Peter Writes:

Hello. I recently purchased a “Zero Water” pitcher to filter my tap water. After
reading so many sites that all seem to be influenced by different opinions on the
subject, I am thoroughly confused as to what is better for your health and which
water filtration system is the best one. Can you answer a couple questions for me,
please?

1) Is filtered water better for you than tap water?

2) Which brand is the best?
3) Does the “Zero Water” filter take all of the dissolved minerals out of the water,
essentially creating distilled water?

Thanks for the help!

Hi Peter

Thanks for writing in.

Well, I’ve got to say I’ve never heard of this “zero water” product. After
seeing their website (not all links worked and I left not knowing much
about the product) I can safely say I’ve seen it all now.

I’m not a health expert. What I can say is that natural water (i.e. water
that comes out of your tap from a natural source such as ground water or a
river or a lake) is natures multivitamin. The dissolved minerals in water,
primarily calcium, but also trace magnesium, manganese, iron, etc., are
things that you find in your multivitamin pill. Most health experts will
agree then, that this water is good for your health. Or at the very least,
if you get your all your mineral needs from other sources, will not harm
you.

This zero water says it takes the total dissolved solids from your water
via ion exchange. This is fine, however, this means very little. Ion
exchange simply takes one ion (a charged atom or molecule) and exchanges
it for another. Sure, it may get a zero reading on a TDS meter but it
certainly won’t get a zero reading on a conductivity meter. It’s only
replacing one for the other and who knows what sort of ions it’s adding?
Ion exchange is the same process that’s in your water softener and that
exchanges calcium ions for sodium ions. I certainly wouldn’t want excess
sodium ions in my water.

I drink my local municipalities tap water. I work at a water treatment
plant and even knowing and being part of the process I have no problem
drinking the water that comes from my tap. The only time I’d suggest
adding a filter is if you don’t like the taste, in which case I’d get a
filter that uses activated carbon to remove the trace amount of chlorine
and/or organics that impart a taste to the water.

Hope I’ve helped. If you want recommendations on brands and types of
activated carbon filters for taste, I can help you with that (depending on
how much water you drink etc). Let me know if you have any other
questions.

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