(reprinted with permission from Times Group Newspapers)

We are interrupting our scheduled discussion of home water distillers to answer some of the most frequently asked question we receive regarding drinking water and water purification systems. To steal the phrase: "...it looks like the woods are still full of gremlins". That is a mild description of the amount of misinformation and outright falsehoods being circulated about water and purifiers in the Bay Area.

Q: How clean is drinking water from the "vending machines" located at supermarkets?

A: You can expect the vending machine water to be better than tap water---but in many cases, it will be quite similar.

These machines have two buttons: "drinking water", which is tap water passed through a simple activated carbon filter; and "purified water", wherein reverse osmosis or de-ionizers are used to remove a portion of the dissolved salts and chemicals from the incoming tap water. Following periodic servicing, the first few gallons drawn from the vending machine tends to be quite clean. Subsequent gallons are progressively less clean, until you may be purchasing what resembles tap water.

The State Department of Health requires that the vending license be in plain view on the machine---if it is not visible, we suggest you not use the machine.

Q: Why does the vending machine say that "distilled" water is being dispensed?

A: There is no distiller in the vending machine, and it does not dispense distilled water. If you read the small print on the machine, it usually says: "...for all distilled water uses", not "distilled water". For distilled water, visit a water store.

Q: How about the water available at health food stores?

A: Until recently, virtually none of the local health food stores which dispense water had licenses from the State Department of Health. Many still do not have proper licenses. Ask to see their license before you purchase any water.

The license assures you that the water purifying equipment meets certain health codes which affect the purity of the water you are buying. However, owning a water purifier does not necessarily mean that it is producing pure water. All of the local health food stores which sell water use standard vending machines to dispense filtered and de-ionized/reverse osmosis water. If you are looking for steam distilled water(which is considerably cleaner), we recommend one of the local full-service water stores.

Q: We have been deluged with phone calls and salespersons telling us that our tap water is polluted and that someone would be coming by our house to conduct a free water test. Are these legitimate operations or just another scam?

A: It's hard to say. However, there are a few things you can do to determine the legitimacy of the caller(or door-to-door solicitor):

(1) First, if someone is telling you that there are all types of toxic chemicals coming out of your kitchen sink, keep the salesperson out of your house. We are not aware of any part of the South Bay which currently has a problem with toxic chemicals in public drinking water.

(2) Ask the individual exactly what types of toxic chemicals he(or she) will be testing for---or will they be doing just a simple "hardness" test?

(3) Most of these callers(who end up doing a "water hardness test") are selling some sort of water softener combined with either a simple filter, reverse osmosis , or ultraviolet system. We have had customers who were asked to pay door-to-door salespersons as much as $5800 for such a system. These types of systems can be purchased in retail stores for about $1000. Beware of the fast-talker with the "do-it-all" system which is so expensive it requires you to see a finance company about a loan or a second mortgage to finance the system.

(4) Shop around. There are at least a dozen water stores in the Bay Area where you can obtain good information on a wide assortment of water purification systems---not just one unit---like the door-to-door salesperson is trying to sell you.

Q: The San Jose Mercury News recently ran an impressive article on "Water Filters". I'm still confused.

A: The May 30 article was generally well written but, unfortunately, presented erroneous information on some very basic water purifier capabilities. This column does not allow the space to detail all the errors---save mention that the performance of several of the systems listed will never be achieved in your home(particularly the reverse osmosis units); and, the comparative test data excluded the last two years of technological advancements in water purifiers in all three categories(distillers, filters and reverse osmosis). In short, the product and system capability information was incorrectly presented and badly out of date.

Q: Some bottled water companies, vending machines and health food stores, "add back some essential minerals" to their so-called "purified water". What's the story?

A: A simple answer would be: food is a nutrient, water is a cleansing agent. The better the food product, the better it is as a nutrient. Likewise, the cleaner(or purer) the water, the better it will act as a cleansing agent for flushing your body of toxins, dead bacteria and metabolized food waste products.

If you rely on water for it's nutritional value, you are probably in bad shape with your family's nutritional program. Those who "add back" the so-called "nutrients" to purified water fail to tell you that water supplies only 1-3 percent of all minerals taken daily through food and water.