Just how important is vitamin W? Well, next to vitamin O, the air we breath, it’s probably the next most important nutrient we need and I call it a nutrient because of how important it is. I realize that most of us don’t think of water as being a nutrient.
One thing is for sure about water: the selling of it has become a huge industry. I don’t know what the figures are for the amount of annual sales of water are but, I know that it’s huge. Most grocery stores devote large segments of an aisle to the many different kinds of water. You will be able to find filtered spring water, steam distilled water, vitamin fortified water, ozonated water and even water for your baby. You’ll be able to find water in all different size plastic containers. Sometimes you’ll find dispensers that will filtered and ozonate the water and dispense it into your own containers and all of this in addition to the other water options.
Then there are the in the home options and these abound. You’ve got under the counter filters, over the counter filters, machines that filter, alkalize and oxygenate water, stand alone filters that you simply pour your water into from the tap or pitcher, water distilling devices that are either batch or continuous units and solar distillers that are really just water evaporators and condensers. And, we’ve got as many claims about who’s system is the best and safest as there are makers and methods for making clean water.
Why all of this concern over the water we drink? Simply because we know in our heart how important clean water is to us. And it’s because of this concern that often times unscrupulous people will find a way to frighten us into buying one of their expensive and difficult to maintain systems.
Is that to say that every water treatment system sold on the market is unreliable and a scam? No, not at all. The challenge is to find a system that will meet your needs for the budget you have available. Does it sound like I’m advocating a water treatment system. Yes, I am and only because you can’t trust many of the sources of drinking water we have available and I include our wells and municipal water supplies as questionable sources of clean water. However, I’m not in the water treatment device business, at least not yet.
One of the reasons I’m not the business is because of the confusion over who’s is the best. To me the best is the most effective most durable and least expensive there is. I get concerned because if the expensive systems are really the best then it makes those systems unavailable to those who are poor and unable to pool their scant resources to buy one. That means that a disease free life may be out of their reach.
Do I have an opinion about what’s best? Yes, and I’ll freely share it. To me the most effective, most durable and least expensive system is a solar distiller. Why? Because you can find free plans on the internet so you can build one. There are no moving parts, except for the top so you can open it and clean it from time to time, no electrical supply needed, no expensive filters to replace and it’s the same system the earth uses to clean up it’s own water supply.
There are concerns about the solar distiller method and the most notable concern is over the possibility of contamination from disease causing organisms. The water isn’t heated enough to kill the toughest of these organisms but I believe the answer to this issue is simple. As far as I know, these organisms aren’t evaporated with the water and they remain in the evaporating basin along with all of the other unwanted stuff. There shouldn’t be a problem as long as there is no direct contact between the contaminated water and the evaporated water and as long as a person takes care to keep the condensing and collecting part of the evaporator clean.
Yes, a steam distiller most likely kills all the unwanted pathogens in the water but, it has to condense and collect the water and you may be re-contaminating your clean water if you don’t keep that part of the system clean. I don’t have anything against steam distillers. They’re effective, fairly durable but, not necessarily inexpensive and they require an energy source that means some kind of an ongoing expense to operate. A solar evaporator uses the sun’s energy to accomplish the same thing and most of us can find enough room to set one up to take advantage of the free energy.
I realize that the limitation of a solar evaporator might be found in the colder climates where freezing might be a concern or where there’s simply not enough sunshine to produce the volume you need. Then you might be forced into obtaining a different water treatment system.
The answer to the question about which way is the best one to obtain plenty of good clean water will be a personal one. The one thing I can say for sure is that the cleaner the water the better and that you need to drink plenty of it.
Katrael.
