Ozonated Water Vs. Ionized Water
Ionized (higher pH) water is supposed to offer health benefits, but there is little factual evidence to back up this claim. Ozonated water has ozone diffused into it, which acts as a disinfectant, but it is unstable and has a short effective duration.-
What Does a Water Ionizer Do?
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Passing electrical current through pure water (pH=7), an ionizer generates alkaline (pH above 7) and acidic (pH below 7) water. The alkaline water is dispensed for drinking purposes.
Why Alkaline Water?
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Proponents claim alkaline water corrects the body's pH balance. Since digestion already turns fluids slightly alkaline before they reach the intestines, there is little value to alkaline water.
Instability of Ozonated Water
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Since ozone has a half-life of less than 30 minutes, any bottled ozonated water on the shelf will have no ozone left in it. Only an on-site ozone generator will give most people contact with real ozonated water.
Uses of Ozonated Water
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Ozone is used for water disinfection in many treatment plants around the world. It oxidizes any organic materials (including disease-carrying organisms) better than oxygen will by itself. So, ozonated water is useful for disinfection (as well as for precipitating many dissolved minerals out of the water) and has a slightly higher level of dissolved oxygen in the water than non-ozonated water does.
Conclusion
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Ozonated water offers extra disinfection if your water may be contaminated. For normal water supplies, this precaution is an unnecessary expense, but otherwise it is harmless. Ionized water has a higher pH than pure water, but it has no proven health advantages. The same effect can be achieved at much less cost with a few gains of baking soda added to your water.
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