WATER
FACTS

Reality check:
Spring water is the
purest health option!

IT'S universal knowledge that we must drink water to survive, but there are six options on what kind of water one should rely on for inner health.

· Tap water
· Filtered tap water
· Rain water
· Distilled water
· Processed bottled water
· Spring water

But isn't all water much the same? No! Let's examine what makes the above types of water different and how that difference can affect your health.

TAP WATER is rainwater accumulated in major reservoirs which are open to the elements. Before it reaches your home as tap water it is treated to kill bacteria - generally with chlorine gas. It is also treated to remove sediment and, aluminium sulphate is often used despite aluminium's well known adverse affect on memory. After this treatment, your home tap water travels, sometimes hundreds of kilometres, through potentially century-old rusting pipes which risk absorption of new bacteria, asbestos from cement, lead from old solder, backflow (reverse siphonage), as well as copper contamination from high rise building plumbing.

The use of chlorine in town water supply can dissipate, or create dangerous by-products such as Trihalomethanes, which are potentially carcinogenic.

And if that is not enough, the water from the household tap invariably tastes lousy!

FILTERED tap water takes the same water described above by trapping or absorbing the pollutants, which reach your home. A plumber is required to fit the system. The major drawback to this option is that the filters clog up frequently and have to be changed, or worse, the filter could be so clogged that the very pollutants you hope to stop, get through. No single type of filter gets all the water problems fixed; however by using a combination of filter systems it is possible to reduce the risks.

RAIN WATER is a common source of natural water but more suitable for gardens and other outdoor use. Critical though, to its quality, is the way it is collected and protected.

DISTILLED water option is not simply boiling your water in open air or at home. That may be good for killing bacteria, but it actually increases the percentage of heavy metals and other non-evaporated chemicals in the tap water system.

Distilled water is not harmful to the body; although it does not have the natural minerals that help the taste and that the body needs for its nourishment.

Generally, distilled water is not a preferred option for drinking water.

PROCESSED bottled water option is a product made in factories by creating distilled water through either steam distillation or micron filtration - then by adding back natural minerals to improve the taste and natural goodness of the water.

SPRING WATER option has its foundations from a different source: it is natural water that has been filtered through layers of sand and rock formations as it moves through underground contamination-free storage areas called aquifers.

This process, which could start off from a source thousands of kilometres away, is a natural filtration that often takes decades or up to 100 years to accomplish. It is nature at its natural best. The result is clean rainwater which has been value-added through the intake of minerals from underground rock formations.

Good spring source management requires not taking out water from the underground aquifer any faster than it is going in. Following the manufacturing practices and testing procedures required by the ABWI, the spring water is taken from underground, micro-filtered and passed through an ultraviolet process to destroy bacteria and other contaminants before being bottled for distribution.