⌛ Drinking Water and Diarrhea

I thought I'd do a little blurb on drinking water as my contribution to the group. I am especially concerned about the new Reverse Osmosis fad, not only here in DGTE, but all over the world. I've studied water treatment as a post grad course, part of a Dialysis Technology program and also in my University studies in Biochem and Pharmacology.
My biggest concern over the use of RO water is with people who might rush to it as a remedy to Diarrhea. I can't think of a worse case scenario.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) when properly maintained and used in conjunction with carbon filtration and ion exchangers produces pure water. Pure water does not exist anywhere in the world naturally and that alone should set off alarm bells. For a start, we need a basic chemical law called diffusion. Solutes ,such as vital minerals, will move from an area of high solute concentration to an area of low solute concentration. If you temporarily were, for example, to separate say mineralized water from pure water, without any shaking or mechanical effort to mix the two, the minerals would move into the pure water until they reach equilibrium. When you drink pure water without any food, using this same law, the minerals in your bloodstream will move out into the pure water in your gastrintestinal tract and be lost. That's bad news to begin with. When you are already suffering from mineral depletion caused from diarrhea, you are making things much, much worse by reaching for RO water as a treatment. Pure water can strip paint that's how incredibly aggressive it gets in in it's pure state !! Fortunately, when exposed to air it starts to grab Carbon Dioxide from the atmoshpere but it certainly isn't enough to tame it. Doctors will typically prescribe Gatoraid or Rehydration salts because they will replenish the minerals lost in your liquid feces. Another handy remedy used in the third world is to take a glass of boiled water and add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a squeeze of lemon or orange juice. That gives you your Sodium and potassium replenishment..ie your minerals. I'm not against RO entirely but its wide open for microbial invasion sitting around your house. It might not matter here because, as far as I know, they don't chlorinate the water supply (please correct me if I'm wrong !!) so your wide open for assault anyhow. Dialysis clinics store this pure RO water under a constant blast of Ultraviolet light to kill off bacteria before they use mass quantities to treat patients. I would not store or buy this stuff in plastic bottles because of its super high solvent credentials, glass being preferred. I'd add the salt and baking soda and citrus and store it in a cold fridge or just make sure you take it with food. Alternatively if you could find some rocks of known nontoxic composition to trickle it through that would come closest to natural design. I myself would give my eyeteeth for some bottled chlorinated water. If you don't want chlorine in your drinking water, leave it out over night in a fridge or, better yet, boil it for 5 minutes and let it cool down. The chlorine gas is gone either way. I could go on but this is already turning into a text book.

 

interesting

thanks Prof ! When can I do my examen now ? :D
I'm scared by hell now to accept any drink. Has SMB also this potential problem ?

 

There are lots of good bottled products on the shelf...yes including beer. I forgot to mention that there has been alot of bad news on refilling plastic bottles. Apparently they start leaching and breaking down after opening, but I don't understand why. Health authorites in the US and Canada have been warning people not to refill them. By plastic bottles I mean off -the-shelf beverage and water bottles. People often top them up with tap water and take them to work and school. I hope you are all already aware that you can't use any container for beverages. It has to be "food grade" plastic and evn they are starting to get a bad rap. I personally think that breast milk is still the safest thing out there.

 

In my case, I am still on breast-feeding from multiple suppliers not because it is safe (with all the medications could be found in it :D
no, because it is hell of a fun...

BUT in 2007 was a time where

• I analysed the water before I went diving and spent the whole time in an area whithin 1 feet of where the waterprobe was taken from and if a current comes up I left immediately cause I don't know where that water comes from.
• I threw away my cellphone cause everybody knows it can cause cancer and a texting-thumb (the Pinoy-version of tennis arm)
• I use a saftyscreen for my notbook because of the dangerous waves of a LCD screen
• I only went out when it was dark because everybody knows the danger of sunlight.
• If I saw a smoker coming towards me I changed the side of the street.
• I had orthopaedic inlays for my Islanders (slippers)
• I only ate gras rice and vegetables to protect animal rights.
• I stopped listening to Black Sabbath because it is not christian
• I stoped playing LOUD dirty Rock n' Roll music with lyrics about naked woman
• I did not use F ans S words
• and many things more I stopped.....

My god it was the most boring day in my life....

I may die younger, but had more fun in my life...

cheers

Rhoody

 

I nearly choke Rhoods,really hilarious :D .
But this breast feeding from multiple suppliers,don't you think u gonna be in real trouble soon with this confession.:D

 

not in much more trouble than my small brain brings me always (caused by broke down plastic particles in my beverage supply-bottles).

Rhoody

out for a beer now (in glass-bottle, but no Idea if rinsed properly before the last refill.) If I wake up with a headache, I blame the bad air...

 

and the thing i cant stopped rhoody is to laugh:D

 

Good post Chuck.
What about using a good carbon filter for the tap water?

 

What about deep well water, is that safe to drink in the phils?

Maybe with a carbon filter.

 

Carbon Filters

My experience is limited to water supplies in the USA and Canada. That's not to say that it isn't transferrable to here. The issue in America and Europe isn't typically bacterial contamination as the water supplies are chlorinated. We had a disaster in Canada a few years ago when some unqualified guy talked his way into running the water supply at Walkerton, Ontario. He cut the chlorine content back to a minimum because people didn't like the taste of it. The city wells became contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. Coli (not all E.coli is bad-some is great in the GI tract for digestion)from agricultural runoff (cow sh*t). 12 people dead and about 100 with permanent medical problems..many with irreversable kidney failure. Anyhow, people use carbon filtration to get the chlorine out which is OK if you drink it right away or short term store in a fridge. It can also help act as a general filter for large particulate matter(example rust). Some carbon cartridges also come with additional ion exchange salts to soften water. These filters do a good job in cleaning up the taste of water. Here in the phils its a different ball game. Your main concern should be killing off bacteria. You can only do that in three different ways: Heat - boiling the water; Radiation - using a sufficiently powerful UV light ; and chemically - chlorine or some other approved chemical. Of course many people, especially the natives, have developed immune responses to the common bacteria. In an unchlorinated water supply, I pity them if something comes along that their bodies haven't dealt with cause there's nothing in the system to stop it. You need to change your carbon filter often because it becomes clogged or ineffective ( the tiny pores on the surface of the carbon granules that trap the junk become full). Filters get a bad rap also because people will say they act as a refugium (hotel) for bacteria to grow in. My advice is to find a bottled product that has been chlorinated. I haven't found one myself yet but keep forgetting my reading glasses when I go shopping. I think one of those Melitta filters that comes with a reservoir and stays in the fridge would be a good bet. Sorry but without the equipment to do a proper chemical assay and bacteria cultures, I can't be more helpful in my suggestions, but I think a carbon filter would be helpful against alot of chemical contaminants that are no doubt in the water here. Ideal would be the afformentioned carbon filter/reservoir with a UV sterilizer...but many would consider that as neurotic. I'm sure the people of Walkerton wish they had of had that in place.