what they think is the best water purification system for a home. Anyone's wisdom and/or experience is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

If you don't like distilled water... the Rox Slow drip system is the best.. It takes forever but you get the best water.. it makes alkaline mineral rich water. Its a big 5 gallon or so container that has a big rock in the middle..
you just pour tap or distilled water into it..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2007 03:07PM by Rawgetarian.

I've read that distilled water isn't really good for long term drinking. It's good for cleansing though.

I've actually tested the pH of distilled water and it is indeed acidic. I think it was around a 4.

I've never heard of the Rox Slow Drip system, sounds interesting. There are also machines that filter and alkalize your water.

4 sounds a bit too acidic for distilled water. Carbonic acid in water forms when carbon dioxide becomes dissolved in water. I read on a website that the the pH of rainwater (not acid rain) is around 5.65. If the distilled water were at pH = 4 then they must have added some CO2 to it or something else. As soon as water absorbs CO2, it becomes acidic, but a pH of 4 sounds really high.

I just checked it again with a 2.5 gal container of Steam Distilled Water I've had lying around. I was drinking it everyday for months before a friend led me to some info.

I used pH test drops with a color scale. The scale goes from 4 - 10. 4 is Orange, 5 is yellow. The water turned out orange, a 4. It might be a light orange, but it's definitely not yellow.

Here's a page with some info... [www.ionizers.org]
Of course, that site is selling ionizers so take it as you want. However, as my retest just confirmed it's definitely acidic and some info on that site might explain why, that goes along with VeganLife's mention of CO2.

The site says, "Distilled water is an active absorber and when it comes into contact with air, it absorbs carbon dioxide, making it acidic. The more distilled water a person drinks, the higher the body acidity becomes."


Rawgetarian, I googled Rox Slow Drip System and couldn't find anything. Got a link?

yes I often think of getting a shower head filter for my apartment... just not sure which one... I dream of soft fluffy hair, which is impossible to get with nyc water.

My local water guru doesn't like distilled water. She didn't discuss the Ph but said that every distiller has that steam go through metal parts, possibly aluminum parts. It turns out to be not so pure as we all think.

Ok, my understanding (may not be correct!). Distilation purifies the water by removing everything, including the minerals. Minerals alkalise the body, green leaves are alkalising because they have minerals in them. Fruit is less alkalising because it has less minerals. Therefore water without minerals is acidifying to the body.

Filters, on the other hand, can remove some of the bad stuff like chlorine, flouride, etc and leave in the minerals - I have no idea how they do this, it's just what I have read (sometimes in the filters manufacturers publicity so how reliable that info is, I don't know).

Natural water (eg spring water) has minerals in it.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

sunshine79 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yes I often think of getting a shower head filter
> for my apartment... just not sure which one... I
> dream of soft fluffy hair, which is impossible to
> get with nyc water.

I know what you mean. I've looked into them before and tending to be "I want the best, regardless of price" type of person I almost bought a $250 shower filter once. It had high claims and looked good. Luckily, I was in college and didn't make the purchase because I figured I'd wait till I was out of the dorms.

Then I picked a cheap one up at a health store as a spur of the moment purchase. After about a year of use (beyond it's useful life) I looked into finding a replacement cartridge. Then I decided I'd look into possibly better filters. When in college I found a site that compared many models and tried to find that site again. I didn't find it, but found a better one that actually tested many models. The other site was more of a paper comparison.

Anyway, the $250 one was tested and it only reduced chlorine by 29%. Considering there are a couple $40 filters on the list that reduce chlorine by 99%, that's a rip off.

I ended up buying the Vitashower. It uses Vitamin C to filter out chlorine. I'll be buying a new one in a couple weeks as it is time to replace. They have a new model now that also contains Vitamin E. The whole filter is supposed to better and last longer. However, it only reduces chlorine and says nothing about any other contaminants like lead, etc. I'd think chlorine is the biggest problem anyway.

Here's a link to the comparison site... [home.comcast.net]

ooh thanks adfinder, good tip!

that vitamin C one sounds neat, I bet it would be great to wash colored hair with.

Funky Rob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, my understanding (may not be correct!).
> Distilation purifies the water by removing
> everything, including the minerals. Minerals
> alkalise the body, green leaves are alkalising
> because they have minerals in them. Fruit is less
> alkalising because it has less minerals.
> Therefore water without minerals is acidifying to
> the body.
>
> Filters, on the other hand, can remove some of the
> bad stuff like chlorine, flouride, etc and leave
> in the minerals - I have no idea how they do this,
> it's just what I have read (sometimes in the
> filters manufacturers publicity so how reliable
> that info is, I don't know).
>
> Natural water (eg spring water) has minerals in
> it.
>
> Rob

Yeah this is exactly what I've understood too. I rather drink and wash fruit/veggies in acidic water than chlorine and chemical infested water..
You can get your alkalizing minerals from other sources and still stay alkaline.

I wanted to get the Tribest WaterWise distiller just because it's cheapest and they claim it can get rid of 99% of impurities.

What I want to know is how do "they" get away with putting all that chlorine in our water and then charging us for it and we pay for that and then also pay to filter it out. Why is no one anywhere complaining to any authorities about having to buy water and filters in order to have something pure to drink. Seems like we have just incorported this tolerance into our lives. My great-grandmother would have laughed her head off at the thought of paying to buy bottles of water.

sherryb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What I want to know is how do "they" get away with
> putting all that chlorine in our water and then
> charging us for it and we pay for that and then
> also pay to filter it out. Why is no one anywhere
> complaining to any authorities about having to buy
> water and filters in order to have something pure
> to drink. Seems like we have just incorported
> this tolerance into our lives. My
> great-grandmother would have laughed her head off
> at the thought of paying to buy bottles of water.


It's true that it is practically absurd that we allow ourselves to be exposed to such dangers. And despicable that companies do it and the government allows it. However, decontaminating the water is VERY important and is actually partly responsible for our longer lives. Now we're a very sick people because of such things as pollutions, chemicals in our home, water, etc, but we're not dying of the very simple diseases that kept our average life spans under 40.

It would probably be best that we don't use chlorine for decontamination of our water. Especially since there are newer, safer methods such as Ozone. At least I think Ozone is safer, I haven't done much research on it. I know Ozone isn't good for us, but I've assumed that the Ozone was just used to kill pathogens and not actually present in the water when drunk.

So it's not the best way, but it's better than not having it at all. Maybe it's best to decontaminate on large scale and have each household filter for usage. Or maybe it would be better if each house would have it's own decontamination unit. However, that restricts water safety for the poor as well as when individual units fail. Either way, as a society it seems that the dangers of chlorine and our water systems should be clear and that all individuals should take action to protect themselves. And maybe one day, the system will be healthy and safe and there won't be a need for on site purification.

adfinder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> However, decontaminating the water is
> VERY important and is actually partly responsible
> for our longer lives.

Well, this all goes back to germ theory and all that. If your body is healthy, and immune system strong, you can drink natural water without filtering it. If the water is spring water, anyone should be able to drink it without problem. Of course the biggest problem now is pollution in the water.

When I lived in Spain I drank local untreated spring water for two years.

When I'm hiking in the mountains, I drink whatever water is available! I've never got ill from it.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

That's true and if everyone was healthy a certain level of pathogens in water would be tolerable.

However, I think as an industrial society, living in close quarters, with indoor plumbing, sewage waste removal, etc. that our water would not be safe enough without decontamination. If we had spring water coming in and it was isolated from our sewage than it would probably not need so much decontamination. Some may still need it if they were less than ideally healthy. I wonder though about parasites. Even animals who eat 100% raw, organic foods can still get sick and be infected with parasites. Is a strong immune system really effective against parasites? They've evolved for millions of years and rely on a hosts body and stick around for an entire lifetime.