What's in Your Water?

I've been wondering for a while about the safety of letting my daughters drink water directly from the tap, as they do in our home. Even though most L.A. water passes quality reports with flying colors, I had my doubts and had been pondering the idea of calling Sparkletts. Then two things happened that injected a whole new level of confusion into the water question.

First, news broke last month that L.A. Unified School District drinking fountains were flowing with lead from old pipes, and that district employees had lied about flushing the fountains every morning to reduce lead exposure. Then, around the same time, it came out that developing children really shouldn't be exposed to Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in plastic bottles, sippy cups, containers and toys that mimics hormones.

These two revelations taken together pretty much eliminated bottled or tapped water as a safe alternative for kids.

Instead of throwing up my hands in frustration, I decided to get Christopher Gavigan on the phone to help make some sense out of the pipes or plastic conundrum. Gavigan heads a Los Angeles organization called Healthy Child Healthy World, and is the author of a new book, "Healthy Child, Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home."

Gavigan has degrees in environmental science and geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has extensive graduate training in child psychology and education. He has

He's also married to Jessica Capshaw, Kate Capshaw's daughter and Steven Spielberg's stepdaughter, which explains how he got so many A-list celebrities to contribute to the book.

Gavigan is also a new parent, so I know he's really on top of this stuff.

With the news about lead in the water and the plastic scare, what is a parent supposed to do about water?
I try to avoid plastic bottles. But it's hard. You're traveling, you need water. Look at the label. You want number 1 or 5 in the label. The five-gallon jugs of water delivered by services are traditionally made of polycarbonate, which is number 7. (That's bad. Polycarbonates contain BPA and other nasty chemicals.)

But there are some that deliver water in glass. And there are those that deliver in containers that are 1 or 5.

So, what if you opt to not use plastic and go with tap water?
In the morning, let your tap run cold to flush the pipes, because lead can leech overnight. (The schools may not be doing it, but you can at home.)

What do you use in your home? I go with tap water and I use a house filter. A carbon filter like the Brita pitcher removes chlorine, course sediment and organic chemicals (according to Brita's Web site, the filters remove some heavy metals, like lead, and the pitchers themselves don't contain BPA.)

What about fluoride? Will these filters remove fluoride from the water that kids need for teeth?

There's a lot of discussion about that. Fluoride has drastically reduced cavities, but there is a debate on how much children need. The filters do filter out some fluoride in the water. But people on that side of the argument say they get enough from their toothpaste.

Does all this even matter? Aren't we living in a toxic stew anyway when it comes to air quality?

It's a balance. Kids have to play outside with their friends and commune with nature. But on smoggier days, you do something inside. You can't live in a bubble.

What are some other simple things we can do to make our homes less toxic?
Think about the cleaning products you're using, the furniture you're bringing in to your home, the things you are eating. Taking off your shoes reduces 80 percent of the pesticides and grime from outside. Use baking soda and vinegar for cleaning. Baking soda, lemon juice and white vinegar is cheap, and it works better than anything else.

Barbara Correa (818) 713-3662 barbara.correa@dailynews.com