I’ve heard that distilling water as a purification method may not present the intended results. I’ve heard that it takes the nutrients & minerals out of the water. Anyone have any documentation/proof of this? Experience with it?
if i’m not mistaken, distilled water is nothing more than h2o. no minerals, nothing.
I think ceramic filters taste the best out in the field, and it’s all I use now… I’m pretty sure I can still taste the minerals…
Yes that is true. When water is evaporated all the minerals stay behind…like the salt in the ocean. Perhaps if you put some torn up grass or herbs in your collection pot they will infuse a few vitamins and minerals back into the water. Same ones? I dont know.
i think i remember reading somewhere about some chemical pollutants that have a lower boiling point than water and end up in your distilled water–they have to be filtered out with charcoal or something prior to distilling.
i could be totally off here and mis-remembering something entirely different, but i wanted to throw it out there in case it jars someone else’s memory.
Hmm… Well I know alcohol has a lower boiling point than water! ;D
Not sure what else tho’. Hmm, I know someone who might be able to answer that well tho’. I’ll have to drop him a line.
Oh…NOW that makes sense to me that distilling separates minerals and nutrients and give produces only H2O. Yeah, and adding some grass or other herbs would give the H2O a little flavor, nutrients, and minerals, but what if the plants contain pollutants? Then I assume go to plan b: find unpolluted plants or give up on trying to make H2O and herb beverages for awhile.
We are talking about distilling water, here, not just boiling it, right? Setting up a still in the woods sounds like a major pain in the ass. Does anyone know of a simple way?
I think distilled water acidifies your body and actively leaches out minerals to buffer it–bad news–wouldn’t want to drink it for too long. Good idea with the grass!
Hmm, I’ve seen a moonshine still made, but it used a lot of copper.
i think a solar still would be the easiest way to distill water. you would need some kind of clear material like glass or plastic. check out In the Wake for some examples of solar stills.
This is all from the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by the Westen Price people.
So yes, distilling, or, I guess, reverse osmosis (are these the same, or different?) does get out harmful chemicals, fluoride, etc. But it also gets rid of all the good minerals and nutrients.
Regular ceramic or compressed carbon filters (like a Brita filter) get out all the heavy metals, chlorine, and other impurities, but leave valuable mineral ions (whatever those are) like calcium, magnesium, iodine, silicon and selenium. But, they don’t remove fluoride or nitrates (whatever those are).
Apparently, some filters use both charcol and ceramic, one at a time, that can get rid of the chlorine and heavy metals, as well as of the fluoride. Don’t know much else about those.
It says that some “state-of-the-art” reverse osmosis units “restructure” the water by running it through pebbles.
Their solution to distilling (when all the minerals, good and bad, have been removed) is to drink the denatured water, but add a mineral supplement of fine clay or mineral ions to it. Couldn’t tell you about those though.
This is a bit off-topic, but the book also goes on to say that drinking two much water (more than about 5 glasses a day) can be bad for you, because it puts a strain on the kidneys. It also says that plain water, with no electrolytes, gets excreted very quickly by the body, to maintain something called “homoeostasis” in the blood.
The book recommends drinking lact-fermented drinks made from fruits, milk, sap, herbs, and grains.
I don’t know.
Truely distilled water, the stuff that has been taken down to JUST the H and the O’s, is bad news for your body. I know a tiny little bit about it from a couple guys I know who used to make water for a living. They worked on ships, and so they had to make water as they went. I’ll ask them a little more the next time I get a chance to talk to them. What I do know is that once they’ve made the water as totally pure as they can (for use in the power plants of the ships), they then had to add stuff back in to make to drinkable and better tasting.
How long can you use a ceramic filter before you have to replace it?
Distilling and reverse osmosis don’t describe the same process, but they produce the same result.
ion = charged particle
nitrate = a type of ion; can cause cancer
electrolytes = ions
homeostasis = the normal conditions within the body. Your kidneys maintain blood volume, pH, etc. using a complex interaction of calcium, sodium, and chloride ions.
Adding sodium to water “softens” it and calcium makes it “hard”.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, west of the Cascades, we don’t have much in the way of minerals in the water in the first place. And east of the Cascades, there are minerals, but not all minerals are the ones you want (arsenic, for example). The minerals that are good, that people don’t want to lose, are basically the ones in water that comes from limestone aquifers. That water is high in calcium, magnesium, and often healthful trace minerals as well.
So we are not losing much here in the NW by distilling water. Keep in mind also that distilled water is “hungry” for minerals, and readily absorbs them, whereas water that is already mineralized does not. (It also more quickly absorbs the actives from herbs, etc.) You could mineralize distilled water by putting in a piece of limestone, seaweed, or other mineral source.
Distilling removes all minerals. I like the idea of putting some clean limestone in the water. I’m gonna try that, as I have a still, and there is a huge limestone rock slide nearby. No hard work required!
If you’re going to use chlorinated water, boil it first (without a lid) for 25-30 minutes to evaporate the chlorine. This can also work for other volatile chemicals. Its how alcohol distillation works, except you want to get rid of the stuff.
We are talking about distilling water, here, not just boiling it, right? Setting up a still in the woods sounds like a major pain in the ass. Does anyone know of a simple way?Solar would be simplest. One could also use a bowl filled with ice or really cold water. The bowl sits over a pot with a small container to catch the drips from the condensation on the bowls bottom.
www.homedistiller.org has a lot of info, though it’s focused on alcohol distilling.