Health Benefits of Drinking Pure Water
All proceses within your cells depend on water in one way or another. Your body is also made up of two-thirds of water. So it is no wonder that you depend on a constant supply of drinking water, and that dehydration can cause all sorts of illnesses or diseases, or can make you feel bad. Drinking enough clean pure water every day is so important to your health that one doctor wrote a whole book about it: ‘Your Body’s Many Cries for Water’ by Dr. F. Batmaghelidj. And obviously the quality and purity of your drinking water is of highest importance. You can imagine that drinking contaminated water is not going to help your body to improve its health. We will be emphasizing the benefits of drinking pure or - as it is in reality purified filtered water by pointing out the negative health impact of common contaminants in tap water. Although water companies are regulated and have to control the quality of the water they supply to your home, there are limits to how the water companies have to treat the tap water, resulting in residual contamination.
The following sections take a look at the different ways your drinking water could be contaminated.
Sediments and Turbidity
Often considered more a nuisance than a health threat, sediments and turbidity, very small particles, in your tap water can spoil the enjoyment of drinking water. Turbidity can have various origins and can make your water taste ‘metallic’ or ‘foul’. It can also stain your sink or bath tub.
Chlorine
This is the main chemical that water companies add to your tap water to kill micro-organisms and bacteria to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases. The same chlorine is the active ingredient in bleach, a very aggressive chemical. Also, you will most likely remember the smell and feel of chlorine in water from public swimming pools - and also how it made your eyes itch. Now, isn’t it interesting that chlorine is not even the most effective chemical to treat drinking water - but the cheapest. The reaction of chlorine with other contaminants in tap water can cause the generation of chloroform and other trihalomethanes THMs. These are a group of chemicals suspected to cause cancer and linked to a higher rate of birth defects. Your body is particularly exposed to the chlorine when your are taking a hot shower and when your skin and lungs open up to the the hot water and the vapors.
Heavy Metals
Recent surveys found lead in the tap water of over nine out of ten households. Lead is a heavy metal that accumulates in the body and leads to nervous defects. Lead pipes have been used in the past for house plumbing systems, and may still be installed if you have a house more than 20 years old.
Cysts and Other Microorganism
The most dangerous micro-organisms in tap water are Cryptosporidium and Giardia. These micro-organisms are just 4 microns small, so they can easily pass through the filter systems of the water companies, and sometimes survive the chlorine disinfection of tap water. They can cause severe stomach upsets and diarrhea. An infection can be fatal for someone with a weak immune system, i.e. the very young or the elderly.
Chemical Contaminants
Pesticides, herbicides, volatile organic compounds VOCs, pharmaceuticals, solvents, and others, are all found in tap water. They come from run-offs from farms and industrial operations. Over 2000 contaminants have been found in tap water, and many of these are carcinogenic. Usually the levels of these chemicals are quite low - below the legal levels - but nobody really knows what effects so many chemicals at the same time can have on the human body. The filter systems of most water companies are not fully equipped to remove all of these chemicals.
So What Can You Do?
This whole list of substances could be in your tap water, and they could all be having negative effects on your health. To filter these out before you drink the tap water, you have to use a state-of-the-art multi-stage water filter system, like the ones available from Aquasana. These filter systems leave the healthy minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium, as well as sulfates and carbonates, in your water, just as they can be found in natural clean spring water. These minerals contribute greatly to the good taste of clean water.
We recommend that you have a look at the Aquasana website, where you can find more detailed information on water filters for your home.