I Decided to compare bottled waters using my TDS meter and a chlorine test kit

[chemchris]

http://imgur.com/a/s36tU

Really interesting, something I've always wanted to do.

Disclaimer (before the chemists slam me :bigeyes::hammer: ): I realize that a TDS meter and chlorine test kit cant test everything in water. A reading is an indicator of ionic impurities and a lack of TDS measured does not indicate the water is "pure". It just means the equipment I had didn't detect anything.

"Stop using TDS as the measurement of water quality. Disinfection Byproducts like Trihalomethanes, Volatile Organic Compounds, METHYL tertiary-butyl ether, chlorine, chloramines, cysts and lead are the primary contaminants to Public Water Systems. They have no impact on the conductivity of the water. Yet these do not register on a TDS meter. And public water systems primarily supply from surface water that tends to have low TDS levels." ( Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine, March 2009, page 42 )

 

[dkeller_nc]

BTW - "drinking water" has a significant TDS reading because ionic salts are intentionally added back in for taste.

One other anecdote; many foolish people purchase bottled water because they incorrectly think that tap water is somehow "bad", and drinking chlorine/chloramine is harmful. The highly amusing thing (at least highly amusing to me. ) is that bottled water typically has a considerably higher load of plasticizers and petrochemicals than does municipal tap water, and it costs approximately 10,000 times more money.

Many of these same folks profess to be concerned about the environment, and in particular, climate change brought about by fossil-fuel use.

I read the label of a popular bottled water brand from Wal-Mart. It noted that the water was drawn from "deep, protected sources in Florida" - which is otherwise known as a well, bottled in California, and distributed to all of the Wal-Marts nationwide from a central distribution center in Michigan. Given that water is one of the more dense items that are shipped, said water has a carbon footprint at least one hundred to one thousand times greater than the most pure, safest and cheapest source of drinking water in the entire history of mankind - the kitchen sink. :lol:

 

[CStrickland]

Is "purified water" the publix label for distilled?
If they sell that separately I think it would be a good one to add to your comparison, since it's the type that many reefers use.
Cool test!

 

[chemchris]

Agree with dkeller- I have a filter on my tap water at home and that's what I drink myself. I decided to this after agonizing over the different types of water at publix- drinking vs purified vs spring? "filter" vs "carbon filter". Well said also about the carbon footprint, I cringe when I see all those water bottles everywhere.

CStrickland I didn't see any called publix distilled. Is that the 5g machine up front where you fill the 5g drums for the home dispensers? If so, I imagine that its comparable to "purified". My LFS ran out of RO/DI water once and told me to go to publix and get it there because it was the "same thing".

Thinking of trying this with some more popular brands like aquafina and fiji, will include the publix distilled too. Thanks for the feedback all.

 

[Reef Frog]

Personally I'm not as trusting of public water for drinking & making food. It's not the chloriine compounds. There's always a possibility that something worse can sneak in. Municipalities in my area often report sneak attacks of MTBE, estrogen, and lots of other stuff.

And a water customer may not know if he has deteriorating 100 year old pipes under his street which can be feeding sediments, metals and who knows what. The water authority doesn't test from your tap. In my general region, many municipalities get the majority of their water from a river that looks clean but has mine pollutants from long closed mining operations still discharging way upstream. Significant populations of river fish are becoming hermaphroditic. Plus you have agricultural, lawn & street runoff in the mix. Can you really be sure these items are being monitored correctly and can the risks be abated when & if they are detected? Government incompetence is everywhere so I must assume it can apply to the water authorities too. For long term consumption, especially for growing children & adolesents, it just isn't worth the risk IMO. I prefer to be proactive and drink my RO water since I have it on hand.

Well water can be equally or even more risky in certain areas as we all know. My point is most of us just don't know, even if we read the annual test results mandated by law. Faith in the bottled water companies testing for the lesser common threats is just that - an act of faith I suppose. At least the major brands start with RO water. And we know our own RO units can remove at least some, maybe most, potential health threats. So I say drink it.

I agree on the crazy encironmental impact of global bottled water usage. Since Reef keepers have an RO I can see no reason not to drink the water. At first it tasted a little "blah" to me, but now I like it. I can't drink most unfiltered chlorinated municipal water unless I'm really really thirsty.

 

[DKT]

Was admiring the ocean on vacation this year and an older gentleman walked up to me and the kids and asked if we were part of what keeping it beautiful or part of the destruction. I explained we were in town for a ceremony just admiring the view and anticipating returning the following day to swim. He nodded and smiled and stated I still hadn't answered his question...

I was puzzled and said I was sorry but I really didn't understand what he was asking and he explained he was thrilled we were looking out and enjoying the view but if we boated out and looked underwater we would be devastated ~ almost as devastated as the underwater world; filled with all the plastic water bottles folks drank and discarded because they thought it was healthy. An ocean of empty plastic, underwater garbage dump ~ killing everything, he was truly shaken.

We never use bottled water ~ we luckily live in the country and have the best well water (took it for granted as a kid, as an adult I truly appreciate it). He talked to us for awhile, not preaching or forcing an agenda, but educating us & it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Since my return when I see the oceans I always think of him and what he said. I have always cringed when I saw folks loading up on bottled water, but after that conversation it hits a lot harder.

I did let him know we drank from a well ~ I even went as far as drinking from the end of a hose when outside & never once felt the need to use bottled water.

 

[yukimika]

^ that's a bit extreme and drinking out of a hose is bad.

 

[DKT]

I don't think the man was exaggerating, he seemed genuine. Now I didn't know him and don't know him ~ but he was interesting to chat with. Leaving the beach at night the amount of stuff folks just leave there I am sure there is truth to what he said.

And as far as the hose being dangerous... I am 46 and have never had a problem and I learned it from my Grandmother who is 98 and plugging away just fine... might have been detrimental to my Grandfather he only lived to 93.

Edit to Add: Regardless if he had data to show for what he said or not, it was pretty cool to meet someone that old that didn't hesitate to have a pleasant conversation with a stranger; seems that kind of thing fell wayside with technology.

 

[laga77]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch Here is something to think about.

 

[Mark426]

I thought most people used distilled water and avoided the others for the reasons you posted.

 

[chemchris]

@Mark426 Could be, I just never knew myself. I wanted to test the stuff myself so I knew what the differences were. About 6 months ago I got stuck in Alaska for ~3 weeks longer than I anticipated so I asked my gf to pick up some gallons of "bottled water" from publix and pour them into my tank (my ATO res. had already run dry).
Knowing what I know now, I would have asked her to buy "purified" water instead.