17-Apr-2017 / By Admin

First plastics were created in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, a Belgian- American chemist. But gained popularilty post world war-2. Due to their robust and stable properties and easily molding tendencies, plastics swiftly and diversely intruded into human lives.

Plastics are made using organic compounds like cellulose, natural gas, crude oil etc. Modern day plastics also use a significant amount of additives in it, of which BPA or Bisphenol A is a ubiquitous compound of plastics.

BPA since 1936 has been found to act like estrogen hormone inside human body. Estrogen is a female hormone which induces female characteristics in human body, Estrogen masks male hormone and also causes erratic reactions in female bodies. Scientific studies confirmed that BPA can enhance Breast cancer cells and reduce sperm counts in male. BPAs are also linked to diabetes and their extreme ill effects on babies & young children. The scary part is BPAs were found to leach into the content of plastic containers/tanks. This phenomenon of leaching was found to be considerably enhanced in environment of hot temperature. (Approximately 55 times more in hot temperatures). This is the primary reason why the water stored in plastic tanks or containers smells plasticky at times.
 
Domestic water in India is frequently stored in HDPE tanks, kept in open sun. Most storage tanks aren’t BPA free even of the most reputed companies. Indian summers are known for extreme temperatures and the temperature soar near 45 degrees centigrade, peaking upto 48-50 degrees  at places.
Such sort of temperature is enough to increase the leaching phenomenon in plastic tanks. This leached chemical comes in contact with our bodies in daily usage. The concerning fact being there is no check on the BPAs of water storage, neither a check on a lot of local manufacturers who are manufacturing plastic tanks .
 
With growing awareness on health and well being, Ironically, the water is still one of the most ignored yet essential component of human life.
 
Although a lot of times the water from overhead tanks is not used for drinking. But is coming in contact with leached water for lifetime is a good choice?