What is the Best Type of Water?
We’re going to go through the pros and cons of each type of water to help you make the best decision for you and your family!
The types of water we’re going to look at are: reverse osmosis, distilled, spring, filtered, purified, and tap. Bottled water could be its own category but most bottled water consists of one of the aforementioned water types. You can also buy alkalized water but we’re not going to touch on that today. Let’s just keep it basic Bottled water that comes in plastic, has its own disadvantages that we’ll do a post on in the future! Today let’s just focus on the actual water.
Reverse Osmosis
Reverse osmosis water has been processed using osmosis to remove contaminants that are in the water. It uses energy to push water through a semi-permeable membrane to remove, “chemical contaminants and pesticides as well as sodium, chloride, copper, chromium, lead, arsenic, fluoride, radium, sulfate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrate, and phosphorous as well as pharmaceutical drugs that may end up in our water system.” Since this process removes virtually everything bad, it removes the good minerals like magnesium as well. That’s why it’s important to have minerals added back in to RO water.
Distilled
This water is created by boiling the water and collecting the condensation. It has everything removed, minerals, ions, everything! A TDS meter should show zero on distilled water. Leaching plastics may increase the amount of total dissolved solids. It also will need minerals added back in or it could pull minerals out of your body as it goes through. Some people dislike the taste because of its purity, but adding minerals back in should improve the flavor.
Filtered/Purified
Britas are better than nothing but filters like ZeroWater, AquaTru, and Berkey are great options to get cleaner water. Downside? The cost! There’s an initial investment and a future investment for filters that have to be replaced.
If you’re drinking filtered or purified bottled water, you’re probably drinking a rebranded tap water. Time to switch it up if possible!
Spring
Spring water comes from underground aquifers. It can be collected at the opening of a spring or directly from the aquifer.. You can buy bottled spring water or you can actually go to local springs and collect your own water. The dilemma with collecting your own spring water, is that it’s not tested. The dilemma with bottles spring water is that you may not know how “clean” the water source is.
It has a high mineral content and is naturally purified, making it a great option. But another con is that bottled spring water can be chlorinated. Make sure you trust the source if you’re using spring water! Want to know if you have a local spring near you? Check out this link!
Tap
Tap water is nice because it’s easily accessible and affordable. The cons are the fluoride, heavy metals, medical waste, and other contaminants. Learn more about your tap water! I do not recommend drinking tap water unless it is filtered because of the cons mentioned above.
