February 3, 2025 • 11 mins
Think disinfectants and chemical filters have you covered? In this eye-opening episode of The Toxic Truth About Water, Drs. Glenn and Ina reveal the often-overlooked world of biological contaminants—from bacteria and parasites to viruses and mold. Learn how these microorganisms end up in our water through failing infrastructure, natural disasters, sewage leaks, and even red tide blooms. If you thought you were safe, this conversation might make you think twice—and empower you to take the right precautions.
What You’ll Learn
- Different Types of Biological Contaminants: Bacteria (E. coli, Legionella), viruses, parasites, mold, and more.
- How They Get In: Explore the role of sewage overflows, cracked pipes, and boil water alerts.
- High-Risk Groups: Why children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems should take extra steps.
- Real-World Examples: Recent outbreaks in Florida, Nebraska, and the dreaded “red tide” phenomenon—and how these can impact municipal water.
Key Takeaways
- Infrastructure Matters: Aging pipelines and storm damage often create unexpected openings for bacteria and parasites to invade.
- Boil Alerts: Understand how boil orders work—and why it’s crucial to pay attention to local notifications.
- Global Issue: From “Montezuma’s Revenge” in Mexico to unexpected outbreaks in the U.S., biological contamination is more common than you’d think.
- Stay Informed: Being proactive about these risks is your best defense—knowledge truly is power.
Resources & Links
- Local Water Quality Reports: Check your municipality’s website or local health department page for boil alerts and updates.
- Environmental Working Group (EWG): EWG.org (Great for general water quality data)
- Connect with Drs. Glenn & Ina:
- Call Us Today: (732) 300-1925
- Facebook: Ina Nozek and Glenn Nozek
- Instagram: @drsglennandina
Subscribe & Review
Find value in our deep dive into biological contaminants? Follow The Toxic Truth About Water on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Your reviews help more people discover how to stay safe from hidden water threats!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Glenn (00:01):
Welcome to the Toxic Truth About Water.
We're Drs.
Glenn and Ina, and in thispodcast, we're uncovering the
hidden dangers lurking in yourwater, and how those
contaminants impact your health.
Ina (00:11):
After decades of exploring natural health, we've learned
the importance of clean, safewater, and we're here to share
that knowledge with you.
From the effects of toxins andcontaminants to the solutions
that you need, we've got theinside scoop.
Let's dive in.
Glenn (00:29):
Let's dive in.
Let's talk about what we'vecovered so far.
Ina (00:32):
Just to do a little regroup.
The past four episodes, we'vebeen talking about the various
types of contaminants.
that we're finding in our water,right?
We want to bring the awareness.
So we talked about chlorine andother disinfectants that are
used to treat municipal water.
We talked about heavy metals andpharmaceuticals, pesticides,
(00:54):
herbicides, a lot of thosechemical contaminants.
We talked about foreverchemicals.
We did a whole episode onforever chemicals.
And the last group ofcontaminants that we're gonna
discuss we're going to starttalking about different
solutions, different optionsthat we have just to protect
ourselves.
(01:15):
But we're going to talk aboutthe biological contaminants on
this episode today.
Okay, so what are the biologicalcontaminants?
It's all of the microorganisms,it's the live contaminants like
bacteria, E.
coli, for example.
Exactly.
Legionella.
(01:35):
If you have Legionnairesdisease, Legionella is the
bacteria that causes that.
Viruses, molds, cysts,parasites, fungus, all of that
are the biological contaminantsand many of us assume That's
being taken care of when ourwater is treated, and to a big
point it is, but It gets in.
(01:58):
And there's a lot of outbreaksand there's a lot of things that
we wanna discuss with you tobring your awareness because
it's potentially a very bigrisk.
Glenn (02:06):
It sure is.
Ina (02:07):
So let's talk about how are these getting into our water
supply?
Glenn (02:11):
It's sad, but one of the main ways is sewage.
Raw sewage ends up in many ofour municipal water systems,
prior to treatment, things likethat.
Ina (02:19):
even just animals.
Glenn (02:21):
Dying on land.
Ina (02:23):
fecal matter.
Glenn (02:23):
Matter is a big deal.
Ina (02:24):
Waste from animals, right?
So it's, human waste, animalwaste.
it's important to, because yousaid, before it gets to being
treated, but remember the aginginfrastructure.
Glenn (02:35):
That's the biggest issue, that we have.
Ina (02:38):
right?
So are the pipes that it'straveling through can have you
know cracks and breaks andthat's how a lot of these
biological contaminants aregetting into our water supply.
And we're going to talk aboutsome other ways they're getting
in as well.
Glenn (02:51):
Absolutely.
Ina (02:51):
there's a lot of health
Glenn (02:52):
People have GI conditions, they'll vomit.
you can have anything from afever to flu like symptoms.
You can have dehydration.
Ina (03:01):
Yeah, a lot of potentially dangerous and GI is usually.
How it starts to make us feel,and sometimes that's a big clue
that we know we've beencontaminated.
But often it can result indeath, like it can actually be
very severe and very serious.
And, certainly there are certainpeople that are more vulnerable,
(03:22):
right?
Glenn (03:23):
Children.
Unhealthy adults, people who areimmune system, right?
Ina (03:28):
Elderly definitely pregnant women, right?
Glenn (03:30):
Your classic vulnerable ages And social areas, different
Ina (03:35):
parts of your life process, right?
Exactly.
So when obviously youngchildren, their immune system
isn't developed as much, babies,young children, pregnant women
are susceptible because they'regrowing a baby.
And so again, more vulnerable.
And that's with all of thesecontaminants.
it's that vulnerable populationthat's more susceptible.
(03:55):
So what's really interesting andwhat's You know, we have to
really start paying attention tosome of this and never to
create, and we always say, we'renot trying to create doom and
gloom, we just want to bring theawareness because when we know
we're going to be better able toprotect ourselves.
So there's been some recentoutbreaks that are I would say,
(04:18):
mind blowing.
Glenn (04:20):
Yeah.
Ina (04:20):
Really interesting.
So remember we here in Floridaand some other parts of this,
area in the Southeast had therecent hurricanes.
There was an article in Octoberthat Bradenton, which is our
town here, released a hundredand thirty million gallons of
(04:42):
sewage into the Manatee River.
Glenn.
Glenn (04:48):
Right now.
Ina (04:48):
A hundred and thirty million gallons into the river.
Glenn (04:55):
And the Manatee River, by the way, is a source of
municipal water in Bradenton.
Just to be clear, You know thatwater needs to be treated
obviously, right?
Ina (05:04):
whew.
Glenn (05:04):
water.
Ina (05:05):
So that's just local to here, but it's not just as a
result of, the hurricanes.
That certainly will have animpact when there's like natural
disasters.
It could definitely affect.
The biological contaminants thatare inundating or get released
into
Glenn (05:19):
the environment from various reasons, whether it's,
things getting knocked down or,animals getting killed,
Ina (05:26):
But also in October unrelated.
In Nebraska, the Center forDisease Control released a
report that there was a verylarge outbreak of
Campylobacteriosis.
So an outbreak of that, again,biological contaminant,
bacteria, and 19 percent of thetown's population were reported
(05:53):
as ill.
Glenn (05:54):
That's insane.
Ina (05:55):
So that's major, right?
Glenn (05:57):
Yeah.
Ina (05:57):
And I think a lot of people can relate to the biological
contaminants when you thinkabout going to Mexico,
Glenn (06:05):
Montezuma's Revenge.
Ina (06:06):
Known as traveler's diarrhea.
So sometimes in developingcountries or, just going outside
of the U.
S.
We can run into that where wehave diarrhea and we have,
again, those germs.
gastrointestinal issues as aresult of drinking the water.
So I think you guys get thegist.
Now, what's interesting is thereare a lot of boil alerts.
(06:31):
And a boil alert.
Glenn (06:34):
This happens all over the country,
Ina (06:35):
Yeah.
Glenn (06:36):
So many people have no clue.
Ina (06:38):
And what's interesting is since the last hurricane we had
here, There were over 70 boilalerts in the state of Florida.
The thing about a boil alert is,they, basically lost control of
the safety of the water.
Glenn (06:57):
it could be a breach.
It could be a crack in a pipe.
They have sensors.
So they don't have like scopesor anything that go looking for
problems.
But what they do have is sensorsand it picks up a difference in
pressure.
So when there's a crack in thepipe, obviously it's gonna leak
water.
And so the pressure changes.
Ina (07:14):
And
Glenn (07:14):
so that's how they go about finding and then trying to
fix and patch it,
Ina (07:17):
So the boil water alert also called a boil order, right?
They're ordering you as thecounty health
Glenn (07:25):
officials
Ina (07:26):
boil your water in order for it to be safe enough to
consume It's not killing theforever chemicals, but it does
Glenn (07:33):
talked about in our past episodes,
Ina (07:36):
but it does kill the biological contaminants when we
boil the water.
So when there's a boil wateralert, you want to boil that
water.
It's usually five minutes.
You let it cool, put it in therefrigerator and that's the
water you're going to use now.
Also you're going to use it notonly to cook and drink, but also
to brush your teeth with.
If you're in a shower, you justwant to be careful that you're
not swallowing that waterbecause it's contaminated and
(07:59):
it's potentially very dangerous,Like pay attention, stay
informed.
So like Glenn said, a lot oftimes we don't even realize
there is a boil alert and howwould we know, right?
So that doesn't give us muchpeace of mind, but this is
something really important.
Biofilm will result fromstagnant water.
(08:23):
So if you leave some water outfor your dog outside by the
pool, and forget to bring it inyou'll see it's gonna create
like a film.
Those are microorganisms.
Those are these biologicalcontaminants that we're talking
about, right?
Glenn (08:36):
We all know when Water sits, for instance, that can be
a source of creating problems,like in a cup or a jar, it's
going to get moldy, it's goingto grow bacteria.
Ina (08:45):
especially if it's out in the warmth or in the air.
If it's refrigerated, that's adifferent story, but right.
That's just something to thinkwith.
And what we're going to talkabout as we move forward is,
sometimes even in certain typesof filtration, there can be.
biological contaminants that arein the system itself.
Filters, refrigerator filters,the dispenser can grow a lot of
(09:07):
mold and other microorganisms,biological contaminants.
So it's just the awareness.
It is something that, again, weassume, right?
We assume that it's all beingclean and disinfected and we
don't have to worry, but it issomething that we need to think
with.
Do you want to mention, Glenn,about just like the red the
bloom?
Glenn (09:27):
Yeah.
Ina (09:28):
more common down here.
On the coast, on the west coast,
Glenn (09:31):
So we have a bacterial bloom that happens.
It's an algae bloom, actually,that happens in this area from
like the Tampa Bay area south onthe west coast of Florida.
And it's very popular duringcertain times of year where that
bloom is so horrendous that itactually affects the air.
You can't even sit on the beach.
Ina (09:52):
It could cause skin irritation.
Glenn (09:54):
You don't see it.
It's not a visible thing, butyou won't be out there five
minutes without noticingsomething's wrong.
Ina (10:00):
And it's considered a cyanotoxin.
But how is that impacting ourwater that's coming into our
home?
Glenn (10:08):
and even these, I'm glad you brought that up because it's
in the air.
Obviously it travels by air.
So Yeah, it's super common.
It stems on the coast, so yousee it on the beaches and along
that shore.
But inland, it affects thewater, too, because, it doesn't
sit still.
We have winds and everything.
Ina (10:24):
So it's just another part of the equation, and I think
it's just important to mentionthat.
In a nutshell, just for today'sepisode, to be aware of these
biological contaminants that aremore apparent than we would ever
realize and definitely a bigrisk to our health when we're
not aware and we're notprotecting ourselves.
(10:45):
thank you guys so much fortuning into this episode of the
Toxic Truth About Water.
We hope that you're walking awaywith valuable insights on how to
protect yourself and your lovedones from hidden water toxins.
Glenn (10:58):
And if you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to
subscribe.
And as always, feel free toshare this podcast with any
friends, family, anybody youthink could benefit from the
information we're sharing.
Ina (11:09):
So until next time, remember we are in this
together.
Keep questioning, keep learning,stay healthy, and stay informed.
Bye for now.
Welcome to the Toxic Truth About Water.
We're Drs.
Glenn and Ina, and in thispodcast, we're uncovering the
hidden dangers lurking in yourwater, and how those
contaminants impact your health.
Ina (00:11):
After decades of exploring natural health, we've learned
the importance of clean, safewater, and we're here to share
that knowledge with you.
From the effects of toxins andcontaminants to the solutions
that you need, we've got theinside scoop.
Let's dive in.
Glenn (00:29):
Let's dive in.
Let's talk about what we'vecovered so far.
Ina (00:32):
Just to do a little regroup.
The past four episodes, we'vebeen talking about the various
types of contaminants.
that we're finding in our water,right?
We want to bring the awareness.
So we talked about chlorine andother disinfectants that are
used to treat municipal water.
We talked about heavy metals andpharmaceuticals, pesticides,
(00:54):
herbicides, a lot of thosechemical contaminants.
We talked about foreverchemicals.
We did a whole episode onforever chemicals.
And the last group ofcontaminants that we're gonna
discuss we're going to starttalking about different
solutions, different optionsthat we have just to protect
ourselves.
(01:15):
But we're going to talk aboutthe biological contaminants on
this episode today.
Okay, so what are the biologicalcontaminants?
It's all of the microorganisms,it's the live contaminants like
bacteria, E.
coli, for example.
Exactly.
Legionella.
(01:35):
If you have Legionnairesdisease, Legionella is the
bacteria that causes that.
Viruses, molds, cysts,parasites, fungus, all of that
are the biological contaminantsand many of us assume That's
being taken care of when ourwater is treated, and to a big
point it is, but It gets in.
(01:58):
And there's a lot of outbreaksand there's a lot of things that
we wanna discuss with you tobring your awareness because
it's potentially a very bigrisk.
Glenn (02:06):
It sure is.
Ina (02:07):
So let's talk about how are these getting into our water
supply?
Glenn (02:11):
It's sad, but one of the main ways is sewage.
Raw sewage ends up in many ofour municipal water systems,
prior to treatment, things likethat.
Ina (02:19):
even just animals.
Glenn (02:21):
Dying on land.
Ina (02:23):
fecal matter.
Glenn (02:23):
Matter is a big deal.
Ina (02:24):
Waste from animals, right?
So it's, human waste, animalwaste.
it's important to, because yousaid, before it gets to being
treated, but remember the aginginfrastructure.
Glenn (02:35):
That's the biggest issue, that we have.
Ina (02:38):
right?
So are the pipes that it'straveling through can have you
know cracks and breaks andthat's how a lot of these
biological contaminants aregetting into our water supply.
And we're going to talk aboutsome other ways they're getting
in as well.
Glenn (02:51):
Absolutely.
Ina (02:51):
there's a lot of health
Glenn (02:52):
People have GI conditions, they'll vomit.
you can have anything from afever to flu like symptoms.
You can have dehydration.
Ina (03:01):
Yeah, a lot of potentially dangerous and GI is usually.
How it starts to make us feel,and sometimes that's a big clue
that we know we've beencontaminated.
But often it can result indeath, like it can actually be
very severe and very serious.
And, certainly there are certainpeople that are more vulnerable,
(03:22):
right?
Glenn (03:23):
Children.
Unhealthy adults, people who areimmune system, right?
Ina (03:28):
Elderly definitely pregnant women, right?
Glenn (03:30):
Your classic vulnerable ages And social areas, different
Ina (03:35):
parts of your life process, right?
Exactly.
So when obviously youngchildren, their immune system
isn't developed as much, babies,young children, pregnant women
are susceptible because they'regrowing a baby.
And so again, more vulnerable.
And that's with all of thesecontaminants.
it's that vulnerable populationthat's more susceptible.
(03:55):
So what's really interesting andwhat's You know, we have to
really start paying attention tosome of this and never to
create, and we always say, we'renot trying to create doom and
gloom, we just want to bring theawareness because when we know
we're going to be better able toprotect ourselves.
So there's been some recentoutbreaks that are I would say,
(04:18):
mind blowing.
Glenn (04:20):
Yeah.
Ina (04:20):
Really interesting.
So remember we here in Floridaand some other parts of this,
area in the Southeast had therecent hurricanes.
There was an article in Octoberthat Bradenton, which is our
town here, released a hundredand thirty million gallons of
(04:42):
sewage into the Manatee River.
Glenn.
Glenn (04:48):
Right now.
Ina (04:48):
A hundred and thirty million gallons into the river.
Glenn (04:55):
And the Manatee River, by the way, is a source of
municipal water in Bradenton.
Just to be clear, You know thatwater needs to be treated
obviously, right?
Ina (05:04):
whew.
Glenn (05:04):
water.
Ina (05:05):
So that's just local to here, but it's not just as a
result of, the hurricanes.
That certainly will have animpact when there's like natural
disasters.
It could definitely affect.
The biological contaminants thatare inundating or get released
into
Glenn (05:19):
the environment from various reasons, whether it's,
things getting knocked down or,animals getting killed,
Ina (05:26):
But also in October unrelated.
In Nebraska, the Center forDisease Control released a
report that there was a verylarge outbreak of
Campylobacteriosis.
So an outbreak of that, again,biological contaminant,
bacteria, and 19 percent of thetown's population were reported
(05:53):
as ill.
Glenn (05:54):
That's insane.
Ina (05:55):
So that's major, right?
Glenn (05:57):
Yeah.
Ina (05:57):
And I think a lot of people can relate to the biological
contaminants when you thinkabout going to Mexico,
Glenn (06:05):
Montezuma's Revenge.
Ina (06:06):
Known as traveler's diarrhea.
So sometimes in developingcountries or, just going outside
of the U.
S.
We can run into that where wehave diarrhea and we have,
again, those germs.
gastrointestinal issues as aresult of drinking the water.
So I think you guys get thegist.
Now, what's interesting is thereare a lot of boil alerts.
(06:31):
And a boil alert.
Glenn (06:34):
This happens all over the country,
Ina (06:35):
Yeah.
Glenn (06:36):
So many people have no clue.
Ina (06:38):
And what's interesting is since the last hurricane we had
here, There were over 70 boilalerts in the state of Florida.
The thing about a boil alert is,they, basically lost control of
the safety of the water.
Glenn (06:57):
it could be a breach.
It could be a crack in a pipe.
They have sensors.
So they don't have like scopesor anything that go looking for
problems.
But what they do have is sensorsand it picks up a difference in
pressure.
So when there's a crack in thepipe, obviously it's gonna leak
water.
And so the pressure changes.
Ina (07:14):
And
Glenn (07:14):
so that's how they go about finding and then trying to
fix and patch it,
Ina (07:17):
So the boil water alert also called a boil order, right?
They're ordering you as thecounty health
Glenn (07:25):
officials
Ina (07:26):
boil your water in order for it to be safe enough to
consume It's not killing theforever chemicals, but it does
Glenn (07:33):
talked about in our past episodes,
Ina (07:36):
but it does kill the biological contaminants when we
boil the water.
So when there's a boil wateralert, you want to boil that
water.
It's usually five minutes.
You let it cool, put it in therefrigerator and that's the
water you're going to use now.
Also you're going to use it notonly to cook and drink, but also
to brush your teeth with.
If you're in a shower, you justwant to be careful that you're
not swallowing that waterbecause it's contaminated and
(07:59):
it's potentially very dangerous,Like pay attention, stay
informed.
So like Glenn said, a lot oftimes we don't even realize
there is a boil alert and howwould we know, right?
So that doesn't give us muchpeace of mind, but this is
something really important.
Biofilm will result fromstagnant water.
(08:23):
So if you leave some water outfor your dog outside by the
pool, and forget to bring it inyou'll see it's gonna create
like a film.
Those are microorganisms.
Those are these biologicalcontaminants that we're talking
about, right?
Glenn (08:36):
We all know when Water sits, for instance, that can be
a source of creating problems,like in a cup or a jar, it's
going to get moldy, it's goingto grow bacteria.
Ina (08:45):
especially if it's out in the warmth or in the air.
If it's refrigerated, that's adifferent story, but right.
That's just something to thinkwith.
And what we're going to talkabout as we move forward is,
sometimes even in certain typesof filtration, there can be.
biological contaminants that arein the system itself.
Filters, refrigerator filters,the dispenser can grow a lot of
(09:07):
mold and other microorganisms,biological contaminants.
So it's just the awareness.
It is something that, again, weassume, right?
We assume that it's all beingclean and disinfected and we
don't have to worry, but it issomething that we need to think
with.
Do you want to mention, Glenn,about just like the red the
bloom?
Glenn (09:27):
Yeah.
Ina (09:28):
more common down here.
On the coast, on the west coast,
Glenn (09:31):
So we have a bacterial bloom that happens.
It's an algae bloom, actually,that happens in this area from
like the Tampa Bay area south onthe west coast of Florida.
And it's very popular duringcertain times of year where that
bloom is so horrendous that itactually affects the air.
You can't even sit on the beach.
Ina (09:52):
It could cause skin irritation.
Glenn (09:54):
You don't see it.
It's not a visible thing, butyou won't be out there five
minutes without noticingsomething's wrong.
Ina (10:00):
And it's considered a cyanotoxin.
But how is that impacting ourwater that's coming into our
home?
Glenn (10:08):
and even these, I'm glad you brought that up because it's
in the air.
Obviously it travels by air.
So Yeah, it's super common.
It stems on the coast, so yousee it on the beaches and along
that shore.
But inland, it affects thewater, too, because, it doesn't
sit still.
We have winds and everything.
Ina (10:24):
So it's just another part of the equation, and I think
it's just important to mentionthat.
In a nutshell, just for today'sepisode, to be aware of these
biological contaminants that aremore apparent than we would ever
realize and definitely a bigrisk to our health when we're
not aware and we're notprotecting ourselves.
(10:45):
thank you guys so much fortuning into this episode of the
Toxic Truth About Water.
We hope that you're walking awaywith valuable insights on how to
protect yourself and your lovedones from hidden water toxins.
Glenn (10:58):
And if you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to
subscribe.
And as always, feel free toshare this podcast with any
friends, family, anybody youthink could benefit from the
information we're sharing.
Ina (11:09):
So until next time, remember we are in this
together.
Keep questioning, keep learning,stay healthy, and stay informed.
Bye for now.
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