How Safe Is The Water You Drink At Home?

mum's thoughts, health
image is by nixxphotography from freedigitalphotos.net

For the longest time, I have been giving the little man distilled water for his milk and drinking water. I was a bit squeamish about letting him drink the water we get from a local water refilling station thinking it might not be as safe as the water brand we get for him from the local grocers that passed strict water-bottling standards. It was only until he was about 5 that I finally decided to let him drink the same water we drink at home.

I guess you cannot blame me, my OC-ness is on overdrive when it comes to what the little man eats and drinks as I would like to keep him safe and as far away from water-born diseases that might just be lurking in his drinking cup unbeknownst to us. It does not help that Jared got a water-related illness over the summer by drinking the free water offered at a local noodle house we visited to order ramen for takeaway. I always stash his drinking bottle in my bag whenever we are out and I never let him drink free water in restaurants whenever we eat out, thinking the water might be dirty and he might get sick. This is the only occasion he did and true enough, he got sick! To make matters worse, his pedia was out of town at the time and I cannot bring him to the clinic to be examined. Good thing we can keep in touch with our doctor through SMS or Viber and thanks to the little one’s strong immune system, he was able to fight off the infection without serious medical procedure or medication.

I was just reading this article about the safety of our drinking water at Rappler.com and it made me mull over the question. Do we really know if our drinking water at home is safe? Apart from the water refilling station’s name, we are not entirely sure what goes on inside the place. We might consider some obvious signs as indicators, but we can never be entirely sure, unless we go through the trouble of checking whether our refilling station complies with the local health standards and has the necessary permits to operate such business.

The truth is there is really no way of telling if our drinking water at home is safe and clean or not, but we can follow a few guidelines to ensure we are getting clean water from our refilling station. We can check whether the water containers delivered are clean and in good condition. We can do a once-over of  our helpful water delivery guy to see if they are properly geared and groomed. If possible, it will also be wise if we can pay the refilling station a visit and see for ourselves if is clean and orderly. Of course, we can go overboard and check if their permits are complete and updated, too. It is our rights as paying customers. Also, it won’t hurt if we keep vigilant and report any untoward incidents or issues we might encounter with our delivered water so they can be addressed properly and promptly. We can then rest our case and leave it up to the local government units responsible to do their jobs and implement strict standards and regulations and ensure that our refilling stations comply.

I have never encountered any problems with our refilling station, except maybe that time when I was delivered a gallon with a broken dispenser or those occasions when they failed to deliver. We use this water at home for drinking and cooking and no one has fallen ill so far and I think that is a good sign. I guess it helps that the proprietor of the refilling station is a neighbor in our old place, where I grew up. I guess I’d stick with my delivered water for the time being, although I have read a number of blogs about water purifiers and how they are more cost-effective in the long run, and I might just consider getting one in the future.

What measures do you take to ensure you get only the cleanest and safest drinking water at home?

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