There are essentially two main types of water: processed water and whole, living water. You want the cleanest, living water available. This is water that has never been exposed to contaminants on the surface of the earth. It has been put through the greatest filtration system thanks to “deep percolation” when water seeps from the surface to the aquifers.
The most inexpensive, healthiest way to supply your water is to harvest it yourself by finding an uncontaminated spring in your area. If you’re in a temperate region separate from a desert region like Las Vegas or Phoenix, then you have springs within driving distance. Before you travel to a spring, get a couple 6 gallon glass jugs. Within a couple hours you’ll be stocked for two weeks.
Be mindful that some of these spring sources are contaminated, so you should double check with a third party who tests the water or otherwise test it yourself.
Using a TDS Meter
If you’re the DIY type, you can look into a PH meter to test acidity and a TDS meter for mineral levels (total dissolved solids). A pH of 7 is based on distilled water, and you want to be somewhere near 7. Dissolved solids are those minerals like magnesium, calcium, potassium, or sodium. The more of these ions there are in the water the “harder” it will be. People with hard water sometimes install a water softener, which pulls some of that out. The same goes for distilled and reverse osmosis systems, which remove much more.
A TDS reading of 0-20 indicates the water is distilled. That means almost no dissolved solids are in the water, and something you probably don’t want to drink because it’s so clean (strips minerals from your body). It’s a processed water of industrial grade more suitable for laboratory settings. The World Health Organization has even hinted that de-mineralized water (RO, distilled, desalinated) damages the body. If my apartment complex was run on a reverse osmosis system, I’d use it for things like laundry but never for drinking water.
Note: These meters don’t guarantee the water is free of contaminants leeched from the environment or different bacteria.
*There’s not a re-mineralization strategy that seems to effectively recreate natural water. What nature has created can’t be replicated, and it certainly doesn’t produce pure H2O. Natural water contains organisms that are healthy for us providing algae and bacteria. Spring water quenches your thirst as it quickly nourishes the blood cells with living organisms more so than treated water that leaves you feeling thirsty.
The Purest Spring Water?
If your budget is generous, consider Summit Spring water (located in Maine). The price of shipping is high enough, but they’re the only company I know that doesn’t filter their water! It’s a great option when you’re trying to heal. In almost every health food store in any state, they only sell filtered bottled (spring) water, not raw.
What I use: Two relatively inexpensive options are the source from Mountain Valley Spring and Fiji water. Fiji is sourced from an artesian well- an aquifer found beneath bedrocks that had to be drilled in to get to, whereas the water at a spring comes up naturally to the surface. Mountain Valley is a step ahead by bottling from their hot spring (not a well). Both companies filter their water, but Mountain Valley is located in Arkansas (far less shipping distance than where Fiji is off the east coast of Australia).
You want to move towards storing your water in glass bottles, which is what Mountain Valley does. Fiji packages in plastic bottles. They don’t use BPA, but other chemicals can leech off of plastic. I’m partial to glass bottling for this reason (sand that’s been melted).
I know, I’m too lazy to find a spring here, but I’ll be buying Mountain Valley in the near future for the fact they’re USA based that use glass bottles and are cheaper than Summit Spring, but Fiji has been convenient and easy on my GI tract.
Mountain Valley and Fiji shouldn’t be long term options. The fact is that these waters have been put through a filtration and are thus processed. They’re attractive for how they bypass the municipal infrastructure.
Sources
http://www.mercola.com/article/water.htm
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-ph-meters-work.html
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/water.htm
