Water, if it is to be considered drinking water, must be consumable by humans without causing illness or disease. Drinking water must be potable, that is, it must be clean, or drinkable. All life forms on earth require drinking water. Humans, in particular, require at least 64 fluid ounces, or 8 cups, of drinking water each day for optimal health.
Your drinking water, in the United States, may come from one of several sources.
A Public Drinking Water System
The term ?public water system? usually refers to any water system that has 15 or more hook-ups, or serves 25 or more people. Water systems that serve less than this are considered private water systems. Public water systems may be run by cities or towns, by state or federal agencies, by other political subdivisions like water districts and co-ops, or by private, for-profit companies. Regardless of who owns and runs the public drinking water system, that system must comply with all requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
A Private Drinking Water System?
The term ?private water system? usually refers to any water system that serves between 1 and 14 service connections. A private drinking water system is not regulated by the government. However, owners of private wells and these non-regulated systems often have resources available to them.
What Is Done to Keep Our Water Clean?
Government laws are designed to keep our water clean. But do they work?
According to a national inventory by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), rivers and streams with water quality rated ?good? fell from 65 percent in 1998 to 61 percent in 2000. Estuaries with water quality rated "good" fell from 56 percent to 49 percent over the same two-year period.
In a report, the EPA explained: "Wastewater treatment efficiencies may be leveling off, which, when combined with population and economic growth, could have the effect of reversing hard-won water quality gains. By 2016, pollution levels could be similar to levels observed in the mid-1970s."
What Is Done to Keep Our Drinking Water Clean?
Such reports are not concerned with the drinking water that comes out of the tap in your kitchen or bathroom. Is our drinking water clean?
We should not take for granted tap water purity. A study of drinking water systems of 19 U.S. cities found that many cities rely on drinking water delivery systems and treatments that date back to before World War I. Those aging pipes will break sometime. When they do, they might leach contaminants into the drinking water they carry. Those old-fashioned water treatment plants were built to filter out particles in the water, and to kill some of the parasites and bacteria, but many fail to remove modern contaminants.
More positively, many U.S. cities have updated their systems. They provide good drinking water because they: ?Guard the sources of their water (lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wells) against pollution ?Provide good quality pipes, and keep them maintained at all times ?Have modern treatment facilities that are large enough and high-tech enough to keep our drinking water clean.
The Safe Drinking Water Act, a national law safeguarding tap water in the U.S., oversees local government provisions for your drinking water.
Bottled Drinking Water
If you are concerned about your drinking water, you may decide to purchase bottled water. U.S. citizens spend billions of dollars each year on bottled drinking water. Some use it in place of other beverages. Others use bottled drinking water because they like its taste or think it is safer than tap water.
Bottled drinking water comes from sources similar to those of tap water. It comes from rivers and lakes, or from underground aquifers. Bottled drinking water's taste and quality varies among brands. It can even vary within the same brand, depending on the source of a particular bottle. Even bottled drinking water may contain at least small amounts of contaminants. It may meet USFDA standards, but those standards do not demand total purity.
Purified Drinking Water
Finally, you may choose to purify your water through one of many available filtering systems. Purification systems may be as simple as a pitcher that is filled with water, and dispenses it through a filter. You may attach a filter to the faucet in your kitchen, or to the water line beneath the kitchen sink. You might get your purified drinking water from a carbon filtration system, or you might invest in a reverse osmosis system.
Purified drinking water is more costly, per gallon, than tap water, but it may provide the peace of mind and/or the health you want.
Drinking water, if it is to be considered drinking water, must be consumable by humans without causing illness or disease. The challenge may be less or greater where you live, but it is worth meeting.
The funny thing is, at the same time we are bombarded with health information about the importance of staying hydrated, the market is saturated with products that are supposed to quench our thirst, give us energy, nourish us, make us smarter, and who knows what else. The only problem with all of these products? They aren't water.
I'm not saying that you should only drink water. There is definitely room for other beverages. Juices can be healthy and refreshing. Coffee and tea are debatable, but there is evidence that even they have health benefits when consumed in moderation. The same is true for alcohol -again, stressing the need for moderation. Soda and the various sugary "fruit flavored" drinks you would really be better off skipping altogether.
What I'm focusing on here is the way that juices, energy drinks and various "thirst quenchers" are being marketed as alternatives to plain water. They can never replace water, and in many cases they aren't even that good for you. Of course, this is a generalization, and with all of the products out there, new ones coming on the market every week, we cannot possibly make a general statement about all of them. Or can we?
The next time you are tempted to reach for an energy drink, or even pure juice, take a look at the list of ingredients and the sugar content. Now some sugars are better than others, but even if you are gulping down gallons of, say, 100% all natural, organic apple juice, you are still consuming lots of sugar. Natural sugar, to be sure, but still way more sugar than your body needs. That's why some health experts recommend to get your fruit from whole fresh fruit rather than juices.
For example, have you ever had a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice? It's certainly refreshing, but watch the person who makes it and see how many oranges they have to use to make one large glass. Certainly more than you'd ever eat if you were just sitting there eating oranges. I'm not saying that a glass of orange juice is bad for you, but if you rely on juices to quench your thirst, you will be getting lots of superfluous sugar.
When it comes to energy drinks, there are other things to watch out for. Many have high caffeine content. Combined with sugar, and maybe some herbal stimulants such as Ginseng as well, you may indeed get a burst of energy, but you will probably also crash. Many energy drinks have an impressive list of vitamins, herbs and other supplements. In most cases, you are better off getting these from a proper diet or taken as pure supplements, without all the added sugar.
The real point is that nothing replaces water. Pure water -finding a good source of water can be problematic nowadays, but buy the best you can or find a good purification system- should always be your primary thirst quencher. If you use anything else as a way to satisfy your thirst, especially when exercising or in hot weather, you will almost certainly be consuming excessive sugars, caffeine, and even vitamins (you can consume too much of certain vitamins, depending on your age, gender and overall state of health).
The bottom line, then, is simple --when you're thirsty, drink water. Sip on other beverages for variety, as a treat, at social occasions or whatever, but when you need to gulp down large quantities of a liquid, make it H2O.
Both Anna Hart & Larry Christopher are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Anna Hart has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Backpain and Acid Reflux. ?2007, Anna Hart. Read Anna's articles at http://www.healthydrinkingwaterblog.com for more answers to your questions about drinking water.. Anna Hart's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.
Larry Christopher has sinced written about articles on various topics from Arts, Audio Books and Nutrition. Larry Christopher is a writer and researcher on many topics, including cultural issues, health and wellness, the arts and metaphysics. For more on the topic of this article, see. Larry Christopher's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.