Five Sources of Water – What You Need to Know About Each

Excerpted from Original Source: Mercola.com

Tap Water – Easy, quick, convenient. But how many pollutants lurk in your water? And what is your associated health risk? Did you know that 40% of bottled water is actually TAP WATER? With or without added filtration – you’re paying through the nose for it. Worse, an independent test by the Environmental Working Group found arsenic, DPBs and 36 other harmful pollutants hiding in bottled water.

Plastic Bottles - less than optimal idea too. They can contain the potentially hazardous chemical BPA. And the devastating environmental impact is staggering.

Distilled Water – Use with caution… Long-term use can invite health problems, because its minerals are evaporated out. So to try to maintain mineral balance, it sucks minerals out of your body. What’s worse, the contaminants in the water are more concentrated in the finished distilled water. You can just imagine what that does to your health…

Alkaline Water – Although there is some controversy on this, I and most experts believe that this water should be used for short-term detoxification only (1-2 weeks max). Additionally the alkalinization process does NOT filter the water so you need to carefully evaluate the water filter for the specific alkaline water unit it’s 0using.

Vitamin Waters – Don’t be fooled… Vitamin waters contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), artificial colors, additives, preservatives, and caffeine. Even worse… they use distilled water to produce these products – which as you just read, is one of the worst types of water you can consume.

Your body depends on clean water to perform its daily functions, such as digestion, temperature and blood regulation, respiration, and detoxification.

In particular, your body’s ability to flush out toxins and properly assimilate nutrients depends heavily on an abundant intake of clean, chemical free water. The more stress, toxins, and pollutants your body battles with each day, the more water it needs.

The quantity and quality of the water you use largely determines your body’s ability to shed excess fat and properly maintain your body’s largest organ, your skin.

While your entire body is 72 percent water, your skin is 80 percent water. Plentiful water is needed to maintain your skin’s elasticity and moisture barrier.

Your blood is over 90 percent water and uses water to transport oxygen, nutrients, and antibodies throughout your body.

What's YOUR Best Water Filter Option?

Carafe or Pitcher Style Filter

The pour-through pitcher style filter is generally the least effective filter when it comes to removing harmful contaminants.

Certified to remove only five substances, a pitcher-style filter is designed primarily for taste and odor. Most importantly, these typically do NOT remove dangerous THMs, VOCs, and cysts.

Although their initial cost may be only about $25.00, you’ll need to replace cartridges every 30 gallons. All figured, at a whopping cost of 25 cents per gallon, these filters are the most costly on an on-going basis.

Plus if you forget to refill the small reservoir after use, you’re out of water!

Reverse Osmosis Filter

Reverse osmosis (RO) filters, are my personal favorite, but they may not be for everyone. I prefer RO filters because they generally remove more impurities, including hard-to-remove fluoride. However, they also remove natural minerals in the water.

I add the essential minerals back into my water, but it’s an extra step you must remember to do for naturally healthy water. RO filters also tend to be more expensive.

Ion Exchange Filter

Ion exchange is designed to remove dissolved salts in the water, such as calcium. This system actually softens the water or exchanges natural-forming mineral ions in the water with its own ions, thereby neutralizing their harmful effect of creating scale build-up.

The ion exchange system was originally used in boilers and other industrial situations before becoming popular in home purifying units, which usually combine the system with carbon for greater effectiveness.

Distillation Filter

Distillation is the simple process of boiling water to create steam. The steam cools and condenses to form mineral-free water droplets, which are deposited in a container. When combined with carbon, the result is typically 99.9% contaminate-free water. Like a reverse osmosis filter, all healthy minerals are removed.

Granular Carbon and Carbon Block Filters

These are the most common types of counter top and under counter water filters. Granular carbon filters and carbon block systems perform the same process of contaminant removal, adsorption, which is the chemical or physical bond of a contaminant to the surface of the filter media.

Granular activated carbon is recognized by the EPA as the best available technology for the removal of organic chemicals like herbicides, pesticides and industrial chemicals. However, one of the downfalls of granular carbon filters is that the loose material inside can channel--the water creates pathways through the carbon material, escaping filtering.

Carbon block filters offer the same superior filtering ability but are compressed with the carbon medium in a solid form. This eliminates channeling and gives the ability to precisely combine multiple media in a sub-micron filter cartridge. By combining different media, the ability to selectively remove a wide range of contaminants can be achieved.

A sub-micron pore structure gives the added benefit of cyst reduction. By creating a sub-micron physical barrier, the filter can eliminate dangerous organisms like Cryptosporidium and Giardia.

Ideally, you want a filtration system that offers a variety of methods to remove different contaminants. Most systems do not address a combination of organic, inorganic, cyst, sediment and metals.