289044 Sun Apr 21 14:32:40 -0700 2002 18 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1562806 More and more I am using bottled water. For juice, for coffee, for all cooking needs - especially baking. I haven't tried making beer yet but I probally would use bottled water there too. I find it does make a slight difference. I am using so much of this now that I need to set up a pipeline between the source and my kitchen to replace my lugging the jugs home all the time. However, I did see a tip by John Ash that if you cut an avocado and run it under tap water (only tap works) that it will retain the color and not darken. I have kept sliced avocado on the counter for up to say 2 hours using this approach. I have been buying distilled water. What do you think and is there a difference between companies or brands. An afterthought is I seem to be drinking more and more ice water at restaurants these days yet a lot of times I have to ask for it. Thanks Sun Apr 21 14:32:40 -0700 2002 0 DavidH 1 1562808 Many of the commercial bottled waters are simply local tap water, that has been filtered maybe a bit more than what you receive through your tap. Read the labels carefully, is your water truly coming from mountain springs or artesian wells (and even if from artesian wells, has the water table that the wells draw from been compromised.) In the southern California area I buy Arrohead brand spring water, because they really do truck it in from mountain springs (I have seen the tank trucks on the freeway). Another local brand, Sparkletts, I understand just comes out of an urban tap and is then filetered. Don't fall for designer waters either, same deal. In terms of distilled water, it is probably all the same from brand to brand, as the distilling process should always be the same, heating till steaming, so the minerals can evaporate out, but then isn't a lot of the taste in water from the minerals. Unless you are on some restricted diet, or need to put "pure" water in your iron, why would you want to drink distilled water? Sun Apr 21 14:56:55 -0700 2002 1562806 0 Chino Wayne 2 1562847 Agreed. Here in Massachusetts Poland Spring, from Maine, is very popular. Unfortunately people have asociated PS with an image of freshly fallen snow and a gentle flowing brook. Couldn't be farther from the truth. The wells look like an oil field. The water is piped up from underground and tanked in to Mass. By law, it is chlorinated, then dechlorinated prior to bottling. Mon Apr 22 08:57:08 -0700 2002 1562808 0 Alan H 2 1562852 Most alternative medicine/"health food fanatics" recommend distilled water for health reasons (i.e., all the unhealthy stuff - bacteria, minerals that are bad for you is removed). Personally, I use distilled water, but I certainly can see the point of using spring water from a trusted source (i.e., one that doesn't just doctor tap water), even though it's not my choice. There are distiller machines available for home use. Most of what I've seen runs about $300. Personally, I'd rather not bother with that process - it's pretty time-consuming. Jim's point about the filters being potential bacterial breeding grounds should be noted by all those who go that route. If you use those, you need to be sure that you change the filter when recommended; otherwise, you can have a serious problem. As far as removing the fluoride, cases have been made both for and against fluoridated water. If you're one who feels it's necessary and are really worried about not having this in drinking water, you can always make sure that you use a fluoridated toothpaste. Mon Apr 22 10:50:31 -0700 2002 1562808 0 Lori D 3 1562853 Distillation removes all minerals from drinking water, including the good ones, like calcium and other minerals we need for good health. There are those who say that drinking mineral-free water tends to leach minerals from the body. To prevent this effect, a person might need to have an unusually high mineral content in their diet, or take a multi-mineral supplement. If you read the label on the jug, you will often find that a product whose name is "distilled water" may have fine print on the bottom or back of the label that says, "distilled by deionization" - in other words, deionized, not distilled. Mon Apr 22 11:24:05 -0700 2002 1562852 0 ironmom 1 1562811 Filtering your own tap water is so much cheaper than buying bottled water, including distilled, which to me tastes weird anyway. Get a Brita or Pur filter pitcher or jug, or a filter system that attaches to your faucet and try it out. It removes most of the lead and a lot of chlorine from tap water. You'd be surprised in the difference in taste. For Brita, one filter lasts through about 40 gallons, and a 3-pack is only around $12. It's easy to use your filtered water in cooking, coffee making, for ice cubes, and you always have cold, clean-tasting water in the fridge. Sun Apr 21 15:32:09 -0700 2002 1562806 0 Caitlin McGrath 2 1562812 Hope this doesn't start a flame war (as always, I'll implore all parties to disagree in a maximally friendly and respectful way) but my concern with water filters is that they could be an inviting habitat for bacteria to multiply. Are there any filters that are somehow easily clean-able throughout their structure? Or cheap enough to replace every day or so? Or otherwise reduce the possibility of this? ciao Sun Apr 21 15:39:03 -0700 2002 1562811 0 Jim Leff 3 1562816 Don't know about "household" filters, but I have some water purification bottles (each holds about a litre) that I acquired from REI for emergencies. These bottles not only have physical filters in them, but they have a chamber that has appropriate "chemicals" for true purification/disinfecting. Sun Apr 21 16:06:33 -0700 2002 1562812 0 Chino Wayne 3 1562840 Extremely good point. The largest Water Purification Co in the World is CUNO and a friend of mine works there. E me for details. You hit the nail on the head with your concerns, it's a nightmare. Imagine, lot's of extra bacteria in your better tasting water? YUCK! Mon Apr 22 00:22:15 -0700 2002 1562812 0 russkar 4 1562843 I'm no paranoid health food faddist (in spite of my palm oil warnings in another thread this week!), but it just seems to me that a bunch of trapped gunk in a moist place that's not cleaned for days or weeks and through which gently passes all my drinking water might be a veritable Club Med for microbes. Caitlin, good news about the cryptosporidium, and I realize one risks it from municipal water supplies (I drink bottled, myself...Mountain Valley), but there are other cooties out there....maybe not grievously unhealthy, but still unpleasant. That said, I'm also aware that the sterile bubble existence is a silly (and possibly unhealthy) goal. ciao Mon Apr 22 01:18:59 -0700 2002 1562840 0 Jim Leff 3 1562841 I can't answer your question about different kinds of filters, but I do know that PUR, which I believe uses a charcoal-based filter, as does Brita, claims that theirs is the only home-use filter thar gets rid of cryptosporidium, which is one of the most evil bacterias carried in water, as far as becoming ill's concerned. City tretment does not do so, nor does any bottled water, except I think Poland Spring, which claims to. Unfortunately, the PUR faucet-attachment filter I had really didn't work (not talking about filtration, but just the physical problem of getting water through thing and out the tap). Now I have a pitcher, and frankly, when the water's coming out of the tap brown or cloudy, it makes me feel better regardless. Also tastes much better, of course. Mon Apr 22 00:35:11 -0700 2002 1562812 0 Caitlin McGrath 1 1562833 I hate to admit this, but my favorite bottled water is Dasani. This water was designed and is marketed by Coca Cola. They put local water through a reverse osmosis filter and then add minerals. It tastes exactly like fresh water should taste -- and no plastic bottle flavor. But I usually buy Poland Spring water from Maine because it comes from a real spring and tastes very clean except for a slight plastic aftertaste. The best water I ever tasted was straight from a public tap in Saratoga Springs NY. Bubbley, sulphery and incredibly cold. Their bottled water just isn't the same. Sun Apr 21 21:42:46 -0700 2002 1562806 0 Val G 2 1562846 Those Saratoga public taps are amazing. Mon Apr 22 08:12:59 -0700 2002 1562833 0 Karl S. 2 1562884 My best ever tap water tasting was in a motel in Colorado Springs, the water was ice cold, and tasted like it came right out of a spring. Mon Apr 22 17:06:05 -0700 2002 1562833 0 Chino Wayne 1 1562892 alright, it's earth day and all i can say to all this bottled water talk is PLEASE tell me you all recycle all the plastic bottles. if not, sorry, but what a waste! Mon Apr 22 19:55:56 -0700 2002 1562806 0 katydid 2 1562899 I don't have a problem with recycling items but I do have a problem with people who need to put their agenda in my face. If this gal contributed something to the conversation and then said by the way, etc. then that would have been fine. Maybe there should be a "free day" when people mind their own business. Mon Apr 22 22:33:25 -0700 2002 1562892 0 DavidH 3 1562904 I agree!!!!! I'm tired of these do gooders lecturing the rest of us. I have a friend who criticizes me for using paper plates and plastic silverware regularly. THINK of all the water she wastes washing all those REAL plates and REAL UTENSILS. Someday she will be asking where all the water went? Tue Apr 23 00:55:17 -0700 2002 1562899 0 russkar 4 1562912 Water doesn't get "used up". It gets to wherever your municipality dumps their sewage, the water enters the water table, or evaporates and falls back to earth as rain or snow. As for someone pointing out the social responsibility of recycling,it IS everyone's business. How about if your town decides to use your back yard as a landfill for all the needless packaging you use? Tue Apr 23 08:54:35 -0700 2002 1562904 0 Alan H 5 1562913 Calm down. It was a joke. Tue Apr 23 08:59:55 -0700 2002 1562912 0 ironmom