Why “Raw Water” is a trend to Ignore

The idea of catching natural spring water in your very own bottle to enjoy a sip of perfectly fresh water sounds great, doesn’t it? You avoid all the chemical treatments that water goes through and go straight to the source for raw water, brimming with minerals that your body needs. This is what the “raw water” movement is telling its’ potential customers. It’s become incredibly popular in America and Australians are also getting on board. It sells well and at a cost.

The freshest water out there are sold in glass bottles right to the customer. Forget chlorine! Tap into it how nature intended.

The problem with this trend, though, is that it ignores just how important those water treatment practices are. We often get caught up in what chemicals we could be putting into our bodies, but that’s because we haven’t lived in a time (or country) where drinking water could actually kill us. Raw water may help you avoid all those chemicals, but it could also mean that you’re drinking parasites, bacteria and viruses that could make you very sick.

Know where water comes from
It’s great that people are interested in the quality of their water and the potential additives that are present, however, it’s equally as important people know where their water is coming from, and that it’s safe. In Australia, the water supply (for the most part) is incredibly safe. There are certain laws and expectations in place to ensure that tap water is safe, and here we have various water rules to protect our citizens. This cannot be said for the raw water movement, there are no standards in place to keep consumers protected.

Raw water, of course, is completely safe to drink provided it’s clean – the problem is whether it’s clean or not and how will you know. Experts say that the molecules in water are identical, whether drawn from a spring or poured from a tap. So, if they’re the same…why would anyone want to risk the bacteria that could potentially accompany raw water?

Water filtration is vital to health
The problem at hand is that your water might look clean, but there are factors that you can’t know. You don’t know what animals have bathed themselves in the water (or used it as a toilet). You don’t know whether the groundwater has been contaminated with chemicals like pesticides, lead or arsenic. And you don’t know if it’s run-off from a parasitic filled waterhole.

The entire purpose of water treatment is to remove bacteria that are harmful to human health, whether it be salmonella, giardia or E.Coli. Specials filter cartridges (such as this one) can remove these harmful bacteria. It wasn’t all that long ago that waterborne illness was extremely common. Just a hundred or so years ago people didn’t know to separate their drinking water from their sewage and there was a variety of epidemics because of that. This is what led to water treatment processes being put in place. When these treatments began, the epidemics disappeared. And it’s one of the reasons why our life expectancy is over 40, compared to 200 years ago!

The best way to protect yourself, whether you’re drinking from the tap or the creek out the back; is to invest in water filter system such as one of these – water filters. It will filter your water to keep you safe and make sure that you’re hydrating healthily so you can still enjoy raw water – but without the potential health dangers.