Importance Of Water To Health

As has been already pointed out, air is the most indispensable to our subsistence, while water comes next in order. Man cannot live for more than a few minutes without air, but he can live for a few days without water. And in the absence of other food, he can subsist on water alone for many days. There is more than 70% of water in the composition of our food-stuffs, as in that of the human body.

Even though water is so indispensable, we take hardly any pains to keep it pure. Epidemics are as much the outcome of our indifference to the quality of the water we drink, as of the air we breathe. The drinking of dirty water very often produces also the disease of the stone.

Water may be impure in either of two ways,—by issuing from dirty places, or by being defiled by us. Where the water issues from dirty places, we should not drink it at all; nor do we generally drink it. But we do not shrink from drinking the water which has been defiled by ourselves. River-water, for instance, is regarded as quite good for drinking, although we throw into it all sorts of rubbish, and also use it for washing purposes. We should make it a rule never to drink the water in which people bathe. The upper portion of a river should be set apart for drinking water, the lower being reserved for bathing and washing purposes. Where there is no such arrangement, it is a good practice to dig in the sand, and take drinking water therefrom. This water is very pure, since it has been filtered by passage through the sand. It is generally risky to drink wellwater, for unless it is well protected, the dirty water at the top would trickle down into the well, and render the water impure. Further, birds and insects often fall into the water and die; sometimes birds build their nests inside the wells; and the dirt from the feet of those who draw water from the well is also washed down into the water.

Importance Of Water To Health

For all these reasons, we should be particularly careful in drinking well-water. Water kept in tubs is also very often impure. If it should be pure, the tubs should be washed clean at frequent intervals, and should be kept covered; we should also see that the tank or well from which the water is taken is kept in good condition. Very few people, however, take such precautions to keep the water pure. Hence the best way of removing the impurities of the water is to boil it well, and, after cooling it, filter it carefully into another vessel through a thick and clean piece of cloth. Our duty, however, does not end with this. We should realise that we owe a duty to our fellowmen in this matter. We should see to it that we do absolutely nothing to defile the water which is used for drinking by the public. We should scrupulously refrain from bathing or washing in the water which is reserved for drinking; we should never answer the calls of nature near the banks of a river, nor cremate the dead bodies there and throw the ashes after cremation into the water.

Importance Of Water To Health

In spite of all the care that we may take, we find it so difficult to keep water perfectly pure. It may have, for instance, salt dissolved in it, or bits of grass and other decaying matter. Rain water is, of course, the purest, but, before it reaches us, it generally becomes impure by the absorption of the floating matter in the atmosphere. Perfectly pure water has a most beneficial effect on the system; hence doctors administer distilled water to their patients. Those who are suffering from constipation are appreciably benefitted by the use of distilled water.

Many people do not know that water is of two kinds, soft and hard. Hard water is water in which some kind of salt has been dissolved. Hence, soap does not readily lather in it, and food cannot be easily boiled in it. Its taste is brackish, while soft water tastes sweet. It is much safer to drink soft water, although some people hold that hard water is better by virtue of the presence of nutritious matter dissolved therein. Rain water is the best kind of soft water, and is therefore, the best for drinking purposes. Hard water, if boiled and kept over the fire for some half an hour, is rendered soft. Then it may be filtered and drunk.