whether mineral water is good for health?
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at
5:17 am
reverse osmosis water purifing companies say no chemicals are added. if so why the water received from the machine is different taste? Whether pure water has any taste? When water hardness results kidney stone what is alternative to reverse osmosis filtration?
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Filed under: Drinking Water
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What they are saying is that, although no chemicals were added, no chemicals or minerals were taken out of the water that may have already been there when the water was bottled.
The water tastes different because the soil composition is different than the soil in your area. The make-up of the soil has a lot to do with how water tastes because water picks up trace minerals as it is filtered through the soil as it makes its way to aquifers, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.
There are many reasons kidney stones are formed and it is not necessarily because of the water. Here is a direct quote from the Stone Center©:
"High protein and salt intake increase the risk of calcium stone formation. High purine diets (meat, fish, chicken) lower urinary pH and cause increased excretion of uric acid. Vitamin B6 deficiency leads to increased formation and excretion of oxalate. Dehydration, excessive vitamin C intake, calcium supplementation, and calcium containing antacids may also lead to stone formation."
Go to this site to read up on kidney stone formation: http://www.urostonecenter.com/anatomy.asp
Hope this helps, good luck.
Mineral water generalally comes from the ground and therefore contains minerals from the ground. These are good for you. Distilled water seems to have a bad taste because we are used to having a little flavor in the water from the minerals. Pure water does not have a taste. Hard water minerals are related to the minerals making up kidney stones. There are some studies but the concentration of the minerals is low. Some minerals come out as water is boiled. Others can be taken out by precipitation which does involve adding a chemical. Distillation is the only way to assure that there are no minerals.
You can try ion exchange resins, charcoal adsorption and ozonization.
Mineral water:
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the water. Mineral water can often be effervescent. Mineral water can be prepared or can occur naturally.
Traditionally mineral waters would be used or consumed at their source, often referred to as taking the waters or taking the cure, and such sites were referred to as spas, baths or wells. Spa would be used when the water was consumed and bathed in, bath when the water was not generally consumed, and well when the water was not generally bathed in. Often an active tourist centre would grow up around a mineral water site (even in ancient times; see Bath). Such tourist development resulted in spa towns and hydropathic hotels (often shortened to Hydros).
In modern times, it is far more common for mineral waters to be bottled at source for distributed consumption. Travelling to the mineral water site for direct access to the water is now uncommon, and in many cases not possible (because of exclusive commercial ownership rights). There are over 3000 brands of mineral water available commercially worldwide.[1]
Mineral Waters contain – as suggest the name – various minerals and trace elements. They are usually measured as the residues (what remains) when a liter of water is evaporated at 180 degrees C. These minerals have various effects on the health of a person.
The mineralisation of a water changes slightly over time.
Acidity (pH)
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
Aluminum (Al)
Arsenic (As)
Borondioxyde (BO2-)
Bromine (Br-)
Calcium (Ca++)
Chloride (Cl-)
Cobalt (Co)
Carbondioxyde (CO2)
Chromium (Cr-)
Copper (Cu++)
Fluoride (F-)
Germanium (Ge)
Hardness
Hydrogencarbonate (HCO3-)
Iodine (I)
Iron (Fe++)
Lithium (Li+)
Magnesium (Mg++)
Manganese (Mn+)
Nitrate (NO3-)
Potassium (K+)
Rubidium (Rb)
Silica (SiO2)
Sodium (Na+)
Strontium (Sr++)
Sulphate (SO4–)
Zinc (Zn++)
REVERSE OSMOSIS :
Reverse osmosis is the process of hydraulically forcing a solvent through a filter that retains the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to pass to the other side.eg used in filtration. More formally, it is the process of forcing a solvent from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure. This is the reverse of the normal osmosis process, which is the natural movement of solvent from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration when no external pressure is applied. The membrane here is semipermeable, meaning it allows the passage of solvent but not of solute.
The membranes used for reverse osmosis have a dense barrier layer in the polymer matrix where most separation occurs. In most cases the membrane is designed to allow only water to pass through this dense layer while preventing the passage of solutes (such as salt ions). This process requires that a high pressure be exerted on the high concentration side of the membrane, usually 2–17 bar (30–250 pounds per square inch) for fresh and brackish water, and 40–70 bar [(600–1000 psig)] for seawater, which has around 24 bar (350 psi) natural osmotic pressure which must be overcome.
This process is best known for its use in desalination (removing the salt from sea water to get fresh water), but has also purified naturally occuring water for medical, industrial process and rinsing applicaions since the early 1970s.
DRINKING WATER :
household drinking water purification systems, including a reverse osmosis step, are commonly used for improving water for drinking and cooking.
Such systems typically include four or five stages:
a sediment filter to trap particles including rust and calcium carbonate
optionally a second sediment filter with smaller pores
an activated carbon filter to trap organic chemicals and chlorination
a reverse osmosis (RO) filter with a thin film composite membrane (TFM or TFC)
optionally a second carbon filter to capture those chemicals not removed by the RO membrane.
optionally an ultra-violet lamp is used for disinfection of the remaining microbes.
In some systems, the carbon pre-filter is omitted and cellulose triacetate membrane (CTA) is used. The CTA membrane is prone to rotting unless protected by the chlorinated water, while the TFC membrane is prone to breaking down under the influence of chlorine. In CTA systems, a carbon post-filter is needed to eliminate the chlorine.
Portable reverse osmosis (RO) water processors are sold for personal water purification in the home. These units are gravity powered (they need no water pump), and need no electricity. The pressure of gravity pushes/drains the water though the filters, much like a coffee-maker filter. A filter lasts for about seven years before replacement is needed. RO water processors are used by people who live in rural areas without clean water, far away from the city’s water pipes. Rural people filter river or ocean water themselves, as the device is easy to use. Some travelers on long boating trips, fishing, island camping, or in countries where the local water supply is polluted or substandard, use RO water processors. RO systems are also now extensively used by marine aquarium enthusiasts, as the domestic water supply contains substances that are extremely toxic to most species of saltwater fish. In production of bottled mineral water, the water passes through a RO water processor to remove pollutants and microorganisms, including the smallest microbe known, archaeobacteria. In European countries, though, such processing of Natural Mineral Water (as defined by a European Directive) is not allowed under European law.(In practice, a fraction of the living bacteria can and do pass through RO membranes through minor imperfections, or bypass the membrane entirely through tiny leaks in surrounding seals. Thus, complete RO systems may include additional water treatment stages that use ultraviolet light or ozone to prevent microbiological contamination.)
In the water treatment industry there is a chart of types of contaminants, their sizes and which ones pass through the various types of membranes . Membrane pore sizes can vary from 1 to 50,000 angstroms. "Particle filtration" removes particles of 10,000 angstroms or larger. "Microfiltration" removes particles of 500 angstroms or larger. "Ultrafiltration" removes particles of roughly 30 angstroms or larger. "Nanofiltration" removes particles of 10 angstroms or larger. Reverse osmosis is in the final category of membrane filtration, "Hyperfiltration," and removes particles larger than 1 angstrom.