When people talk about nutrition, they overlook the two most important nutrients necessary for good health.  AIR and WATER! That's mostly because we've taken both for granted for thousands of years.  Both have been good for us up until only a relatively few years ago.  That's all changed now, and we definitely need to think about both again.

We can't do much about the air except to move to a place where it's still fairly pure, and few of us can afford to do that.  In addition, those places are becoming fewer and fewer as we continue to rape this planet with industrial smoke and noxious gases.  We continue to build toxic waste dumps that kill, and nuclear power plants that generate radioactive material that will take thousands of years to "cool down".

Water is a slightly different problem, although we have already polluted most of those sources as well.  People are becoming aware that their drinking water (out of the tap) isn't very good any more.  The market for bottled water is huge and becoming more and more profitable every year as a result.  Let's take a good look at some sources of water:

• Bottled Spring water. All too often this is just a scam.  Yes, it's from a "spring", but there is no guarantee that the water from this spring is pure.  Often, it's bottled from a local water supply directly from a tap.  It's from a spring OK, but what spring? There's big money in bottled water, and if you haven't noticed, it's sometimes even more expensive than soft drinks. 

• Drinking Water. This is at least half honest.  It's straight out of a faucet, we can hope that it's at least relatively free of toxicity, and maybe meets the minimum Federal standard for drinking water. Were you aware that many, if not most, city and town water supplies across the US do NOT meet this "Minimum"? (Of course, those "standards" only apply to sissies.) Good luck.

• Catching Rainwater. This time-honored way to get "pure water" just doesn't work anymore.  The amount of toxic material in the air results in "Acid Rain" in much of the US.  When my wife and I sailed around the Caribbean some years ago, we caught all our water that way, and simply filtered it thru a carbon block filter after putting in some Chlorox to kill the possible airborne bacteria.  It worked because the ocean rain is much purer than most of the rain over land.

• Carbon Filtered Water These are those little "screw-on" or "pitcher" water filters.  Some even have a silver nitrate element to kill bacteria included.  Few are good enough to remove most of the worst contaminants.  And, few people change the filters often enough, so contamination creeps in again.  They give you a false sense of security, and because of the carbon filtering, the water smells and tastes better, but in most areas, it simply isn't very good.  (Perfume can cover up a contamination smell, but it doesn't remove the source.)

• Distilled Water. This is excellent for your steam iron or making Colloidal Silver, but unless it's distilled in glass, it may have high amounts of Copper or Nickel from the distilling piping used.  It also usually has no taste - pretty flat.  But, it's still better than what probably comes out of your faucet.

• Reverse Osmosis Water. This is probably the "best" of all drinking water, PROVIDED that the filters are changed regularly.  Ideally, there are several "particle" filters and at least one carbon block filter prior to the Reverse Osmosis filter.  This RO filter is a rubbery sheet, and by osmotic action, (and waterpressure) molecules of water pass from the "dirty" side to the "clean side.  This type of filter can also get clean drinking water from the ocean.  It is by far the best drinking water.  It not only tastes good, but it removes all bacteria, and virtually all water contamination.

  I used to keep up to 20 plastic gallon jugs and fill them up once a week or so at a supermarket RO dispenser (about $.25/.30 each).  I also kept tropical fish, and this helped them to stay healthier.  One day, I added up the amounts I was spending on this RO water, and decided that it would be cheaper (and better) if I put in an RO system myself.  At Costco, I found a very simple unit for under-counter installation for under $150.  I installed it in a few hours, and for the last few years, we've enjoyed very tasty and healthy water out of the RO tap.  We use it for cooking, and drinking, and use the tap water for washing and toilet flushing.

Those are your choices for cleaner and safer water.  As you can see, I recommend only the RO water because it's cheaper and safer than filling gallon plasic jugs, a do-it- yourself under counter installation is best for most. If in doubt, have your water tested.

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