So here's the short of it, 
Water, water, water....

And here's the long.

I've been drinking distilled water ever since the big ash spill up the river at Kingston, TN in December of 2008.  Of course TVA said the water was clean and there was nothing to worry about, but Uncle Bob has raised my level of awareness with all the water testing he participates in up in and around Lexington, KY.  A year later - Jan.1, 2009, the first independent test results showed significantly elevated levels of toxic metals (including arsenic, copper, barium, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, and thallium) in samples of both the slurry and the river water! Then after my bout with cancer, I just thought that I shouldn't take risk of drinking water that might have that stuff or other who knows what in it.  Distilling water is said to remove Chemical toxins, radioactive elements (we also live downriver from a nuclear plant), inorganic minerals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury, as well as Biological stuff like bacteria, viruses, and parasites.  So, I've continued to buy distilled water for drinking and cooking - lugging home several gallons each week. (By the way, I love using it to make coffee!)

I finally decided to purchase a small water distiller for home use, and it arrived this afternoon after I got home from work. I've already got it set up, cleaned up, and distilling the first gallon!  I can't wait for my first visit to the grocery store without hauling home several gallons of water.  I'll just have to figure out my routine. It's an automatic distiller so it will shut off when it's done and I could just fill it before I go to bed and have a fresh gallon when I wake. But several of the reviews suggest that you manually turn it off before it completely finishes - it helps with keeping it clean with less work. So I'll have to see how that would work.  Perhaps starting a batch right when I get home from work - then it would be ready to turn off right before bedtime? We'll see.

Here's the unit I bought.  I'm excited to stop buying plastic water bottles, and still feel good about the water I'm drinking.

Water, water, water...