Let me start out with a personal story
It took a serious illness in the family for us to switch from bottled water (our water for decades) to tap water in 2013. The thought was horrifying at first. I always had visions of Metro Manila’s water being ‘dirty’ and ‘unsafe for drinking’. But our holistic doctor insisted that tap water was best. He told us that distilled water removed all the minerals, something our bodies need. Bottled mineral water, even if thought safe to drink, came with the risks of bacteria from insufficiently cleaned water containers, long exposure to air especially for 5-gallon containers (a breeding ground for bacteria), and oftentimes, the mineral content was incomplete. Tap water, on the other hand, contained all the minerals needed by the body, like calcium and magnesium, and the chlorine effectively killed bacteria until the water is exposed to air.
I did do my own verification to confirm what our holistic doctor was telling us. I tweeted Dr. Eric Tayag of the Department of Health to ask about an article I read where it said Metro Manila’s water was potable. Here is my tweet as well as his response.
We’ve been drinking tap water since 2013 and we have had no incidence of amoebiasis. Still, we take some precautions. For one, the chlorine in the water (used to kill bacteria) has to be evaporated before we consume the water since chlorine is not good for the body. So, we would fill a couple of water pitchers with water and leave the cover open for about half an hour to let the chlorine evaporate. It’s not always convenient when you want to drink water NOW.
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