Buy A Water Filter, Or Be The Water Filter

Water is the most essential element of human life and it makes up for about 60% of our bodies. While we can survive for weeks without food, we can only last few days without water. And so we are told to drink a minimum of 0.033L of water per every kilogram of body weight per day, which is minimum of 1.65L for a person my size.

But did you know that just 1% of the world’s water is safe to drink?

Tap water is not pure!

Tap water is treated with various chemicals in order to kill bacteria and other microorganisms and to supposedly improve our dental health. It may also contain other environmental pollutants such as toxic metal salts, hormones, and pesticides, or it may become contaminated by chemicals or microbes within pipes (e.g. lead, bacteria, protozoa).

Even the NSW government website states that there is no such thing as naturally pure water, and Australia’s drinking water guidelines are above US safety thresholds! You might want to take a closer look at what’s coming out of your tap.

Typical Tap Water Contaminants include:

• Chlorine
• Fluoride
• Trihalomethanes (THMs)
• Arsenic, Radium, Aluminum, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Barium
• Hormones and Pharmaceuticals
• Nitrates
• Pesticides (endocrine disruptors)

Although Australian water doesn’t contain these contaminants in amounts large enough to kill you or make you feel violently ill after just one glass, it surely can’t be healthy to keep sipping on harmful chemicals all day, every day throughout your life.

And as you get older, or if you’re more sensitive, it becomes increasingly important to reduce toxic load wherever possible which will allow your body to get rid of the toxins you can’t eliminate from your life such as polluted air, or chemical cleaning products at your workplace just to name few.

In this day and age, we are exposed to harmful toxins in our environment on a daily basis and in many cases we can’t control it. What we can control is what we put in our mouth, on our skin and what we use in our household. The toxins our body can’t eliminate accumulate in our tissues causing various health impairments.

That’s why I choose to avoid ingesting anything artificially enhanced and smearing my face and body with harmful chemicals.

I’m lucky that my work place has a water filter but I’m tired of carrying around large containers of water to use at home as so I’ve decided to get a reverse osmosis alkalising water filter for my house.

The main reasons behind getting a water filter are to improve the taste and to get rid of fluoride, chlorine and heavy metals. Everything else is a bonus. So what is the science behind my decision?

What I want filter from my water and why

Chlorine

• Chlorine is used to disinfect water and get rid of harmful bacteria. It actually eliminates most pathogens from the water we drink. But, according to scientists, daily intake of chlorine is harmful… plus it makes the water taste terrible.
• Chlorine interacts with organic compounds and creates trihalomethanes (THMs), which produce free radicals in the body. Excessive free radicals cause cell damage and cancer. That’s why drinking chlorine treated water is linked to bladder and rectum damage and even cancer. Furthermore, chlorinated water is thought to be one of the causes of the rise in food allergies in the western world and is also appears to increase the risk of gastrointestinal cancer over a person’s lifetime by 50-100%.
• However, the scariest is chlorinated water’s impact on our gut health. Chlorine is added to water to kill pathogenic bacteria and it does the same in our gut. Besides, it destroys our beneficial gut bacteria at the same time. Gut is often called the second brain because most of our feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and GABA are produced in the gut as well as 70% of our immune cells. Poorly functioning gut has a huge impact on our mental and physical wellbeing!

Lead and other heavy metals

• Copper pipes are used extensively in plumbing systems in Australia (and internationally). According to the NSW government website, drinking tap water can contain elevated metals such as copper and sometimes lead when left standing in pipes for extended periods.
• What’s the problem with this? Lead, for example, is a cumulative toxicant that affects various body systems and is very harmful to our central nervous system, especially in young children. It is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones and it accumulates in teeth and bones.

Fluoride

• Fluoride is added to our water to prevent dental cavities even though the research shows benefits from applying fluoride topically, not from ingesting it. On the contrary, drinking fluoride is toxic to the human body and causes cognitive impairment, hypothyroidism, dental and skeletal fluorosis, enzyme and electrolyte derangement, and uterine cancer, especially in sensitive individuals. 
• Once again, you won’t get all the damage from drinking one glass but what happens if you drink 2L of fluoridised water every day for the rest of your life? I don’t want to take my chances. When it comes to dental carries, I opt for not consuming excessive amounts of sugar and especially not drinking sugary drinks. Problem solved!

 

These are only three out of the many reasons I choose to filter my water. It’s more cost effective and environmentally friendly than buying bottled water. Study comparing tap, bottled and home filtered water found that treating water by domestic reverse osmosis equipment was the most environmentally friendly solution for the improvement of tap water taste and purity. An economic analysis indicated that this solution was between 8 and 19 times cheaper than bottled water.

Where to get a great water filter

If you're looking for a reasonably priced counter top unit that removes fluoride then this is a good option. The 5L version is prob big enough for most people with families up to 4 or 5 people. However, a reverse osmosis alkalising water filter is easy to install under sink without drilling or extensive adjustments. I've taken my filter with me between rental places. 

 

Don't forget to get a good water bottle!

Most bottled water is sold in plastic, also known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Research shows that PET may be an endocrine disruptor, due to phthalates which can seep into your water when exposed to high temperatures or stored for an extended period of time.

Some plastic water bottles contain BPA, which has been banned in countries around the world due to its toxicity. BPA exposure is linked to multiple health effects including fertility issues, altered brain development, cancer, and heart complications.

That's why we love our Stainless Steel water bottles. The advanced double-wall insulation will keep your liquids refreshingly cool throughout the day, and provides exceptional strength and durability which makes these water bottles a must have for all your adventures.