The Raw Water Fad; Is It Really As Safe As Originally Thought?

January 18, 2023

Raw water has quickly become a trending topic of conversation and debate. Raw water is natural water from rain, ground, springs, lakes, and rivers that have not been treated with the use of chemicals and therefore has not had any of its minerals, bacteria, or parasites removed. It undergoes purification processes such as reverse osmosis, conventional treatment, ultrafiltration, biofilm membrane filtration, and boiling. Although the water may contain many probiotics and minerals beneficial to health, there is still the concern that raw water can be contaminated with pollutants. Is raw water beneficial for health, or another get-rich-quick capitalist scheme? Continue reading to find out more.

Potential Benefits

Raw water is still under much speculation and debate. However, there are some known beneficial qualities of raw water such as the probiotics, minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium and natural-occurring silica. Silica benefits the body by keeping skin hydrated and soft, reducing wrinkles and fine lines, promoting healthy hair growth, building stronger and healthier nails, and increasing strength and flexibility of joints.

Probiotics are microorganisms that when ingested can offer many health benefits. Probiotics help alleviate symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and diarrhea caused by antibiotics, viruses, bacteria, or parasites. They also benefit skin conditions, oral health, and help to prevent colds and allergies.

Continue reading to discover the potential risks of raw water.

Potential Risks

Although raw water is not chemically treated and is not contained in a BPA plastic water bottle, there are still some risks individuals should know about before gulping down a half gallon of it. It may contain probiotics and minerals beneficial to one's health, but the possibilities of harmful bacteria and parasites are just as present. Treating water with chemicals is intended to remove harmful bacteria that can cause sickness or diseases like E.coli, giardia, cholera, hepatitis A, and salmonella. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) has said individuals can contract these bacteria through untreated or improperly treated water.

Now that you know some of the potential risks, keep reading to learn about the alternatives to raw water.

Alternatives To Raw Water

Raw water has as many benefits as it does potential risks. However, instead of switching to unhealthy alternatives like tap water or bottled water, first invest in water filtration systems. There are water filtering pitchers and filters individuals can affix to taps, filtering tap water. For those who wish to go a step further, there are also water filtering pitchers containing the minerals beneficial for your health. Santevia sells filtering pitchers, dispensers, and travel bottles that all filter out the contaminants and alkalize the water to neutralize the acids in your body while providing it with rich minerals.

Other Purposes For Raw Water

Due to the contaminants in raw water when it is left untreated, it has been used for many other things aside from human consumption over the previous years. It can be caught in rain barrels, taken from lakes, rivers, streams, and springs. In agriculture, farmers will use raw water to water their crops or give it to their livestock. In the construction industry, raw water is used to make cement and for damping unsealed roads. It also has many other uses such as cleaning, flushing toilets, and washing cars. Raw water is beneficial to many industries. However, using it for human consumption is still matter for debate, and many health practitioners recommend not to ingest it.

Continue reading to discover ways raw water can be treated to kill harmful bacteria and parasites.

What's The Cost Of Raw Water?

Raw water has many potential benefits as well as risks. It may provide one with the minerals needed to fulfill a healthy diet, or could give them bacteria and parasites that cause illness. The choice is ultimately up to the patient. However, the cost of raw water is steep when comparing it to alternatives. In the wake of the raw water fad, one of the stores selling it for human consumption changed their prices from $36.99 to $60.99 for 2.5 gallons after the water began selling out. Other raw water distributors sell their water for $16 per 2.5-gallon jug.

Purchasing a water filtration system may cost around the same as one jug of raw water, but will last an average of two months before a filter needs to be replaced.

Why Are People Buying Raw Water?

Many people are buying raw water due to the many headlines it has made in mainstream media and because of the potential benefits of the drink. However, many are not taking into consideration that raw water is precisely that - raw water from rain, lakes, springs, and streams. Anyone who does enough research on the ways to treat raw water can get it for themselves, but it still poses the risk of illness or disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated contaminated drinking water is one of the most dangerous preventable health risks the world faces. The WHO also noted contaminated drinking water is the cause of an estimated 502,000 diarrheal deaths each year.

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