If you’ve already wholly embraced raw diets and opt for minimally processed or unprocessed foods, are you ready to take it a step further? Raw water is here and it’s the latest craze that’s sweeping the healthy living industry.
In a recent report in the New York Times, Silicon Valley startups are capitalizing on the off-the-grid trend and encouraging people to end their reliance on the water grid. They claim that our reliance on traditional filtered water means that “beneficial minerals” and apparent “healthful bacteria” have been removed from drinking water.
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Companies throughout Oregon, Arizona, and San Francisco are instead proposing that people set up their own in-home systems that collect water directly from the atmosphere (and have begun taking orders for the system). Another company, Live Water, also provides customers with unfiltered and unsterilized water that comes in 2.5-gallon orbs and retails at $36.99 USD, and $14.99 per refill.
And yes, raw water expires, and turns green if not consumed within a given amount of time – usually a few months.
Ready to pencil that into your monthly budget?
“Tap water? You’re drinking toilet water with birth control drugs in them,” Live Water founder Mukhande Singh (given name Christopher Sanborn) tells the Times. “Chloramine, and on top of that they’re putting in fluoride. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it’s a mind-control drug that has no benefit to our dental health.”
Health experts and certified government organizations are quick to dispute those claims — and research has shown that fluoride is helpful for dental health and has no mind control capabilities.
And so, the quest for untouched water continues, with plenty of venture capital to back it up.
It’s important to note, experts say, that while the raw food trend promotes organic and pesticide-free eating, the same idea does not apply to water. Eating food that hasn’t been loaded with pesticides and hormones means that you’re in turn not digesting those as well, but without the additives in water, the world could face multiple health risks, especially waterborne illnesses.
“Without water treatment, there’s acute and then chronic risks,” Donald Hensrud, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, tells the Times. “There’s evidence all over the world of this, and the reason we don’t have those conditions is because of our very efficient water treatment.”
The debate, it seems, will continue to rage on. But in the meantime, if you’re looking for the freshest water possible, opting for a water filter and going plastic-free might be your healthiest (and most cost-effective) bet.
