It is that time of the year when holiday cheer is in the air and you cannot help but take off on a holiday in the hills or at least plan for the near future. The rolling green pastures, snow-capped peaks, and verdant lush scopes call out to you after months of spending time indoors. Gurgling spring water that beckons you to drink it up without worrying about TDS in drinking water, and ripe apple and cherry orchards that invite you for a memorable time, are just some of the things that further tempt you to spend the night under open skies and cozy tents.
You decide to live up the rugged life for the next few days, ditch your urban comforts, and give into the call of the wild in the mountains. That might even include drinking water directly from the several springs in and around your camp. While you might have often done this in the past, the question is should you really continue to do so? Is it a healthy idea to drink spring water on your next mountain holiday or more importantly, let kids and seniors with more delicate immune systems in the family do the same?
Well, here is everything you need to know about spring water, mineral water, and what normal TDS in drinking water does for your health.
The thing about spring water
If you have ever tasted pristine spring water, emerging in little nooks and crannies in mountain areas, you will know there is something immensely refreshing and flavourful about such spring water. Well, it is the presence of minerals and salts, present in the soils, which get absorbed the water. Of course, this means the water also has some amount of soil and other similar particles. Technically, all such elements are referred to as TDS or Total Dissolved Solids. But before you jump to questions around whether such TDS is normal in drinking water, let us start by understanding that not only is such TDS in the form of minerals normal, it is in fact essential for good health. This is because minerals are best absorbed by the body when present in drinking water as compared to foods or supplements. Further, there are as many as 21 and more minerals and salts that play an important role in contributing to our smooth physical and mental health. Hence, TDS, when devoid of harmful chemicals, plastics or pollutants, is normal, and required in drinking water. However, it is important that your spring water does not have too much or too less of such minerals and TDS.
The problem with unmeasured TDS in drinking water
When it comes to TDS and minerals in spring water, there is no way to truly measure the TDS content. Now, this is a health concern if you are considering such spring water on a long-term basis for months and years. This is because when present in excess, such minerals change the taste of the drinking water, and often, lead to less consumption among fussy drinkers and children. Secondly, an overdose can put additional pressure on your system to process them. On the other hand, if such TDS with minerals is present in extremely low quantities, they will not be adequate for your body’s daily requirement. This in turn, can cause various mineral deficiencies and lead to mental and physical health problems in the long run. To conclude, it is really difficult to understand if spring water has normal TDS levels for drinking water purposes.
The problem with unmeasured TDS in drinking water
Hence, the problem with opting for spring water or drinking water with unmeasured TDS is that you really don’t know whether you are doing your health a favour or not. While of course, drinking spring water on your next holiday for a couple of days is not something that will hurt your health, you need to be mindful of your habits back home. This is because the drinking water delivered to your home by civic authorities is usually sourced from lakes and reservoirs that are quite exposed to pollutants and toxins. This ends up making such drinking water unsafe owing to its TDS levels that are well above normal. Further, when you choose to purify such water at home using processes such as RO, you end up removing the beneficial TDS or mineral content from the water.
Moreover, even when you opt for other purification processes at home, you can not tell if the levels of TDS are normal in your drinking water. This challenge has led an increasing number of Indians to opt for packaged mineral water; such mineral water is infused with as many as 21 essential minerals in the right doses for a healthy drinking water experience.
Conclusion
While you may choose to drink spring water while on a holiday in the mountains, when it comes to long-term habits, you may want to consider that the only way to ensure normal TDS in drinking water is to opt for packaged mineral water rather filtered tap water at home.
