You would think most of us would get the clue. If chlorine is toxic enough to kill bacteria and other potentially infectious life forms when added to water, it might not be the safest thing to drink.

If you bought a bag of spinach you wouldn't eat the plastic bag you transported it in from the grocery store to your home, would you? Of course not. 

Many of us don't have a practical alternative to chlorinated municipal water supplies so we are faced with chlorine in our water.  But, just like the spinach, we can remove the bag or chlorine after it has served its purpose.

There is simply no reason that you should be drinking chlorine, or for that matter fluoride, in your water supply. Yes, fluoride can be every bit as toxic as chlorine.

New research now confirms that cancer-causing agents are created when disinfectant chemicals like chlorine come in contact with organic materials already in water, among them trihalomethanes. And, that's why washing dishes with antibacterial dish soaps in tap water isn't safe for you either.

Please don't fool yourself into thinking that you can tell your water is safe by the way it looks, tastes, or smells. Some contaminants in water are so harmful that they are measured in "parts per million" or "parts per billion." In other words, just a drop of these poisons added to gallons and gallons of water can be very harmful.

Bottled water is also not an ideal solution. If you must use bottled water, avoid purchasing the one-gallon cloudy plastic (PVC) containers from your grocery store, as they transfer far too many chemicals into the water.

The five-gallon containers and the ones in the clear bottles (polyethylene) are a much better plastic and will not give the water that awful plastic taste. You can add lemon juice occasionally to your water to help flavor it and normalize your body's pH if it is too acidic.

Also avoid distilled water, as it has the wrong ionization, pH, polarization and oxidation potentials. It will also drain your body of minerals.

Your best bet is to install a reverse osmosis filter. But just installing a filter to purify your drinking water may not be enough. You could still be exposed to contaminated water when you:

1. Shower or bathe
2. Wash your hands
3. Wash laundry
4. Rinse fruits and vegetables
5. Wash dishes, glasses, and other utensils

To protect your family's good health, have your water analyzed to find out what's in it. If it's currently safe, then having a small point-of-use filter is a nice added level of protection. But if you find contamination, you should seek expert advice as to what treatment system can remove it.