One of my fondest memories is from my college days when I came across ultra pure water.

For two hours I worked with friends up a steep mountain trail through dense, silent forest and now we burst onto the grassy plateau at the end of our ascent, the sun blazing but the promise of a climbers’ hut only a stone’s throw away. one step. a few minutes away.

And there, at our feet, was the first water we had found since we left. A quiet little stream spilling silently over darkened rocks and between tall clumps of golden mountain bushes. Only a foot or so wide, but clear, pure, and cold as ice – delicious, ultra-pure water.

Boy did I enjoy that long, slow drink, on my knees at the water’s edge! Like I say, I can still remember it.

But I have good news. You and I don’t have to struggle for two hours up an impossibly steep trail to find ultra-pure water.

In fact, we shouldn’t even be looking for it. There are problems with pure water. Because the fact is that exceptionally pure water does not exist in nature, and your home water supply device is doing you more harm than good if it provides you with anything approaching that lofty ideal of ultrapure water.

What I mean is that natural water, like the water I drank that day boiling high in the mountains, is never pure.

It rises from deep within the earth, where it has dissolved trace minerals such as calcium and potassium from the rocks. When we drink natural water these minerals are absorbed by our tissues and organs. And so good. Because without them our bodies would literally fail.

Even a cursory look at some of these minerals shows how essential they are.

We must have calcium for our bones and teeth to develop and maintain. It also aids in blood clotting, muscle contraction, sending messages through nerves, transporting oxygen throughout the body, hiding fluids within cells, and activating enzymes. Without it we would live in fear of osteoporosis.

Potassium also helps muscles contract. In addition, it intervenes in the regulation of our heartbeat and in the maintenance of fluid balance in our tissues.

Iron is also carried in water and we need it to form red blood cells, maintain some brain functions, and carry oxygen. Women of childbearing age need more than normal. it is vital

And the list goes on. We also need chromium, cobalt, copper, iodine, magnesium, and many other minerals. And we can get them from our water. Not when it has been processed to become ultrapure water, but when it comes to us naturally.

The international pure water industry is huge. And because it’s backed by fears we have for our health, there’s a lot of money to be made. In this environment, some advertisers play on our memories of pure, clean water and promote drinking water devices that take everything out of the water to call it “ultrapure water.”

Our natural instinct is to think that this is good. But if those appliances extract the minerals from your drinking water along with the organic contaminants and bacteria, and give you a sterile, demineralized liquid, then you’re not drinking natural water, and when you drink that long-term, you’ll harm yourself. .

The two big culprits are distillers and reverse osmosis home water purifiers. They both produce something like ultra pure water.

Distillers work on that simple scientific principle that we all learned from college science experiments where it was boiled, cooled in a spiral tube, and condensed back into water at the other end of the apparatus. Most contaminants are left behind in this process. But so are those essential minerals.

Reverse osmosis is an adaptation of another university experiment that we all probably saw. The water is placed in a container with a special membrane barrier at one end. When 60 atmospheres of pressure is applied to the water a strange thing happens — the opposite of what would happen if there were no pressure — the water goes through the barrier (and is picked up on the other side) and the minerals are left behind.

If we put salt water in the container, this is wonderful. It means that the crew of a submarine can make drinking water from seawater. It also makes it possible for Arab states in the Persian Gulf to desalinate seawater on a large scale and provide it to farmers and people in the desert on the edge of the gulf who can farm and won’t complain about having to drink sterilized water every day. . it lives.

But if you’re using it to power your home, then you’re in serious trouble. It is acceptable to drink ultrapure, sterile water for a short time. It’s what submarine crews do. But medical studies show that prolonged alcohol consumption is bad for us. Basically because we need those trace minerals.

So there you have it. I no longer intend to get ultrapure water, as it was on top of that hot mountain 40 years ago. Instead, I need to find water that has a healthy dose of natural trace minerals so I can maintain my remaining health at my age (just kidding) and make sure my kids and grandkids drink healthy, too.

Not all household water appliances can provide you with healthy water. Of course, be wary of those who say they will give you ultrapure water. Look for a system that removes toxic chemicals and harmful organics, but leaves healthy, natural trace minerals behind.