Should you Cook your Food with Tap Water?
Why Hot tap Water is a Problem
lifehealth.com • Giving your Kids a Million
People usually come up with a lot of questions regarding the usage of tap water for cooking.
What if I use Hot Tap Water?
Using hot tap water for drinking or cooking is a no-no, the Environmental Protection Agency warns. That’s because hot tap water can leach harmful contaminants like lead from your home’s water pipes into the water you might be drinking or using to prepare hot foods.
Lead dissolves easier in hot water, and too much of this heavy metal at any level can cause serious damage to the brain and nervous system. Even boiling the hot tap water doesn’t remove the lead but only makes it more concentrated if it’s present to begin with. Children and pregnant women are most at risk for developmental issues, yet lead exposure in adults can cause joint pain and high blood pressure.
How does leaching happen?
Leaching occurs in service pipes containing lead that ultimately become corrosive. This corrosion might occur in areas where the water has high acidity or low mineral content. Although the EPA banned the use of lead pipes and lead soldering in 1986, houses built prior to the ban are likely to still have a lead system inside the house or in the plumbing system leading up to the structure. Additionally, brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures with lead solder are problematic, according to the EPA, especially when these elements interact with hot water and result in leaching.
Is cooking food in tap water safe or not?
Many people cook food in tap water and justify it by saying that due to boiling and heating of food, all the water-based bacteria kill. However, if asked, we would suggest not to use tap water for cooking. According to science water is safe to drink after it gets boiled up, as all the germs and bacteria wash off completely. But the matter is beyond the presence of germs and bacteria. Water contains insecticides, pesticides, germicides etc. which is actually unsafe to consume. When we use tap water for cooking, it may eradicate the bacteria but the chemicals still stay in it.
One can use tap water by using a tap filter on it just to wash the raw vegetables. However, you must cook your food in properly filtered water to avoid any chances of catching the risk of water-borne diseases. Some people wash vegetables in tap water after cutting them. It is extremely an unhealthy practice. All the pesticides and insecticides in vegetables multiply with the unfiltered water and make you fall sick.