The pH of tap water should not be below pH 7 according to government guidelines. Tap water can have chemicals from residential, commercial and industrial sewage, not to mention the amount of paint, oil, medication and detergents that find their way into the water supply. Of course our ‘Water Boards’ state that they remove as much as they can, but they also add many chemicals in an attempt to ensure that the water is alkaline. If you are one of the many who are against Fluoride being added to our water supplies, then maybe you are right to adopt such an approach as the Fluoride, which is used, is derived from a by-product of man-made fertilisers, which are considered poison in excessive amounts. And finally, think of the chemicals that are used to ‘cleanse’ our tap water such as chlorine, though it kills bacteria, it is not safe, as it triggers the production of free radicals inside the body. The unanswered question is, just how much chlorine can the body take before it becomes too much for the body to eliminate safely.

The counterargument to drinking tap water is that, if contaminants found in tap water are allegedly safe within ‘Government limits’, the contaminants are harmless! The question is, what about the accumulative effect of the contaminants such as lead or pesticides over a long period of time within the body?

The World Health Organisation states that tap water in developed countries is just as safe to drink as mineral water, though it will contain up to 350 chemicals. The Water Ionizer uses a filter that removes most contaminants, so people can be confident in drinking water from the tap processed through The Water Ionizer.

The pH of bottled water ranges from 6.2 to 8.5. People often ask what the difference is between bottled water and water from The Water Ionizer, well read through this part and you can make your own mind up.

Should spring or mineral water be consumed, unless its source can be verified to be free from residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial contaminants? Pollution such as chemicals used in crop farming can seep down into the ground or run off the farmland mixing with the water table resulting in contamination. In most cases you will never see where the water is bottled and you will never know what levels of contaminants are inside it.

Spring water from the ground can contain varying levels of natural bacteria and parasites such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E. Coli & Fecal Coliform. All can be damaging to your health and can cause diarrhoea, nausea, cramps, gastrointestinal illness, bloody stools and kidney failure. It’s not compulsory to test spring water in the UK for levels of contaminants or bacteria. The laws are so liberal that literally any person can bottle water from a spring and sell it to the public.

The term ‘Mineral Water’ is for marketing purposes as all bottled water contain minerals. Mineral water is generally or should be derived from a mountain source. Mineral water can still contain the bacteria and parasites found in spring water but there are 13 voluntary tests that a company can use to monitor the cleanliness of their water. There is no way of knowing whether the tests are carried out unless you ask the company, but they are at liberty to refuse you access to their findings.

A worrying factor is what happens to the water when it reaches the factory to be processed. Contamination is likely to happen through contact with people and then the water may have to be driven or flown across the world to be sold. The transportation process can take a long time and you also have to consider storage time. There are also major concerns about retaining water in plastic containers, especially those with UV protection, for long periods of time. If water is stored in a warm temperature it will become contaminated through the growth of bacteria. Tests have been carried out on the cleanliness of branded bottled water in the UK and the USA and the findings were around 85% of the water tested was not fit for human consumption. Therefore, most bottled water is not clean. Bottled water costs a lot of money to buy for what it is, and the transportation and manufacture of the plastic increases world pollution.

However, it’s value against tap water is that it hasn’t necessarily gone through the constant process of usage and cleansing, usage and cleansing, usage and cleansing, which happens to tap water and so should be safe from the additives collected by tap water through human elimination.