Family surely brings in responsibilities, believe me a whole lot of it. Recently when I was trying to set up my new house before shifting in, I realized there are a number of small details that you need to check for a house. Because I stayed in a fully furnished apartment I never bothered to go into the details in length previously, even for the water that I was drinking.
Each time we visited a mall in search for a water purifier there were multiple options of water filters, purifiers, chemical treatments, UV filter, RO and what not. Every company having their own stories on ‘we are the best’, ‘they don’t give you this feature’, ‘we still have prize money unchallenged’, ‘our product is hassle free’, ‘no electricity we use chemical to purify’ and many more. This only made us more confused. Chemical water! We are already stressed with chemicals in food/veggies and screaming for organic food, organic vegetable… but now chemical in water also! Don’t know what that would be! How can someone take in chemicals knowingly?
I have always read Bangalore water is hard and highly chlorinated – even the water we get for bathing feels like swimming pool water. I was a regular swimmer in school and college days and have already seen the adverse effects of being in chlorinated water for long. It has already affected skin and hair but at least not from inside.
Before deciding on a perfect purifier for us I did a lot of research, read Google, on Bangalore water and best purifier available and finds were startling. Normal chlorinated tap water usage over a period of time can lead to colon cancer, bladder cancer, atherosclerosis etc. Its best I provide the link than pasting it and make my post look bigger or like a medical student’s report. You can read here. So using tap water for drinking is an absolute no no and this also made me apprehensive on using the filters directly connected to tap’s nozzle.
Back at home when I was a kid we had a 3 stage filter and later on in the 1990s we had aquaguard. So my knowledge on safe drinking water has always been packaged mineral water or aquaguard. Packaged drinking water for everyday use is definitely a costly affair. So we thought of getting an aquaguard installed. This episode again was a confusing yet enriching experience for me.
This representative came in with a water meter (not sure of the name) – a device to check the hardness of the water and suggested some types of models best suited for us. I had never seen such a thing before though have seen a lot of aquaguard installations back in Kolkata at home and at some relative’s home. My knowledge on this UV filtration, Reverse Osmosis almost felt handicapped in front of what I read and heard after that on the water treatment in Bangalore and quality of water. Only after ensuring that these will not use any chemical to purify the water could we decide on a RO purifier.
It was almost shocking to read in newspaper that at some areas in Bangalore the tap water is so highly chlorinated that they resort to packaged mineral water even for bathing!
But on a serious note, we ensure we get the best water purifier to avoid all health hazards but what about the larger section of the society (in India and many other countries) who cannot afford it? Don’t they have right to drink safe water? It’s a question that came in my mind. Hopefully one day we can invent a cheaper form of such purifiers yet having safer drinking water.
This post of mine is also an entry for Say No to Chlorine contest on Indiblogger initiated by Bejon Misra consumer activist & founder of The Healthy You Foundation in the crusade against chlorine.
You can also take active part in this crusade by blogging @ http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=35
