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 I've been to a couple countries in Latin America

The infrastructure was less built out than USA, the cars & consumer goods were not what people in USA would consider the most cutting edge

There was concern that the tap water was not safe to drink, and bottled water was preferred. In one town that I stayed for a time, everyone had water barrels on their roofs as the municipal water would be shut off at a certain of day.

Otherwise I would say that life seemed quite ordinary 
 Latin America is mostly 2nd world if I'm nitpicking.

Where was the roughest country in Latam you went to?

Or rather where did those rainwater harvesters stand out to you? 
 Northern Peru, coastal desert

In terms of "rough" Northern Mexico definitely felt less safe than anywhere I went in Peru 
 And they weren't harvesting rainwater, they were collecting city water to use at their leisure

I'm not sure what could possibly motivate such a scheme, most likely bureaucratic incompetence, but perhaps the city lacked their own water storage 
 My conclusion after traveling & studying the issues plaguing the 3rd world - especially India & Subsaharan Africa is that water storage is the #1 inhibitor of villages leaving the vicious poverty cycle.

Simple as that, having water reserves for drought & unpredictable rainfall for watering crops. 
 The viciousness is brutal as children end up getting diarrhea from poor water quality & not being able to wash one's hands / utensils properly. 
 A lot die from the diarrhea 😢😢😢 
 What do you think is wrong with the water quality?

I've developed some skepticism of germ theory 
(eg Koch drank a culture of pure cholera bacteria and didn't develop cholera)

Do you think there's some sort of toxin? 
Or bacterial contamination?
Parasites? 
 Parasites for sure, bacterial overload.

Children are more susceptible to die from any overload. 

Same in baby animals when you re-home them for example. 
 Also lack of daily water intake.

I had students of mine in Uganda come up to my water bottle and show me how much clean water they receive a day.

It made me cry a little 😢🫂. 
 So you have bacteria & no way to flush 😢😢😢😢 
 Yeah, I drink about a gallon of water daily

It's fluoridated where I live (and I am wary of other contaminants, eg plastics / pharma) so I distill it

I am hopeful that in the event of total collapse I can either distill via non-electric heating (my equipment allows this) or to get by for a while on boiled/chlorinated/untreated lake-water 
 Make sure to remineralize your water.

Get some high quality salts! 
 I don't believe that's necessary. 
Mineral water contains a tiny fraction of daily needs of the relevant minerals.

Instead I'll eat 1 extra bite of steak 
 If you’re distilling your water you are removing all minerals. It will actually suck minerals from your body, and have an overall negative impact. You aren’t supposed to drink distilled water 😰 
 Exactly!! 
 What can you do to replenish that water with the minerals it needs?  
 Woof!  Bitcoiners veering in direction of yogis I knew 25 years ago who all started drinking their piss.    

Celtic salt is great!  I suck on a few rocks on long motorcycle rides, when it's hot or if I feel sluggish in the afternoon along with some vinegar water.  Works great to revitalize.   
 Barbara O'Neil the 🐐 

https://youtu.be/cBuK73K7t_0?si=4nvbfljF_z0c9i3- 
 I use Celtic Sea Salt as well! 
 Yea not gonna drink piss 😅. Rock salts sounds better. Thx!  
 HOLD to that! 

Himalayan sea salt was all the rage but traces of arsenic were found.  idk. But Celtic is great.  It is not for cooking and will destroy a grinder.  4 or 5 lil rocks to suck on will do ya good.  Lemme know after you try it what you think.  
 I use it for cooking! 
 How?  Like on eggs?   It seems too hard for table salt regardless but I can see it being okay for soups.  How do you crush it?   
 I just sprinkle it on when it's cooking and if need be after.

I've never had an issue or the need to crush it. 
 I'm going to try it, but if one of my $$$ crowns crack, I will pepper you!  😁 
 Perhaps he means the Himalayan salt? 
 Now I'm tracking!!! Thanks.  
 Negative, Celtic Sea Salt in the blue bag. 
 I grab granules & move my fingers 🤌 back and forth so larger ones fall out if I'm top dressing.

But if the pan is hot it's going to assimilate it, high moisture content. 
 Thx for the heads up! I'll let u know how it goes! 🤙🏽💯🍻 
 Can you point to a case where someone suffered some form of illness after consuming pure water?

I see some speculation it may be harmful, and one citation to a 1988 study (not available online). In terms of what is available online, it seems to me the evidence points the other way:

"Blood electrolytes balance was not significantly modified even with prolonged treatments with low mineral waters."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10138893/ 
 Natural mineral water =/= distilled water. Distilled water has the minerals removed by the distillation process. 
It’s not unsafe or unclean to drink, but consistent consumption will remove minerals from your body as the water will reabsorb them as it goes through you. Source: gf is a nurse, & also easily found science information. 
 The keyword here is “consistent”, like if it’s the ONLY thing you drink. 
 The quotation I gave is about "low mineral water", not "natural mineral water"

Has your mate ever seen a case of an individual suffering from some illness related to mineral deficiency related to drinking distilled water?

I am aware that some sources advise against drinking distilled water, but I am hoping for more solid evidence than mere opinion. 
 You're looking for an end result that can be complicated, but like Barbara O'Neil says, there's a known scientific way to hydrate yourself.

This science is not in question, minerals hell absorption & it's why athletes all have electrolyte drinks. 
 Here's a goat in it's natural habitat going for hydration 👀

https://image.nostr.build/50de986b8c628568ae6ccc2c7e95d9a12ae5996d2d158d46ac302b7fb9d931ec.jpg 
 Firstly, for what purpose are you drinking distilled water?  Other than kidney failure, I've never known anyone to die from drinking water.   
 Hydration

As to why distilled, I mentioned this earlier in the thread.
Water in my area is fluoridated & I am also concerned about other contaminants (eg plastics, pharma) 
 You're doing a good job with this, just add Celtic salt 🫂🤙🫡 
 Oh yes, the female hormones donated from the piss of degenerate women whose wombs werewasted upon them and the psych meds urine from the mind controlled are of grave concern.  I have used a Berkey since 2007 but even they are all in on Made in China now.  On the other hand, I did get a terrible bout of giardia from drinking river water.  Dang it!  
 I don’t believe so, likely conjecture. Upon further research it seems there isn’t a negative impact! 
 Yea pretty much all of the Central American capitols and major cities are rough. Honduras and El Salvador (pre-Bitcoin) were the worst. Favelas in Brazil are also 3rd world