Can Iron in Your Drinking Water Affect Your Health?

Posted: April 11, 2017 to Drinking Water

There is no taste to pure water, but the water’s also naturally a solvent. This means, most of the minerals from the groundwater, which includes iron, are going to go into the water. When there is a lot of iron in your drinking water, it can have a taste that is unpleasant and metallic. Iron’s a very important element when it comes to your nutrition, and the health effects it has when it’s in your drinking water could include warding off anemia and fatigue.

Iron in Your Drinking Water

When you have iron in your water, you’re going to notice that there is a metallic taste. It also might look brownish and be discolored. The water might also have sediment in it. Iron is going to leave an orange or red rust stain in your toilet, bathtub, shower, or sink. The iron will often build up inside a dishwasher, discoloring ceramic dishes. This iron can also go into your water heater and also get into your washer, causing your clothes to become stained. It’s cautioned by EPA that even though iron inside drinking water is safely ingested, iron sediments also may harbor bacteria or contain traces of impurities that are often harmful. Bacteria from an iron can also form brown slime which can dissolve minerals such as iron. This type of bacteria causes problems in wells since the water isn’t chlorinated.

The Role of Iron in Nutrition

Iron’s necessary for you to be healthy. Most people know that it’s important for creating hemoglobin, and this is what transports oxygen to your body’s cells. Iron is also used for metabolizing cells and it’s found in a lot of enzymes in the body. When your body is low on iron, it can make you anemic and tired, and it can mean that you are more likely to become sick.

Some people are more susceptible when it comes to the iron deficiency than others. The people who are more at risk are the elderly, women, and children. These are the groups who are more likely to be iron-deficient when compared to men, although anybody can become iron-deficient.

It’s possible that when you drink water that has a high iron content, that it’s going to have a beneficial effect on your body since it will give your diet small iron amounts. But even though drinking water with iron in it may be helpful, you shouldn’t depend on it for being your sole iron source.

How Iron Overload Can Affect Your Health

Even though it’s possible that you can get an overload of iron through diet, ingesting too much through drinking water isn’t associated with adverse effects on your health. But, even though consistently consuming a lot of iron may result in iron overload, it usually is because of a type of gene mutation which about a million people in America are affected with. When this is untreated, it can result in hemochromatosis, which is a very serious disease that can damage your body’s organs. Symptoms early on include weight loss, joint pain, and fatigue. But if it’s not treated, it can result in liver problems, diabetes, and heart disease. A simple blood test can tell you if you have iron overload.

So can iron in your drinking water affect your health? It can help you somewhat if your iron is low. But you shouldn’t count on it to give you all of the iron that your body will need, because it won’t be enough. But there is no evidence that it can harm you.

Questions about Water Purification?

We service more than 800 water systems throughout Lee and Collier County on a regular basis.

The various types of systems we install and service range from the standard aerator water system to the more modern twin tank water systems designed to remove offensive odors and soften the water.

We also maintain point of entry, or the whole house, reverse osmosis systems. Contact us today: (239) 939-3656