[APD] Don't Drink Distilled Water [SAFETY] (was "Storing large amounts of RO water")

[Charley Bay <charleyb123 at yahoo_com>]

<snip, Terry & Gordon talk RO tech>
Terry spaketh:
> RO membranes "reject" sodium ions.   The water
> molecules are "pushed" across the membrane.  The
> sodium ions concentrate at the membranes surface.
> This creates a layer that slows down the rate that
> water can pass through the membrane.  The more salt
> in solution, the harder it is to drive the water
> across the membrane.
> <...snip, so commercial systems require large
> pressures>

At my place of employment, we have huge water
distillation systems.  (Recall that "distillation"
is the process in which water is boiled, evaporated,
and the vapor condensed).  Thus, distillation
results in water free from dissolved minerals and
other organic matter.

DON'T DRINK IT!

Some of our guys thought it would be neat to drink
"pure water", which turned out to be Not A Good
Thing(tm).  (They're all fine now).

Drinking distilled water results in your body's very
rapid loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium,
chloride) and trace minerals (like magnesium), which
can cause heart beat irregularities, high blood
pressure, hair loss, and a spike in white blood cells.
Yeeks.

Cooking foods in distilled water pulls the minerals
out of them and lowers their nutrient value.

50 years ago health advocates pushed distilled water,
but that's largely debunked now (even though some
misconceptions remain).  However, it *can* be useful
to drink distilled water in special cases, such as
for a few days as a part of body detoxification
because it will help pull toxins out of your system.

You also have the issue that distilled water will
leach things from the container, especially PVC
(e.g., those cloudy plastic milk jugs), but even
metal and *glass* containers (depending on the
quality of the glass).  Polyethylene doesn't
leach as much.  That leached stuff (heavy metals,
petroleum products, etc.) is typically toxic and
MUCH worse than the stuff you just filtered out.

RO water isn't as big a health risk as distilled,
because the RO filtration only removes the "bigger"
stuff (like sodium).  But, it's still true that RO
water pulls salts and other stuff out of your system
because we're still talking about osmosis across
the gradient in the water, and your body.

YMMV.  ;-)

--charley


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