OMG!!! The human body was designed to drink water from a river (except of course, for polluted water). It was never meant to drink sterile water only. When you do this it lowers your immunity so that you will get sick when you drink anything other than perferctly sterile water.
What's the Best Water to Drink?
So much of what we write and report on in Conscious Choice takes a critical look at some aspect of the way we — as a society — conduct our modern day lives. Whether it’s how we currently do business, treat our health or manage the environment, we hurl a lot of brickbats. At the same time we try, at every opportunity, to present viable alternatives to the ones we’re criticizing. The last thing we want you to do is throw up your hands in frustration and simply say "what’s the use." On the contrary, we want to inspire a renewed sense of hope that there are constructive approaches that can eventually eclipse the destructive ones.
So we need an antidote to last month’s cover story on Ice Mountain bottled water which lambasted owner Nestlé for extracting millions of gallons of waters from Lake Michigan feeder sources in order to bottle it. The message was plain: don’t drink the stuff.
One of our readers, Diane Russell, a long-time customer of Ice Mountain, wrote us rightfully upset because we reported what not to do...but didn’t suggest what to do instead! Sorry Diane; mea culpa.
Therefore, in this issue, we address the preferred alternative to bottled water. Our story "Trusting the Tap" explores various water filters that can preclude purchasing bottled water (even for well owners). Diane asked about using bottled water. Actually, the idea would be to limit use of it. Then again, we all get stuck sometimes in need of water and turn to the bottled H2O. Often, however, if you use a glass or hardy plastic container you can simply refill it with your filtered water to have at the ready for when you leave the house. Personally, I have half-gallon juice bottles that I reuse for this purpose.
For those times when we need to purchase bottled water we could take some tips from Arthur von Wiesenberger, a bottled water expert and industry consultant. He divides the various brands into three categories for taste and quality, with the first two being preferable to tap water. 1) Natural spring bottled at the source: this water is just as stated. Examples: Trinity, Mountain Valley Natural Spring, and Volvic Mineral Water. 2) Artesian or spring water: these brands come from a natural spring or artesian source but are bottled off-site and generally undergo processing and disinfection. Examples: Calistoga and Arrowhead Spring Water. 3) Tap water: These brands come from municiple water systems, are highly treated, processed and disinfected. At least 25 percent of our bottled water is this. Examples: Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke). (Check
Bottled Water Web - The Definitive Bottled Water Site for von Wiesenberger’s list of bottled waters.)
Even when buying highly drinkable bottled water, there’s the plastics issue. First, much of the plastic can leach chemicals into the bottled water that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones. When choosing plastic containers, choose the types that are accepted for recycling (check the bottle bottom) and not known to readily leach. These include #1 PETE (often used in the making of soft drink, water and sports drink bottles); and #2 HDPE (used for milk, water and juice bottles).
Above all, in using bottled water, we’re still adding to the environmental impact of all that plastic. According to the Container Recycling Institute, making enough plastic bottles to supply Americans with bottled water consumes 1.5 million barrels of oil per year — enough to either fuel 100,000 cars or generate electricity for more than 250,000 homes in the same amount of time. Now there’s something that can put a bad taste in your mouth. — Rebecca Ephraim
I thought all water is natural???
Not due to the OP's reason. 