Is Your Shower Head Making You Sick?

Is my shower head making me sick?  Do I really need to worry about the water coming out of my shower head?  Well, maybe if you understand that bacteria thrives in shower heads.  Something I certainly had no idea about.

According to research from the University of Colorado at Boulder, lung infections can have a direct relationship with the pathogenic mycobateria found in shower heads. Who knew?!  Not only does the bacteria thrive in shower heads, but in your home’s water system.  Now I’m getting overwhelmed.

These researchers tested 656 shower heads all across the United States and in Europe and “identified geographic regions within the United States where shower heads have particularly high abundances of potentially pathogenic lineages of mycobacteria, and these “hot spots” generally overlapped those regions where NTM lung disease is most prevalent.”  To see the map and especially the “Hot Spots”, click here. 

The bacteria actually grows and persists in biofilms (or slimy bacteria), coating the inside of shower heads.  What happens next is that the bacteria becomes aerosolized and then inhaled in the shower.  Usually this is harmless unless it involves bacteria within the genus Mycobacterium.  What is particularly interesting is that the homes with water treated with chlorine disinfectants still had this mycobacteria.   And homes on municipal water showed more bacteria present than homes on well water.

So what can you do?

All the biofilm bacteria samples for the study were collected by swabbing the interior of an unscrewed shower head.  I think a start would be to clean or replace your shower head frequently to prevent build up.  I also like the Berkey shower filter.  It’s not beautiful, but it does the job to keep the toxins out of your shower.  Pipes and drains should also be cleaned regularly which is expensive and not always easy, so I suggest that you do what you can.

I’ve also written on the importance of water filters in my post, Water Wellness, Drink Smarter.  I really like the comparison that was done below by Natural News Labs with water pitchers and the best ones to buy.  You may be surprised.

Lastly, the Find A Spring website is wonderful for locating natural springs in your area that you can actually collect water from.  Here is a great video to explain the benefits of spring water.