Acid Rain: “Acid rain, or acid deposition, is a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. This can include rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic.” -Environmental Protection Agency. Of course, not all pure rain water is acidic or even dangerous. The issue is the uncertainty and the region in which the rainfall fell to Earth. The contamination level may be unknown.
Pure rain water is a collection of surface and atmospheric moisture that collects as a cloud before falling as rain. In its cloud state, the water is very pure- close to H2O. Collecting and drinking this water from the cloud would be safe, clean and fine to drink. Once the water begins falling however it becomes contaminated. There are countless organic and inorganic compounds in our atmosphere. Things like smog, manufacturing pollution, exhaust, dust and dirt fill our air. As the rain falls, it would collect these compounds and create a potentially dangerous scenario.
Once the rain fell to Earth it would also be introduce with surface level contamination, like runoff and road contamination. So while pure rain water was once pure, once it falls to Earth where you could reasonably collect it, the question is raised; how pure is rain water? And are there alternatives that you should consider drinking, if you seek a natural bottled water?
There are companies who bottle rainfall and sell the product as bottled water. To make this water safe the water must first go through a series of advanced filtration processes. Most often the standard form of filtration is reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis(RO) uses a series of extremely tight membranes to reduce the water to ever and ever more pure forms. Once filtered the water is chemically pure, or close to distilled water (remember chemistry class?).
Now pure water, the processing is not done. Pure water has a very unpleasant taste and leaves the mouth feeling dry. This is due to the lack of mineral content. To make this water acceptable to consumers it must now be remineralizers. This process is often done with the addition of bulk dry chemicals and compounds like calcium, potassium and magnesium. The ingredients are carefully blended to achieve a water you will enjoy drinking and not leave you parched.
Rather than drinking pure rain water and questioning how pure it actually is, consider drinking pure mountain spring water instead. Companies like RAIN Water Company and other spring water bottlers bottle only natural spring water. Spring water, unlike pure rain water, has been filter underground for hundreds or thousands of years. The water collects naturally occurring electrolytes and minerals over time from the rock formations it is filtered through. This process modifies the chemistry of water naturally. This change to the chemistry of the water is permanent, where the mineral content has bonded with the H2O on a molecular level (science!). The spring water has collected mineral content that both offer a pleasant taste and greater hydration. Many of these minerals will even aid in sports recovery, adding salts, calcium, magnesium, potassium and other beneficial minerals back into your body after losing it to sweat. Spring water offers many of the health benefits of sports drinks and recovery drinks without the sugar, colors or unnecessary ingredients and byproducts.
RAIN, an aluminum bottled water company even bottles their pure mountain spring water in aluminum cans – a sustainable alternative to the plastic bottles used by many other companies. Using aluminum cans might seem counterintuitive to the mantra of “pure mountain spring water” because the metal just leaks into the bottle, right? Wrong, any aluminum beverage container on the market today has a very thin liner on the inside of the container that prevents the contents from coming into contact with the metal – AKA safe. One thing to note on this liner in most products (especially RAIN) is that it is BPA-free to avoid any contamination from the liner.
Like we mentioned before, it might not be the smartest move to drink pure rain water because of what could be in it; it might not also be the smartest move to plastic bottled water either. A Forbes study found that nearly 93% of plastic bottled water contains microplastics that you’re putting directly into your body every time you crack open a cold plastic bottle of Dasani. The bottle might say “purified” or “spring” but it does not change the fact that sometimes this PET (plastic) bottle will deteriorate slowly, depositing microplastics into the bottle, into the water and ultimately into your body. While plastic contamination and plastic poisoning are still in the early days of research, it can be safe to assume that we should not be consuming plastics.
So you get the point – Pure rain water is not simply pure water. It is purified so that it is safe to drink, but from a pure water mountain view point, it is far from the best. Our eco-friendly and all natural product solution, RAIN Pure Mountain Spring Water, is clearly the option to select when you need a grab and go option. An option that you can take with you to the gym, on a bike, in your cupholder or backpack. Its convenient, portable, resealable, and refillable. No added ingredients, just spring water the way mother nature intended it in ice cold aluminum bottles. Aluminum bottles that will not be in the ocean, the side of the road or a lake after you consume and recycle them. Your mouth will thank you when you try the taste of our light, crisp, and easy to drink water. But be careful not to drink it too fast or you might get a brain freeze.
RAIN Pure Mountain Spring Water – Not pure rain water.