How can I purify the water of chemicals?
May 3rd, 2010 | 
Author: Boiling water kills most organisms, but how about chemicals and hormones? I don’t want to be drinking estrogen/whatever else people piss and flush into the water system after popping their pills. I already got rid of my plastic bottle drinking habits because of BPA and the environment, but the hormones/chemicals lurking in the water system get me paranoid. Help?
Posted in Green Q&A | 
Tags: boiling water, bpa, chemicals, estrogen, hormones, organisms, pills, plastic bottle, water system
Boiling does kill organisms but to remove chemicals and hormones, I would suggest distilling your own water. It is not very difficult to do. The easiest way to obtain distilled water would be to simply use a dehumidifier and bottle that water (assuming the collection pan is clean) as it is merely water taken from the air which would contain no chemicals or hormones. If you do not regularly use one, you would need a pot with a lid with a hole in it. To this fasten a section of copper tubing or hose. Coil a section of the hose and place into a cool water bath or ice. This will rapidly condense the steam and simply place the outlet into a suitable collecting container. If you are willing to spend some money, you could purchase a distillation device or try looking for a chemistry distillation set. Hope this helps!
Buy a Brita Water Filter or a filter of that sort. They cost only like 30 bucks for one time and they keep your water free of harmful things forever. You don’t even need filter bags! Try it.
stop drinking water. Distillation may not even get rid of everything. Look, even the deer and antelope "piss" in your water.
You can do like I do, I live in the country and I have my own water well. the water comes from 14,000 ft mountains. quit your job and move to the country.
PS with all the bottled water you have drank in the last 5 years you most like have done more harm to the environment than just drinking plain ol tap water.
Bisphenol A turns out not to be a problem (it just doesn’t hang around in humans long enough for the doses you’d get from plastic bottles to harm you, although bottled water is still a waste of money).
The water treatment systems in most developed countries are pretty good so there’s probably not much for you to worry about there (just because we can detect something doesn’t mean it exists in doses large enough to cause you problems, "the dose makes the poison", always remember that). I’d be very surprised if you actually have something worth worrying about over water quality.
You’re being way too paranoid about water quality, and boiling already potable water is not only very unnecessary, but also very un-green. Think of the energy expenditure required to boil water (you’re either burning fuel or you’re using electricity). Unless you live in a third-world country, your tap water is fine, don’t worry about it.