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 | The issues |
| Your options |
| Some medical practitioners say that we don't live in a sterile environment, that there is bacteria all around us, and that we shouldn't expect our water to be sterile, either. |
| Besides, stomach acid destroys most bacteria - unless there is an exceptionally high number of them - such as would be the case with food poisoning. |
| Bottled water is not advertised to be bacteria-free, and so far, none that we have tested has been found to be bacteria-free. |
| Bottled distilled water may be bacteria free, because it is boiled water (though some bacteria can live for
20 minutes or more in boiling water). There are other concerns with distilled water, though. Most gaseous contaminants are recycled into the distilled water collection container, since they volatilize faster than the water does. There are other concerns with distilled water, though. Most gaseous contaminants are recycled into the distilled water collection container, since they volatilize faster than the water. The long-term effects (if any) of drinking devitalized (boiled) water are also not known. |
| Bacteria require laboratory analysis for identification. Identification is complicated, and as one lab director said, "You have to know what you are looking
for" to know how to test for it. |
| Kitchen sinks and water purifiers are not sterile environments. Water purifiers can accumulate bacteria in the tubes, in the filters, and in storage containers. An associate had a new carbon block water purifier tested on the second day he used it, and the lab report came back positive for bacteria. This might be the case with any purifier. Maybe bacteria are always in carbon, even before the filter is used. |
| A reverse osmosis membrane filters to 0.005 microns, more than adequate to remove all bacteria from water flowing through it. However,
not everyone maintains their RO unit properly. If not maintained, there is a potential for bacteria eventually to eat through the membrane. This is why RO is not certified for bacterial removal. The old type membrane, ( CA or cellulose acetate) was discontinued because of this problem. Even assuming the membrane is perfect, there are other places bacteria can gather - in the other filters, in the tubes, and in the water storage containers. There is a link at the bottom of the page about about culturing bacteria from tap, bottled, or filtered water.
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| Do nothing and just assume that your stomach acid will take care of any bacteria that come its way. Speak with your doctor about whether you have adequate stomach acid or should be taking HCl (hydrochloric acid) tablets or a little organic apple cider vinegar with meals. |
| Put a UV light between your water filter and where the filtered water is collected. UV is a known destroyer of bacteria. With the portable RO unit, the UV light would go between the RO unit and the collection container. With a unit that is installed under-the-counter, annual sanitizing is recommended. |
| Another choice is to have a whole house UV light installed. A fairly elaborate flushing of the house water pipes is done at the time of installation to minimize any bacterial contamination of faucets and pipes. |
| Maintain your water purification unit according to the manufacturer's directions. Don't neglect changing filters, etc. |
| Sanitize any collection containers regularly. I pour some 3% hydrogen peroxide into the glass gallon jugs used with my portable RO unit. After swishing
the hydrogen peroxide around, I let them sit for awhile - sometimes overnight. Then I empty out the
solution and rinse the containers before collecting more reverse osmosis water. |
| I also prepare water as needed, instead of accumulating a future supply. The less time water sits, the less time bacteria have to multiply. |
| Check the water filter on your refrigerator. How is it sanitized? I have seen extremely elevated levels of bacteria coming from this source. |
| Some RO units have UV lights plus ozonators. I haven't yet seen any third
party research indicating that ozone does more than the UV light. It may be
overkill, but if anyone finds such research, please send me a copy of the
report. Incidentally, neither UV nor ozone kills parasites, but the RO membrane will remove parasites. |
| Could something be put into the collection container to kill
bacteria? This is an interesting question. The answer is yes, but it may not be a good idea. What you put in the collection container of your drinking water may also kill the good bacteria in your intestinal flora. One physician said NO! to hydrogen peroxide being put into the container, because he felt it would also be harmful to the intestinal flora. Another health professional said, "That is controversial." A substance that is anti-bacterial is usually anti-human, because we have good bacteria in us, and we are made of similar organic compounds. Another response to the bacteria question was that lemon oil (from aroma therapy) could be put into the collected water. The theory is that lemon oil would kill the bacteria in the water but not harm our intestinal bacteria. If anyone knows of any independent research supporting this hypothesis, please let me know.
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© 2001 May E. Dooley -
Enviro Health Environmental Home Inspections |
