Gone were the days when we can drink water from just about every water source possible without fear of contracting any disease. Ensuring the availability of safe drinking water in our own households has become a tall order today as we learn of the lurking danger in unclean water that often escapes the human eye. Visibly clear water is not necessarily clean as natural sources of clean water have become compromised by environmental degradation or simply human negligence.

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How Important is Safe Drinking Water?

To be quite blunt about it, having safe drinking water is not only important but can be a matter of survival. Each and every day of our lives involve a lot of use of water in cooking, drinking, and washing things that will come into contact with the food and drink that enter our body. We may have the cleanest food prepared for our family but the moment we place it in a dirty plate, we put everyone's health at risk. 

This is the exact analogy I thought of when I read this article from Rappler about the possibility that the very water we purchase from refilling stations may not be as safe as we think it is. The argument is quite simple and is worth considering.

Are We Buying Safe Drinking Water?

Granted that the government through the Department of Health (DOH), has stringent standards in place to guide refilling stations, how sure are we that they are strictly being followed? Are these stations properly operated? Are the workers handling our drinking water properly from start to finish? 

The delivery of safe drinking water to end users is a process that includes preparation of water, using sanitized water containers, and being in the proper protective gear to prevent contamination of water from contact with any part of the body. Care must also be taken that water containers are not exposed to the elements during delivery.

The DOH's 100% Grade or Fail

Failing in one area of the process such as using an unsanitized water container is not acceptable, even if the rest of the process is executed to perfection. Unfortunately, existing government inspection for refilling stations leaves much to be desired. Sanitary inspectors are mainly tasked to ensure food safety thus religious checking of refilling stations may not be realistic.

Even with the DOH's 100% Grade or Fail ranking, actual compliance by stores can be anybody's guess. So what can be a better alternative than taking the matter into our own hands? The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) are both recommending treatment of water at point-of-use referring to our own homes.

Treatment of Drinking Water

The emergency treatment of drinking water as recommended by WHO is comprised of the basic steps of straining, storage/settlement, filtration, and disinfection.  This is more or less the logic behind reputable in-home water purifiers that can be conveniently used to convert tap water into safe drinking water. The advantage of these purifiers is the continuous ready availability of safe drinking water without leaving home.

My Say

With all these talks about impending natural disasters, we can only hope that we all survive. History tells us that availability of safe drinking water when one is isolated from immediate help can spell the difference between life and death.It makes sense to have safe drinking water ready at all times.

That said, there is no argument when we say that safe drinking water is equivalent to good health, peace of mind, over-all well-being, and survival.