Distilled water

Distilled water is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water" title="Water" >water</a> that has many of its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impurity" title="Impurity" >impurities</a> removed through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillation" title="Distillation" >distillation</a>. Distillation involves <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling" title="Boiling" >boiling</a> the water and then condensing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam" title="Steam" >steam</a> into a clean container.

<h2 >Equipment to distill water</h2>

Up until World War Two, distilling sea water to fresh water was time consuming and expensive in fuel. The saying was: "It takes one gallon of fuel to make one gallon of fresh water." Shortly before the war, Dr. R.V. Kleinschmidt developed the compression still, that became known as the Kleinschmidt Still, for extracting fresh water from sea water or contaminated water. By compressing the steam produced by boiling water, 175 gallons of fresh water could be extracted from sea water for every gallon of fuel used. During World War Two this unit became standard on Allied ships and on trailer mounts for armies. This method was in widespread use for ships and portable water distilling units <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water#cite_note-7" >[8]</a> during the latter half of the century. Modern vessels now use<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_evaporation" title="Flash evaporation" >flash-type evaporators</a> to boil sea water, heating the water to between 70-80°C and evaporating the water in a vacuum - this is then collected as condensation before being stored.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_still" title="Solar still" >Solar stills</a> can be relatively simple to design and build, with very cheap materials.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water#cite_note-8" >[9]</a>

<h2 >Drinking distilled water</h2>

Bottled distilled water can usually be found in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarkets" title="Supermarkets" class="mw-redirect" >supermarkets</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacies" title="Pharmacies" class="mw-redirect" >pharmacies</a>, and home water distillers are available as well. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification" title="Water purification" >Water purification</a>, such as distillation, is especially important in regions where water resources or tap water is not suitable for ingesting without boiling or chemical treatment.

Municipal water supplies almost always contain trace components at levels, which are regulated to be safe for consumption.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water#cite_note-9" >[10]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water#cite_note-10" >[11]</a> Some other components such as trace levels of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium" title="Aluminium" >aluminium</a> may result from the treatment process (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification#Additional_treatment_options" title="Water purification" >water purification</a>). Some components, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride" title="Fluoride" >fluoride</a> and other ions, are not removed through conventional water treatment;[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" >citation needed</a>] however, distillation can eliminate some of these impurities.[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" >citation needed</a>]

Distilled water is also used as drinking water in arid seaside areas which do not have sufficient freshwater, via<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination#Methods" title="Desalination" >desalination</a> of seawater.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_water#cite_note-11" >[12]</a>

Distilled water

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