Distilling water
If you're concerned about the PFAS that's in or may be in your tap water and want to learn a preventive way to truly clarify it, today I will walk you through how I distill water at home in my kitchen. I know it's extra work, but it's worth it. Of course, if you don't want to go through the process of distilling your own water, you can purchase it at grocery stores.
Why should you distill water?
Water distillation is an effective method of removing PFAS. In general, just boiling water will remove most bacteria and make the water safer to drink, but it will not remove PFAS.
Distilling water removes a host of bacteria, chemicals, and other impurities, but be aware that when you distill water, it removes more than 99.9 percent of the minerals from your water.
Instructions for distilling water at home:
To begin, fill a large stockpot halfway with water. Then tie a coffee cup to the pan's lid with some string. The cup will hang right side up inside the pot when the lid is put in place. Make sure the coffee cup is high enough inside the pan that it's not touching the water.
On high heat, bring the water to a boil. Allow the water to boil for twenty minutes. The water that drops from the lid into the coffee cup will be distilled and safe for you to drink. You're basically just collecting steam that’s been cooled and returned to a liquid state. The only things that are left in the cup of water after it's been distilled are hydrogen and oxygen.
Storing your distilled water
Place your distilled water in a food grade water container with a lid and place it in a dark place.
Resources:
Communications and Publishing (2023) TAP Water Study detects pfas ‘forever chemicals’ across the US: U.S. geological survey, Tap water study detects PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ across the US | U.S. Geological Survey. Available at: https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/tap-water-study-detects-pfas-forever-chemicals-across-us (Accessed: 09 July 2023).
PHILLIPS, A.M. (2019) Here’s what you can (and can’t) do about pfas contamination in your water, Los Angeles Times. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-23/heres-what-you-can-and-cant-do-about-pfas-contamination-in-your-tap-water#:~:text=Common%20water%20pitcher%20brands%20like,concentration%20in%20your%20tap%20water. (Accessed: 09 July 2023).
Byrd, J. (2023) Does distilling water remove pfas, PFOA, PFOS?, WaterFilterGuru.com. Available at: https://waterfilterguru.com/does-distilling-water-remove-pfas/#:~:text=Distillation%20is%20a%20highly%20effective,distillation%20chamber%20when%20water%20evaporates. (Accessed: 09 July 2023).