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++ Distilled water is made by boiling water until it turns to steam or water vapor, and then condensing that steam or water vapor back to water. The theory is that any contaminant that was in the original water will not vaporize and become part of the steam, but will remain behind as a residue. This is true of general dirt, but maybe not true of volatile organic compounds in the water. In the deionizing process, the contaminated water passes through two columns full of ion exchange media, one of which is saturated with sulfuric acid, the other sodium hydroxide. The H+ from the sulfuric acid replaces any cation contaminants in the water, while the OH- from the sodium hydroxide replaces any anions. Some people feel that deionized water (especially if a mixed bed deionizer was used) is so pure that it is very aggressive and unsafe to drink. Others feel that concern is silly. For my part, I wouldn't be comfortable drinking water that comes out of a tube that was recently filled with liquid caustic or concentrated sulfuric acid.
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You can drink it, without the slightest worry. Search the archives of this site - the matter has been clearly explained.
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Bill Reynolds |
I would be unhappy drinking either de-ionised water or distilled water. As Ted says, de-ionised water is made by passing it through ion exchange columns, one of which contains sodium hydroxide. This can enrich the water with sodium ions and this is bad news if you are health conscious. Too much sodium in your diet is definitely not a good idea -it can lead to high blood pressure and other associated problems. This is why you can buy low sodium salt, which is actually potassium chloride. As far as distilled water is concerned, again as Ted says, it is made by boiling out the salts. What you need to remember is that water is a damn good solvent, especially for salts, so if it is free of any dissolved salts, it will dissolve anything it comes into contact with. Consequently, when you put distilled water in your mouth, it will start to dissolve the minerals in your teeth and I am sure you dentist will not recommend this. If you put a little bit of distilled water on our tongue, you may feel the salts being dissolved from it - it tingles! I cannot answer for submariners because I have never been in the navy, but I would hope they would not use pure distilled water to drink - perhaps they doped it with bromide!?.
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Trevor Crichton |
I do not agree with Mr. Reynolds on this matter. Deionized water is not safe to drink. Due to the purity of the water and the lack of minerals, DI is a relatively strong solvent. As such, when ingested, a condition called "osmotic shock" may occur. This condition occurs as a result of the DI water removing minerals and other elements from the cells in the body more rapidly that the cell walls can stand. The result is ruptured cells and internal bleeding. Though the cases are few and far between, there have been documented cases.
Best of Luck,
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The following is cut from a letter in the archives of this site. I think it explains the situation very well.
QUOTE
As for the relative potability of the pure waters,
the difference in waters is very small. There is no adverse health
affect from drinking distilled or deionized water. Deionized water
tastes kind of bland & somewhat insipid, and distilled water has
no taste at all. Some people get used to these qualities & drink
them all the time. In either case, the taste is improved by
aeration--if you shake the pure waters up with some air, the taste
improves. The taste of any given water is largely imparted by the
various mineral components; many of the drinking waters on the market
today are, in fact, purified tap water to which minerals have been
added (Avalon, etc). By law, drinking waters can not have more than
1000 parts per million of dissolved solids, so when you get down to
the analysis of most available waters, there really isn't much
difference between tap water, mineral water, or purified waters (no
nutritional difference -->at all<-- between any of them!) As
far as the health issue is concerned, it is true, water is hypotonic
to cells & will destroy them. However, tap water is also
hypotonic to cells. Your skin & stomach & intestinal linings
are perfectly suited for thriving in and processing water. If you
were to inject water into your blood, cells would die. If you cut
your skin & wash the wound, the exposed cells do die.
Fortunately, the fats that lyse out of the exposed wound quickly
makes the wound less susceptible to water damage. Any ultrapure water
you drink will quickly dissolve some saliva from your mouth--as soon
as it has dissolved few parts per million of any substance, it is no
longer ultrapure anyway. If it is a concern & all you have to
drink is ultrapure water, you can stir the water with a metal
stainless spoon or your finger first & it will magically
transform itself from ultrapure water to just water.
END OF QUOTE
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Bill Reynolds |
What happens if one drops a copper iridium coin in the ultra pure water.. does the person cease functioning?? Would one have to then wrap oneself in carbon paper to get moving again??
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Marc Green |
All righty then.
Dangerous: Thomas Baker, Trevor Crichton, Ira Donovan, Michael
Majancsik, Tim Neveau, James Totter.
Harmless: John Holroyd, Anand Jayaraj, Bill Reynolds, Dale Woika
Clueless: Ted Mooney.
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 Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
I completely concur with Ira in that "the DI water removing minerals and other elements from the cells in the body." Bluntly, depending on the size of the individual, drinking over a certain volume of DI water causes diarrhea and stomach cramping. : (
Mary Cera
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
I nominate Marc Green for the award. Doesn't matter what water you start with or what you want to finish with, the coin will fix it!!!
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Trevor Crichton |
Ted,
You forgot one, Smart-Alec: Marc Green
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Marc Green |
Let me see - the opinions of the people that are actually water experts say no, and material scientist and the like say its fine.
I say flip the copper iridium coin and pick a side. Me, I'm going the way of safety. I mean, I only have about 200 signs in our inventory that say "Deionized Water - DO NOT DRINK" and by LAW in all 50 states, they have to be posted. Either this is cruel joke on my clients or someone knows what some of others of us do. But hey, maybe life is different down under. I mean, your little whirlpools that occur when you flush the loo go in the wrong damned direction, so maybe your DI water is safe to consume.
p.s. Hey Bill, keep on drinking that DI water and we can watch Darwinian Theory in real time. Me, I know DI water can make for a really crummy beer, and tap water makes perfectly wonderful beer. Go figure...
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Tom Baker |
Those who claim D.I. water is dangerous are not all water experts, Tom, nor does the other side lack water experts and people with medical experience.
It is dangerous to drink ANY industrial water because it probably is not protected by backflow preventers, will probably have no germ-killing chlorine, and may be a breeding place for bacteria; UV systems are often needed to keep DI water free of blooms. So the "Do Not Drink" signs are completely appropriate, but their presence doesn't necessarily imply that the authorities concur that drinking D.I. water will explode a dangerous number of cell walls.
And these kinds of laws rarely have science on their side anyway. A few years ago it became illegal in NYC for restaurants and butchers to use wooden cutting boards because the authorities "knew" the cracks and gouges would accumulate germs and toxins. Then, after all the old world chefs of the world's greatest city were stripped of their heirloom cutting boards and compelled to switch to plastic boards and "stop selfishly risking the public health for their vanity", only then was it time to actually test the premise; and only then was it recognized that plastic, being an oleophillic surface unlike wood, did not clean up nearly as readily as wood, was actually not safer than wood, and may well be a far more fertile breeding ground for food-borne bacteria and illness.
The point being: obey the law, post the signs, but I'd look for documented animal tests about osmotic catastrophes rather than relying on conjectures.
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
Ok... now that I'm done laughing at Thomas' reply (with ya.. not at ya, buddy) I have to put my 2 cents in...I wouldn't drink anything that will corrode stainless steel....nuff said.
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Marc Green |
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++++ I read the discussion regarding the safety of drinking RO/DI water, which stimulated my question. I have an RO/DI unit in my garage to make water for my reef tank. The ice maker and drinking water dispenser in my fridge already has a feed line from the cold water pipe on the hot water heater which runs down the wall directly behind my tank. I was wondering if it would be safe to "T" into the ice maker feed line from the RO/DI unit to supply both the sump under the reef tank for top off water and supply the ice maker/drinking water dispenser. The water that enters the refrigerator goes through an inline carbon filter before it enters the refrigerator/freezer. Would carbon filtration Re-Ionize the water this way and make it safe to drink? Scott M.
Breitenbruck
++++ Hi people, I read an article in New Scientist some time back about ice spikes, including how to make your own. Empty your freezer, and fill your ice cube tray with distilled water, and they grow as the surface freezes. Needs to be really clean water. So I went to buy distilled water, and could only get DI water. My ice spikes didn't work, but from now on, I will be eating DI ice-cubes. The bottle from which the water came says "Warning: Not to be taken." There is no poisons warning, health information, MSDS notes or anything anyplace on the bottle. I am quite sure that it is not regulated as a food product, and therefore cannot be sold as such, but for AU$1.39 for 2 Litres, it is much cheaper than spring water. I'll let you know if any adverse effects arise. Michael Smith
++++++ MAN, HASN'T ANY ONE OF YOU EXPERTS HEARD OF TRIHALOMETHANES? IT IS A KNOWN CANCER CAUSING AGENT FOUND IN ALL MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLIES WHERE CHLORINE AND ORGANIC MATERIAL CO-EXIST (LITERALLY ALL TAP WATERS!) IF YOU WANT TO CHOOSE THAT OVER STEAM DISTILLED OR DI WATER, BE MY GUEST! I HAVE BEEN SELLING AND DRINKING STEAM DISTILLED WATER FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS - I JUST HAVEN'T FOUND A GOOD USE FOR CHLORINE IN THE BODY - MAYBE OK IN A POOL OR MY TOILET!!! BOB GRANDCHAMP
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I'm sure that every water expert is familiar with the hazardous reactants that can be produced when water is chlorinated, Bob.
The thing is, every process and every decision has both advantages and disadvantages. Comparing the tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of lives directly saved from cholera by the introduction of widespread chlorination of water, against the abstract & statistical dangers of chlorination byproducts, you're right: virtually every single municipal water supply which looked at this balance chose to chlorinate.
Nothing wrong with bottled water (except perhaps for the abstract & statistical dangers associated with having to transport it), but it's not a substitute for chlorination of municipal water supplies. You don't wash your dishes in bottled water, do you? If not, I hope you use chlorinated water rather than unchlorinated water, which could spread fatal diseases.
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
++++++
It is well understood that DI or Distilled water is not safe for drinking. The REVERSE OSMOSIS drinking water also may or may not be safe. Since it reduces the TDS to a very low level of 30-40 mg/litre, it may again be hungry water extracting salts from the cells of body. So the question is what is the safe limit of TDS IN WATER for drinking purpose?
S K RAJYA
- Delhi, India
I don't know how you can say "it is well understood" after reading this letter, Rayja, wherein a number of knowledgeable people utterly deny it, and those who support it have not supplied documentation. Again, I don't know whether it's truly harmful or a ludicrous old wives tale -- but I do know that it is not 'well understood' :-)
To try to go on from this qualitative point of whether it is harmful and try to quantify it into how many ppm of TDS is necessary for safety doesn't seem to be warranted.
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
I have an RO filter (with an optional DI unit) at home for
drinking, cooking, and for the icemaker. It has a separate spigot for
0 ppm DI water. Having a background in biochemistry/biomedical
research, I find this thread truly interesting.
I've never seen a sign in research labs that says, "Caution,
Deionized water, DO NOT DRINK", but I probably wouldn't drink water
from a lab where chemicals (some dangerous) are being mixed.
-Biomedical researchers just walk over to the rented water
cooler/dispenser to have a drink, and I imagine the bottled water is
reverse osmosis combined with multiple stage carbon filtering and
ozone or uv sterilization, and has a content of 6-12 ppm solute (6-12
mg/liter dissolved salts).
Ion exchange media that is used to make DI water from RO water, it
will remove all solute, and will leave +H & -OH ions, yes. But
they should combine (& neutralize each other) to form a molecule
of water. I believe food grade DI resin should be harmless, as it
would be free of any chemical impurities.
Doing a search on the AMA, (American Medical Association,
www.ama-assn.org), or the ADA, (American Dental Association,
www.ada.org), there seem to be no references to warnings re:
de-mineralized of de-ionized water. The ADA has a page re:
recommendations to use fluoridated demineralized/deionized water to
make up a bottle of baby formula, but that's about all.
My wife is a dentist. She said, "Deionized water might be dangerous?
Really?"
I would agree that drinking "unbuffered" de-mineralized water when
you really needing hydration, may cause absorption & dehydration
problems (such as when you're working up a sweat from running a
race). In this case, your body needs electrolytes for proper
hydration. So, add a sport drink powder to your DI or RO water. Eh,
Voila!
Pure water (de-ionized or de-mineralized) is probably (for the most
part) less harmful to a person than soda pop, and doesn't have trace
amounts of harmful chemicals that bottled water drinkers are wanting
to avoid.
RO/DI water is the purest form of water that a household or modern
submariner (or Space Shuttle Astronaut--guess where they get their
water!) can obtain.
If you're worried that unbuffered water will kill cells for some
reason, water filter companies sell an inexpensive
"re-mineralization" cartridge that can be added to your RO or DI
unit. Inside is a sand like media, similar to crushed coral skeleton.
It should buffer & replenish your water with desirable minerals,
and balance any pH issue you may be worried about.
I am not a professional water quality specialist. I'd be interested
to see some medical/scientific documentation on the subject. The
drinking water market is big $$, and accompanied by much marketing
propaganda from more than one side. Bottled water is cheap to make,
yet sometimes costs as much as fruit juice or gasoline.
2 cents.
Dasani bottled water is deionized water, filtered with RO/DI. It measures 0 ppm solutes.
Mohri Barizo
- Meridian, Idaho
Hello every one. I have the RO/DI system to make water for my reef
tank.
I am planning to take 50 gal tank and make my own drinking water
.According to Dr. Natasha Campbell Mc-Bridge , the best water has
minerals and bacteria in it. I always knew not to ad shells to fresh
water fish tank because it razes the water hardness ,so I wan to put
there some shells for the minerals leeching in to water ,and teaspoon
of Himalayan salt. But how to handle the bacteria part? I think to
live it along.
Jerry Szal
- NY River, Long Island, New York
Ok, to clear this up. I have done extensive research on the use of
RO, RO/DI, Distilled, and tap water. According to everything I have
found, the following is true:
DI water in manufacturing facilities usually have chemicals added to
prevent bacteria formation and pipe corrosion. Therefore, that is why
there are "Do Not Drink" signs.
RO water is completely save with no effects. It can be used without
any concerns.
DI and Distilled water do have some concerns. The "pure" water is
safe. However, it should not be an only means of hydration. It does
"leech" minerals (salts, etc..) from the body which is bad over a
long term. Most people do not drink only water. They will have tea,
coffee, sodas, etc.. that can replenish those minerals (as well as
foods). You cannot live on DI/Distilled water alone, but you can
drink it as long is it is not the only water you drink.
Tap water has many nutrients added, and is not harmful in any way. It
provides fluoride for the teeth, but with any type of water, you
actually can get water poisoning (hyperhydration) if you drink too
much of any type of water because it leeches the electrolytes from
your body.
Hope this helps
Skaife Jones
- Fernandina Beach, Florida
March 8, 2008
As a physiologist/biomedical researcher, I must say the last post
is interesting, but written by an individual with a "little bit of
information".
Tap water may contain trace elements that are undesirable for long
term human consumption, so many people are turning towards RO or even
RO/DI water for drinking. Dasani bottled water is an example RO/DI
water.
Pure water, such as deionized water, does not contain these tap water
contaminants, such as lead, arsenic, or chloramine compounds. It does
not contain anything. It is also a fallacy that DI water will "leech"
minerals from a person's body.
DI water may not be the best liquid to drink when maximum absorption
is needed, as one may need some electrolytes (salts) to aid in
absorption, but DI water will not hurt you, unless you're drowning in
it.
Hyperhydration (or water poisoning) can only occur under very extreme
conditions, such as drinking 5 gallons of water in a day.
David McConnell
hobbyist - San Diego, California
Well, Well. This is an interesting conversation that I can put to
rest.....
I am not a water guy, I am not a scientist or and engineer or do I
claim to know more than anyone else on this site.
I worked in the Chemlab Clean Room in Lagrange GA of a major company
about 8~9 years ago. Every time we came to work we had to put on a
ridiculous clean room suite that covered us from head to toe
including a veil for our neck and
goggles [link is to product info at Amazon]. The bad part was
when it was time to take a break or go to the bathroom in the 10
minutes they allowed, it would take us 7~8 minutes to completely
disrobe and to put the dang thing back on when we came back from
break. this left us 2 minutes to use the bathroom and to get a
drink.
After doing this for my first week I said forget it and I decided to
just have a drink from the DI system. I thought, what could it hurt,
it's just water??? Right?
I drank about 2 glasses of it over the course 2 hours and about 30
minutes before the lab closed, I started to get very sick at my
stomach. I was walked to the bathroom by my supervisor and I threw up
blood all over the floor. i started to produce Flu Like symptoms
after a bit and I got very weak. They called an ambulance and took me
to the hospital. After a 8 hour stay in the ER, I was informed that
Drinking De-Ionized water caused this.
It turns out if you have ulcers in your stomach that drinking DI
water will make you Really, Really sick.
I cant speak for those that don't have Ulcers as to what it would do,
But I say don't drink the stuff. If water contacting blood can cause
these types of problems, I would not drink It!!
Please also keep in mind that this was a chemlabs DI system and it
was top notch. However they were lacking, the "Do Not Drink DI Water"
Signs that are Federally Regulated.
The lab got a good fine for that one!! We found the sign behind the
DI unit the next day covered in Dust.
Enough Said, you can stop the argument now.
matt
Matt Morman
- LaGrange, Georgia
I have been reading the arguments here. For those of you who do
not believe in drinking DI water, what do you think is in every
canned or bottled beverage you drink ?There may be a significant
difference in individual water treatment systems, but like anything
else, it depends upon the due diligence of the owner /
operators.
At the very least bottling plants for beer and soda use acid / base
water treatment.
Chlorinated water ? Would you prefer cholera, or dysentery ? More
soldiers died in war from disease ( mostly from foul water ) than
from wounds.
As for the gentleman with the ulcers, do you know that several large
American drug marketing companies spent millions of dollars trying to
discredit the two Australian doctors who proved that a simple course
of antibiotic treatment would cure ulcers ? When large amounts of
money are involved, some people don't care who they hurt, do they ?
John Biava
- Rockford, Illinois
This is a very interesting topic. With a lot of different
opinions. I will come from a different perspective. In my line of
business, I have commercial customers that use DI water for precise
applications (lab, experimental, chemical etc). Then I have the
bottle water companies, water stores, and residential improvement
customers that purchase Reverse Osmosis units for drinking
water.
From what I have been told by Certified water specialist that number
one, there is no true pure water. Since water is the greatest solvent
on earth, any thing the water touches will partially dissolve in the
water. Second, the only true way to remove most of the contaminants
in water is through either RO or DI. To my knowledge DI just removes
the metallic Ions from the water, but uncharged particles remain in
the water. Where as RO water through its various filters will
actually remove the contaminants.
I have not heard of anyone drinking DI water, and it does not sound
appealing to me. For the past 10 years I have consumed RO water
(Sparkletts, Dasani, Aquafina etc are all RO purified water). I have
not had any medical problems with cells bleeding, the runs or
anything else.
I guess when it comes down to it, it is whatever you want to drink. I
will never drink tap water. I have read to many water analysis
reports to know not to drink tap water. RO is the way to go in my
book!
Brian Turner, Water quality supply sales rep
- Fullerton, California
I am a home brewer who became interested in treating my local
water because its mineral content was unsuitable for the varying
types of beer I like to brew.
Given that RO/DI water is also unsuitable, I began calculating
mineral additions and considering possibly adding a mineral cartridge
to my RO/DI system.
After some trial and error and calculations/tribulations I concluded
I could formulate/simulate nearly any brewing water in the world by
blending my my carbon filtered tap water with my RO/DI water.
It has proven through trial and error to be an effective way to
achieve a desired mineral profile and I have had good success brewing
varying beer styles with this method.
If your concerned about drinking DI water, why not do the same with
your drinking water? Is there a technical reason why this method of
adding minerals back into RO/DI water would be ineffective?
Jerry Smith
- Belleville, Illinois
In matters like these it is always a good idea to recall
Paracelsus' words on toxicity: "All things are poison and nothing is
without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous."
And of course the dose will always depend to some degree on the
particular individual.
Additionally, there is a big difference in control and testing
between chemicals produced for industrial purposes and chemicals
produced for food purposes. I would not eat or drink anything that
was meant for industry; regardless the grade of purity or
cleanliness.
Sverre Pettersen
Optoelectronics - Trondheim, Norway
So, I found this thread b/c I was trying to find out if it was alright to use distilled water in my radiator. I have a 1999 VW Golf TDI diesel, and the G12 coolant bottle says to mix with 'deionized or soft' water. So, I'd be happy to have anyone's opinion! Thanks!
Jim Taddeo
veggie-cars - Cincinnati, Ohio
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February 12, 2009 A couple of facts: Steven V April 6, 2009 Tom Baker: Steve Rose
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