what's better: pure spring water or reverse osmosis water?

[rh71]

Both available from the store... which is "healthier"?

 

[Kirby64]

If you're talking purity, reverse osmosis. It's basically 100% pure water, with almost nothing else in it.

Read up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis

 

[EagleKeeper]

The minerals in water help provide some taste.

However, much of the natural "spring/pure" water in the stores is actually just filtered water from some municipal source

 

[rh71]

^ why I ask is because Walmart's Great Value brand water @ $0.69/gal is reverse osmosis from Erie County Water Supply (Buffalo) and it tastes the same as Nestle Pure Water to me. I don't know what to think of it.

 

[BeauJangles]

Technically the reverse osmosis water would be 'healthier', but why waste money on bottled water? The EPA regulates our drinking water and it is, across the board, some of the safest water in the world.

 

[Bateluer]

Drinking RO water isn't exactly healthy for you, unless you counter it with a perfectly healthy diet elsewhere. The vitamins and minerals in water are good for you and your body needs them. I'd go with the 'pure spring water' over RO water.

 

[Gothgar]

I always find it funny people who insist on RO or distilled water or something, only to supplement themselves on a vitamin... filter out the minerals and vitamins, so you can waste money on pills to take every day

Edit: Get one of those filters for your sink like Pur or Britta, they will take the chlorine flavor out of the water and then you can get your water for a few cents a gallon instead of 30 times the cost or more for other crap.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Kirby64
If you're talking purity, reverse osmosis. It's basically 100% pure water, with almost nothing else in it.

Read up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis

RO does not remove a lot of the ions or other solids in water which is why is inferior to RODI.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Most of what you buy will be tap water anyway: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

 

[imported_Imp]

If it's water and clean, it's water to me. I never bother looking at mineral content or nutrition of water. If I need a nutritional supplement or am looking for something, I'll eat/drink something that isn't water.

On that note, I doubt either source would make much a difference in terms of "health".

 

[waggy]

When we lived in town (dekalb. the city has been sued a few times because the water was not safe to drink) we had a RO system put in. it was great.

once we moved to the new house (we have a private well) we had it installed. but we don't need the RO system. the water is great out of the tap

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Technically the reverse osmosis water would be 'healthier', but why waste money on bottled water? The EPA regulates our drinking water and it is, across the board, some of the safest water in the world.

This.


Buy a Pur or Brita filter if you need to.
69 cents per gallon is still really damned expensive for water.

Out of the tap here, it is about 0.23 cents per gallon for the first 52,360 gallons. After that, it gets even cheaper. That is, if I'm understanding these rate charts correctly.

And it's great when people pay $1 for a 20oz bottle of water. $6.40 per gallon. These people probably complain about the price of gas, too.:laugh:

Such an oil-spoiled society. We have water piped to our homes, and filters are available for those so-inclined. Nope, not good enough. We want it to be delivered by truck to a store, which we must then drive to, and finally, pay prices that are a few hundred times higher per gallon than what comes from the pipes at home.

 

[ElFenix]

i have RO (and softened) water here at the house. tastes really good. regular chlorinated tap water tastes like ass now.

 

[BoomerD]

It all depends on what you want to do with the water, what your source water is, and where the bottled water actually comes from.

MOST bottled water is just filtered municipal water, and most "spring water" is just heavily filtered water (and/or maybe run through a RO/DI system with minerals added back in for taste. The water from the "water machines" in the stores is usually more than sufficient for drinking IMO. Our tap water here tastes like shit. Heavily chlorinated. While it's true that the Pur and Brita filters remove most of the chlorine and some impurities, they leave lots of the other crap that really isn't all that healthy for you: Nitrates, phosphates, organic and inorganic chemical pollution, etc.
If your tap water sucks, bottled water or a good RO/DI with a post DI carbon filter is the way to go.


BTW, the EPA only sets the minimum standards for drinking water, and they're not that high. Better than most of the world? Yes, but many nasties are still permitted.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Out of the tap here, it is about 0.23 cents per gallon for the first 52,360 gallons. After that, it gets even cheaper. That is, if I'm understanding these rate charts correctly.

That sounds about right. Last time I figured mine out, one penny bought 5 gallons of water.

 

[imported_Lothar]

If you want "pure" water, then drink distilled water.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea"better" is mostly marketing.
too pure and water becomes bad for you as said.

 

[LyricRequiem]

It's all too close to call- and therefore negligible. Figure out what you're willing to pay for and stick with that.

 

[lokiju]

I think actual spring water taste the best.

Just check the source of the water to see.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Drink tap water.

 

[rockyct]

I like the taste of RO water better like Costco's and they throw some minerals back in. With bottled water, if it's RO, they probably will put some minerals in after for taste.

 

[jlee]

Good well water ftw.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Gothgar


Edit: Get one of those filters for your sink like Pur or Britta, they will take the chlorine flavor out of the water and then you can get your water for a few cents a gallon instead of 30 times the cost or more for other crap.

Long Island has one of the highest # of cases for breast cancer so I'm not so willing to risk this no matter how good a filter can be.

 

[ShawnD1]

I'll repeat the brita filter thing. Even the shittiest hard water from the tap tastes pretty good after being filtered.

Water, from best to worst:
1 - distilled and deionized
2 - distilled
3 - charcoal and deionized (what a brita filter does)
4a - charcoal only
4b - deionized only
5 - tap water

Not sure where reversed osmosis goes on the list, but I think it's pretty high up. "spring water" just means tap water.

Long Island has one of the highest # of cases for breast cancer so I'm not so willing to risk this no matter how good a filter can be.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/...es_breast_cancer_5.asp
"We do not yet know exactly what causes breast cancer"

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Long Island has one of the highest # of cases for breast cancer so I'm not so willing to risk this no matter how good a filter can be.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/...es_breast_cancer_5.asp
"We do not yet know exactly what causes breast cancer"

Yup and there are sites that just say it's environmental including possible contaminated drinking water, EMFs, etc. They don't know, which is why I'm not risking something I have control over. Bring it on down from Erie County.