dir@cbosgd.UUCP (10/25/83)
Does anyone know about the advantages/disadvantages of drinking and cooking solely with distilled water? I am somewhat concerned about the tap water where I live because it seems to vary in quality, sometimes tasting chlorine-ish, or metallic, or swamp-like. I've read that distilled water will demineralize the body if it is the only source of liquid intake. Can this be true? D. Radin - AT&T Bell Labs - Columbus
stewart@ihldt.UUCP (10/25/83)
I also dislike the chlorine and contaminants in the city water where I live, and have done some research into cleaning it up. I've found that there are three options: distillation, bottled drinking water and filtering. Distilled water is very pure but is also very soft (no minerals). It is not recommended for drinking since it does not supply minerals, though I haven't seen claims that it will remove minerals that are already in your body. It also doesn't taste so great. Bottled distilled water is expensive, but the cheaper home distillers can actually make the water worse by concentrating volatile substances (with a boiling point below or near water's). You can get bottled drinking water, which has been purified but not to the degree of distilled water. The main disadvantage here is cost; the bottled water in the store costs about 80 cents per gallon. A store near me has a vending machine that charges 40 cents per gallon (on a bring-your-own-bottle basis). I don't know how much it costs to subscribe to home delivery, but that's an option too. Filters come in several forms. Any good filter will have at least two stages; a microporous filter for contaminants, and an adsorption stage (usually charcoal) for chlorine and other chemicals. Advantages are convenience and low cost; disadvantages are having to replace filters and putting up with slow water flow while filtering. The types of filters I've seen have been: - Basic tap style (like Water-Pic's*); Installs on the tap, and has some way to select filtered or unfiltered water. - A separate appliance (like Norelco's CleanWater machine*); Allows you to recycle the water through the filter several times for better cleaning. - Permanently installed units (like First Need's*); These are expensive and need installation, but are really good. The First Need unit provides a separate tap for filtered water, and they have test results that say that the filter is good enough to take totally untreated water and make it potable. I use a tap-style filter at home and an appliance-type at the office. They work well enough that I don't notice any taste or impurities left in the water. I'll probably get the installed type when I'm living someplace that I'm not renting. I hope this has been helpful. Any questions can be sent to: Bob Stewart ihldt!stewart *trademarks
thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas) (10/28/83)
I think you can also rent various water purification units from companies like Culligan. =Spencer