What is Purified Water?

Before a bottle of water can be marketed and sold as “purified water,” its overall level of purification must meet a certain standard or threshold. In other words, its impurity levels must be reduced to a certain level. Water and its contents are measured in parts-per-million, and the purification standard is 10 parts per million. So, in order to be called 'purified', the impurities in the water need to be at or less than 10 parts per million, which is a very small amount. Many consumers get confused about the differences between purified, distilled, and filtered water as it relates to water that can be purchased in a bottle, so it is important to understand the distinctions. All drinking water is subjected to some form of filtration before distribution, plain tap water included. Tap water is generally filtered with charcoal based filtration systems, and then has chlorine added to it to kill of  any bacteria, pathogens and other stuff you don't want in your water. Then flouride is usually added to protect tooth enamel. Purified water is treated to remove additional substances like pathogens and chemicals. The process of distillation is just one example of an extra step taken for purification.

All commercially available purified water meets significantly higher and stricter EPA purity standards than those applied to standard drinking water, tap water included. Consumers should be aware that because of these strict purification standards, purified water may come from almost any source including tap water, existing tap water aquifers and infrastructure, as well as natural springs. Put plainly, water that is 'purified' has gone through an additional process to remove contaminates and particulates (like pathogens and chemicals) that mechanical filtration may have missed, so it doesn't really matter the source.

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