For the parents among us, we are instructed very early during our infant care classes that baby’s formula should be made with freshly boiled water. Although we religiously adhere to this instruction, how many of us have ever questioned why?

Apparently, it’s not just newborns that should avoid reboiled water, we all should! There has been a popular social media trend of late alerting the public to the dangers of reboiling water, so we thought we would investigate further and get underneath the skin of headlines such as: “Warning – Don’t reboil water EVER AGAIN!”

Here are 5 things you may not, but should know, about your boiled water:

• It may seem like a petty myth, but any passionate tea drinker will tell you that freshly boiled water enhances the taste of the mighty brew. The science behind this is that the high oxygen levels in fresh water help to distribute more of the fragances and flavours from the leaves. Reboiled water loses its oxygen content through evaporating dissolved oxygen molecules, thus curbing the brewing effect.

• Arsenic – yes you heard correctly! If we had all listened a bit more carefully in chemistry class we would have learnt that although boiled water eliminates bacteria and impurities, reboiled water can actually alter the chemical compound for the worst. Leaving water to sit and then reboiling it can increase the concentration of  certain chemicals such as: arsenic, flouride and nitrates. The dangers of excessive nitrates have been linked to methemoglobinemia (a blood disorder) and certain types of cancer, whilst the war on flouride in our tap water continues to rage on.  These issues have become such a worry that the The World Health Organization (WHO) issued this statement: “Drinking-water poses the greatest threat to public health from arsenic.”

• Water doesn’t only contain bad chemicals, it has its fair share of healthy ones too, which taken in moderation can be extremely beneficial to our wellbeing. However, the increase in concentration of calcium via reboiling can have a severely damaging effect, leading to: arthritis, gallstones, kidney stones and hardening of arteries.

• If you’re conscious of saving energy, you’re probably in the habit of reboiling the kettle (waste not, want not). In conserving water we are also possibly guilty of leaving water to stand in our kettle, which runs the risk of rusting the metal element. I don’t think any of us need a doctorate to determine that drinking rusty water doesn’t taste nice and isn’t that healthy!

• The good news is that purified water can be reboiled as many times as you like, without any harmful side effects. This is because all the chemicals and minerals are removed via the purification process.

There is, however, a solution that minimises:

• Damage through reboiling water
• Water usage
• Energy usage
• Exposure to harmful bacteria and chemicals in unfiltered water
• Rsk of a poorly brewed cup of tea!

This solution comes in the shape of a hot water tap, providing you with instant boiling water.  At the turn of a tap you get boiling hot water with no harmful chemicals, no trace of rust and and not a drop of wasted water or energy.

[Photo by bluesnap]