A new Silicon Valley craze will make people ill. Untreated, unfiltered “raw drinking water” is definitely apparently the hot fresh fad around Silicon Valley, or so says a recent NY Times trend piece. Folks are eschewing tap and bottled water in favor of an icy cold cup of untreated spring water - so-called “natural” or “unprocessed” water - which proponents say has beneficial minerals that are removed from treated or filtered water, and doesn’t consist of chemicals in tap water, such as fluoride, or move through infrastructure such as lead pipes. Some are having to pay much more for the blissful luxury of drinking water that might not have fluoride but could still possess chemicals from pesticides and harmful bacteria. The “raw water” trend - such as it is - fits right into a larger movement that, 1st, embraces everything “natural” as healthy, and second, creates savvy business owners who find ways to make a lot of money from it. The Times article doesn’t present much detail on how many folks are embracing this fad and also buying and drinking overpriced, untreated spring water.

But unproven, unscientific “cures” certainly are a growth market - and debunkings often have little effect. True believers in “raw drinking water” probably won’t end up being convinced. One of the companies mentioned in the days piece said now there’s already been a surge of demand. But at the chance of shouting into the void, we’ll say it again: Drinking untreated spring water is a very, very bad idea. What is “raw water”? The “raw water” movement 's been around for quite some time - it had its roots in the raw food movement - but it’s been getting attention lately after companies started bottling and selling untreated spring drinking water. In September, Doug Evans, the founder of Juicero, the startup that produced that “clever juicer” the internet adored to mock, announced a five-day “drinking water fast” in which he would only drink raw water. “Raw” drinking water proponents say it contains healthy and natural minerals that obtain stripped out when plain tap water or bottled water is definitely filtered and treated. Now startups are taking advantage of the craze and selling “raw drinking water.” Live Drinking water bottles its water from a spring in Oregon, and the Times notes a few other startups - including Tourmaline Spring, based in Maine.

“It includes a vaguely moderate sweetness, a good smooth mouth feel, nothing that overwhelms the taste profile,” Kevin Freeman, a shift manager at the shop that sells a 2.5-gallon bottle of “natural water” bottled by Live Drinking water for $36.99, told the New York Times. “Bottled water’s controversial. We’ve curtailed our drinking water selection. I want you to comprehend that in this post the Raw Water folks are talking about the flavor profile & “mouth experience” of untreated, unfiltered water they found somewhere, that they charge $36.99 per 2.5 gallons. Spoiler: the mouth feel is giardia, the flavor is dysentery. So for “raw water” followers, the idea is that tap or water in bottles is sort of the processed meals - the Twinkies - of water, whereas “raw water” is all natural, if imperfect, and will be offering a unique taste and benefits. It’s also nearly true that “raw drinking water” can be some coveted natural cure-all that modernity destroyed.

“Tap drinking water? You’re drinking toilet drinking water with birth control drugs in them,” Mukhande Singh, the founder of the Live Water startup, told the days. “Chloramine, and on top of that they’re putting in fluoride. It’s accurate that trace amounts of prescription and over-the-counter medications, and additives from shampoo and soap, can end up in drinking water in low concentrations, but studies show that they aren’t bad for people in such small amounts. And the idea that fluoride is normally a mind control drug can be a conspiracy theory with an extended history. Before it had been a “mind-control drug,” fluoride was suspected of being a communist plot. Allow’s state the most obvious here: Water treatment removes bacteria, parasites, pesticides, and other contaminants, and drinking untreated water come with serious dangers. In anti aging devices United States, the Environmental Protection Company, via the Safe Drinking Water Action, originally passed in 1974 (and updated since), pieces health recommendations for the general public wells, reservoirs, and springs many Americans depend on.