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It's a process that works a little like a still. Instead of removing contaminants from your water, a distiller reverses the equation and removes the water from your contaminants. Specifically, this countertop machine -- which resembles what you'd expect to see if a hot-air popcorn popper and a pressure cooker ever mated and produced offspring -- heats water to the boiling point, traps the rising steam, and uses an electric fan or other cooling device to condense the vapor into liquid again, minus the contaminants. You end up with one receptacle full of clean water and another lined with grit. The water you drink. The grit you throw out.

Distillation is a good choice if you drink a lot of water and insist on the complete removal of a wide variety of contaminants. It's also preferable if you want to be spared the chore of buying and replacing filters.

Distillation tackles a wide assortment of contaminants, including pesticides, nitrates, sediment, and heavy metals (lead, copper, arsenic, cadmium). Unless a distiller includes an activated carbon filter, it won't be effective against volatile organic compounds, a family of contaminants that includes benzene and chloroform, which can sometimes show up in groundwater. The jury is still out on whether distillers can be trusted to kill Cryptosporidium, bacteria, and viruses -- though you can buy them with an absolute one micron filter which will protect you from most of these contaminants.

The big advantage is easy installation; it's as simple as plugging in a blow-dryer. The disadvantages: By stripping out all minerals, the distillation process leaves your water with a flat taste. Also, these units use far more electricity than simply boiling water on your stovetop would, because distilled water also has to be turned into vapor and then condensed. And the processing time can take up to six or seven hours.

Pour a pitcher of water into the machine, close the lid, plug the machine into an outlet, and you're done.

Small units start around $200. The cost per gallon is: 15 to 88 cents, depending on your local electric rates.

Further Resources

The Water Quality Association

Consumer Affairs Department

P.O. Box 606

Lisle, IL 60532

Phone: 630-505-0160

http://www.wqa.org

References

First published December 2, 1998
Last updated November 15, 2007
Copyright © 1999 Consumer Health Interactive

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