What Water should I drink?

[James Carmichael]

Hey guys I'm new here, currently going through a slow and gradual trasition into raw foods. I'm just wondering what water I should be drinking. I'm currently drinking tap water, but as I understand itsn't very good for me.

[Aleesha Sattva]

pick up a brita. nice and inexpensive and one of the best water filtration units out there!

or fresh spring water if you have access to it. we have a spring near us. mmm yummy water!

[James Carmichael]

pick up a brita. nice and inexpensive and one of the best water filtration units out there!

or fresh spring water if you have access to it. we have a spring near us. mmm yummy water!

How would I find out if there is a spring near me?

[valkyriesmyst]

How would I find out if there is a spring near me?

http://www.findaspring.com/

[sport]

Finding a spring and bringing your water from it is only for the very dedicated so I would advise that you start with the Britta. You will get it in any of the main stores including Tesco.

[scyn]

If you don't find a spring - my vote is a water distiller. Once the unit is paid for, that's it. There are carbon filters, but I use one every 2 / 3 months and they're about $5 for a pack of ten.

I'm not sure about store bought filters' ability to remove chemical compounds - fluoride, fertilizers, medical products etc. that get into the water supply. With a distiller, the water is completely stripped of everything. Just add a bit of good quality salt (pink Himalayan for example) to the water and its good to go.

[sport]

IJust add a bit of good quality salt (pink Himalayan for example) to the water and its good to go.
I can not agree with this. Salt is poison and why should you deliberately add poison to your water.
If you want to remineralise it then add a few wheat berries.

[Eva]

I absolutely can't agree with the Brita!

Have a look (carefully ~ very very carefully!) at the packaging, and you will find that many Brita filters leave the fluoride in the water for our "health". YIKES! :eek:

If no fluoride is in your water (if you are in the USA ~ there probably is ~ outside of that you might be luckier and would just have to do a bit of research), then it's a great option.

We have a spigot set up in our kitchen and buy the huge (3-5-gallon) jugs of local spring water. The flavor is just so fresh and clean. :)

[scyn]

I can not agree with this. Salt is poison and why should you deliberately add poison to your water.Interesting statement. I'd be interested to read more about it. I can understand refined table salt being poison...but a small amount of unprocessed sea / mountain salt?

[Stina]

Since I live in the biggest city in the nation with no fluoride in the municipal water supply, I just moved and need a filter, think I'll get a activated charcoal one. I read the package on brita one time, it said it didn't remove chlorine, just the taste of chlorine, whatever.

[Aleesha Sattva]

there are tests done on quality... nothing beats the brita for space, cost and quality! honestly... do some research - it's worth every penny.

and their customer service is 10+

lots of people add himalayan salt to water... i don't but others do.

[James Carmichael]

Wow some really interesting points there. The thing is that most of the info on water and raw food just says that you should drink plenty, but it never seems to specify what type of water to drink.

I think I'll stick with Brita for now. I know that I'll get alot of water from the raw foods themselves so I'm not too worried about it.

[sport]

I have emailed them to ask about the flouride. I just want them to know that people care about the answer

[James Carmichael]

Surely its better than drinking tab and bottled water as i'm doing right now.

[sport]

I used Britta for years but I have a new house built so I was able to incorporate the filter systems in to the build. I found the britta to be fine.

[Stina]

there are tests done on quality... nothing beats the brita for space, cost and quality! honestly... do some research - it's worth every penny.

and their customer service is 10+

lots of people add himalayan salt to water... i don't but others do.

Honestly, basic research will indeed demonstrate that brita does not remove fluoride from water. Its better than nothing though.

[Aleesha Sattva]

we don't have flouride in our water... no chlorine either. we have really clean water here (in a small town in canada... on well water)

so the brita is the perfect addition for us. ;)

and yes... everyone needs to research these things for themselves... for their water needs in their area. ;)

[dmb2002man]

I use a water solutions rw210ez water cooler with stainless steel hot/cold water tanks and a 5 gallon #1 pet jug. I then get it filled up at tom thumb at the reverse osmosis machine for $1.75.

[Eva]

I used Britta for years but I have a new house built so I was able to incorporate the filter systems in to the build. I found the britta to be fine.

Could vary from place to place. I bought a filter for my faucet last year... got home... was looking at the package, and it said (VERY SMALL but) plain as day "does NOT remove fluoride."

I was annoyed. What kind of nonsense is that?! Does not remove fluoride. Pfft.

I understand that many places don't have fluoride in the water supply, so it may not matter in the UK...

[PunkRotten]

I been buying gallons of bottled spring water. Feel like I am throwing my money away, but figure this is better than drinking tap. No way for me to get to a natural spring and get it home. I spend on average $30 a month on water. I'd love to get a machine but they are expensive. But I might start saving up for a brita.

[sport]

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about the BRITA water filter system. We appreciate your interest in our product.

The ion exchange resin used in BRITA filters is not designed to remove negatively charged substances like fluoride. However, the activated carbon in the BRITA filters absorbs so effectively that it may remove a trace amount of fluoride throughout the life of the filter. Unfortunately, we can't provide you with any suggestions for removing significant percentages of fluoride; none of our products are designed to do this.

Again, thank you for contacting us. If you should have any further questions, please contact us again

[rawmiss]

Please look at this chart showing how distilled water is nearly 100% pure water and that filters and reverse osmosis still leave contaminations. Reverse osmosis is better than filtered.
http://www.waterwise.com/waterwisdom/nothingcompares.asp

Contrary to common knowledge you don't want those minerals in the fancy spring water. They are inorganic (would you eat rocks? It 's the same thing as the minerals in the spring water) they are the type of minerals that accumulate in the arteries and joints causing hardening of the arteries, arthritis and other problems according to Paul Bragg and other authors.
http://books.google.com/books?id=w85IJeGVcVkC&pg=PT78&dq=cocktail+of+toxic+chemicals+minerals+arthritis&hl=en&ei=ItPQTI-xDpPGsAOEwvWvCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=cocktail%20of%20toxic%20chemicals%20minerals%20a rthritis&f=false

I love drinking freshly-made distilled water, not bottled distilled water, I can't stand that. There is a "taste", but I never noticed it until my distiller broke and I had to buy water for awhile. When I got a distiller again, I noticed a taste but I got used to it again in a week or so. I've also heard the distiller water is "acidic" but so is lemon juice and lemon juice becomes alkaline in the body. I'm not sure what the ph of distilled water is after it is assimilated.

A water distiller costs a few hundred dollars (unless you are lucky and find one for $40 used like I did). It will last a few years (my Waterwise distillers seems to last at least 5 years so that's about $75 a year, or $6.30 a month. It costs about $.25 to make a gallon, so at a gallon a day it would cost $7.50 a month. Total cost $13.80 a month for water.)

I use this type and precariously stick a gallon glass container (like pickles come in) under the spout instead of bying the $60 glass container that Waterwise sells. I've been lucky and haven't had a big spill yet
http://www.waterwise.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1

There are "minerals" in tap water that get left in the bottom of the distiller after the water boiled away. If you think they are good for you, I'll sell you some ;-) but really, they cause all kinds of problems.

[James Carmichael]

Is there any machines that can distill water?

[dmb2002man]

Please look at this chart showing how distilled water is nearly 100% pure water and that filters and reverse osmosis still leave contaminations. Reverse osmosis is better than filtered.
http://www.waterwise.com/waterwisdom/nothingcompares.asp



This is weird as this company in texas shows distilled is no better than reverse. Guess i dont believe everything companies assume anymore as there just selling there product.

Is a reverse osmosis unit like a distiller?

Both effectively reduce “dissolved solids” content of water, but the processes are quite different. RO filters water through a very tight semi-permeable membrane. A distiller is like a big tea kettle: it boils water , catches the steam, condenses it, and captures the resulting water. Most impurities are left behind in the boiling chamber. Both distillers and reverse osmosis systems rely heavily on carbon filtration for chemical removal. (Cheap distillers often have little or no carbon filtration and are, therefore, of limited effectiveness.)
But isn’t distilled water purer than reverse osmosis water?

Distillers typically remove a few parts per million more of common mineral constituents like sodium. However, distillers don’t do a good job with volatile chemicals with a low boiling point. Chloramines, for example, which many cities now use instead of chlorine as a disinfectant, aren't removed well by distillers. Reverse osmosis, with the carbon filters that accompany it, does a very good job with chloramines. Unless volatile chemicals like chlorine are removed by carbon filtration before they enter the distiller, they will be released into the room air or they will end up in the distilled water. But in general, distilled water is very pure, as is reverse osmosis water.

A guy who sells filters showed me a chart that said reverse osmosis doesn’t remove chlorine. Is that true?

That guy may someday be president, because technically what he said was true, but for practical purposes it’s an out-and-out lie. It’s true that the reverse osmosis membrane doesn’t remove chlorine. It doesn’t have to, because it has a couple of high quality carbon filters with it that do the job. In fact, if the first carbon filter didn’t remove all the chlorine, the membrane would get eaten alive in no time. Statements like this are an obvious effort to deceive. It’s surprising that some very large companies repeat such misrepresentations just to sell their products.

http://www.pwgazette.com/rofaq.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-distilled-water.htm - Read Post #7

[Eva]

The taste of distilled water for me is very, very strange. So is your usual bottled water ~ many of them skeev me out.

Reverse osmosis, spring water, plain ole filtered water and mineral water (especially in Hungary ~ their mineral water is intensely good!) all taste great-ish to me.

[sport]

Is there any machines that can distill water?

James. I have a distiller. I think that I got it from here http://www.ukjuicers.com/water-purifiers

[James Carmichael]

James. I have a distiller. I think that I got it from here http://www.ukjuicers.com/water-purifiers

Are they worth the money? Do I have to buy any kind of equipment for it i.e cartidges, replacement parts or anything like that or is it just a one off payment and the machine will work for years?

[sport]

Basically it boils the water and turns it in to steam and then the steam travels over to the other container where it turns back to water.
There is a filter but in all of the time that I used it I never changed it and I got about 6 with the machine when I purchased. You can be fussy and change it more often if you want but I figure that there can not be much to filter out of steam.
There is a build up of limescale in the first container but after about 6 months just fill it with water and add some cheap vinegar and bring it to the boil and let it sit there and it clears most of it.