Most drinking water stations are simply hooked up to the same tap water supply system that is used by your office sinks. Sometimes, the water may be cleansed through a basic carbon filter, but often times, they are not. This has to leave you wondering what can be done to avoid contaminated drinking water at the office.

Contaminated drinking water is mostly unavoidable unless you setup a home filtration system and bring your own H2O to work.

First, you have to accept that you are never going to get truly “clean” H2O. You can take steps to avoid major pollutants and pharmaceuticals and let your body’s own immune system take care of the rest. Given the choice between drinking straight from the tap and using drinking water stations, I will always choose the latter.

Why? I have a perception that what I am nourishing my body with is not contaminated drinking water. It tends to taste better; it tends to be cooler and not lukewarm. Plus, it usually has no odor or smell. So, while drinking water stations may not offer me the exact same type of clean H2O as a home filtration system, I am drinking from them. If they were not there, I would not be drinking H2O at the office.

Other types of drinking water stations are fountains. You remember those from your grade school days? I avoid them simply because I have no idea who has used them and what bacteria might be lurking around them. To me, the H2O tastes strange. Couple that with the unknown, hidden bacteria and I would probably rather go thirsty than drink from fountain type drinking water stations.

Bottom line, contaminated drinking water is something to be concerned about, but most water is not unsafe to drink. Check out your local water quality report and if you feel more comfortable, install a simple filter based cleansing solution to rid treated water of chlorine and other unnecessary elements and minerals.

This will probably give you the peace of mind that you are looking for, plus, it keeps your wallet from getting too light. Drinking water stations do serve a purpose but that purpose is not necessarily to deliver clean, decontaminated drinking water. As long as you have no false expectations about that, keep drinking, because your body needs it.

Hugh Harris-Evans is a writer and researcher on water purification issues. Visit his site now at http://www.brightwaterfilter.com to get the facts on how to choose the best water purification system.