I haven't noticed a shortage of it in East Central FL, but Publix has a shortage of my canned cat food lately!
Distilled water shortage??
- Thread starter Catscankim
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My mistake, I am normally more attentive to differences-these machines dispense RO water.
As far as I know, no matter minerals or anything are added, and very much is removed. I've never seen a spring water dispenser, that'd be kind of interesting to see/taste.
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There were signs posted every few feet in the catfood ailse at one of the stores I shop that said the out-of-stock cat food was related to the can shortage. This was a couple of months ago, but I am still seeing shortages of options of canned cat food, both in stores and online. Kitty Baby has a favorite, and of course, that's the one that seems to be in short supply, wouldn't you know?
Well, I can't say as I noticed a huge difference in taste of the "Spring" water versus Calistoga bottled water. To sell real spring water, it has to be sourced from a naturally occurring underground spring and then filtered to remove contaminates, so the minerals may vary somewhat depending on the locale where it was sourced.
I only see the Fancy Feast food missing from the shelves at Publix and that's the one my spoiled feral cat prefers. Maybe it's time to take him off of it all together? He gets dry food too so it wouldn't be too much of a change - he just knows how to pull on the old heartstrings when I try to skip it.I'm trying to deliberately raise my cat to not be picky about his food. I adopted him nearly a year ago, when he was four months old. Since March (when he hit a year and was ready for adult cat food), I've been switching up his wet food daily. So far I've found one that he seems less impressed with but my strategy is working I think; he'll still eat that one but slower... I'm also lucky that I have been preferring the pouch options so the can shortage (which I was unaware of) hasn't affected him.
Aromasuzie
Well-Known Member
I've never used distilled water. We have our own water well, I might get a bit more soda ash and I don't have issues with DOS so far, touch wood. Am I correct in thinking that water to the tap in the USA has to conform to a certain standard but bottled water doesn't? Is bottled/distilled water cheap in the USA? Our bottled water is more expensive than soda. Does everyone just start buying distilled water for soap making or do they try water out of the tap first. I'd be really interested to know. @KiwiMoose do you use distilled water when making soap?
Yes I get it from Countdown. New World doesn't stock it. Luckily for me though - when I met Roger he had a 10 litre bottle he had bought for the great apocalypse that he didn't realise was distilled (not recommended as a drinking water), so I am working my way through that lot. It's taking me a while what with my use of other fluids in replace of water.
Aromasuzie
Well-Known Member
@KiwiMoose I know when we went through the Christchurch Earthquakes, there was certainly bottled water shortages then, but we bought a generator so we could pump our own water, we had animals to think about too. I think we are still in apocalypse mode, my pantry is certainly stocked more now than pre earthquake time and we store extra petrol and diesel too 
Peachy Clean Soap
Well-Known Member
Whats up w/ us Californias & Water Machines? I do notice a lot' Walmart & Stater Bro's just to name a few. Yes your right Its usually "Purified Water" which brings another trend of thought' A lot of these water machines are outside setting in direct sun. Don't know how fresh the water can be? especially in the Hot Summer Sun.
Peachy Clean Soap
Well-Known Member
Here in Calif distilled water is inexpensive .99 cent for a gallon. I only use distilled water for soaping to avoied possible DOS.
The US has national Standards for water, which are a baseline (minimum) standard written by our Environmental Protection Agency, and we have Congressional legislation titled the Safe Drinking Water Act. Individual States & municipalities are also able to write more stringent regulations for water, but they must always meet the minimum as written by he EPA. But bottled water is regulated by our Food & Drug Administration, and Distilled water falls into the FDA's pervue as do all other types of bottled water.
Not every soaper (new & old) use distilled water right from the outset. I think it depends on where they learn about making soap and if using distilled water was emphasized when they learned.
As for costs of bottled drinking water, it can be very affordable and it can be very expensive. Prices vary based on choice of product, usually. I am not really sure about comparing water prices to soda prices because since I don't drink soda pop/soft drinks (what it's called can vary from one region to another here in the US), I don't know the usual pricing. What I found interesting in the UK, was the term for tap water (water that comes out of the tap or water faucet) is "still" while bottled water is called "sparkling" when ordering in a restaurant. That seemed to be the case for any European restaurants where we ate. I thought that odd, because not all bottled water in the US is what we call "sparkling", meaning there are no fizzy bubbles in most bottled water available in the US. The kind with fizzies (carbonated) do tend to be the higher priced bottled waters here, although uncarbonated bottled water can also be higher prices as well.
But for Distilled water, I generally see the prices at about $0.88 - $1.50 per gallon (3785 milliliters), depending on locations. I've priced it in most states, but not all. I suspect it is much more expensive in Alaska, only because everything is very expensive in Alaska; I did not price it last time I was there, but a bag of potato chips cost over $10.00, so I would expect higher pricing.
In the UK, when you are out at a restaurant, there are three types of water: Still, Sparkling or Tap. You have to specifically specify 'tap' water if that's what you want otherwise they will serve (and charge you) for 'still' water from a bottle.
In NZ, it is most common for (tap) water to be poured immediately upon being seated, and in most instances left in a jug on the table so you can help yourself.
At the supermarket I buy distilled water for approx $NZ 1.50 per 1 litre bottle, or $NZ7 for 10 litres. This is pretty standard compared to other NZ waters, 'spring' or 'natural' water - the exception being imported branded waters such as Evian or Perrier which are of course more expensive.
What is the difference between distilled and reverse osmosis water (I mean in the result, not the process. The process is quite different). If it's just minerals that are problematic, couldn't one use RO water? Also, @earlene , you suggested rice water or a bunch of other liquids as a replacement, but wouldn't the rice water, kombucha, tea, etc. etc. all need to be made with mineral-free water to begin with? I wouldn't think that simply adding things would turn tap water into soap-appropriate water, would it? When I use other liquids, I need to remember to make them with distilled water (which I usually forget and then just drink them )
)
Aromasuzie
Well-Known Member
@earlene thanks for the explanation. I only noticed the differences in prices between water and sodas sold, as I figured the soda had sugar in them, which should have made it more expensive. Not all of the waters sold are distilled either. Water rights have been highlighted in the last couple of years as some International Companies are shipping our water offshore at huge profits, while Local Councils are restricting water due to shortages. We had our water tested when we first moved to this property, but that was for drinking purposes. Our well is 150m deep but draw water around 80m. We do get some lime scale so minerals are probably higher than wanted for soap making but I haven't had issues with DOS, and that was my main concern.
Peachy Clean Soap
Well-Known Member
When I use additives that needs to be pre mixed w/ water I use distilled water. The Difference between Osmosis water & Distilled " osmosis water is filtered water' as Distilled water is a longer process in that water is boiled & the "Steam" is collected which is "Distilled Water".What is the difference between distilled and reverse osmosis water (I mean in the result, not the process. The process is quite different). If it's just minerals that are problematic, couldn't one use RO water? Also, @earlene , you suggested rice water or a bunch of other liquids as a replacement, but wouldn't the rice water, kombucha, tea, etc. etc. all need to be made with mineral-free water to begin with? I wouldn't think that simply adding things would turn tap water into soap-appropriate water, would it? When I use other liquids, I need to remember to make them with distilled water (which I usually forget and then just drink them
Catscankim
Well-Known Member
I bought a distilled water maker. It takes a bit of time, but i was able to get enough for a batch of soap pretty quickly. It is fairly large machine that takes up a chunk of real rstate on my counter (as well as a valuable outlet). I will probably make a few gallons and stow it away.
It has a self-shut off, so i can leave it to run when i go to bed, and its actually preferred to let it shut off that way so that it runs itself completely dry before turning itself off.
I am happy that i bought it. Now i dont have to worry about it or lug gallons home from the supermarket. I do make a pretty good amount of soap, so eventually it will pay for itself
It has a self-shut off, so i can leave it to run when i go to bed, and its actually preferred to let it shut off that way so that it runs itself completely dry before turning itself off.
I am happy that i bought it. Now i dont have to worry about it or lug gallons home from the supermarket. I do make a pretty good amount of soap, so eventually it will pay for itself
@Peachy Clean Soap right, but you're describing the process, not the product. In tests, how does a cup of distilled water look different from a cup of RO water? Neither would have minerals, chlorine, fluoride, etc. etc. Are they indistinguishable, except by the (resource-intensive) way of making distilled?
Well, when replacing the water used to make the lye solution with vinegar or beer or wine or aloe juice, or whatever, how does one know what minerals were in the water used during the processing? I don't and never gave it a thought. But I never got DOS from any of those ingredients a far as I recall. As for rice water, no, I don't use distilled water; I do use tap water. Besides minerals in the tap water, there are also minerals in the rice, and yet, I still have not had DOS in rice soap.
I don't make Kombucha because I don't drink it, but the bottled Kombucha tea I purchase for soapmaking certainly had a variety of minerals and yet I never had DOS in any of my Kombucha soaps either. Maybe I've just been lucky with Kombucha soaps? I have not read of anyone else running into problems with DOS that they traced back to these kinds of water substitutes, although perhaps I have missed some.
Thinking back to all the years before we had distilled water, and people only had rain water, or sea water, or river water or lake water, or eventually tap water, was DOS really so common in homemade soap? Or did distilled water enter the soaping world via the large manufacturers, perhaps because they needed to be uniform in their methods? Or some other reason?
There are several people, even some here at SMF who do not use distilled water in their soap making and seem to avoid DOS, so I'm wondering when and where distilled water came into it to become so standard in Soap making.
Maybe @DeeAnna knows. I've never really considered it to any degree, but I've certainly adhered to the distilled water camp except when I used alternative liquids as mentioned in my first paragraph.
I don't make Kombucha because I don't drink it, but the bottled Kombucha tea I purchase for soapmaking certainly had a variety of minerals and yet I never had DOS in any of my Kombucha soaps either. Maybe I've just been lucky with Kombucha soaps? I have not read of anyone else running into problems with DOS that they traced back to these kinds of water substitutes, although perhaps I have missed some.
Thinking back to all the years before we had distilled water, and people only had rain water, or sea water, or river water or lake water, or eventually tap water, was DOS really so common in homemade soap? Or did distilled water enter the soaping world via the large manufacturers, perhaps because they needed to be uniform in their methods? Or some other reason?
There are several people, even some here at SMF who do not use distilled water in their soap making and seem to avoid DOS, so I'm wondering when and where distilled water came into it to become so standard in Soap making.
Maybe @DeeAnna knows. I've never really considered it to any degree, but I've certainly adhered to the distilled water camp except when I used alternative liquids as mentioned in my first paragraph.
Aromasuzie
Well-Known Member
@earlene am I correct in thinking that DOS is due to oils becoming rancid? If that is the case, would the liquid portion of the recipe have any contribution to that process? I haven't used distilled water even though it was recommended in many articles as I thought that several hundred years ago, people wouldn't probably bother adding distilled water to the soap making process, or were they using distilled water as they were drinking it themselves to prevent infection/diseases due to microbes in the water?
From an aromatherapy point of view, factors that increased oxidation of oils (essential oils as well as carrier oils) was exposure to heat and light. I've had a quick look at some other sites that claim the water content can effect DOS, but the don't give an explanation of how. My brain works from a scientific point of view, If you can't explain it to me how and why, I'm going to disregard that statement. I did find this article though:
The Dreaded Orange Spot (soapguild.org)
This article was published in 2005, so if there any others that refute these findings, I'd love to have a look.
From an aromatherapy point of view, factors that increased oxidation of oils (essential oils as well as carrier oils) was exposure to heat and light. I've had a quick look at some other sites that claim the water content can effect DOS, but the don't give an explanation of how. My brain works from a scientific point of view, If you can't explain it to me how and why, I'm going to disregard that statement. I did find this article though:
The Dreaded Orange Spot (soapguild.org)
This article was published in 2005, so if there any others that refute these findings, I'd love to have a look.
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