can you drink RO/DI?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

Guys, it's only a problem if you sweat a lot and you drink RODI water, then you will lose minerals (sweat is salty!) and if you don't compensate that loss with some electrolite (like in Gatorade) then you can get water poisoning.

"Any activity or situation that promotes heavy sweating can lead to water intoxication when water is consumed to replace lost fluids. Persons working in extreme heat and/or humidity for long periods must take care to drink and eat in ways that help to maintain electrolyte balance."

Personaly I would not drink RODI water but I drink filtered water with a filter that remove all the toxic stuff but not all of the good stuff.

Best water I ever drink was from some lakes in the Sierra Nevada in California, 10,000 feet elevation and filtered with a ceramic filter for hiking. That tasted awesome!

Actually the same rules apply to tap water as well. If you want to avoid this you should drink bottled mineral water. Tap water is not mineral water, it may have minerals but they aren't necessarily the correct type.

IMO you shouldn't drink tap water in most cities, some are OK depending on how close you are to the source but most not so good. When I lived in Saskatoon a study showed many areas to have 3-5 times the allowable lead content in the tap water. Calgary claims they add fluoride to help your teeth while the dentist makes sure you don't swallow any fluoride during the routine treatment Then there's the chloramine with is what is now used instead of chlorine since chlorine breaks down two easily. Chloramine is ammonia bonded and doesn't break down, all those aerators on your taps are now fairly useless.
For the amount of so called "good" things in city water there are too many bad things for me personally. In Calgary and Saskatoon the source of the water comes from rivers, the city advices the water from the rivers are safe to drink but don't eat any fish from them.
Many things within the water have been linked to cancer as well which we all know is a very common disease while most of us have never heard of water poisoning due to a lack of minerals.

I currently drink RO water but previously it was RODI which can taste funny to some but it's harmless. If you like the taste then go nuts, if not try a final taste and odor filter on your system or remove the DI. You can also tee into your filter right before the DI stage and use that for drinking (just make sure the storage tank is also tee'd in before the DI) and leave the output from the DI strictly for the aquarium.
It's sometimes recommended not to drink DI water because DI alone does not remove bacteria or pathogens. When it's added to a RO system this is no longer a concern.