Nowadays, being able to get access and drink clean water is a privilege since there are a lot of places in the world where clean water is very difficult to come by especially in third world nations. However, a new trend broke out and people somehow started to drink unfiltered, unsterilized, and untreated water. However, health experts want people to not just simply go with a trend just because they are FOMO or having the Fear Of Missing Out, this is because consuming what they call as ‘raw water’ can be extremely dangerous to the health, keep reading to find out more.
THE RAW WATER TREND
Silicon Valley just recently released their hottest new product that is totally making people want it, and that is the raw water. According to the recent article from the New York Times, raw water is a trend right now wherein people consume “unfiltered, untreated and unsterilized” water that is coming from nearby environs throughout the West Coast. A water company known as Live Water has been following through the trend and sells raw water said that sterilized water has the ability to disrupt the gut bacteria and could contain chemicals and GMOs or genetically modified organisms.
The founder of Live Water, Mukhande Singh, even compared sterilized water into a toilet water that contains birth control pills. The company basically delivers water from the natural spring of Oregon and puts them into a container known as a reusable glass or what they call gallon globes for $33 and $15 for refills. There are also some raw water companies who provide tools for people so that they could collect the water themselves.
Silicon Valley is also known for selling raw water, in fact, they are selling it for $60.99 for a 2.5-gallon jug. This may sound like a ridicules price but tech industries are demanding for unfiltered water which is why it is definitely in trend as of the moment. More and more people are trying raw water which is why the founder of Juicero, Doug Evans, believe that raw water is perfect and he would personally drink it himself.
The unfiltered raw water is said to have healthy components because it contains natural minerals that the filtering system removes, raw water fans are saying that consuming it makes their skin glow and that they feel healthier. According to the shift manager of Live Water, the unfiltered water has its own mild sweetness that is very soothing to the mouth and it doesn’t have any overwhelming flavor.
He also mentioned that for raw water fans, bottled water and tap water that people normally buy or consumed is equivalent to hotdogs and other processed foods, whereas raw water is considered as organic foods became if its natural taste and health benefits. However, health experts are worried about this trend because this is extremely dangerous.
HEALTH EXPERTS SAYS ‘NO’ TO RAW WATER
Raw water fans are saying that people join them in drinking unfiltered water instead of buying bottled and tap water because it has its own natural benefits. However, health experts are deeply concerned, in fact, it is a basic human right to be able to have access to clean water and even the United Nations declared it in 2010. This is because over 800 million from certain places all over the world barely have any access to clean drinking water which is why according to the World Health Organization or WHO, every single year over 502,000 people die because of diarrhea that is caused by dirty water consumption.
One of the reasons why raw water fans don’t like filtered water is because it contains fluoride, but health experts such as doctors and scientists from the World Health Organization said that it is safe and is even great for oral health.
Health experts say that people could definitely get sick from drinking raw water because it hasn’t undergone any tests or filtering systems that make sure that it is safe. What is worse is that legal disclaimers on these raw water products indicate that the company who sells raw water is not responsible for anything especially if the consumer gets sick from diarrhea. Their claim is that they are not forcing people to drink it and people should always be responsible for their own actions.