When I was a kid, our mom did an interesting thing with our water. She filled a pitcher with tap water and left it to sit out overnight, uncovered. In the morning, she covered it and put it in the refrigerator for our drinking water. My brain may be embellishing this memory, but as I recall the water was a pure and delicious for drinking as any bottle of designer spring water today.
These days, I fill a clean glass pitcher with water from our refrigerator’s water filtration system and let it sit out overnight. The filter removes contaminants and impurities (ours claims to even remove pharmaceutical residues), and letting the water sit uncovered for eight hours evaporates any traces of chlorine that might have been added to the water for sanitation. Refrigerating it ensures that we always have good drinking water, and my family loves it. It’s a free, easy way to help us all drink more water.
How about you? Do you filter your water, or do you have to buy bottled water? Do you have good tap water where you live, and have you ever tried this technique?
About Eliza Cross
Eliza Cross is the author of 16 books, including Small Bites, 101 Things To Do With Bacon, and BERRIES. She enjoys sharing ideas to simplify cooking, gardening, and home projects. She is also the owner of Cross Media, Inc. and founder of the BENSA Bacon Lovers Society.
Hmmm… I’ve heard of this system before but never tried it. I use a faucet filter, and it always strikes me as a waste of water because you have to run it for 5 seconds before each use. I’d skip the refrigeration step though since drinking water that cold makes my teeth hurt! 🙂
There is now way I’m drinking tap water with out filtration and like Cat use a filter that fits on my faucet and have to run the water 5 seconds before I can fill up my glass. I collect that water in another cup and use it to water houseplants.
I’ve recently heard that if you filter your water you should never let it sit out as bacteria will begin to form. Don’t know how true that is because I’ve always left my water out and no ones gotten sick.
I’ve heard that too about leaving the water out… actually it was a guy from the water company who told me that, but it strikes me as a little bit crazy. I mean, bacteria does not “form” per se, it multiplies only if it has a food source. So if the water is free from bacteria and anything that bacteria could live on in the first place, how could it mysteriously “form?”
Sometimes I feel like I need a degree in bio-chemistry just to navigate modern life!
I’ve heard that a touch of bacteria adds a little flavor to plain water. JUST KIDDING! 🙂 I’m off to research this now. Love your thoughts, EcoCat and Lois.
***UPDATE
I didn’t find any research or claims that leaving your water out overnight is dangerous. I found a Scientific American article that supports the dangers of chlorine in drinking water, with this method as one possible solution:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talks-tapped-out/
…and numerous forums that support the method for watering plants and using in aquariums.
Just use a clean pitcher if you decide to give it a try.
xo
I’m so happy that we can drink from the tap everywhere in Norway! Although, the water here in the city has a bit of an after taste that I’ve never gotten used to, so we fill a bottle of water and put it in the fridge, makes it fresh and tasteless 🙂 Back home at my parent’s we have our own well, that water tastes great!
Interesting, I didn’t know that if you left water out the chlorine would evaporate out first. Since I always have a pitcher of water in my fridge I will have to give this one a try! Thanks for the tip!