water, they test orthey find testing for their
water.
And when I say test, I don'tmean like five or six different
contaminants.
I mean a 50, certainly above 20.
You want to have a panel ofmetals, volatile organic
(21:22):
compounds, chlorine or chlorinebyproducts, and and PFOS.
You want to know whether there'sforever chemicals, PFAs, forever
chems in your water.
They're not testing formicroplastics yet.
So you're not gonna be able toknow that.
And then the other thing thatI'd like people to do is treat
their water.
So minimally get an undercounterreverse osmosis and otherwise
(21:47):
test your water so that you canidentify what you might need for
your whole house.
And if you're having skinissues, do not discount the
water you're showering in.
My daughter had eczema from ourwater, and I fixed it, and she
does not have eczema anymoreuntil she showers somewhere
else.
SPEAKER_02 (22:04):
So I I have heard that before.
Is it is it because was it metalplastics?
Do you remember remember what itwas or just the just the
irritants in it?
SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
It was actually just hardness for her.
Just hardness.
It was just calcium andmagnesium.
SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
It just dried her out.
Dried her out.
SPEAKER_00 (22:22):
Yeah, yeah.
That's what and obviously I'vetalked to dermatologists about
this and they and why they don'trecommend this more often.
They say that it's very personspecific.
So this isn't like a panacea,it's it's not gonna save
everyone from that, but it issomething people should look
into if they haven't.
SPEAKER_02 (22:40):
But you know, so I agree with that in not being
it's very patient specific, butI'm also thinking of it as like
if you just had the filter head,right?
At least at that minimum, thatin itself could save the the the
hair issues, the eczema on thehair, the the dryness.
I mean, it can just maybe evenif you ended up like drinking
(23:03):
like one when you're like itit's just a little bit of a
help.
So it's like even if thatconversation can be made, I
don't think it's necessarilythat it has to be considered
just one person, but I think asa collective, if we can just
we're talking about trying to,you know, decrease all this
junk, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (23:19):
Yeah, no, it's true.
Yeah, I mean, there's nodownside to treating the water
in your house for sure.
So I absolutely agree with you.
SPEAKER_02 (23:28):
I really appreciate you being on.
And obviously, this is a passionof yours, water and you know,
just being, you know, preventingmore health issues for others.
Thank you.
And if you like to be reached,how can people reach you?
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
Well, my name is unique.
So if you just type Insidianinto Google, you'll find me.
My company's name is Pure WaterNorthwest.
Very easy to reach that way.
I think my cell phone number ispublished online, ironically.
SPEAKER_02 (23:56):
And no, oh no, don't tell everyone now.
But how about your Instagram?
Is it Pure Water Northwest?
SPEAKER_00 (24:02):
Yeah, it is.
I also yeah, we can um sharethat for sure.
But yeah, the uh the Pure WaterNorthwest is how to find us
pretty easily.
Our socials are are prettydecent on that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:14):
So great.
Okay, that's awesome.
I really appreciate the time youbeing on with us.
And is there anything else you'dlike to add in right before we
finish?
SPEAKER_00 (24:23):
I just I appreciate you having us on, me on Demaris.
SPEAKER_02 (24:26):
I really of course, of course.
I think it's so important in allaspects of health, understanding
that like environmental factorsare are there and they're huge.
And water in general and itselfis how essential it is for our
body to be thriving.
And then if we can't even havequality water, which is such a
(24:47):
necessity, it's like, man, thesimple things need to be made
simple and healthy.
So I appreciate it being on.
SPEAKER_00 (24:53):
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02 (24:55):
So thanks again, guys, for joining in on the show
and make sure you make it amindful way each and every day.
And today it's being mindfulabout the water that you drink.
So thanks, guys, and have awonderful day.
Hi, how are you?
This is Demaris Grossman, andthank you for joining in on the
Mindfully Integrative Show.
So today we have an amazingguest, Sidian Kaufman, and he
will tell you all about hisobsession with water, but not
really obsession, but hispassion in water and you know
what is in our water and why hehas made it more pure in the
northwest area, I believe.
(00:46):
And he'll tell you more aboutit.
So nice to meet you.
How's it going, Sidon?
SPEAKER_00 (00:49):
It's great.
Thank you for having me on,Demaris.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (00:52):
Of course.
I appreciate you taking thetime.
So tell us a little bit.
One, tell us a little fun factabout yourself, something people
don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
Something people don't know.
I don't know.
I've been on so many podcastsrecently.
I've I've said way more aboutmyself than I ever thought I
would.
Okay.
All right.
Well, maybe just a fun littleokay.
Wait, I have something.
I am actually I'm making a I'vebeen working on like a comic, a
comic book.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
Cool.
SPEAKER_00 (01:20):
As random as that is.
SPEAKER_02 (01:21):
Yeah, I'm trying to write a little screen, screen
film play, like a little youwere doing, yeah.
Yeah, but it's more of justlike, oh, that's fun, but I'm
like, oh, what am I what am Idoing?
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
When you're when it's not your only thing, it
takes like decades, right?
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (01:37):
That's just like my more of like, oh, that sounds
nice.
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (01:42):
But that might work out.
What's the what's the comic bookabout?
Like or the gist.
SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
I mean, it's called it's called Prism Prison.
I actually even have a websitefor it.
It's it's kind of a veryfuturistic kind of
world-building thing.
I think I have six comics madealready.
I'm not the artist, I'm only thewriter.
So I have to like save up money,pay an artist to develop it,
that kind of thing.
So I've been that makes sense.
(02:08):
Doing it, I've been doing it for15 years now.
SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
Oh, that's so neat.
Yeah, I did a children's book,and I remember when I was
picking my artist to do thechildren's book.
And yeah, and then to to growthe children's series, it's
like, oh wait, that's right.
I have to put that.
Yeah, like you said, you have topit the money together and
really have a good, a goodscript and stuff.
So I I get you there.
And we just do that part is justbecause, right?
SPEAKER_00 (02:29):
Yep, exactly.
Just because it's fun.
SPEAKER_02 (02:32):
Yeah, I I I get you.
That's what happens.
We're creatives, you know.
So talk to me a little bitabout, you know, your passion in
water, but also kind of why whatbrought you on the show.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
Well, I I like talking about water, and I I
like that your show is is reallyfocused on health.
And those are really related.
I I got into water treatmentbecause of a funny little
incident when I was a propertymanager where there was some
(03:05):
brown, rotten egg, smelly waterthat I took to a lab, and the
lab said, This water is healthy.
After they did the test, theythey gave it back to me and
said, This water's healthy.
And I'm like, What?
They didn't give me the waterback because that would have
been too weird.
They just got gave me a reportsaying the water's healthy.
And I was like, How is thathealthy?
(03:26):
Did you see the water?
And then they they correctedthemselves and they said that
it's within the legal limits.
And that brought me down arabbit hole.
I mean, I re had to research.
I I the original owner of PureWater Northwest, the company I
own now, the original owner isthe first person I reached out
(03:47):
to to talk about that.
And he explained what was goingon with the legal level versus
the health level set by the EPA.
And the the EPA has two levels.
They they actually have morethan two, but they have two
primary levels, the MCL and theMCLG.
So the MCL being the legallevel, uh arsenic, for example,
(04:10):
has 0.01 parts per millionallowed in water.
And arsenic being on theperiodic table, it's everywhere.
If you look at a Department ofEcology map for arsenic, the
entire United States is coveredin red.
So arsenic's going to be inwater, but removing it down to
(04:30):
zero is incredibly difficult.
So the EPA sets these standardsbecause, well, they even say
right on the website, the MCLGis the is set as, I'll see if I
can directly quote it, is set asclose to the MCL as feasible,
taking cost and other factorsinto consideration.
(04:51):
The MCLG being the health level.
So the upshot of that is thewater you're drinking is going
to legally be allowed to beabove the health level set by
the EPA.
That got me into watertreatment.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
There's so many things there, right?
So many things that are there'sso many parts of that.
So what when you say pure,you're pretty much trying to
take out of all the impuritiesof the water or just all of
these like things.
Like what tell me more aboutthat.
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
Yeah.
So in water, what we want is wewant it to be low enough that if
you drank it for a hundredyears, it wouldn't be that big a
deal.
That's that's like the goal withwater.
Getting it down to zero isbasically not possible.
(05:48):
It costs millions of dollars ina laboratory to get water down
to pure H2O.
And then as soon as it's exposedto air, it's instantly not pure
H2O anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
So you uh you can't get pure, pure, pure, pure, pure
H2O, really.
And if you did, it actuallywouldn't be that healthy to
drink because it's a solvent andit will immediately start
pulling.
If you were to drink it, itwould immediately start pulling
stuff out of your body into it.
So that is yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:21):
See, we need minerals.
We still need minerals in thebottom.
SPEAKER_00 (06:24):
So that's true.
You don't get a ton of mineralsfrom water, but you need a water
to have a balance, yes.
Um, you just you want it lowerthan is generally available.
The the water you get frombottled water is usually tap
water that's been run throughone or more kinds of filters.
And what what those filters arereally determine that whether
(06:48):
the water's good or not.
And then there's an there's anironic balance with bottled
water.
I know we're we're on a newtopic now, but we're there's an
ironic balance with bottledwater where if you get it too
pure, it will start leaching theplastic off the bottle.
SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
So you've just like you've defeated the purpose of
having a quality water becausenow you're just in place in a in
a plastic bottle formanufacturing purposes.
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
That's right.
And because of that, that's whywe're in business.
That's why that's why I got intowater treatment, because it is
best for people to get theirwater from their house and put
it in a glass or metal bottle.
That's what's best.
SPEAKER_02 (07:33):
Because most of the time it is being distributed in
plastic bottles or plasticcontainers.
SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
Yeah.
So if you can get ultra purewater right out of your faucet,
and by ultra pure, I don't meanlike actually ultra ultra pure.
I mean that's very more purethan is delivered by the
municipalities, and then put itin a glass or metal bottle, then
you're gonna have very goodwater.
Your water will be better thanyou can get from a store.
(08:00):
And that's that's our goal.
That's basically that's mymission is for people to have
that at their house.
SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
Are you able to do this nationwide or just in the
north, northeast, northwest?
SPEAKER_00 (08:11):
Northwest.
I I can do it nationwide,actually.
I have a lot of since I've beenpodcasting, I have a lot of
clients reaching out to me fromelsewhere.
SPEAKER_02 (08:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
And when that happens, I can just mail them a
system.
SPEAKER_02 (08:24):
So oh, that's good.
Oh, that's good to know.
So when we have those thatonline and you know, I'm on the
East Coast, you're on the WestCoast, like, you know, reach out
to people that, you know, we'dlove to have that, you know,
these amount of things that areavailable, I feel like it's it
should be added.
So, what have you found that hasbeen the most, you know,
(08:44):
byproducts or harm for patientfor people, for clients that
you're like, all right, I haveto change this?
Or what have you seenhealth-wise that has come up?
That's good.
I guess there are two questions.
First, what have you seen thehigh probability of in in the
water?
And then second, what kind ofhealth conditions or things have
come up because of it?
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of surprising stuff.
I've had a I ran into a familywho was losing their mind
because they were they hadcryptosporidium in their water.
SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
Oh my goodness.
And explain to people whatcryptosporidian is.
SPEAKER_00 (09:21):
It's just very, it's a very rugged and very dangerous
bacteria.
So it is, it's it's not a it'snot a bacteria you want to be
drinking consistently.
It and it was surprising.
I the levels must have been lowbecause it wasn't really killing
them, it was making themmentally unstable.
SPEAKER_02 (09:42):
Unstable.
Wow.
And how did one how did youdetect it in this scenario?
And then did they were they ableto get treated antibiotics and
all that or whatever?
SPEAKER_00 (09:51):
Yeah, they they were, they were able to get it
treated, and we detected ithonestly because the they
thought it was they came to usand they were a little manic,
actually, right?
So they were somewhat nottrusting anyone they talked to.
So I had to handle them withvery gentle care.
(10:12):
It was a very unusual situation,actually, because most of my
clients, I can just get straightto the point, but I had to be
very, very cautious with what Isaid with them.
And then they they thought itwas metals, I thought it was
metals, so we we searched forthat first.
The metals were not bad enoughto really be causing that.
Where I was like, Oh, are wegonna find mercury?
SPEAKER_02 (10:34):
Like, yeah, yeah, I could see that lead, mercury,
something like that.
Very, oh hey, that might be it.
SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
Yeah, exactly.
And like they they did not thinkthat they were going like
downhill mentally.
They did not think that,obviously.
So I I couldn't say anythinglike that to them.
I just was looking for it.
And then I researched otherpossible causes, and
cryptosporidium actually cameup, and so I was like, okay,
(11:02):
that doesn't actually normallyget tested on a bacterial
bacterial test.
So what I did was I did aheterotrophic plate count to
identify that whether or notbacteria was present in the
water at all, and that dididentify that.
And then I did a broad spectrumpanel of different types of
bacteria, and Cryptosporidiumpopped.
(11:23):
And I was like, wow.
And so it was just like wherewas it coming from?
SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
Do you know the source?
I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00 (11:29):
They well, they were on a well, and so the source of
the well water was a rivernearby.
Oh so it was a shallow well,yeah.
Yep, it's not a common.
I've I've been doing this sevenyears myself now, and it's the
only time I've ever run intocryptos for a dame, actually.
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
But I've only heard of it like in the textbooks and
like one in the hospital.
So, like for me personally, no.
Have I ever seen no, but I'veyou know, um heard of it, you
know.
Yeah, and there's so manydifferent, you know, organisms
that can really do a number likelegionnaires and you know what I
mean, like the whole nine.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
Yeah.
So and then another client, thisperson was actually on city
water, they were on a mean, theyweren't on a well, they were on
a municipality, and themunicipality was just known for
solving their what so everymunicipality has to consistently
test, like do monthly tests onthe water.
(12:28):
And they they had a problemwhere they would this particular
municipality, when they ran intoanything, they would just overdo
it with chlorine.
And so what what this this ladyhad a miscarriage and she was
pregnant again, and she just didnot want to risk that the water
(12:50):
was the cause.
And normally, normally we don'tthink the water is going to be
the cause of a miscarriage, butyou know, we that that would be
a rare cause, right?
And proving a proving a causallink is nearly impossible, but
we did a test anyhow, and thedibromo chloromethane, which is
a chlorine byproduct, was justoff the charts.
(13:14):
And dibromochloromethane cancause that kind of problem in
some cases.
So she she's pretty convincedthat that was the cause of her
miscarriage.
Obviously, you cannot in any waysay that because a miscarriage
can be caused naturally and itcan be caused by external
factors.
There's just so many possiblecauses.
(13:35):
But the the water, it smelledlike fish because of an amine
off-gassing.
And so it was just very yeah, itwas very difficult to because it
didn't smell like fish untillater.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Like oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (13:53):
Yeah.
When I got there, it smelledlike fish.
So she hadn't been drinking itby that point, but she was
before.
So when I when we finally did asolution for them, it was it was
I I actually had to uh I had tobuild something kind of unusual,
but the uh the solution worked,and they're they have great
(14:13):
water now.
And she was in school at thetime and she's developing a
whole like school.
She she changed her entire likethesis to this situation she
went through, and she's now likeit uh developing something
around it.
But that was another veryunusual one.
SPEAKER_02 (14:34):
That's what I'm saying.
Where we talked briefly aboutyour passion, like when your own
stuff becomes your passion.
Yeah, you just you you yourealize that hey, I I gotta
gotta get some of thisinformation out into the world,
you know.
SPEAKER_01 (14:46):
Exactly.
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Yeah.
Um that that sounds veryinteresting.
And I and I don't discount herfeelings of it being a
possibility, you know.
I mean, lead paint causes, youknow, a lot of mental
debilitating for children andpeople, you know, so things are
there's a lot of environmentaland micro things.
(15:10):
And we were briefly talkingabout microplastics before.
There's so many environmentalthings that can cause issues.
And the water is something thatyou would like on a daily,
that's like we need to live anduse instead of having these
sugary junk drinks.
It's like you just want to comeand have a glass of water, you
know, and we need it and hope itto be healthy.
SPEAKER_00 (15:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:37):
What and then you were talking about the
microplastics.
What has that been like a bigthing now?
Is it new in the like I feellike it's a big thing in the
news, or have you just seen it alot in in your in your work?
SPEAKER_00 (15:49):
Yeah.
So we we have a lot of ourclients calling us and asking us
about microplastics.
And how they are found inwastewater treatment plants,
which means they are they aregetting through our body into
the wastewater treatment plantsto some degree.
(16:12):
But there is they the problemwith microplastics is they
attract pollutants like asponge.
So if it was just plastic, thatcould cause some potential
inflammation in your body.
Just literally by sitting inyour body, right?
Doing just being plastic, itcould cause inflammation.
(16:33):
But the the known problems withmicroplastics are like the the
jury's still out, basically.
It's all still under study, howmuch oxidative stress, how much
DNA damage is caused.
But because they attractpollutants like a sponge,
microplastics existing in theenvironment create this random
(16:56):
factor for humans where anythingcould be caused by them.
Like it could be that theythey're they kind of remind me
of Forever Chems in the sensethat it is completely unknown
what the result of this existingin our environment will be.
(17:19):
And studying it is incrediblydifficult because it's so like
you have to have longitudinaldata in order to actually know,
right?
SPEAKER_02 (17:30):
Yeah, yeah, and that takes that takes time.
SPEAKER_00 (17:33):
Exactly.
That takes time.
So, I mean, every major watersource on earth has
microplastics now.
That's that's without a doubt.
Every river, every ocean,rainwater, groundwater, all of
it all has microplastics at somelevel.
And so bottled water, what wasthat?
SPEAKER_02 (17:57):
I said how sad.
SPEAKER_00 (17:58):
Yeah, it is sad.
Bottled water, of course, hasmuch, much, much more.
The NIH did a recent study onit, found roughly 20,000
particles of microplastics perliter of bottled water, which is
just nuts.
And then there's there's alsothe consideration of
microplastics versusnanoplastics, nanoplastics just
(18:22):
being way a thousand timessmaller, right?
And then there's every range inbetween.
So most wastewater treatmentplants remove 90 to 95 percent
of microplastics, and so despitethat, billions of particles
(18:43):
still reach our environmentdaily, and then we we drink
them, if that makes sense.
So to avoid microplastics, oneshould not drink from bottled
waters, they should avoidbottle.
I mean, and by bottled I meanplastic bottles, they should
(19:03):
avoid to some degree plasticcontainers, but if the
container's been kept cold andnot like if it's the type of
food that's cold from start tofinish and refrigerated the
whole way, there's going to beless of it in that, if that
(19:23):
makes sense.
So refrigerated or frozen stuffthat's in plastic is not going
to be quite as bad as stuffthat's allowed to heat up and
cool down and heat up and cooldown, which happens with bottled
water pretty much every time.
So that's the those are theconcerns about microplastics and
(19:44):
um getting rid of it in your ownkitchen is pretty easy.
A reverse osmosis system will doit.
If you want it for your wholehouse, you have to get
nanofiltration orultrafiltration, which is like a
0.02 micron filter that you canget for your whole house.
(20:06):
And yeah, that's basically theway to go.
SPEAKER_02 (20:09):
But no, I mean, it sounds also pretty important.
It would be great if like allthe houses or the newer builds
kind of had this as its normal,you know, as the norm, but I
guess there's probably has to bepolicies and changes.
SPEAKER_00 (20:22):
I'm working on that too.
I I'm I'm talking to buildersall the time.
I I've I've got my uh mypartnership going with at least
a dozen different builders inWashington, and they're trying
to offer some sort of watertreatment to every new builder
remodel.
Because yeah, it's it'simportant.
SPEAKER_02 (20:44):
No, that's amazing.
I I think it's very important.
Before we leave today on theshow, what would you like to
share with the audience?
One last uh tidbit ofinformation, and then of course
we'll put all of yourinformation on the your bio and
and how to reach you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
Yeah, what I would suggest to everyone is that with
their own water, they test orthey find testing for their
water.
And when I say test, I don'tmean like five or six different
contaminants.
I mean a 50, certainly above 20.
You want to have a panel ofmetals, volatile organic
(21:22):
compounds, chlorine or chlorinebyproducts, and and PFOS.
You want to know whether there'sforever chemicals, PFAs, forever
chems in your water.
They're not testing formicroplastics yet.
So you're not gonna be able toknow that.
And then the other thing thatI'd like people to do is treat
their water.
So minimally get an undercounterreverse osmosis and otherwise
(21:47):
test your water so that you canidentify what you might need for
your whole house.
And if you're having skinissues, do not discount the
water you're showering in.
My daughter had eczema from ourwater, and I fixed it, and she
does not have eczema anymoreuntil she showers somewhere
else.
SPEAKER_02 (22:04):
So I I have heard that before.
Is it is it because was it metalplastics?
Do you remember remember what itwas or just the just the
irritants in it?
SPEAKER_00 (22:14):
It was actually just hardness for her.
Just hardness.
It was just calcium andmagnesium.
SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
It just dried her out.
Dried her out.
SPEAKER_00 (22:22):
Yeah, yeah.
That's what and obviously I'vetalked to dermatologists about
this and they and why they don'trecommend this more often.
They say that it's very personspecific.
So this isn't like a panacea,it's it's not gonna save
everyone from that, but it issomething people should look
into if they haven't.
SPEAKER_02 (22:40):
But you know, so I agree with that in not being
it's very patient specific, butI'm also thinking of it as like
if you just had the filter head,right?
At least at that minimum, thatin itself could save the the the
hair issues, the eczema on thehair, the the dryness.
I mean, it can just maybe evenif you ended up like drinking
(23:03):
like one when you're like itit's just a little bit of a
help.
So it's like even if thatconversation can be made, I
don't think it's necessarilythat it has to be considered
just one person, but I think asa collective, if we can just
we're talking about trying to,you know, decrease all this
junk, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (23:19):
Yeah, no, it's true.
Yeah, I mean, there's nodownside to treating the water
in your house for sure.
So I absolutely agree with you.
SPEAKER_02 (23:28):
I really appreciate you being on.
And obviously, this is a passionof yours, water and you know,
just being, you know, preventingmore health issues for others.
Thank you.
And if you like to be reached,how can people reach you?
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
Well, my name is unique.
So if you just type Insidianinto Google, you'll find me.
My company's name is Pure WaterNorthwest.
Very easy to reach that way.
I think my cell phone number ispublished online, ironically.
SPEAKER_02 (23:56):
And no, oh no, don't tell everyone now.
But how about your Instagram?
Is it Pure Water Northwest?
SPEAKER_00 (24:02):
Yeah, it is.
I also yeah, we can um sharethat for sure.
But yeah, the uh the Pure WaterNorthwest is how to find us
pretty easily.
Our socials are are prettydecent on that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:14):
So great.
Okay, that's awesome.
I really appreciate the time youbeing on with us.
And is there anything else you'dlike to add in right before we
finish?
SPEAKER_00 (24:23):
I just I appreciate you having us on, me on Demaris.
SPEAKER_02 (24:26):
I really of course, of course.
I think it's so important in allaspects of health, understanding
that like environmental factorsare are there and they're huge.
And water in general and itselfis how essential it is for our
body to be thriving.
And then if we can't even havequality water, which is such a
(24:47):
necessity, it's like, man, thesimple things need to be made
simple and healthy.
So I appreciate it being on.
SPEAKER_00 (24:53):
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02 (24:55):
So thanks again, guys, for joining in on the show
and make sure you make it amindful way each and every day.
And today it's being mindfulabout the water that you drink.
So thanks, guys, and have awonderful day.
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