Is DI Water safe or undrinkable?

A. 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.

A. A couple of facts:

Sodium and Potassium
These are the major body electrolytes. The fluid in body cells is high in potassium; 90% of the body's potassium is inside the cells. Other body fluids are high in sodium.

Fluid Sodium Content Potassium Content
Blood 3,100 - 3,330 mg/L 137 - 200 mg/L
Sweat 575 - 1,725 mg/L 155 - 200 mg/L

The concentration of Sodium and Potassium in Dasani Bottled Water:
Sodium content = 2 mg/L, Potassium = 3.5 mg/L

The concentration of Sodium and Potassium in DI water:
Sodium content = typically 0.01 mg/L, Potassium = 0.01 mg/L

The concentration of Sodium and Potassium in Gatorade:
Sodium content = 395 mg/L, Potassium = 150 mg/L


The leeching of electrolytes from your body into the liquid you drink is proportional to the imbalance between your body electrolyte content and the liquid you are drinking.
Let's take as the average for body blood and sweat (Sodium = 2182 mg/L, Potassium = 173 mg/L)

Hence the imbalance for Dasani drinking water:
Sodium imbalance = (2182-2)= 2180 mg/L imbalance
Potassium imbalance = (173-3.5)= 169.5 mg/L imbalance

Hence the imbalance for DI water:
Sodium imbalance = 2182 mg/L
Potassium imbalance = 173 mg/L

Conclusion:
There is practically no difference in leeching electrolytes when drinking Dasani purified bottled water and DI water. Both will equally drain your body of electrolytes.
The only way to avoid to drain your body of electrolytes is to drink water that is matched to your body in electrolyte content, such as Gatorade (more or less).

A. Hi, Erik. Obviously you can drink it -- but everyone has told you that it's dangerous, if not from dearth of ions, then because it is industrial water without proper safeguards against backflow, bacteria, and disinfection :-)

Regards,

A. DI water immediately out of the closed loop circulating system is safe for OCCASIONAL drinking, i.e., to relieve a cough or something like that. Continuous drinking of DI water will leach ion minerals from your body and therefore I would not consider this safe or healthy.

The problem with DI water is after it's out of the closed constantly circulating loop there isn't much to inhibit the growth of bacteria. I do not know what the bacteria growth rate is in DI water compared to RO or distilled or tap water but I have always been told that non-circulating DI water is much more susceptible to bacteria growth. So DI water that has been sitting in a glass for any length of time or sitting in faucet static, without moving, I absolutely would not consider safe for drinking or use of any kind where there is a need for ion/contamination free water.

I can only find general references to this on the web but have been told this for the last 25 years so there is probably at least an element of truth to it. I would not be surprised if some types of bacteria count doubles in under 20 min after DI water has been sitting.

A. If you are lost in the woods without fresh water would drink lake water? My answer is yes I have and lived to tell about it ... bacteria and all. In my opinion this argument not about "should or should not" it is more what is safe to drink verses what is healthy.Yes there are healthier water choices than DI water but ... DIE of thirst, OR drink DI water?
It is up to you .

A. I drink steam distilled water ... for 40 years now and look younger than virtually everyone of my contemporaries and all of my younger siblings.

Paul Bragg ND and many other pioneers of natural health who consumed distilled water lived long healthy lives, some into their 90s.

The solids in distilled water may be useful for plants, but do little for humans. If you want minerals, eat high brix fruits and vegetables.

A. Those who claim RO/DI water is harmful are incorrect. Here is why:

The tap water does contain some very minimal minerals our body required, but heck, other than those minuscule "good" minerals, the rest are extremely harmful, such as arsenic, copper, lead, radioactive materials such as Iodine 129, Cesium 137.

I also doubt that by ONLY drinking tap water will suffice your daily mineral intake as 99% minerals were getting from fruits & vegetables. If you were deficient in certain mineral, it is definitely NOT because you've been drinking too much RO/DI water; most likely, you need to change your diet, be it on tap water or RO/DI water.

If the lack of mineral of RO/DI water still has somewhat scientific background (despite I've busted it) The other often claimed part is this so-called "leaching mineral ... bursting your cell" stuff:

Even if by drinking 100% pure water made from burning Hydrogen and Oxygen in an enclosed burner will not harm you in any forms of "leeching your body minerals" as the moment the water reaches your mouth, your nasty saliva will immediately dissolve any pure water that gets contact with it, and brings ppm from 0 to over thousands in a matter of milliseconds! It also alters your water pH value and it should be no more or less corrosive (mineral leeching) than the tap water you've been drinking for eons!

Then, you've swallowed this already 1000 ppm, pH balanced *water* down to your stomach where nasty stomach acid was so concentrated that it lowers your pH value to somewhat around 2, and not to mention other body fluid such as gallbladder fluid, intestines fluid kicks in before finally the water can be absorbed in large intestine which is already as messy as it can get and if it's about to leech any minerals within your cells.... You must be already badly deficient on lots of minerals and I doubt under that condition, you'd be OK to get out of bed and fetch yourself a cup of RO/DI water, you must be in ER already!

Conclusion: if you were mineral deficient, it's your diet or digestive system problem, NOT RO/DI water. If you were sick and need minerals, tap water is NOT a good source for so and so. Taking pills is much wiser than drinking from heavy metal polluted tap water in order to cure some *deficiency* and your doctor will probably agree with me.

A. I'm an Analytical Chemist and work with DI water every day. I cannot claim to be able to put this debate to rest however, I can shed some real world light on the subject as well as fact. Ironically almost all the posts have some element of truth to them.

Scientific fact: Many harmful bacteria and viruses are altered by charged species attacking the functional groups and consequently rendering the bacteria as no more than harmless organic/organometallic matter. The same reason bleach or peroxide are effective antibacterials. Since DIW or MilliQ will have ultra low levels (ppt and sometimes ppq) of ions (both positive and negative) growth will be extremely elevated. Unless the DIW system contains truly harmful contagions this will not kill you, you will experience some diarrhea. The osmosis discussion while it is true DIW does in fact leach ions from your cells the most impactful consequence is in the muscles. ATP is used by the myosin filaments in the muscles to "contract" and the release of phosphorous to make ATP from ADP is controlled by Sodium. Consequently DIW will lead to lower levels of Na and cramping, the level of cramping will depend on the amount of DIW consumption. If you were to be extremely dehydrated to begin with and decided to drink bacteria free MiliQ (ppq pure) water you would experience very minor cell ruptures. One of the previous posts cited particle levels for some Dasani bottled water versus DIW, those are inaccurate. I use the most cutting edge analysis techniques known to man and can tell you that the DIW we have here has total ions of consistently less than 1 ppb and Dasani water (which I have in fact tested) has total ions of at least 50 ppm depending on the batch; some have been much higher. In other words it would take 50,000 gallons of my DIW to equal the number of ions in one gallon of Dasani water, that makes for a HUGE difference in your body.

Real World Light: As with any large company there are always those that disregard protocol and we have had several instances where workers have drank DIW. Every documented case resulted in diarrhea, stomach pain, cramps, and exhaustion. One did require medical attention (Saline IV) but they had repeated exposure.

Conclusion: It depends..... HAHA! It really does. DIW is generally separated into 3 classes of purity which are measured by conductivity. This is more of a ballpark guess of the total ion concentration. The ultra pure DIW often referred to MilliQ will "hurt" as in you will regret it. Class 3 DIW so long as your confident it doesn't contain amebas or something of the sort will not "hurt" you. Maybe a little sleepy and stiff. Dasani or other bottled waters have orders of magnitude more ions and have been treated with peroxide prior to deionization and are safe for daily consumption depending on the plastic. Most use HDPE but Dasani has a new bottle where they use sugar to make PET bottles, the process is new and still has some issues to work out and some have shown high levels of toxins during leach tests.

A. Deionized water does have ions in it. pH is a measure of the concentration of hydroxide(OH-) and hydronium(H3O+) ions in the solution. pH is measured on a logarithmic scale. So if you had a pH of 9, you would have 1000 times more Hydroxide ions in the solution than hydronium ions. (9[OH-] vs 5[H3O+] = 4 times greater). That being said a solution of a pH of 7 has equal parts hydroxide and hydrogen ions in the water. It has much less overall ions (on the order of 0.00000001 mol/L for 7 vs a 9 ph solution having 0.0001 mol/L)

H3O + OH <=> 2H2O

The Le Chatelier's principle equation in this case. Ions will always be present in the solution due the equilibrium equation. If ions are taken out, the water shifts to the left on the equation and more ions are formed.

So, in regards the problems with pH detector, the level of ions are so low that it can cause erratic readings. Not that there are no ions in the solution.

I would venture to say that drinking deionized water won't due much damage to you if consumed in reasonable amounts. I wouldn't recommend drinking it myself, but I would not persuade someone from drinking it. As long as you are not experiencing any side effects which are listed as possibilities from the associated wikipedia page.

With regards to the coffee, it could be that the DI water is just not getting the added bad taste that may be present in tap water.

Troy

Hi Juanita. I think the reason for the confusion is that, as mentioned, we have conflated so many different things together. In the first place, DI water is not the same thing as distilled water. In the second place, DI water that is sold in stores by the bottle has been tested and purified, and is a very different thing than the industrial DI water that people say poses contamination issues. In the third place, water with just some of the ions removed via a cation and anion deionizing system is a much less aggressive solvent than the ultra-purity DI water produced by mixed-bed deionizing, and used in integrated circuit manufacturing (as David told us, his DI water has 50,000X less ions in it than Dasani). I'm sure you're right that bottled DI water poses no health risks due specifically to its de-ionization ... but like any other products there might be lapses.

Regards,

A. Didn't read all of the thread, but on your submarine comment, you're right: on a submarine we make ultra pure water but then it's put into 2 potable tanks with controlled bacteria to make it drinkable.

A. You know this conversation can go on and on and on like a black hole. But when it comes down to it, ultra pure DI water is no longer ultra pure once it leaves an enclosed loop, or storage tank, or for that matter out of a faucet-spigot. Once the water is in contact with air -- boom-- you have what comes down to "good bottled water".

I am no expert but have been in the ultra pure water business for 27 years and I love making coffee with it; it just screams good coffee. Yes I drink it when I am thirsty but not every day. The reason you see signs about DO NOT DRINK is because it is not classified as "potable water" since water is regulated and must have all the cancer-causing ingredients the city releases to you. That's right, they want to tell you what's good for you. So if you feel safer drinking their water then enjoy; as for me, I love my RO/DI water. I agree with Ted.

A. Hi all. Unlike many of You I'm not a doctor scientists or water specialist, so please excuse the lack of scientific data and my bad English as well. That being said, I am trying to get the best for me and my family, so I've come down to drink RO//DI water.

What I am doing to address some of your concerns about electrolytes is add a bit of baking soda [on eBay or Amazon] (no aluminium) and sea or Himalayan salt (as their mineral content differs.

As for bacteria safe guard I use extremely affordable and effective colloidal silver generator, which has antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal.( It's known since before Roman times that germs and silver simply cannot exist at the same place)
Using colloidal silver poses risks, like losing cooper, iron and magnesium from the body. :)

I totally agree with Bill Reynolds. Consider this: In western society the amount of minerals we consume, particularly sodium, is often to excess anyway. Just a tiny bit of mineral in DI water takes takes the "DI" right out of it, leaving you with... water. For example, if you eat just a small crumb of bread or one small piece of a potato chip, you have neutralized any "DI" component of the water. (As a side note, MBD resin DOES NOT add sodium ions to water, as some have claimed. The ions are chemically bonded to the resin and act only as "magnets" to attract oppositely charged ions, to bind and remove them from the finished product water.) Drinking DI water simply makes your kidneys' job a little tiny bit easier.

Growing up, my family had access to DI water since I was about 10 years old, long before it was commonly available to the public. I have now been drinking it for the last 35+ years. My wife and children drink it too. My children have been drinking it since they were infants. Not only do we drink it, but we drink quite a bit of it, since we don't drink sodas or other sweetened drinks in our home. While I would never claim to just credit drinking DI water, our family is completely healthy and strong. I am a firm believer in drinking DI water because it leaves me in control of what goes into my body. Just ask the residents of Flint, MI what they would rather drink! With all the questionable stuff ending up in municipal water these days, I prefer to make life for my body, especially my kidneys, as clean and easy as possible. One other little point to ponder, no one in my household has ever had a kidney stone. Coincidence? Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

To sum up, if you add the tiniest amount of mineral to your DI water, you have just plain water. It really doesn't matter if you mix it into your water, or consume it in the form of food and then just drink the DI water. There's nothing wrong with DI water. As far as hypotonic water destroying cells goes, this is not a valid concern when drinking, since your entire digestive tract is designed for exactly that purpose. Even tap water is hypotonic. (Although I did hear of one girl who died from hypotonic shock when she won a drinking competition by drinking something like a gallon and half of (tap) water in just a couple of minutes. Moments later, she dropped dead. But it was the amount, not the purity of the water that killed her. Besides, she was drinking tap water.) Just keep it real, drink normal amounts, and enjoy!

Cheers!