As missionaries, filtered water is vital for our health and survival in a third world country where natural water sources are questionable and usually unsafe to drink.
Water is so necessary for life, but is being treated with much disregard... especially in third world countries. Black water and human waste are being dumped in the rivers and lakes, factory farms dump their manure waste close to water sources where antibiotics and parasites can contaminate surrounding water wells, chemical runoff from farms overusing pesticides & herbidcides, industrial wastes, pollution and garbage dumps from the cities always end up leaching all sorts of metals, arsenic, poisons and petrochemicals into the water.
Thankfully, there are resources available to provide clean, healthy water... but they aren't all easily accessible or affordable for most people in the world! It all seems depressing when I think how far we've come to cause so much damage through simply being wasteful, unthoughtful and unwise. Our actions are causing others to not be able to have access to clean water that is safe to drink.
That is a problem that we are actually excited to tackle in a small way this month with our local community. We will keep you posted through RO4Y's website (and probably here) about our BioSand water filters that we are gathering for the local people to help build for themselves and their families! Prayerfully it will happen soon. Stay tuned!
Traveling With the Berkey
Whenever my family and I travel we never leave the house without our Sport Berkey Water Bottles which contains portable water filters inside. We can safely fill our bottles with tap water wherever we are. The Sport Portable Water Purifier eliminates or reduces up to 99.9% of:
- Unpleasant taste and odors, cloudiness, silt, sediment and chlorine.
- Toxic chemicals: Trihalomethanes, VOCs, detergents, pesticides, etc.
- Harmful microscopic pathogens: Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E-coli 99.99999% and other pathogenic bacteria.
- Heavy metals: Aluminum, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, and Mercury.
- Radiologicals: Radon 222
Most people wonder why we even bother to do that when we can just buy bottled water. Some even think we are crazy for doing such a thing like that!
Unfortunately, bottled water isn't even the best option when searching for safe, clean water to drink. I trust my Berkey water bottle way more than I trust a bottle of RO (Reverse Osmosis) water.
The Hard Truth About Bottled Water
In third world countries, bottled water is heavily used by foreigners & locals alike and most never question the companies who produce the filtered bottled water. Most people believe that bottle water is perfectly safe & healthy to drink. I am sorry to say that this is far from the truth. Besides it being expensive and harmful to our environment, it is also dead water.
I've learned to question where my source of water is coming from. With bottled water there are two questions you should be asking... Where do they get their water and how are they filtering it?
To answer the first question, a majority of companies simply use regular tap water and filter it. Right there, you should be concern. Why? Because not everything gets filtered out. Most water sources in third world countries are already coming from contaminated rivers and lakes that go through a questionable process of being cleaned & "treated". Independent studies have found that contents of bottled water contains chemicals from the plastic containing the water, caffeine, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals and minerals including arsenic & radioactive isotopes, fertilizer residue (nitrate and ammonia) and a broad range of industrial chemicals used as solvents, plasticizers, viscosity, degreasing agents and propellants.
Now, I know the article linked up there is mostly talking about bottled water in the USA (which is scary and wrong), but if they are finding contamination in US bottled water... how much more can be found in bottled water in third world countries where corruption, greed, lack of care and lack of sanitation is so common?!
Yeah, think about that for a minute.
I could go on and on about how bad bottled water is with all the information I've found through my research (did you know that water companies are taking water from other countries to bottle and sell in the USA?!), but maybe another time :o)
The Risks of Drinking Dead Water
Now, my second question... how do most of these companies filter their water sources? Most likely with a reverse osmosis (RO) system which is supposed to filter out everything, but in the process all the good stuff that needs to be in the water to make it living, reviving, refreshing and life-giving also gets filtered out. Naturally, water contains calcium, potassium and magnesium that is vital for our bodies to absorb the water. Without them the pure water is basically dead and acid.
"...devices like R.O. purifiers remove everything from the water, harmful bacteria ( if any ) as well as beneficial minerals. This mineral-stripped water cannot sustain life even in a fish bowl. Like humans all fish require minerals to prosper, and if allowed to live in R. O. types of waters they will all perish. If this type of water is consumed for long periods of time, it will certainly result in acute deficiency of essential mineral elements like calcium ( Ca ), magnesium ( Mg ), and the precious mineral---silica ( SiO2 ). Hence, mineralized water is needed for all cellular functions of the body, and if there are no minerals in your drinking water your body will try to rob the minerals from some other parts of your body system to satisfy its needs. Mostly the bones and teeth are the worst victims to lose calcium, magnesium, etc. Although we can take mineral supplements to replace them, but it is not easy to replace the minerals in our body with the same speed with which we have lost them." source
So, when you drink a bottle of water... do you find yourself enjoying the water and being satisfied? Does it taste good and refreshing? Make you feel energized? Or do you feel more thirsty and the taste is unappealing? Do you often suffer from headaches? Bone pain? Constant fatigue? Even feel dehydrated even though you drink a lot of water? Those are symptoms of your body lacking vital minerals needed to properly absorb the water you are drinking. In order for the body to absorb the pure (dead) water, it has to pull minerals from your bones and that is not good for women who have or are at risk of osteoporosis.
My Experience With RO Water
I lived on RO bottled water for almost a year when we first moved to Honduras and hated it. I felt like I was drinking plastic water and it was hard to even get my girls to drink it! I struggled mostly with fatigue and dehydration even though I drank several glasses a day. I also had headaches and hardly ever had them before I started drinking RO water! Through research I learned to put in a pinch of unrefined sea salt in my glass of water to put back the vital minerals needed to make the water taste & absorb better. It helped a lot, but the water was still "dead" and possibly "dirty" with contaminates... I knew we needed to find a better alternative for filtered water.
Thankfully, we were given a Royal Berkey System as a gift from our home church. We LOVE it and are so grateful that we have it, but I will need to share more about this system in another post in the near future!
Travel Solution: The Sport Berkey Water Bottle
For those who travel a lot or have, ahem, a bad habit of buying bottled water. A Sport Berkey Water Bottle would be a smart buy for you. Not only will these bottles help put less plastic bottles in the garbage dumps, but it will also help you save $$ on bottled water filled with dead, worthless water and possibly "dirty".
We love our Berkey Water Bottles! My only complaint is that it is made of plastic, even though it is BPA-free plastic. For a while we were using the Ecousable Filter Water Bottles, but it seems they went out of business. I liked their bottles because it was made of stainless steel, but it was a little difficult sucking the water through the filter they provided in their bottles. Honestly, it was a pain and my husband was really annoyed with his Ecousable water bottle. He rarely used it unless he absolutely had to, but I am glad to say he loves his new Sport Berkey water bottle and takes it everywhere with him! It is so much easier to suck the water through the filter that even my young kids don't have a problem with it.
The only thing we have to remember about these bottles is that they don't filter out fluoride or arsenic like the standing Berkey Systems do when you purchase their fluoride/arsenic filters. It would be nice if they could create a filter that can do that, but it would take up too much room in the bottle. So, if you are really concern about these two poisons, then it would be a good idea to purchase a standing Berkey System and fill up a big water bottle to take around with you instead. You can even purchase a small travel Berkey System, we have one and used it for our travels when we were stateside last fall. It was great having it!!
For those who enjoy hiking... this is a great water bottle for you to carry along with you. You can easily fill your bottle from a river, lake or pond. Just remember that it can shorten the life of your filter and if you are concern that there might be sewage contamination... a few drops of chlorine or iodine will kill the bacteria and as you drink the water, the filter will clean out the few drops of chlorine or iodine so you will not have to worry about drinking those few drops.
All around, this is a great bottle to have on the run and for traveling!!
Now, the Giveaway!
Thanks to the generosity of LPC Survival, they not only gave me 3 bottles for my family to use (all my thoughts and opinions are my own), but they are going to give you a chance to win TWO Sport Berkey Water Bottles (valued $49.98)!!
How to Enter...
For this giveaway I am going to try out using the Rafflecopter. Simply follow through the list of options to enter and increase your chances of winning by how many points you collect.
Hope this goes well for our first try! Giveaway starts now and ends on May 31st. Thanks for participating and spreading the word about the giveaway. Hugs!
a Rafflecopter giveaway