Tap Water

[Emrie]

In his latest blog post, https://www.actualized.org/insights/reverse-osmosis-water-system, Leo talks about how we shouldn't drink and cook with tap water.

Why not?

Also is it an American thing only? Or is it really applicable to Europe too?

[UDT]

Is this google?

[Asayake]

I'm not sure reverse osmosis is the best, I've heard things about it potentially depleting minerals in the body because it's too clean, anyone knows something about that? 

Carbon filter seems to be a good middle ground but I'm not sure what a good carbon filter would be. In my country there seems to be no good carbon filters available as far as I can find. I believe tap water isn't good, the tap water where I live is insanely high in calcium which is not a good thing, increases risk of kidney stones and other issues so I want to get this part of my health figured out. 

Edit: I just noticed Leo adds back minerals and stuff into the water after the reverse osmosis, could be worth pointing that out for anyone who didn't read the blog post, I think reverse osmosis without doing that could be dangerous.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Asayake

[Michal__]

9 minutes ago, Asayake said:

I'm not sure reverse osmosis is the best, I've heard things about it potentially depleting minerals in the body because it's too clean, anyone knows something about that? 

Carbon filter seems to be a good middle ground but I'm not sure what a good carbon filter would be. In my country there seems to be no good carbon filters available as far as I can find. I believe tap water isn't good, the tap water where I live is insanely high in calcium which is not a good thing, increases risk of kidney stones and other issues so I want to get this part of my health figured out. 

I mean, there are people take it from a well / spring. There are maps of the purest water sources online. But that would be going way overboard-paranoid-hippie with it.

Reverse osmosis is the middle ground.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Michal__

[Leo Gura]

Bottled water is RO water.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Leo Gura

[coburn]

Here in central europe where i live, tap water is perfect quality. It really depends on the country and what kind of pipes they have, filtering etc. they do.

[Leo Gura]

@coburn No city water-supply is RO water. This would be insanely wasteful. You are not gonna be showering and flushing your toilets with RO water.

So your water is full of heavy metals and who knows what else. You just don't realize it.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Girzo]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Bottled water is RO water.

In EU bottled water is clean underground water or, like in the south of Spain, it's the same water as tap water, I don't know where they get it, but it's tasty, depends on a city probably.

[coburn]

@Leo Gura Im not saying its RO water, heavy metals mainly come from old pipes and thats not a big issue in my town. I also check the data from our water provider from time to time and heavy metals are very low.

[Infinite Being]

I think everyone should look into hydrogen water. Some very interesting research going on.

 

 

[mmKay]

18 minutes ago, Girzo said:

In EU bottled water is clean underground water or, like in the south of Spain, it's the same water as tap water, I don't know where they get it, but it's tasty, depends on a city probably.

I'm in Southern Spain. Bottle water comes from different mountain tops and tap water is from a desalination plant.  Do not drink it. 

[Michael569]

European water can be high in chloride, this is definitely the case in Eastern Europe.

In UK for example the old Victorian houses used copper piping so you might be getting some of that too. 

You can also tell a lot by the state of your boiling kettle and whether sediment regularly deposits at the bottom, if so I would consider filtering although a lot of people don't. I don't know whether this is linked to a higher risk of kidney stones or not. Maybe but IMO it is not worth the risk. 

The only countries where you absolutely MUST RO are those that have bacteria in water like Thailand or Cambodia. Or buy a water that's already RO'd. 

But in other countries, if you can afford it and it is not too much of a hassle and you don't mind a bit of noise, then go for it. It is a safe precaution

Having said that 2 years ago I had the most vicious water poisoning of my life in an old UK hotel so since then I filter my own and outdoor including abroad buy plastic bottles (lesser evil)

Edited January 26, 2023 by Michael569

[ZenSwift]

13 hours ago, UDT said:

Is this google?

It's better than google. 

[ZenSwift]

13 hours ago, UDT said:

 

Guys, what does the Brita System Do? 

[Girzo]

1 hour ago, mmKay said:

I'm in Southern Spain. Bottle water comes from different mountain tops and tap water is from a desalination plant.  Do not drink it.

I had been to Granada and everyone I met was drinking tap water. It probably came from the nearby mountains.

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, Girzo said:

In EU bottled water is clean underground water

Clean? How do you know?

Spring water is probably good, but your city tap water is not spring water, it's recycled from toilet and shower water. You are literally drinking people's piss water that has been filtered a bit. They are not filtering heavy metals out of it. When everyone in your city shits out heavy metals, that's going straight into your tap water. The shit will be filtered out by the heavy metals will not.

23 minutes ago, ZenSwift said:

Guys, what does the Brita System Do? 

Junk

Edited January 26, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Girzo]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

Clean? How do you know?

I just forgot the word, I wanted to point to the spring water and mineral water. That's all you can buy bottled in Poland. Haven't seen any popular brand that would be selling RO water.

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, Girzo said:

I wanted to point to the spring water and mineral water. That's all you can buy bottled in Poland.

Those are fine. But are you gonna buy 20 gallons of bottled water each month?

Edited January 26, 2023 by Leo Gura

[MrMog]

So my plan is to go backpacking in colombia soon. What would you recommend me to drink there? Bottle water? But then there is the problem, that the bottles are usually made out of plastic.

[Osaid]

Some bottled waters taste like plastic for some reason. I noticed that these waters are also acidic, so there seems to be a correlation of some sort. For example, Aquafina is one. I wouldn't trust it, even if it's labelled reverse osmosis or whatever. Stuff like Evian tastes fine though.

Maybe the acidity causes the plastic to leech or something.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Osaid