Till taught by pain, men really know not what good water's worth." So said Byron in his Don Juan.  His poetic insight is true.  A human being does need water-under the best of circumstances, human life continues for less than twelve days without water. Getting water should not be a problem since over 75% of the earth's surface is covered with water. 

In fact, it has been calculated that if the earth's solid mass were a perfect sphere, water would surround the solid surface to a depth of about 8,000 feet. However, the human organism requires relatively pure water.  The hydrologic cycle of evaporation, cloud formation, and precipitation literally rains down an average of just over half an inch of relatively pure water each week over the entire surface of the earth. 

But since water approaches the alchemist's dream of a universal solvent, when the rain reaches the surface of the earth, it quickly dissolves and/or transports just about every material with which it comes in contact.  While some of these materials may be beneficial, most are not useful in drinking water. 

Some are harmful, even toxic. Two standards have been described by the World Health Organization for drinking water.  The first outlines the minimum acceptable for human consumption; the second outlines desirable maximum levels of organic and inorganic contamination. 

Many of the world's water sources fail to reach either standard.  Even the most modem water treatment plants regularly add chlorine and aluminum sulphate to deal with other water contaminants. 

Moreover, many of today's water treatment plants are not modem and pump directly from the source with minimal testing to assure potability.  Many of the distribution systems in use today were built years ago using materials and techniques considered substandard today. In short, the cumulative effects of the dissolved chemicals in the water from your tap may be harmful to you.  However, it is possible to reduce the most dangerous of them to universally accepted levels.

Water Quality Drinking water quality is critically important to good health.  Ideally, drinking water should be wholesome, physically attractive, free from all harmful organisms and have a chemical content which will promote the health of the consumer.The finite amount of water on the planet participates in a recycling scheme that provides for its reuse.  This recycling of water is termed the "Hydrologic Cycle".
Energy from the sun causes the evaporation of water from the seas, lakes, rivers and streams.  Other sources of water vapor include plant and animal life and combustion.

The evaporated water may condense in clouds as the temperature drops in the upper atmosphere.  Winds may transport the water in the clouds over great distances before releasing it 'in the form of rain, sleet, or snow which falls to the ground.

As the water condenses and falls through the atmosphere, it adsorbs any gases which may be rising from the environment below.  This is the principal cause of acid rain and acid snow.

Upon reaching the earth, the water either percolates through the soil to the water table or finds its way to a body of water.
Since water, to some degree, can dissolve every natural occurring substance on earth, it becomes contaminated with the substances that it contacts & both in the air and the ground.

Besides carrying dissolved minerals (many of which are beneficial to the consumer), water also carries suspended solids... including a wide range of living materials including bacteria of all types and fungi (many of which are not beneficial).  Water can also carry other liquids ... as an emulsion, in solution, or as a mixture.  Many of these foreign liquids are not beneficial to the consumer. So ... the water you drink, even from your kitchen faucet, may have many contaminants that are not beneficial, and, in some cases, bad for you. In 1993, NBC's television program "Date Line" documented just this fact. Concerns with public water treatment systems in Milwaukee and New York were given as examples of failure to remove potentially deadly organisms from drinking water.  The Doulton ceramic filters have been shown to be capable of removing the specific organism named in the program, Cryptosporidium, from water.