Letters to the Editor - Spring Water - Make your own “spring” water!

For years we’ve traipsed to the grocery store to buy half liter plastic bottles of pure spring water, usually sold in packs of 24 bottles. Then we recycle the bottles. My wife Kaija likes it, and, as a nurse, she advocates everyone should drink eight glasses of water a day. What she doesn’t like is the strong chlorine taste and smell of city water. We recently read reports that commercially bottled water is not always so safe to drink.

    I remembered the chlorine smell in the pool room during my days on the Hibbing High School swimming team. We were informed that chlorine was in the pool water by dissolving a gas, hydrogen-chloride (HCl), into the circulating tanks. The solution results in a very diluted acid, hydrochloric acid, that effectively purifies the water of most germs. The down side of the chlorination is the water’s acid taste and pungent odor.

    Well, high school physics to the rescue! The ingredient inserted into water to make it safe to drink is a gas. Gasses are usually more volatile than water, so why not try to boil it out? Success! It worked. Bad taste and offensive odor were gone from our Minneapolis tap water. Even further purification was added by the boiling process in our microwave. One cup was boiled about in a half a minute (microwave times vary). Then into the refrigerator for chilling.

    Use caution with microwave containers, so something else doesn’t leech into the boiled water. Pyrex makes a good microwave container, but there may also be some microwave safe plastic cups or bowls that will not absorb as much heat as the glass does, leaving all the heat to boil the water. Boiling water in a microwave is very energy efficient. Be sure to clean all containers and practice clean and safe handling.