Crystal Clear Water

Having spent many long hours online researching the plethora of water filters on the market, I've come to some conclusions.  Although the concept of "energized water" seems like a good one, I'm a little skeptical about a lot of manufacturer's claims.  In fact, I don't believe you need to spend hundreds of dollars to energize your water.  This can likely be done with some magnets and soda bottles or a blender. 

From the standpoint of health there are some basic things water should do or have.

- taste good
- be free of biological activity
- supply trace minerals
- be free of chemicals, especially volitile organics
- supply oxygen
- have vitality/lifeforce/chi

Although I used to think that RO filters were the way to go, I don't see them as an option anymore.  They waste much water and typically are made with questionable materials.  They filter out the good (trace minerals) with the bad and they also have the same problem as any other filter media in staying biologically free. 

That said, I think a lot can be done with a simple loose-packed carbon filter.  These typically run $40-60 and their media can be cheaply replaced.  This will help with the water taste as well as most volitile organic chemicals or pesticides.  It won't remove trace minerals in any large quantities like RO or distillation.  That still leaves taking care of any residual biological activity, oxygen and adding "lifeforce" to the water. 

Although I typically just drink straight from my loose carbon filter, at times I will ozonate my water for added cleansing.  This will completely sterilize the water as well as add back ozone/oxygen. 

I haven't tried vortexing my water through soda bottles, blenders or similar devices, but this seems like a sound, cheap and efficient way of boosting the vitality of the water.  Also, exposing the water to a large, north-pole magnet will add a certain "smoothness" to the water.  I've noted that I feel more hydrated after drinking north magnetized water.  I've seen specialty "water magnets" for sale, but I've had the best results just with a large ring neodymium magnet that I've used for science projects. 

If one is still worried about biological contamination and doesn't want to ozonate every single glass of water, A UV filter would seem to be a good logical choice.  This could be placed after the loose carbon filter to destroy any biological contamination present or just added to a home's plumbing system.  I've read that a poor man's UV filter can be as simple as shaking a glass/pitcher of water (puts tiny bubbles of oxygen in the water) and letting it sit in the sun in a glass container for 20 minutes or so.  The UV radiation from the sun will generate trace amounts of ozone from the oxygen bubbles present in the water.  This, in turn, sterilizes the water.  I wouldn't trust this method for heavily contaminated water though.  Questionable water should be boiled/distilled regardless.

So the most expensive piece in this setup is the ozone generator/bubbler.  These typically run around $200-500 depending on the model, although they can be used for so many other things besides water.  They can be used for pet/house oders, sterilizing hard-to-sterilize foods such as meats, cheeses, lettuce or just do your whole refrigerator!  I've even read about people using them to destroy cavities in the early stages.  You can make ozonated olive oil as a health remedy too.

It's still questionable how much fluoride can be removed from the water using these methods.  Unfortunatly there are not a lot of good options out there for removing it.  I've read some claims that a large carbon filter can reduce fluoride levels depending on the water pH.  I'm not sure if ozonating water does anything to neutralize the fluoride.  I'm not even sure if fluoride can be neutralized??  There are aluminum filters that can be purchased to remove fluoride, but then you have to worry about removing the aluminum. 

Of course you can always distill the water to remove fluoride or just about any other non-gas.  I haven't had good experiencing distilling my water though.  I've found it to be extremely acidic on it's own.  It seemed to work well for short-term cleansing, but after drinking it for weeks at a time, I found myself feeling weak and tired.  I'm skeptical about adding minerals back to it.  Unless you're certain of the quality of your mineral source, you could just be re-adding the same bad chemicals originally removed from the distillation. 

Although that device looks interesting and probably has some benefits, I think there are cheaper routes to take.  $1500 seems a bit much to me for spending on treating water. 

Sorry for the length.  I apologize for going into lecture mode, but this just happens to be something I've spent a lot of time researching.  I've blown a lot of money on expensive water gadgets too, only to realize that there are easier, cheaper ways to accomplish the same thing.  I'd hate to see somebody else trudge down that same path.

Hope this helps,
Ryan