Clean, purified drinking and bathing water is foundational to good health! I’m sure you’ve questioned it before, but you should not drink or bathe in unfiltered tap water!  Although the EPA has set standards for over 80 contaminants that may occur in drinking water and pose a risk to human health, there are more than 160 unregulated contaminants that are not monitored.  When we drink, shower and bathe in water containing chlorine and other contaminants, it kills gut bacteria and creates free radicals in the body.
Thankfully, there are an array of affordable suggestions to follow until you can evaluate your present situation and decide what purification system best fits your needs!

Purified drinking water

Reverse Osmosis (RO) purified water is the most affordable and safest water for anyone who isn’t able to invest in a purification system (requires plumbing) for their drinking water.  A reverse osmosis purifier is designed to remove all elevated levels of dissolved solids, which could include lead, nitrate, arsenic, copper, aluminum, etc. Costing roughly 25 – 35 cents per gallon, RO water can be purchased from a water store or commercial-rated vending machines found in most grocery stores retailers such as Target or Wal-Mart. When you purchase and pick up this RO water, keep an eye out for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) readings. TDS refer to any minerals, salts, and metals dissolved in water. The ‘water machine’ will have a sticker that records the TDS checks, but you can also call the number on the machine to ask about the frequency of servicing and the average TDS count. You are looking for an ideal TDS reading of 5 – 10.  

Purified water pro tips:

• When filling up on water at RO water destinations, consider purchasing enough glass bottles for a week’s worth of drinking and cooking water. Re-using glass apple juice jugs is a great option!
• Pour your purified water into a countertop ceramic, glass dispenser, or on an independent stand for convenient use in the kitchen.
• Since RO does a serious job filtering, it’s devoid of minerals. Therefore, add a pinch of good quality sea salt like Celtic Salt or Pink Himalayan salt into each gallon of water.
• For water-on-the-go, fill glass water bottles from the dispenser. Glass is a little less convenient than plastic, but reducing your exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals is worth it! Plus, energetically speaking, it’s the best to contain water. Ello is one of many companies that makes bottles with colorful silicone jackets to protect the glass. Also, consider reusing old glass juice or kombucha bottles. Lead-free stainless steel is another solid option, but please do your research as many metal bottles made in China have been found to have lead in them. Don’t be too alarmed Klean Kanteen, Planet Box, and Kid’s Konserve are guaranteed lead free!  Stainless steel lead-free bottles and containers are a great unbreakable option for kids to bring to/from school.
• When possible, avoid drinking water from plastic bottles, even the ones from so-called “safer plastics.” A 2009 report found that some as yet unidentified chemicals in these plastics have been shown to have the potential to interfere with estrogen and other reproductive hormones, just as the plasticizers BPA and phthalates do. So, as a precautionary action, it may be time to reconsider how harmless “safe” plastics really are. Not to mention, bad for the planet.

For a more expensive, yet very convenient option, you can order Mountain Valley Spring Water to be delivered to your home. It is tested daily by a quality control staff and is rigorously monitored for pH, bacteria, viruses, TDS, chemical contamination, etc. There is no need to add salt to Mountain Valley, as spring water is filled with minerals. If you’re stuck deciding between purchasing bulk RO water and Mountain Valley, I’d say RO water is best for purity sake (so much pollution today!). Mountain Valley is best energetically due to its natural mineral content. 

Purified shower and bathing water

If a whole-house water purification system is not feasible (i.e. requires plumbing), it is important to know that the water you bathe and shower in is just as important as the water you drink. That’s because your skin is your largest organ and absorbs not only nutrients but also toxins. Research has shown that after a ten-minute hot shower, you have ten times more trihalomethanes (a chlorine byproduct) and chemicals in your body than if you had eight glasses of the same unpurified water! At 100 degrees, the steam from your shower is full of chlorine byproducts that you are breathing in.

To shower with purified water, purchase a point-of-use shower filter if you live in an apartment/rented home. Hire a licensed, bonded, and insured plumber to install your shower filter to insure warranty. Use a professional plumber for this since some showers need special adaptors to add shower filters and the warranty is wavered if you don’t use a licensed, bonded insured plumber. Check out CWR Shower Filters for some options.

Use a shower filter to fill the bathtub up if you want to take a bath. If there is no shower head filter, use a bathtub filter such as CWR Bath Filter.  This is a great option for detoxification baths! Make sure to follow manufacturer recommendations for use, if you continue to use the filter past its use date, it will no longer provide optimal results.

About Marilee 
Marilee Nelson is the co-founder of Branch Basics.  She is a Board Certified Nutritionist, Medicinal Cook, Certified Bau-Biologist, Certified Bau-Biology Inspector, and materials specialist using the extremely chemically injured as the benchmark for material safety based on the premise that if you accommodate the most sensitive, then you help everyone.