We humans need to drink a fair amount of water everyday in order to stay healthy. Thirst should tell us how much pure water we need. However, the thirst mechanism has usually been distorted by the taste of coffee, soft drinks etc. and the ‘busyness’ of our lives, where we don’t even notice the desire for water. Water needs vary greatly. We require much more when physically active in summer than when we sit indoors in winter. A concentrated diet generates greater need for water than a lot of fruit and salads.Eight glasses a day of pure water may be fine on an average day.at times this may be excessive, but at other times, like on hot dry days when we are active, we may require much more.

Take fluid at least 30 minutes before a meal or after the stomach has emptied of food, which typically takes two to four hours.It’s better to avoid drinking with meals, as it interferes with the digestion process.

Our bodies contain about 60% to 70% water, It is the medium for most of the chemical changes in the body that are the basis of life. Without enough water we become dehydrated and often we don’t realize it.

Dehydration producing as little as 1% decrease in body weight has significant effects, according to Health Science magazine. Early signs include headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, flushed skin, heat intolerance, light headedness, dry mouth and eyes, burning sensation in the stomach and dark urine with a strong odor.

With mild dehydration there may be impaired physical and mental performance, less saliva, heart problems and an increased risk of certain cancers.-

Because of the volume we need to consume, purity is essential. We have to ensure that the town water we drink is free from chloride, fluoride, heavy metals, aluminum and pesticides, which are the most harmful substances in our water supply. There may also be traces of other nasties in it, including pesticides. Some of the chlorine breaks down to form traces of chloroform, which was once used as an anaestetic, until it was discovered that it causes cancer of the liver and kidneys. The US Council of Environmental Quality has estimated that the general cancer risk is doubled by drinking chlorinated water.

Fluoride in drinking water also causes harmful effects on the body, including bone strength, thyroid issues, brain development in children and is an enzyme poison. The chemical used to fluoride your water is hexa fluorosillicic, a waste product of the fertilizer manufacturing industry. Since 1990 over 280 communities around the world have rejected water fluoridation and are now fluoride free. Western Australia is trying to get fluoride out of the water supply for years, without getting any approval from the Government. It is very hard or almost impossible to filter fluoride out of the tap water, even with a high quality reversed osmosis filter!

Aluminum is added in the form of alum to cause sidements to flocculate and settle out. Because of the persistent link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease, it’s use around the world is declining, and Sydney Water and other state authorities are no longer using it. Earthworks can cause aluminum to leach out of clay and enter the water supply, as has been the case with Sydney’s Warragamba Dam.

Long hot showers generate so much chloroform so that a person can inhale just as much during a 10-minute shower as by drinking two liters of chlorinated water. Indoor swimming pools, especially if they are heated, may expose swimmers to high levels of chloroform, as there is no wind to blow the gases away.

For showering, install a shower filter device. If used with a AAA-rated shower head (restricts flow to less than 9 liters/minute), you will save hot water that will easily pay for the cost of the filter.

If there is no shower filter, ensure the bathroom window is wide open and use a fan if installed, for plenty of air circulation.