If you have decided to provide healthy drinking water for your family, you may think that bottled water is a good step toward that goal. It would be, except that bottled water is not filtered in the way that it should be.
Bottled water is not the same as filtered water. Bottled water is basically the same as tap water, bottled and sold. There are many arguments against bottled water, including the plastic waste, the plastic that leaches into the water itself, and the huge negative impact on the towns from where the water is sourced. (For more information about why you shouldn’t drink bottled water, watch the documentary, “Bottled Life: Nestle’s Business with Water”.)
Filtered water has been cleansed of the harmful toxins in the water supply. Wherever you live, your town has a water system that attempts to provide clean water for its citizens. Unfortunately, not enough is done to remove all the bad things that make their way into our drinking water. These things can cause all kinds of health problems. In addition, many towns still add fluoride to water in the belief that this helps prevent tooth decay.
What’s in Your Water?
Here are some of common contaminants that can be in your drinking water:
- Estrogen, from prescription medication such as birth control bills
- Chemicals and substances from other prescription medication
- Heavy metals such as mercury
- Bio-organisms
- Fluoride
If you are doubtful of the harmful things in your water or the need to drink filtered water, you can easily find out for sure how pure your water really is. Most hardware stores sell at-home water testing kits for less than $10. You just buy the packet, follow the instructions, and mail the water sample in to the company. Within about two weeks, you’ll get the results by mail or email, with a detailed analysis of what was found in your water sample. Most companies also provide you with an explanation of terms so you can fully understand the implications of the findings. Chances are high that you will discover some very disturbing things that are in your drinking water, and that you will choose to filter your home drinking water.
What Kind of Filter Should You Buy?
Before you run off to the store and buy a pitcher filter or a filter that attaches to your faucet, continue reading. Not all filters are made alike, and they don’t all perform the same functions. On the box of the pitcher filters, you’ll see a list of contaminants that particular product takes care of. The same holds true of the box with the faucet filter. You’ll notice that the list of contaminants isn’t long, and neither of these styles remove fluoride from your drinking water. To get rid of fluoride, you need to get a reverse-osmosis filter with a minimum of six stages. A reverse-osmosis filter system can fit underneath your kitchen sink, with a water dispenser that fits in the hole where the built-in soap dispenser in your sink goes. If you don’t have a hole there, your handyman can easily drill one with a specialized bit. For total water filtration that includes protection from fluoride, a six-stage reverse-osmosis filter is what you should buy.
What About Drinking Water on the Road?
For portable water that is filtered, you can either invest in some stainless steel water bottles with spouts, or re-use empty glass bottles from your grocery store. Single iced tea bottles work well because they have a screw-on cap and were designed to be drunk from the bottle. If you’re concerned about breakage, buy some inexpensive foam bottle wraps that are sold to keep beer bottles cold. These foam wraps are the ideal size and shape to hold your glass or aluminum filtered water from home.
If you choose to use stainless steel water bottles, be sure you buy stainless steel, and not aluminum. Aluminum can leach into the water just like plastic.
To clean your re-usable water bottles, take a trip down your grocery store’s cleaning aisle and pick up a bottle brush. Hang it on a cup hook on the door under your kitchen sink for fast and easy clean up. Be sure to wash the lid of the bottle and the mouth area of the bottle, especially.
Drinking filtered water will not only help improve your family’s health, but it has an added benefit of reducing the amount of money you spend on drinking water for the family. Last, you won’t ever have to lug heavy containers of bottled tap water home from the grocery store again. If you have questions or comments about filtered water versus tap water, please comment below.
About the Author: Kate Supino is an advocate of natural, holistic living. For wholesome recipes and ideas, please visit her website at KatesCozyKitchen.com.
Resources:
http://www.ntllabs.com/index.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2072910/
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/why-does-aluminum-leech-into-a-water-bottle-but-stainless-steel-does-not.638911/
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/drugs-in-our-drinking-water
