Finding The Best Drinking Water Options
December 7th, 2015
Finding the best drinking water options is something of a paramount importance as some of the water sources contain thousands of harmful chemicals that can easily be absorbed by our bodies. That being said, do you know what is in your tap drinking water? Most of the people do not care about the impurities that are found in their drinking water. Read on to find out what is contained in your tap drinking water and how to avoid them.
Tap water contains over 200 pollutants and chemicals according to a research done by an international environmental working group. Among the chemicals and pollutants that are found in tap drinking water are the volatile organic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, etc that are commonly found in a majority of municipal water sources due to agricultural run-offs.
Tap drinking water also contains pollutants like heavy metals such as mercury and lead, endocrine disrupting chemicals that interfere with the normal hormones in our bodies. The water also contains fluoride and much more. Drinking water options for people that are not interested in drinking a chemical cocktail include:
Distilled water option
The process used in purifying distilled water utilizes heat to cause water to become steam. This steam rises and moves into a cooling chamber where it turns back into liquid, leaving behind much of the contaminants. The filtration process reduces large particles such as heavy minerals and minerals but doesn’t remove volatile organic chemicals or endocrine disruptors as these vaporize at lower or equal temperatures with water and then rise with the steam. This water purification process effectively kills bacteria making it one of the best drinking water options to opt for.
Reverse osmosis filtration option
In this process, a membrane is utilized to remove most of contaminants from water. This membrane is paired with a granulated activated charcoal filter to effectively remove chlorine from the water. The semi-permeable membrane separates a lot of contaminates from the water, but rejects a large amount of water in the process. This result in huge wastage of water for every gallon filtered. It also results in the removal of most naturally occurring minerals, including magnesium and calcium from the water. All the same, it does remove a large amount of contaminants from water, making it also a good water purification option.
Pitcher water filters
These filters are used together with granulated activated charcoal to remove contaminants from tap drinking water. Pitcher water filters are cheaper than a majority of other filter options in the beginning, but require regular refilling and cartridge replacements making them more costly in the long run. Because they do not use solid carbon, they do not effectively remove all the toxins from the water.
Bottled water option
Though a favourite with many people, bottled water has started falling out of favour recently, and for very good reasons. These include:
- Discarded water bottles have become a major source of consumer waste annually
- Bottled water is more costly than the standard drinking tap water
- In a majority of cases, the water inside the bottles itself is no different than the normal tap water
- Chemicals from the plastic containers or bottles can leech into the water
Though not the best drinking water option based on health, taste and price factors, having a bottle of water by your side is quite convenient. And there are also a number of sustainable options, including steel and glass water bottles.
