This week I completed a 12 km walk in a fundraising activity called City to Surf. Many communities run events like this and often include half and full marathons. I chose the 12km walk for my contribution to the team fundraising. The main reason being my knees cannot cope with jogging more than 2 km!

Now it is not the walking here that I am interested in discussing today it is the importance of water in the days events.

 

I took a drink bottle of filtered water with me with just over a litre of water and planned to keep this in reserve for later in the race. The race organisers had placed large water tanks along the route and every 2 km we could get a drink. Now in a situation like this hygiene is always a big consideration so of course the water is heavily chlorinated. I know this because I could taste it straight away -it was like drinking swimming pool water it was so strong!
I was needing at least half a litre of water at each water stop so I knew my bottle was not going to cover the whole race. I did not look forward to drinking so much of this very "tasty" water.

The Finish Line!

Sweet Filtered Water


We have had a water filter in our home for 14 years now and we have become very sensitive to the taste and smell of our drinking water. Even when we go out for a meal it is quite noticeable now when the water is just good old tap water. The interesting thing is some places even have the nerve to charge you for the water they serve up at the table when it has in fact come straight out of the tap!

Now most of our water in modern cities is fine for drinking - it is sterile, clear and generally hygienic. Probably over half the world does not have that luxury even in this day and age. However, there have been a number of concerns raised over the last few years about the chemicals that are used to prepare the water and present it to us as sterile.

 

So What is In Your Water

Chlorine and fluoride are both highly toxic chemicals and great debates rage in many first world countries about the use of these in preparing our drinking water. Now it is obvious that the water has to be sterilised before we drink it, the point is we don't need these chemicals in the water at the point off use. With many cities recycling and reusing waste water sterilising the water is essential.

The use of bore water is also a consideration. Bore water or artesian water is basically groundwater that has been pumped from the aquifers that are natural reservoirs. Some of these are what we call fossil waters - this meaning they are many of thousands of years old and have been moving through the soil and subterranean levels for many years. In the process they are very unlikely to pick up living materials but most definitely collect minerals.
These minerals are usually not a risk to your health but they often colour the water and make it look unpalatable.

The solution to this discoloration is to use chemicals that draw the minerals out as sediments and then they can be removed. Once again the materials used to do this are falling under question, especially the Alumina based compounds. There is a question on the link between Alumina compounds and Alzheimer's so this is very controversial.

Not So Cheap Bottled Water

Many people have turned to bottled water or spring waters as a solution to these problems with our water supplies. The problem here is that the huge consumption of this very basic need is contributing to massive use of plastics and the energy consumed in producing them. As for the disposal of the used bottles these are becoming are real headache for our landfill and garbage managers.

 

Filtered Tap Water Is A Better Solution

So this brings us back to our use of tap water as a viable source of drinking water - it's cheap and efficient just not very nice to drink - sometimes! The solution then becomes a matter of cleaning up the water from your tap just before you use it! This brings me back to the whole process of filtering in the home.

A whole range of filters is available these days and they can meet various needs from simple - tap filters to whole of house filters. Some larger versions can in fact filter not just the household water but the garden water as well.

Next year on my walk I will be taking two bottles of filtered water!

Until next time

Be Well

John