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Big difference between bottled 'drinking water' and bottled 'purified' water.


slackercruster

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Words are important. Big difference between bottled 'drinking water' and bottled 'purified' water. I never paid any attention to it until I saw the test photos. See near the end of the bottled water test photos.

 

https://danielteolijr.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/6035/

 

(I would have thought Dallas to have cleaner water?)

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We never buy water in bottles, we only use the tap water from local communities. I hope we don't die from the stuff in the water! :) We are just finishing up a 4 month trip through Canada & Alaska using the local tap water all the time.

Al & Sharon
2006 Winnebago Journey 36G 
2020 Chevy Colorado Toad
San Antonio, TX

http://downtheroadaroundthebend.blogspot.com/

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A lot of bottled drinking water has things added to it to improve taste so I'd expect to see residue of that when distilling it. That process doesn't differentiate between stuff in the water that is good for you, tastes good or is bad for you and completely misses things like bacterial contamination which the article does mention. City water usually has testing reports available if you search the city site, same for water companies.

 

https://www.gilbertaz.gov/departments/public-works/water (testing numbers are down a bit if you open an annual report)

 

We had a water distiller for a while and found it an aggravation compared to a good RO system or a good filter, our distiller was quickly banished to a table outside the RV and then Goodwill. We also noticed that if run on high the distiller didn't do nearly as good a job as when it was run on low. We suspect that on high water droplets as well as steam ended up in the collection container while on low we got closer to just steam.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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When buying larger containers of water I always bought distilled water for the steam iron but spring water to drink. I don't like the lack of taste of distilled water. :)

 

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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For years now I have refilled our 2-3 gallon jugs of RO? water and have purchased cases of bottled water. I recently purchased a separate filter housing and a ceramic filter for under the kitchen sink and a separate faucet and installed this for drinking and coffee water. Water coming into trailer is filtered first with a sediment charcoal filter. Total cost was about $100 and that included a diamond core bit needed to drill a 3/4" hole in our granite counter top for the faucet.

2006 Elite Suite 36TK3
2001 F-550 Starhauler
www.mytripjournal.com/elitesuitestravels
IN GOD WE TRUST

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When buying larger containers of water I always bought distilled water for the steam iron but spring water to drink. I don't like the lack of taste of distilled water. :)

 

Linda Sand

I use the distilled water to top up my T-105 batteries. And also to make 50/50 antifreeze for MH & toad. It also work in my portable steam cleaner for cleaning the CAC in my DP.

I never had any need for a steam iron in over 40-50 years. :)

In the 17 years of Full Time I have used tap water at all campgrounds with no problem. But I do have a filter that filters tap water for drinking/cooking at my kitchen sink and to the stand alone Ice Maker.

Full Time since Oct. 1999
99 Discovery 34Q DP | ISB
Datastorm | VMSpc | Co-Pilot Live | Pressure Pro
2014 MKS Twin Turbo V6 365 HP Toad
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In 16 years of full-timing we filtered our water coming into the tank and a taste filter at the kitchen sink. We used our tank water for drinking and cooking. We used public parks as our priority and got our water from various sources. Public parks have strict guidelines and water is tested. We've been around when it was tested. They wouldn't risk bad water unlike the politicians of Flint, Michigan. Our filters came from the RVWaterFilterStore.com He carries any kind of filters you may want and is very helpful over the phone if you have questions. He attends many RV rallies. He knows his stuff.

Full-timed for 16 Years
Traveled 8 yr in a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Motorhome
and 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th Wheel

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More than Aquafina use tap water. While we don't buy bottled water every once in a while we wind up drinking a bottle of water. I usually look at the label and lots of times I see source listed as the public water system somewhere. However they do state it is purified and filtered. So it is common that what people pay the big bucks for is "Tap Water".

Al & Sharon
2006 Winnebago Journey 36G 
2020 Chevy Colorado Toad
San Antonio, TX

http://downtheroadaroundthebend.blogspot.com/

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Tap water is good enough for me. I was raised up on well water and survived that.

 

I was stationed in Anniston, AL many years ago and was driving the back roads and came upon a big tanker truck loading water from a fire hydrant. Lettering on the tanker was a Spring Water company, Don't remember the first name of the water company. I figured then someone was buying water thinking it was spring water when in fact t was coming out of a hydrant.

Ron
US Army retired
2010 Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH
2016 Ford F150 XLT

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I have been concerned about our water here as it is filtered and "purified" but no one checks for the toxic chemicals used in industry, farming, and hydrofracking for gas and oil. Oklahoma just had a hell of an Earthquake they attribute to the fracking aggravating or creating fault lines in the sub strata. They just started by closing wells within a defined area and are looking into it more closely. Most water supply companies will say that they test only for the chemicals required by the EPA and other water agencies. ( I did not look up certifying agencies.)

 

Slackercruster, great post and thanks for the extra info. I was a medical lab technologist in the USAF and we tested water for impurities on base and in hospital for our still and sterile water we produced at the time. In 1971-1975 we used glass syringes for most shots and actually reused our needles by cleaning the solids out with a stylet, then putting them in an ultrasonic cleaner, then rinsing and autoclaving with thermobacillus test strips and indicator tape. Heck we pipetted body fluid samples by mouth as Aids was unknown at the time and did not enter the US until patient zero in 1978 I believe, might have been 1977.

 

Anyway, bottled water is normally tap water and only filtered as you have pointed out. We used the Culligan under counter filter and spigot system with their least expensive charcoal filter for taste only. Now we use all our water for cooking from the tap but use only the water and ice from our filtered refrigerator for drinking and coffee. I am going to get another Culligan tap for the new house as soon as I figure out the safe and sightly way to drill our thick granite countertop.

 

When fulltiming we used our fresh water for everything but did have a two whole house canister system with a sediment followed buy charcoal filters for taste only too. We sanitized our tank at least once a year, and did the inside lines too as the chlorine was always filtered out before it came in the RV. So the PEX tubing inside could and did get algae blooms and once the water heater bacteria that produced the rotten egg hydrogen sulfide gas and dissolutes. It is important to note that PEX will deteriorate molecularly with every exposure to chlorine, it breaks down a bit with every exposure. As well, chlorine when exposed to organic material in the RV pipes, like algae or bacteria, also produces THMs which are carcinogenic. So limiting the water tubing and human tubing to as few chlorine exposures as necessary, other than the necessary drinking water amounts, to insure bacteria safe water as per municipal supplies, is a good idea.

 

It is not a case of more is better with chlorine. I never liked spring water and know better than to drink roof runoff with bird droppings and dead bacteria and bugs in it. Not to mention the scum inside the gutters and downspouts after a few years.

 

I think we are all headed for trouble once we start to check for fracking chemical toxins in our well water here and elsewhere with oil and gas wells in their areas. Repealing EPA laws does not help business in any way but to allow them to pollute without cleaning first whether airborne or waterborne. I think we are already too late in fracking areas. Not because of any greenie tendencies. But the NIMBY folks that save the costs of cleaning of air and water discharges as well as underground contamination of water supplies, sure don't want it in their backyard. Most water supplies are not checked for most of the VOCs and many organics used in agriculture carcinogens and cumulative poisons toxic to humans over time. A toxin is a toxin and a polluter is a polluter no matter what your politics.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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  • 4 months later...

In a few days I will add photos to the water report from a RV campground in Chillicothe, Ohio...filthy! You RV'ers better be filtering your water if you drink it from the hookup. They don't care what the hell they give you. It was so filthy it messed up the distiller head.

maybe adults with a better immune system might still not feel much, but that stuff can b deadly for toddlers and preteens

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  • 2 months later...

I have always been confused about this subject.  Consider the source...from the website.  Think it has to be within 25 feet of the source to be labeled....."at the spring or at the source",......or.....whatever.  From what I read.....a lot of water labeled "at the source"  is far away and is actually "tap water" that has been filtered.  We bring with us, a bottled water, that has been around for a LONG time and is labelled "at the source" ......and probably is. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Distilling does not remove some organic poisons and even chlorine can be very harmful. Read this article:

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/12-toxins-in-your-drinking-water/

Now if you are stationary and will use a well forever then it behooves you to test for exactly what is in the water. Most public water is tested for the things that are too expensive to test for by homeowners, or so they think.

Most public water supplies are tested and as safe as any water.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Saw this today and thought about this thread:

Excerpt:

"Sylvia Lee, PhD, is a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Milbrook, New York. She has access to an unusual—yet essential—set of laboratory equipment: a whole greenhouse filled with white fiberglass bathtubs. There’s no mistaking these vessels with those you’d find in the average bathroom, however. While these bathtubs are about the same length, they’re shallower, narrower, and have a raised racetrack-like interior that water circulates around. And none of the lab members spend time inside them.

Instead, researchers fill them with rocks and organisms obtained from local streams in upstate New York. And in place of bubble bath, they add to the water D-amphetamine, the same active substance found in several ADHD and narcolepsy medications. The water in the tubs is mixed with enough amphetamines to make the organisms think they’re sitting downstream from one of Baltimore’s water treatment plants. The goal of this lab is to find out what the US’ heavily medicated population might be doing to its surroundings.

The United States of America is a highly medicated country: almost seven in 10 Americans take prescription drugs. That translates to 4.4 billion prescriptions and nearly $310 billion spent on medication in 2015. Painkillers, cholesterol-lowering medications, and antidepressants top the list of drugs most commonly prescribed by doctors.

Needless to say, the work of biologists like Lee may prove to be crucial.

Where drugs go after we’re done with them

Americans aren’t just putting these drugs into their bodies; they’re also putting more drugs into the environment. A growing body of research suggests all types of drugs, from illegal drugs to antibiotics to hormones, enter the environment through sewage and cesspool systems across the country. And while pharmaceutical drugs—when used as prescribed—are capable of curing disease and alleviating symptoms in people, they can wreak havoc on nature.

There, they persist for long periods without breaking down. Hormones in medications like birth control cause changes such as intersex development in fish and amphibians. Antidepressants have been found in the brain tissue of fish downstream from wastewater treatment plants. Research on the presence of illegal drugs in water bodies has revealed some interesting trends: drug concentrations are highest on weekends and skyrocket after social events, such as music festivals, where large quantities of drugs are often consumed.

Amphetamines, a class of both legal and illegal stimulant drugs, also appear to have an effect on aquatic ecosystems, according to new research. For people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), amphetamines can mean the difference between extreme distraction and intense focus. For people seeking an illicit high, amphetamines like meth and amphetamine-related drugs like ecstasy result in an overwhelmingly euphoric—often dangerous—high.

In 2012, 16 million people were prescribed legal amphetamines in the United States, and about 1.2 million people took illicit methamphetamine. Hundreds of thousands took prescription amphetamines illegally or in an addictive manner.

In June 2013 and June 2014, Lee (whose research focuses on how human activities affect urban streams) led an international group of scientists in collecting water samples at six stream sites in Baltimore, Maryland. They found 14 different drugs, including amphetamines and methamphetamines, in varying concentrations at all six test sites.

According to Lee, “We detected higher amphetamine concentrations than those found previously [by researchers in Spain] in surface waters,” which had previously held the record for the highest concentration of amphetamines in surface waters ever recorded. “We expected the concentration of amphetamine in Baltimore streams to be higher because there is untreated sewage entering these streams. However, it is notable that even low concentrations of amphetamine and other pollutants may change stream ecosystems.”

Artificial streams

To quantify ecosystem change, the scientists outfitted eight of the Cary Institute’s artificial streams with rocks, stream microorganisms, bacteria, algae, and aquatic insects collected from an untainted stream in upstate New York. At the start of the experiment, they added D-amphetamine to four tubs until they had a similar concentration to the Baltimore streams. The other four were not treated.

After just a week, life in the amphetamine-treated streams began changing. The aquatic insects they contained developed and reproduced like they were on speed—much more quickly. The amount of algae was down by nearly 50 percent compared to untreated streams; the algae that was present produced much less oxygen. After three weeks, DNA tests revealed that the diversity and number of bacteria and diatoms (a simple type of algae) present in the treated streams was markedly different from those in the untreated streams.

The rest of their results, with pictures and related links, are in the article here:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/05/amphetamines-in-the-water-the-research-bathtubs-saving-our-ecosystems/

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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On 9/1/2016 at 11:39 AM, Al F said:

We never buy water in bottles, we only use the tap water from local communities. I hope we don't die from the stuff in the water! :) We are just finishing up a 4 month trip through Canada & Alaska using the local tap water all the time.

Well, at least you got to visit AK before you expire.:)

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