It is no surprise that there is a strong connection between the quality of water that we drink and a long life full of health. In order to stay healthy we need to intake adequate amounts of good quality water. This can be proven by the fact that all over the world and throughout time, wherever you find the healthiest, most contaminant-free water, you find the most vibrant civilizations with the best health.

Once we understand that the body is more than 70% water and that water controls virtually every aspect of our health, we can begin to understand the true importance of high quality water. Water, not just that which we drink, but the water that we shower in, cook with, prepare juices, teas and coffee with etc. affects our health significantly. Water is the foundation of the body, and, like any structure, if the foundation is of poor quality, strength and longevity will not be achieved. Hence, it is important to understand the importance of water quality. Following pointers will help you understand how high quality water helps keep the human body healthy:

Abundant absorption of pure drinking water can greatly improve digestion, nutrient absorption, skin hydration and practically enhances the whole feeling of well-being. For treating headaches, it is suggested to drink a good glass of pure water and to rest for about 20 minutes. This treatment is considered much more natural and healthy than the intake of pain killers with harmful side effects. Intake of less than required amounts of water causes dehydration. Partial dehydration, even if not serious enough to debilitate the human body and to require medical attention, may cause minor ailments like back-pain and possibly hypertension. More severe dehydration may worsen asthma as a consequence of dryness in the lungs and may also induce morning weariness. All the negative influences of inadequate or low quality water supply are much more dangerous for small children and babies than for adults since their immune systems are not well developed. It is reported in various medical studies that children ailments are on the rise around the globe especially in poor countries where people do not have easy access to high quality water. Experts are quoted as suggesting that children’s weakening in health is partly due to their increased exposure to environmental toxins and that water quality and consumption has a part to play in the capability of their bodies to eliminate the effects of such toxins. People are embracing enthusiastically the basically correct concepts that adequate consumption of pure drinking water contributes to good health. Moreover, human energy, mental and physical performance, good digestion and weight loss derive directly from correct water intake.

Alkaline Ionized Water

It has been found that this water is more mineral rich than tap water and bottled water. Alkaline ionized water is the only water that carries large amounts of disease fighting anti-oxidants and is up to 6 times more hydrating than bottled or tap water.

We can obtain alkaline ionized water by installing a water ionizer on our kitchen taps. The water ionizer makes the water electrically charged and becomes a powerful natural antioxidant. It prevents free radical damage and rids the body of excess acidity. A natural alkaline internal pH balance is established that inhibits the chances of attracting illness and disease.

It is, therefore; evident that water quality has a big impact on our health.

Bottled Water Quality

Recent studies have shown that around 80,000 chemicals are found in tap water and out of which more than 2,100 are known to be carcinogens. This factual statement is sufficient to understand the risk involved in consuming such contaminated water.

The good news is that many people today understand this. And as a result they are open to explore options to find out the ways to prevent themselves and their families from consuming such bad water.

The sad news is that many people consider using bottled water as an option.

If you too are one of them, let me ask you a simple question. What is the guarantee of bottled water quality?

The fact of the matter is that the U.S regulations for bottled water quality are terribly weak. Many companies today take advantage of this fact and whatever bottled water they supply; it is actually nothing better than tap water!

With the quality of bottled water being unknown, there is nothing better and safer than home purified water. And the best part is that these home water purifiers are available at a very reasonable price.

They are capable of removing all organic, inorganic and chemical impurities from the water.

A word of caution here – many water purifiers, especially the ones based on the principle of Reverse Osmosis, strip away natural and required minerals from the water. These minerals are essentially required in our body and lack of them can lead to deficiencies and ailments.

The best choice of water purifiers are the ones based on advanced techniques of carbon filtration, sub micron filtration and ion exchange. They ensure a pollutant free and mineral rich water supply to you.

Now you may argue here that home water purifiers are good but what about the times when you are going out say for shopping, gym, office etc?

Well, I understand there are times when bottled water becomes an absolute essentiality. In such situations, I prefer European brands because their purity standards are much stricter. This surely helps in ensuring the bottled water quality.

However, there is another easy and fool proof alternative available for such occasions when you are out of the reach of your home water purifier system. And that is to bottle up your trustable home purified water and carry it along.

Remember to use stainless steel containers because plastic is another thing which brings the bottled water quality in jeopardy. All plastic bottles leach plastic byproducts like BPA into the water which affect both the taste and purity of the water.

Another nice option is to use a portable water purifier. Now while they may sound like a something highly technical but in reality they are slightly modified version of a regular water bottle.

They have a small and reliable water purifier installed on the top. You have the entire freedom of re-filling this purifier from any source of water and it will take care of filtering it and making only clean and pure water available to you.

Now that you know that bottled water quality is something that cannot be trusted upon, take action today. Explore the better alternatives of using a home water purifier system. If you need my recommendation of one such advanced and affordable water purifier, visit my website listed below.

Learn facts about water pollution in thisfree water purification video. Expert: Gregory Gibbert Bio: Gregory Gibbert has been working in the water conditioning field for five years with Hague Quality Water. His main expertise has been in sales for Hague Quality Water of Ventura, California. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan

If you are anything like me, you will be greatly concerned about your health. Drinking bad quality water is like an open invitation to all sorts of health ailments. This makes it all the more important to know if there are any water quality standards in place and to what extent are they being followed.

Once I share the information about these standards and how are drinking water quality standards determined, then you can decide for yourself whether it makes any sense to trust these standards or not.

The Safe Drinking Water Act is a law which assures the quality of drinking water. It is regulated by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) which determines what proportion of a component (parts per billion) present in the water, is safe for human consumption.

EPA issues a set of guidelines representing the safe limit for each and every contaminant which every water company needs to abide by. This safe limit is decided by taking a sample of tap water and testing it for one type of contaminant. These tests are performed considering what is safe for an average adult weighing 175 pounds.

So this is a brief and to-the-point answer to – how are drinking water quality standards determined.

But let me share the various loopholes that are very easy to observe in this whole process:

1. These tests specify the safe limit for a 175 pound adult. But don’t you think this is too less a weight for an average adult in US?

2. What about the children, pregnant mothers and elderly people? Their immune system is not as developed as that of an average adult. Does it make any sense to enforce one common safe limit for all of them?

3. Another point here is that children absorb 3 times as much water per pound of body weight than a normal adult. This clearly means that they get larger dose of contaminants daily and are at a much higher risk of water borne diseases.

4. These tests are carried on for 1 contaminant at one time. Again, the known fact is that there are over 80,000 types of contaminants present at different times in water. Is it practically possible to cover all of them?

5. Also, what about the byproducts which are produced when contaminants react with each other. Shouldn’t there be specific limits set for them too?

Now that I have answered how are drinking water quality standards determined as well as their loopholes as I see, do you think these standards are worthy of your trust?

If you ask me, how are drinking water quality standards determined for my home, it is by the effectiveness of the water purifier that I am using at my home.

It is an advanced multi stage purifier based on the cutting edge technologies of ion exchange, sub micron and carbon filtration. Not only is it 99% effective against all types of contaminants, it is very economical to maintain too.

Knowing how are drinking water quality standards determined, it is a waste to depend on these standards and expect clean water to reach your home. You too can take the decision in your hands and look for a good water purifier for your home.

Visit my website listed below for more information on an effective and efficient water purifier which can give clean, pure and great tasting water to you.

3.12.09: Water Quality Investment Act of 2009
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Water

For most indoor growing applications whether growing in soil or with hydroponics, tap water is the best water to feed your plants with. The excess Chlorine sometimes associated with tap water can be dissipated by standing the water in a container open to the air for a few hours before use (12 to 24 hours). Sometimes excess chlorine can make the leaves twist and contort out of shape, so we would always advise allowing your water to stand before adding to your system or watering.

Apart from the excess chlorine, tap water is excellent to use. Whether it is hard or soft water, it’s clean, bug and bacteria free and should give you no growing problems. Do not use de-ionised or distilled water and always choose tap water over rain or well water.

The pH of tap water will vary from 5.5 to 8.5. For practical purposes the lower the pH the softer the water and the higher the pH the harder the water. Added chlorine will also affect the pH, so let it dissipate before testing. Before adjusting the pH, add any necessary feed as this may also affect the pH.

Soft Water

Soft water generally has a low pH due to the low amounts of calcium bicarbonates and other ‘light’ atoms and ions in the water. You can use the pH of your tap water as a guide when choosing whether to use a Hard or Soft water hydroponic feed. If your pH is between 5.5 and 7.7 then your water is not hard enough to use hard water feeds and you should use only soft water or universal feeds.

Soft Water feeds do not generally affect the pH of the nutrient solution upon make up, so some pH adjustment may be necessary to get the nutrient solution to around pH 6. Phosphoric Acid is generally used for small pH down adjustments and Potassium Hydroxide used for small pH up adjustments. A small pipette or two may be useful as only small amounts are needed.

Universal formulation feeds like Canna Aqua and Genesis Nutrients will work well in any water, although these and other universal feeds do affect the pH of the solution upon make up. These feeds cause the pH to drop slightly, making them difficult to use in very soft water. Canna Aqua seems particularly susceptible to problems in very hard or very soft water and as a result we only recommend using it if you have mid-range water hardness.

Soft water feeds – Vita Link (SW), Canna Substra (SW), Optimum (SW), GH Flora (SW), Ionic (SW), Formulex.
Universal feeds – Europonic, Canna Aqua, Genesis Nutrients.

Hard Water

The more calcium bicarbonates and other ‘light’ atoms there are in your water, the ‘harder’ it is and generally the higher the pH. For Hydroponic Nutrient purposes, hard water feeds are only for people with very hard water with a cF 8 (500ppm total) or more and a pH of about 7.8 or above. If your tap water pH is below 7.8 then use soft water or universal feeds and adjust the pH of the final solution to around 6 using some pH down.

Hard Water feeds do affect the pH of the final solution and therefore save any pH adjustment until after the feed has been added. Because hard water has a high pH, addition of a hard water feed will automatically drop the pH of the solution and reduce the amount of pH down needed.

Hard water feeds – Canna Substra (HW), Optimum (HW), GH Flora (HW), Ionic (HW), Vita Link (HW).
Universal feeds – Europonic, Canna Aqua, Genesis Nutrients.

pH adjustment

Do not adjust pH of water or feed solutions for soil or compost.

When growing in hydroponics with lots of light we must be sure that the nutrients in the solution are readily available for absorption by the roots. This means keeping the pH of the nutrient solution between a range of about 5.5 to 6.5. In re-circulating hydroponic systems, make all new solutions between this range. The pH will generally rise over the next few days but avoid adjusting the pH every day even if it goes slightly out of range. Adding too much acid (pH down) is much worse for your plant than being slightly out of the optimum pH range.

If you are using a lot of acid to reduce your pH, but your water is not quite hard enough for hard water feeds, you may want to consider using Nitric Acid as a pH Down in vegetative growth. This affects the solution less than phosphoric acid although more is needed. Alternatively try changing feed next crop to a universal feed, which will help keep your solution pH down and buffered.

pH in slabs

Rockwool – For the first few days growing in rockwool cubesor slabs, the rockwool will drive the pH of the solution up until it settles down. Soaking slabs for 24 hours in a pH 5.5 solution (with appropriate strength feed added) to help stabilize the slab a bit before use.

Water and feeds for soil/compost mixes

De-chlorinated tap water is the best choice of water. Rain and well water can be used although we do not recommend it and de-ionised or distilled water should never be used. With the buffering capacity of soil and the larger and different pH nutrient availability range in soil environment, pH adjustment of any water or feed solutions is not necessary and only adds un-necessary elements to the water and feed.

Consequently there are no hard water and soft water soil feeds, just universal ones which will work well in all types of water.

Bio-Bizz nutrients – These are 100% biological, natural and a popular match with the All-Mix compost.

Canna Terra – This mineral based feed is a clear solution and ideal for automated irrigation systems unlike most other soil feeds which would block pumps and lines. Also gives excellent yield and quality in any soil or compost situation.

Water hardness is a measure of the number of minerals, especially cations like calcium, present in water. This is often quantified as the total dissolved solids (TDS) and Electrical conductivity (EC) of the water. If hard water has a high content of calcium and bicarbonate, then boiling can help to release carbon dioxide and soften water. Most commonly, water is softened by using a resin based softener which exchanges sodium for calcium and magnesium in the water.

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