We have all been schooled in the importance of water consumption. We’re told too many times to drink about 8 cups per day, but too little about the quality of water we drink and how to ensure we’re getting healthy drinking water.

So even if we are getting enough water, we might not be getting enough hydration. In some cases, we could even be harming ourselves with the water we drink. Learn why you should avoid some waters and embrace others.

What Not To Drink

The following common drinking water options lack the minerals your body needs to properly hydrate itself and may even contribute to disease:

1. Tap water is treated, processed and disinfected by the local sewage treatment center. It is purified with chlorine and treated with fluoride. Tap water has also been linked to cancer.

2. Distilled water is water that has its impurities removed by boiling water and then condensation the vapor into a clean container. However, this process rids the water of important minerals.

3. Developed more than 40 years ago, reverse osmosis involves forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane, moving from a stronger saline solution to a weaker one. The membrane blocks the passage of salt particles and some contaminants. However, this process does not remove small contaminants and removes alkaline minerals from the water, leaving it relatively acidic, which is dangerous to the body’s acid-alkaline balance.

4. Bottled water is something you should avoid, and for very good reason. It is often simply purified municipal water and is devoid of essential nutrients. The plastic containers also leach toxins into the water. If drinking bottled water, make sure it comes from a natural source and is stored in a glass container.

What To Drink

For truly healthy drinking water, stick to water from a natural source that contains inherent, essential  minerals. Well water, artesian or spring water, and mineral water are the most promising options. Well water comes from a hole dug deep in the ground that taps into a water source and then pumps it to the surface. Usually, if you don’t have access to city water, your source is from a nearby well. Natural spring water is bottled at the source while artesian and spring waters, albeit natural, are bottled off-site. Mineral water may be your best bet for healthy drinking water. It is derived from an underground source and has dissolved solids, much of which includes minerals and trace elements, such as magnesium, potassium, and sodium. If buying bottled water, make sure that it is in a glass container to prevent toxins from plastic getting into your water.

Photo Credit: rwhgould

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The bottled water industry has branded itself by importing water from pristine streams and mountain springs in some of the world’s most exotic places: Fiji, Tahiti, the Swiss Alps. Now you can go ahead and add North Korea’s Demilitarized zone to that list.

If you weren’t seduced by bottled water companies touting the natural, spiritual and physical benefits of wherever their H2O comes from, now you can down a beverage originating in one of the most guarded and protected areas on earth.

DMZ 2km is South Korea’s newest brand of bottled water, selling water from a spring that runs under the Demilitarized Zone, the 4 kilometer-wide buffer zone South and North Korea. What benefits does DMZ 2km water have over the competition? Apparently it’s all about branding, or as some might call it, greenwashing.

“We decided on water from the DMZ because it’s different and the environment there is untouched, so many people think it’s clean,” says Lee Sang-hyo, a spokesman for the company, quoted in the Guardian.

Even if people think the source water is cleaner, you have to wonder what DMZ water will do that others don’t. Make you more skilled as an international negotiator? Make you sleeker and stronger so you look better in an army outfit?

No matter its purported incredible qualities, DMZ 2km is just another brand of bottled water contributing to the industry’s overall impact. Seduced by water from far-off springs and streams, and the convenience of bottled beverages, consumers easily forget about the real effects of bottled water and the industry behind it.

In 2007, the U.S. bottled water industry alone accounted for $11.5 billion. On a global scale, in 2008, over 53 billion gallons of bottled water were consumed. These are not small numbers. Marketing another hip brand of bottled H2O promotes consumption and further waste, so stick to drinking tap water in a reusable bottle.

Photo credit: Guardian

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