Drinking enough water on a daily basis is crucial to maintaining one’s health. However, there can often be plenty of confusion about the kind of water you should or can drink to avoid harmful chemicals and glean the essential nutrients and minerals from it.
In this post, we will take you through the possibility of drinking purified water as well as the benefits and disadvantages of purified water. Let’s begin!
- What Is Purified Water?
- Why You Should Drink Purified Water
- Potential Disadvantages
- FAQs
- Concluding Words
What Is Purified Water?
Purified water is a type of water that undergoes purification processes that can help get rid of the chemicals present in the water. Other contaminants and impurities that might otherwise be present in the water are also removed using these processes.
For instance, bacteria, dust, pollutants, harmful metals and other such substances will no longer make your way into your body due to the purification process.
The exact kind and scale of the purification process involved can differ. For instance, you can either directly receive a purified water supply or you can install a purifier in your own home that can filter out the tap water for you.
Although tap water also undergoes a bit of processing, you cannot always tell how safe this water is. It usually depends on where you live and the area’s water quality.
Why You Should Drink Purified Water
You can certainly drink purified water. However, in case you are buying bottled purified water or a water filter or purifier for your house, make sure they are both approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As long as this approval is in place, purified water can offer a range of benefits if you consume it. You can go through some of these below.
Safe
Purified water is pretty safe to drink considering that it undergoes some processing and filtration to ensure that all the harmful chemicals are no longer present in the water.
These processes can end up removing chemicals like chlorine, nitrate, asbestos, selenium, salts and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as some other substances like bacteria, fungi, algae, viruses, protozoa, parasites and more.
If otherwise consumed, these substances can lead to short-term or long-term and even fatal sickness conditions.
At the same time, purified water continues to retain some healthy and useful minerals, such as magnesium and calcium, that can benefit our bodies.
No Metals
Purified water is water that also gets rid of the harmful heavy metals present in the regular water supply. For instance, it can end up removing lead, arsenic, cadmium, nickel, mercury, cobalt, zinc and more.
If you end up consuming them, they can lead to gastrointestinal issues as well as more chronic problems such as altered chemistry, brain problems and more.
Better Taste
Purified water ends up tasting better because all the unpleasant odors and tastes that the pollutants, bacteria, chemicals and metals usually emit are now no longer present in the water. The water purifiers or filters are often equipped with the ability to get rid of such poor tastes.
Potential Disadvantages
Although purified water is pretty safe and advantageous for consumption, you should note that there are still some disadvantages to drinking purified water. This does not mean that you should avoid this water at all, but simply that you must choose and use your purifier smartly and wisely.
You can go through some potential disadvantages that you might face below.
No Fluoride
Purified water can also end up removing fluoride from the water, which is a rather important mineral that can have several health benefits. For instance, it can help protect the teeth and maintain overall dental and oral hygiene. Since water is a major source of fluoride, filtering it out through purification can harm the teeth.
Make sure you look for water purifiers that do not end up completely filtering the fluoride out.
Expensive
To access purified water, you will either need to buy a water purifier or filter and have it installed in your house. Additionally, even if you simply buy bottles of purified water, they will end up costing you way more than simply turning the tap on.
Difficult Maintenance
You will need to keep cleaning and maintaining your water purifier. You can often do this on your own or you might need to call a professional or buy a device or tablet that can carry this out for you.
In cases when the filter gets full, it can end up blocking the smooth passage and filtration process.
Presence of Pesticides
Unfortunately, purified water is not perfect. Chances are that it still contains a few pesticides and chemicals that might harm your health. Choosing an EPA-approved brand or ensuring that there are minimal chemicals can help to a certain extent.
Plenty of Waste
If you buy your purified water in plastic bottles, you will end up needing to throw them away, which can create plenty of waste. Your water purifier will also end up collecting waste from the purifiication system that you will need to throw out once in a while.
FAQs
Is Distilled Water the Same As Purified Water?
Distilled water is one type of purified water since distillation is a purification or filtration process of its own. However, distilled water can completely rid the water of all the additional minerals, even those that are beneficial.
What Does the Purification Process Involve?
There can be different processes depending on the kind of purifier and the scale at which water is being purified. Examples include using carbon filters, ions, boiling, reverse osmosis, chlorination, solar purification and more.
Through these methods, the chemicals are separated and filtered out and the purified water is collected and stored.
Concluding Words
You can drink purified water since it is quite safe and helps get rid of impurities, chemicals and heavy metals while still retaining healthy minerals. It also tastes better. There are, however, some drawbacks that you should be aware of so that you know what to expect and how to proceed.