Enhanced Ability

Water is essential to life. The body can survive 6 weeks without food, but only survive a few days without water. It is essential to keep your body hydrated. If you are slightly dehydrated you may have low energy levels, or even get a headache. As water flushes out toxins and waste products, it is essential to drink good quality water, and should drink between one and a half to two litres of water per day. It is best to drink little and often however.

You should aim to get most of your liquid intake form pure water. Herbal teas are a great way too, as well as diluted fruit juice. Try and keep tea and coffee to a minumun as these have a dehydrating effect on the body. Fizzy drinks are also a no no as they are packed with sugar, artificial sweeteners and also laced with acid which leeches calcium from your bones and teeth.

There are many types of water and there are many pros and cons of each.

Tap Water

Tap water is treated to meet legal and quality standards. The mineral content depends upon the source of the water, hard or soft areas. Hard and soft water is a classification based on the amounts of removable calcium carbonate salt it contains per gallon; hard has more removable calcium carbonate salt, soft has less.

Tap water is also chlorinated. The reasons for chlorination is to prevent microbacterial activity when the water is stored for long periods of time, and it also eliminates risks from diseases such as cholera and dysentery. There have been some studys which show that chlorination possibly produces potentially hazardous byproducts.

Tap water is also fluoridated. Flouride is added for the purpose of reducing dental caries. The health claims for fluoridation remain controversial, but its use is expanding [1580].

Water Filters and Water Purifiers

Filtered water

Filtered water refers to water that has had various contaminants removed via materials such as a screen, a net, paper, or more commonly activated charcoal (charcoal that will attract particles from the water until it is saturated). Filtered water however does not remove most dissolved solids, minerals, and bacteria.

Purified water

Purified water refers to water that has been through processes such as distillation, deionization or reverse osmosis. With this type of water, bacteria and dissolved solids have been removed, purifying it.

Deionizers

Ions are electrically charged molecules. Deionizers use an ion-exchange resin to remove mineral ions from water. Organic materials are not removed so some type of filtration is also needed.

Reverse Osmosis

This refers to the action of seperating water from dissolved minerals and chemicals using a semi-permeable membrane. It is not however remove all the micro-biological impurities.

Water Distillers

Water distillers boil water until it is vaporized. As it is vaporized chemicals and minerals are left behind. Because of the heat, bacteria is destroyed. The steam condenses in a sterile condensation chamber. This is considered to be the most effective water purification process.