How to store water? Until recently, such a question would have caused outright bewilderment and laughter. Why store water when you always have it in your tap – crystal clear and refreshingly tasty? You can drink it as much as you like until your teeth ache!
The daily water requirement for an adult is on average 2-2.5 liters
Now we have come to the point that tap water for drinking and cooking has to be purified by passing it through a filter, or we have to buy “spring” water in polymer bottles and carboys of various capacities. We store it in them. Is it possible to store water in plastic bottles?
Water from different sources can vary greatly in composition and content of various micro- and macroelements, aerobic bacteria. To make it suitable for drinking, tap water is purified in several stages: mechanical filtration, sedimentation, filtration through a layer of sand, aeration, sterilization. In this case, chemical reagents (calcium hydroxide, ammonium sulfate, ozone or chlorine) are used to help purify the water from the smallest suspended particles and almost all types of bacteria. However, the quality and taste of drinking tap water leave much to be desired.
When tap water sits for a long time, floating flakes, hard sediment, and a greenish tint often form. It is simply dangerous to drink such water.
How to store water
Returning to the issue of plastic bottles, according to manufacturers, it is possible and necessary to store water in them.
Plastic water containers are mainly made from food grade PET(E) (polyethylene terephthalate), which is neutral, meaning it does not interact with water and is harmless to health. The plastic markings can be seen - they should be embossed on the bottle. Sometimes you can find bottles made of PVC plastic (it is toxic) or melamine (not suitable for storing water).
Pay attention to the labeling of plastic bottles. The PET(E) mark means that the container is harmless to health.
Shelf life of water in plastic bottles
depend on its quality and average 6-12 months, so when purchasing, it is advisable to pay attention to the bottling date. For storage, it is better to choose a dark place away from radiators and heating devices, the optimal temperature is 20-30 ℃. Water should not be kept in open bottles for more than 5-7 days.
Tap water
For storage, it is recommended to pre-filter and pour into a glass, enamel or plastic (PET) container, let it sit for several hours (leave overnight), without closing it tightly, so that the chlorine vapors evaporate. Then the containers with water should be tightly closed and stored at room temperature (no more than 2-3 days) or in the refrigerator.
If you prefer to drink only boiled water
, then it is better to keep it in an enamel container under a tightly closed lid in small volumes, that is, do not boil it for future use. How long boiled water can be stored depends on its initial composition and quality, and the degree of preliminary purification. Boiling kills all bacteria existing in water, including beneficial ones, and when boiled water sits for a long time, microorganisms enter it from the external environment, so the effect of boiling is reduced to zero.
Do not store boiled water for more than 12 hours.
Well or spring water
It is best stored in glass or ceramic (clay) containers. When hermetically sealed, it can retain its natural beneficial properties for up to 3 years. Metal cans or barrels for storing water should only be enameled or coated with another neutral layer on the inside.
Shelf life of water in a plastic bottle
Canned water in a plastic bottle can be stored for six to twelve months. Once you open the bottle, the water can be stored for no more than ten days.
In addition to the expiration date, water has a “usefulness” period. This is the time after which most of the beneficial substances in the water will lose their properties. Therefore, when purchasing water in a plastic bottle, look at the bottling date - the fresher the water, the longer you can store it.
There are several methods of preservation:
What is structured water, how to obtain and store it
Now many people are talking about the benefits of structured water and its beneficial effects on the human body, down to the cellular and gene levels.
Structural changes in the composition of water occur as a result of freezing or heating. Thus, British physicists recently stated that at a temperature of 40–60 ℃ water changes its properties and there is reason to consider this the second state of aggregation of liquid water.
At home, structured water is prepared by freezing in several stages:
- First, clean filtered water in an enamel container is placed in the freezer for a short time, until a thin top layer of ice appears. This edge is removed and discarded because it contains deuterium and tritium - heavy water that freezes at temperatures of 0.28–3.8 ℃.
- Next, the water is frozen to 2/3 of the volume, the remaining unfrozen water is drained. It contains ultra-light isomers that freeze at temperatures below −1 ℃, all salts and chemical impurities.
The remaining ice will be pure structured water, which can be conveniently stored in the freezer or bottled defrosted and placed in the refrigerator. What bottles can you store water in? For defrosted structured water, it is preferable to use glass bottles, since plastic does not maintain the structural state of water and destroys it during storage.
Ideal conditions for structured water are the presence of diffused sunlight and storage in metal containers with an admixture of silver or stainless steel. Experiments by Russian scientists have revealed a significant increase in the effect of structuring water in silver dishes under the influence of light - by 7.35% in 2 hours.
Not many people ask this question, but even boiled water has its own expiration date and some storage recommendations. Few people know how to store boiled water. And it, in turn, is an important component of a living organism. And our overall health depends on the quality of the water we drink. Everyone knows that it is important to drink a certain amount of water during the day, but not everyone pays attention to its quality. But in vain.
Clean water in the pool: filters and pump
The water in the pool must circulate in a system closed with filters and - if it is heated - also through a heat exchanger. Thanks to this, the water in the pool will constantly circulate, which will not allow it to quickly deteriorate or become dirty.
It is best to change filter elements once every 2-3 years. Today you can find a large number of models that differ in their technical characteristics. And some models can be controlled remotely from your smartphone.
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Types of water
Despite the fact that outwardly all water is the same, it often has different origins and therefore different properties.
For example, bottled water is most often obtained from artesian springs. These are layers of internal water located between layers of hard rock. This water is filtered, disinfected, enriched with necessary substances and poured into containers. After opening the bottle, this water can be stored in the refrigerator with the lid screwed on for no more than three days.
Mineral water is usually enriched with beneficial salts and minerals. It is divided into medical and dining rooms. The latter can be drunk daily. The shelf life of such water is much longer. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to six months. And in unopened form, some products can last for more than a year. It is better to drink open mineral water within a week.
Most often in people's lives there is a liquid that flows out of a water tap. It is usually purified and contains a small amount of chlorine, which prevents the growth of harmful bacteria. Health-conscious people try to filter such water to get rid of harmful substances. Not all experts approve of this decision. For the most part, the composition of tap water is controlled and all substances included in its composition are within normal limits and cannot cause harm to health. The filter, in turn, along with harmful substances, may also retain useful components necessary for the body.
Bottled water that has been left open for more than 4 days or simply water whose quality is in doubt can be removed from harmful substances by boiling.
Boiled water
To rid water of harmful bacteria, you can boil it. The essence of boiling is that water is heated to one hundred degrees, this is the temperature at which the liquid boils. Under these conditions, all harmful organisms and bacteria die in it. The bad thing is that this also kills beneficial bacteria that enter the body along with water, so it is not recommended to use only boiled water. However, in some situations it is better to boil the water to avoid unpleasant situations.
How long and how to store boiled water? Experts do not recommend storing liquid treated in this way. The maximum time during which you can use boiled water is a day, and it does not matter in what container it was stored. This is due to the fact that the structure of water changes during boiling. Because of this, it becomes susceptible to various viruses and bacteria and literally attracts them.
The refrigerator can extend storage slightly. At temperatures of 4 degrees and below, the exchange of bacteria with the environment occurs more slowly and the liquid can be used within two days, but no more. Fortunately, boiled water can be prepared at any time and there is little need to store it.
What container to store water in?
The shelf life of a liquid is greatly influenced by the container in which it is poured. You should be careful when handling plastic containers; they can be toxic and at high temperatures begin to release toxic substances into the liquid. Therefore, to store water, you need to choose plastic of a certain class - polyethylene terephthalate, specially designed for food products.
Enameled containers are best suited for storing boiled liquid. It is important to keep the container closed. It is better to keep filtered water in glass bottles. In general, the best means for storing any liquids intended for consumption is glass containers with a cork lid. Plastic lids release toxins and are therefore not recommended for such purposes.
Clay and ceramic dishes also work well. Any material that does not react with the liquid and does not release additional substances into its composition is well suited for storing water.
At first glance of any person, there is nothing simpler than water! But at the same time, it is also the most complex liquid: having neither taste nor smell, it has a huge range of useful qualities, in the absence of which no living organism will survive.
Each food product has its own shelf life, depending on many factors. Naturally, water has such a deadline. Let's see how to properly store water so that its beneficial properties remain as long as possible. First, you need to make sure the quality of the water itself. Another important factor is under what conditions and in what container the beneficial properties of water will be preserved for, if possible, a longer period.
Good quality water in Kyiv, first of all, must be clean. Therefore, it should not contain chlorine and various additional substances. As for containers, we can offer several types for storing water: plastic, glass, clay, metal and other vessels. It all depends on the quality of the water itself.
The harm of plastic bottles
Why are plastic bottles dangerous?
It turns out that such containers may contain the chemical substance bisphenol-A.
This is a synthetic analogue of the female sex hormone.
And this harmful substance from the plastic bottle can penetrate into water or liquid, and then into the human body.
If you drink water from plastic bottles, you are increasing the amount of bisphenol in your body. And high concentrations of this substance are very harmful to humans. Let's find out what exactly the danger is.
- Bisphenol has harmful effects on boys and young men. Even a slight increase in the concentration of this substance can lead to a malfunction of the hormonal glands. Due to the poisoning of the body with bisphenol-A upon reaching puberty, there is a high probability of disruption of the process of sperm creation.
- For men, water from plastic bottles is no less harmful. First, increased concentrations of bisphenol increase the likelihood of prostate cancer. Secondly, bisphenol also has a negative effect on men’s health, as it disrupts hormonal levels.
- Girls and women are also susceptible to the negative effects of bisphenol. This harmful chemical promotes early puberty in girls and can also cause breast cancer in women. Female reproductive functions are also affected.
- Pregnant women are generally contraindicated to drink water from plastic bottles, since due to bisphenol poisoning, the child may be born with birth defects, for example, problems with the cardiovascular system. Problems with hormonal levels are no less likely. Scientists suggest that bisphenol-A can even have a negative effect on the structure of DNA.
So, the harm of plastic bottles lies in the contamination of the human body with a foreign chemical - bisphenol-A. Which, in turn, leads to general intoxication of the body and the consequences listed above.
“But everyone drinks water from plastic and nothing…” you say. Let's figure out why plastic bottles are dangerous.
1⃣ Firstly, it all depends on the regularity of drinking water from plastic bottles. Scientists at Harvard University conducted a study and found that drinking cold plastic liquids for just one week increases the level of bisphenol in urine by 69%.
2⃣ Secondly, the release of bisphenol depends on temperature. The higher the temperature, the more active water pollution occurs with bisphenol from plastic. That is, ordinary summer heat can increase the concentration of harmful substances in water tenfold. Well, if you fill plastic bottles with hot liquid or specially heat them, the release of bisphenol will increase up to 55 times! This fact should be known to parents who heat milk in plastic bottles for their children.
What to do? It is necessary to reduce the intake of bisphenol into the body. That is, use plastic bottles less often. Replacing them, for example, with glass ones, will have a positive effect on your health.
You can also look for plastic bottles without bisphenol-A: some manufacturers, sensing increased demand and, accordingly, the smell of money, began to produce safer containers for liquids. This is indicated on the packaging. Of course, in addition to bisphenol, there may be other harmful substances, but at least you will get rid of the most harmful ones. That is, all we need is to show a little more awareness in everyday life.
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