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Anonymous
/fit/ I live in an area with very hard water. We're talking "let it drip for two years and you'll have a stalactite" hard.

As I'm a broke-ass college student who can't really afford to buy water from the store non-stop, I drink tap water. Is that bad for me, because somehow I'm not sure it's healthy to have that stuff going through me?

I used to only drink distiled water when I was living at home with my parents, and was thinking of maybe getting myself a water distilling machine. An investment, but maybe worth it?
>> Anonymous
Brita filter?
>> Anonymous
Water filter is an option, but you can also just refill your bottles.

Provided you're not in some ridiculously rural town, your local grocery store should have a big machine outside by the soda machines that is for refilling water bottles in either 1 or 3 gallon quantities. Sometimes they have the machines inside by the bottled water as well.

Most of the time, the companies will sell empty 3 gallon bottles inside that you buy, and when you need to, just go to the store and refill it.

The one by my house charges 35 cents a gallon, which is pretty much car-seat change.
>> Anonymous
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>>84370

forgot my pic.
>> Anonymous
Pure water is supposed to be tasteless, unless you think it tastes like water. W/ that said anything that makes ur water hard is prolly not what you want in you.
>> Anonymous
Hard water isn't bad for you. You're mainly looking at sodium, magnesium and calcium ions and their associated mates, chlorides and carbonates.

If you want to get rid of those ions without having to purchase water, go the distillation route, since filters don't deionize water.

Also, keep in mind that in the US, tap water quality is regulated by the EPA, while bottled water is regualted by the FDA. The EPA's standards are more stringent, as are their reporting guidelines. It's pretty easy tracking down your local tap water stats to find out what's in it. But it's almost impossible to find out what's in bottled water, since in most cases even the producers don't know with any detail.
>> Anonymous
I'm in Germany right now, so US stuff doesn't apply, and neither do the stores here have refills. Just bottle return machines.

I've drank distilled water most of my life due to the tap water at home tasting kinda funky, but I'm not really sure if the home grade distillers are actually worth anything, or if it's like those water filters that make the water even dirtier. I figure it's hard to fuck up boiling water and letting the condensation drip out of a nozzle, but then again simpler things have been fucked up before in the name of making a buck.

Anyone have experience with home distillers?
>> Anonymous
>>84370
Out of curiosity: are the water in those machines free ? I don't live in the US and I heard something about "free public water' once. And in movies americans are always sipping water from a funnyy reversed faucet because water is free but you can't take it away (err).
>> Anonymous
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>>84391
You mean a drinking fountain like this?

Where I was they were in schools and parks, and some in shopping malls too. Personally I think that's genius, and the lack of any and all drinking fountains here in Germany is goddamn criminal. You can go to a park and die of thirst unless you brought some water or go buy some.

Having access to drinking water is awesome, and about as basic a right as access to the bathroom. the only downside is that some fountains probably had ancient pipes and the water tasted like ass.
>> Anonymous
>>84387
Since you're in college, why don't you do this:

1. Go to a science supply store and buy a good-sized carboy.
2. Take it to school and walk purposefully into a chemistry lab.
3. Acting as if you have every right to be there, fill up the carboy at the deinoized/distilled water station.
4. ???
5. Profit!!
>> Anonymous
Jesus. Spend fucking TWENTY DOLLARS for a filter. Jesus. Seriously, nobody is literally broke in college. Truth is, most kids have money in college, you become broke AFTER because then you start paying the loans back.

Anyway. Seriously. Jesus. Buy a fucking water filter. If you can afford to be having a computer and Internet, you can afford a filter. If not, ask your fucking parents for a measley 20 fucking bucks. Jesus.
>> Anonymous
>>84399
U need to do more squatz guy and worry less about other people's money. If he says he doesnt have any he doesnt have any to spend.
>> Anonymous
Hard water tastes better and isn't bad for you.
>> Anonymous
>>84405
No, I have money to spend, that's why I'm looking to buy some sort of purification filter thing or whatever. Just not enough to spend like 5 bucks a week every week for water that is probably from a tap with the same water quality as mine or worse.
>> Anonymous
>>84399
As mentioned here>>84381filters do not remove the mineral ions in water that make it 'hard'.
>> Anonymous
Whatever you buy, look on the box for something with ion exchange resins. Some filters have them, and all water softeners have them. Chances are you won't be able to install a real water softener since that requires access to your main water line, and unless you own your own house you won't be able to do this.
>> Anonymous
Stop being a fag and drink it up.
>> The Dark One !UYklPQPVhw
Just get a filter to make the water taste better. My water's hard as well (filled with calcium). But at least I don't have to worry about my calcium intake.
>> Anonymous
>>84483
Actually from what I've read water only contains a small fraction of your daily intake at best, so the benefits of drinking hard water are pretty negligible. A sip of milk will do just as much as drinking a few glasses of hard water.
>> Anonymous
Buy a Brita pitcher...it's about fifteen bucks on Amazon for the slim model (which I have). It does require a filter, which you'll only need to replace once every 4-6 months if you're the only one primarily drinking from your pitcher...unless you drink 20 glasses a day or something ridiculous.
>> Anonymous
>>84408
filtered will never be as fresh as spring or well water.