Distilled, spring or tap water?? Which is best?

missionPossibleIcan
missionPossibleIcan Posts: 99
in Food and Nutrition
I been drinking tap water for years! To me Water is just that WATER. However, after having a conversation with my trainer and doing a little research I found that not to be true.

So Wednesday's Question of the day is...

Which water is the most pure to drink distilled, spring or tap?
Do you think there are health benefits from drinking pure water?

Let me know what you think and I will give you the answer later on! I just want to see what people think and know about water :)
«1

Replies

  • rrneal625
    rrneal625 Posts: 69 Member
    I live in Arizona and the tap water in my house is straight up GROSS. Even the filtered water through my fridge is nasty so we buy triple filtered water at the H2O store.....there's an amazing difference. Given how disgusting our tap water is, I have to believe the water we buy must be healthier....but I have no scientific data to back that up! :smile:
  • drmerc
    drmerc Posts: 2,603 Member
    tap water is cheaper
  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
    It's not really an answerable question, since as was mentioned, not all tap water is the same. There are massive variances between different regions in the hardness, purity and content of tap water. As far as I know all tap water here in the UK theoretically goes through the same processes across the country at the plants but there's still a very noticeable difference from one area to the next as to the taste and properties of it.
  • maritza140
    maritza140 Posts: 30
    it really depends on where you live. one thing is for sure most of the bottled water they sell is just tap water from a different source.
  • leenna50
    leenna50 Posts: 14 Member
    Hello
    In my opinion.
    spring water.
    although i don't have a problem drinking my tap water.
  • theMrsisGonnagetFit
    theMrsisGonnagetFit Posts: 23 Member
    We have well water where I live, and it's delicious straight out of the tap! I refuse to pay for water when it tastes great out of my faucet!!
  • missionPossibleIcan
    missionPossibleIcan Posts: 99
    I am love all the answers so far!
    True water is different everywhere. But what is the PUREST one?

    Here is a little info.. MORE TO COME!

    Distilled Water
    Distilled water is free from any contaminants. It is obtained by boiling water and then condensing the steam obtained in a clean container so as to leave most of the impurities behind. In the process of distillation, very less minerals remain in the water. It is easily available in the market for various uses and its consumption for drinking purposes is highly debated.

    Spring Water
    Basically, spring water is the water found flowing in springs. It is encountered in underground sources and is filtered over rocks, as it comes to the surface. It is full of dissolved minerals which imparts it a sweet tinge in taste. This is the main reason why many bottled water vending firms pack this water, after very basic purification techniques.

    Tap Water
    Tap water can come from surface water, such as lakes or rivers, or groundwater, which is obtained from drilled wells. Tap water is then filtered and treated, usually with chlorine, before consumption. Some municipal water supplies are filtered and purified to the extent that they are nearly indistinguishable from bottled water.
  • missionPossibleIcan
    missionPossibleIcan Posts: 99
    The answer is Distilled water!!!!!

    I normally drink tap water because after all I am cheap! But yesterday I decided to drink distilled water all day long. I can really taste a different it taste cleaner.

    All water is good for you but Distilled water is the purest form!!!

    Happy drinking
  • thebigcb
    thebigcb Posts: 2,210 Member
    Tap for me, they are all wet
  • mrtoaster
    mrtoaster Posts: 90 Member
    Frozen - in little cube form - surrounded by vodka or cider
  • mabelbabel1
    mabelbabel1 Posts: 391 Member
    Frozen - in little cube form - surrounded by vodka or cider

    ^^^^ Like ^^^^

    I love tap water....in the UK it's meant to be just as good for you as bottled.
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
    I say tap water but I live in ny and we have great water.
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
    The answer is Distilled water!!!!!

    I normally drink tap water because after all I am cheap! But yesterday I decided to drink distilled water all day long. I can really taste a different it taste cleaner.

    All water is good for you but Distilled water is the purest form!!!

    Happy drinking

    Distilled water on a regular basis is supposedly dangerous last time I heard.
  • Ellieus
    Ellieus Posts: 49 Member
    Well, I've lived in Wisconsin and Chicago and although our tabwater was "ok", as a European I couldn't get used to it for a long time for the chlorine taste...

    Now I live part-time in Vienna and since their tabwater comes directly from a spring, it supposedly one of the best in the world. And yes, it also tastes very good.

    Over here, people are sometimes also big on energizing water with all kinds of dubious methods (stones, grander-water...). I lived in Würzburg where the tab water was terrible and tried that without thinking it would work, but what can I tell ya, it tasted a lot better with those stones (and it's not that I only thought that, but people asked me where I got my water from and would believe it was from tab...)
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    I prefer filtered tap or spring water because it does not taste of chlorine and because spring water contains mineral which I may need.

    But why is distilled water dangerous Victoria? Any good foundation for your claim?
  • lostinthe619
    lostinthe619 Posts: 98
    Tap water, + brita pitcher.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    I ONLY drink filtered water...and only from home. Even bottled water is not what you think. It's crap. Nothing but tap water sold back to you. I got a Britta filter & ONLY use that. Even son & hubby will only drink from it, we can taste the difference & it actually makes us feel sick if we drink from something else.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Do not drink distilled water. It isn't for drinking and can cause health problems.
  • Kymmu
    Kymmu Posts: 1,650 Member
    I drink filtered rainwater- everything else come 2nd. Tap water either tastes like chlorine or rust to me depending where I drink it.
  • NdBuk
    NdBuk Posts: 25
    I am love all the answers so far!
    True water is different everywhere. But what is the PUREST one?

    Here is a little info.. MORE TO COME!

    Distilled Water
    Distilled water is free from any contaminants. It is obtained by boiling water and then condensing the steam obtained in a clean container so as to leave most of the impurities behind. In the process of distillation, very less minerals remain in the water. It is easily available in the market for various uses and its consumption for drinking purposes is highly debated.

    Spring Water
    Basically, spring water is the water found flowing in springs. It is encountered in underground sources and is filtered over rocks, as it comes to the surface. It is full of dissolved minerals which imparts it a sweet tinge in taste. This is the main reason why many bottled water vending firms pack this water, after very basic purification techniques.

    Tap Water
    Tap water can come from surface water, such as lakes or rivers, or groundwater, which is obtained from drilled wells. Tap water is then filtered and treated, usually with chlorine, before consumption. Some municipal water supplies are filtered and purified to the extent that they are nearly indistinguishable from bottled water.

    There's a couple more you missed (by definition at least)

    Table water
    Essentially, this is tap water in a bottle. Completely unregulated. I was aware of a natural mineral water company that also supplied 'table' water to some of it's supermarket brand customers - and just filled the bottles with the same natural mineral water through the same process! They don't do that anymore though...

    Filtered Water

    Essentially this is tap water put through a specific process potentially including chlorination, filtration, distillation etc. to produce a consistent result. I think Dasani (the Coke bottled water) is an example of this.

    Natural Mineral Water.

    Natural Mineral Water is similar to Spring Water however subject to further restrictions:
    -It MUST be from a registered monitored source. To become a registered natural mineral water source the source must be proven to give consistent levels of mineral content for 2 years. The source is then monitored and checked annually to ensure that those levels have not changed.
    -It MUST be bottled at source. If it's tankered up and bottled elsewhere it is downgraded to spring water.
    -It MUST NOT be tampered with in any way other than the most basic filtration. It cannot be added to, flavoured, chlorinated etc. I think they can carbonate it though (i.e. make it fizzy. Sorry - sparkling - it's supposed to be posh water)
    This means it's by no means pure water - it has been filtered through the ground taking in some cases between 40 and 100 years to get from where it fell as rain (or cow's urine?!) through to the well, and picks up its mineral content as it goes. One bottle of NMW can taste completely different to another, although two bottles from the same source should always taste exactly the same. it's probably more about consistency of flavour I guess, but I get that from my tap!


    in terms of purity - I agree that distilled is probably the purest water. It's the only one where the process is intent on taking everything else out . I remember a cocktail manual suggesting that you should always use distilled water for your ice because it produces clearer ice cubes...
  • prjoy98
    prjoy98 Posts: 250 Member
    When we lived overseas we had a distiller (they are expensive) in our house that my employer provided due to the poor quality of local water. LET ME TELL YOU....when I came back stateside to visit and bought (INSERT FAV bottled H2O here!) I could TOTALLY taste the difference!!!
    Like you said distilled is the purest but some people will argue that the distiller also takes away *some nutrients" (fluoride for example) that we need.
    If it's flavor/taste then hands down!
  • samantha1953
    samantha1953 Posts: 156 Member
    I live in Northern Michigan and my well is sand filtered water from Lake Michigan. It is pure and high in minerals. It's healthy for us but destroys coffeemakers. I use Brita for coffee but I love my drinking water right out of the tap.
  • Brewster1215
    Brewster1215 Posts: 247 Member
    I live in Arizona and the tap water in my house is straight up GROSS. Even the filtered water through my fridge is nasty so we buy triple filtered water at the H2O store.....there's an amazing difference. Given how disgusting our tap water is, I have to believe the water we buy must be healthier....but I have no scientific data to back that up! :smile:


    As a resident of Phoenix, I must agree...worst water I've ever tasted!
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Do not drink distilled water. It isn't for drinking and can cause health problems.

    This is incorrect, unless you are talking about distilled water sold for batteries or irons marked "not for human consumption".

    There are several manufactures that make distilled water systems for drinking and in several regions of the the world, distilled water is the only/best source of drinkable water.

    However, in many places the local water is an important source of some mineral, going to distilled water will eliminate those and then one must get another source for the daily allowance of things like calcium, magnesium, etc...

    I drink tap & bottled in Europe and the US and bottled or filtered when travelling.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    We only use distilled water for making colloidal silver. If I am grabbing "to-go" water, then I usually just grab whatever, though I will swear that Fiji water is the best water I've ever had. At home and at work, I drink filtered tap water.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    The answer is Distilled water!!!!!

    I normally drink tap water because after all I am cheap! But yesterday I decided to drink distilled water all day long. I can really taste a different it taste cleaner.

    All water is good for you but Distilled water is the purest form!!!

    Happy drinking

    Distilled water on a regular basis is supposedly dangerous last time I heard.

    That sounds like propaganda to me.

    ETA: There is absolutely NOTHING dangerous about distilled water. It is simply water that has been boiled for at least 5 minutes. In fact sometimes if a water main breaks or something, a municipality will ORDER the population to boil the water to MAKE it safe.
  • default
    default Posts: 124 Member
    Tap water unless you live in a developing or third world country or an area with high contaminants.

    don't buy the propoganda.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    The answer is Distilled water!!!!!

    I normally drink tap water because after all I am cheap! But yesterday I decided to drink distilled water all day long. I can really taste a different it taste cleaner.

    All water is good for you but Distilled water is the purest form!!!

    Happy drinking

    Distilled water on a regular basis is supposedly dangerous last time I heard.

    That sounds like propaganda to me.

    ETA: There is absolutely NOTHING dangerous about distilled water. It is simply water that has been boiled for at least 5 minutes. In fact sometimes if a water main breaks or something, a municipality will ORDER the population to boil the water to MAKE it safe.

    This is also incorrected, boiled water is not distilled water. Distilled water is from a distillation process where water is boiled into steam leaving behind impurities, the steam is re-cooled to liquid form. Boiled water is boiled water - sterile but maintains impurities.
  • missionPossibleIcan
    missionPossibleIcan Posts: 99
    I love all the talk about WATER. Makes you think right!

    I do agree that to me Water is water and I will drink normally whatever. But I been thinking about what is actually in the water I drink. I been alive and living healthy for 31 years now...so NO tap water isn't going to kill me and hasn't! I am just testing all the kinds of water just to see if I notice a difference...

    I totally notice a difference but with that being said... I will probably continue to drink whatever because I LOVE water! lol
  • mamatafari
    mamatafari Posts: 34 Member
    Blech. Tap water means that you are drinking someone else's medication/***** control etc.
    No thanks!
    And actually, for the person who talked about developing countries, supposedly South Africa has the best water filtering system world wide.

Categories