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I understand that humans consume tap water which are chemically treated after pumped from natural or artificial reservations.

Sometimes people contaminate these reservations by spitting, pissing and shitting in them (for example, parents hold babies while swimming in a lake)

Pumped water are likely to be filtered and then chemically treated by:

  • ozone-based substances
  • fluoride-based substances
  • sulfate-based substances
  • chloride substances
  • Bubbling o2 oxygen allotrope into the water
  • Other substances
  • Some combination of substances
  • Radiation (probably artificial UV in a closed water container)

My problem

Because tap water aren't boiled by water suppliers, they contain dead saliva bacteria and other human cells, but they might also contain:

  • Human Mucus
  • Human proteins, fats, sugars and nucleic acids

My question

Is boiling tap water a must to destroy human mucus, proteins, fats, sugars and nucleic acids (and also human derived dead bacteria) it may contain?

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    You appear to be obsessed with the idea that boiling is necessary to destroy certain possible water contaminants. This is wrong on at least two counts (as previous answers to similar questions have explained): 1) boiling does not destroy those contaminants; and 2) other treatment methods are already completely adequate to ensure safe water. – matt_black Jan 08 '20 at 12:04
  • @matt_black I am not asking about safety, but on purity from human derived materials such as saliva, urine, feces, dead bacteria derived from them, human proteins, human fats, human sugars and human nuclei --- everything the rest, everything non human, is fine with me. Do you understand my intention now?... –  Jan 08 '20 at 12:07
  • Please help me to ask a better question if you understand me better now. –  Jan 08 '20 at 12:08
  • Yes I get disgusted from the think that I might drink another human's saliva or piss in my tap water. –  Jan 08 '20 at 12:09
  • Boiling water is for me just a mean, not an end... –  Jan 08 '20 at 12:09
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    Your personal disgust reaction is irrelevant to what cities can justifiably do to provide people with clean water. Plus you seem to believe that boiling does something it doesn't achieve. Distillation might, so feel free to drink distilled water. But there are plenty of standards for what clean water supplies can contain and current treatment methods keep the things you seem to worry about at a unmeasurably low levels. – matt_black Jan 08 '20 at 12:14
  • @matt_black again, I am willing to take personal action to remove any described-human materials from my water; if boiling chemically treated water doesn't help, would would?... –  Jan 08 '20 at 12:41
  • I just reiterate that drinking distilled water is not healthy and should not be done. In case a new reader land here and read assertions dictated by exhaustion :) – Alchimista Jan 09 '20 at 07:56
  • @Alchimista your comment is in my opinion uncommunal and should be flagged as offensive. –  Jan 09 '20 at 07:58
  • I don't think so. I just refer to the nice comment by @matt_black in which is written "feel free to drink distilled water" assuming a kind of fatigue as ground for an assertion he would have not made. Anyway you can flag the comment and let others decide. This is not my job, just a way to spend break time learning and sometimes help others. In the specific case you got help already. We can't change answers just because you are obsessed with mucus etc. And mucus or urine in a lake even cease to be mucus and urine, to add another chemical consideration..... – Alchimista Jan 09 '20 at 08:06
  • @Alchimista here, by the exreme, offensive uncommunal statement just because you are obsessed with mucus, you just prove my point that was based upon assertions dictated by exhaustion :). –  Jan 09 '20 at 08:11

3 Answers3

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Boiling water will destroy living organisms like bacteria. It will not destroy chemical substances like sugars, proteins, fats and acids, which are not living species. It will probably transform their structure, coagulate the proteins, hydrolyze some sugars or fats. But this is not exactly what could be understood as a destruction.

Maurice
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  • Can I even destroy these in home kitchen? –  Jan 08 '20 at 15:07
  • Yes. As discussed in previous posts, boiled tap water is good and safe enough for drinking. Remember that you are drinking tap water not water from sewerage. You did not mention your country of residence. Most municipal corporations can provide you water analysis report. – AChem Jan 08 '20 at 21:21
  • I wrote I live in Thailand --- I meant to total destruction... –  Jan 09 '20 at 00:09
  • Do you know that there are good quality domestic water filtration system which can be attached to tap water source. Water goes through a series of filters, then activated carbon cartridge (which absorbs all organics) and eventually through a UV lamp. This is good enough to destroy/remove, yes "total destruction" of all disgusting things you can $ever$ think of. Whatever disgusting is coming to your mind, the answer is that activated carbon and UV lamp with remove or destroy it. – AChem Jan 09 '20 at 04:48
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You can perform a very simple experiment to convince yourself that boiling will not destroy fats or sugars. This experiment is being performed countless times every day (in a slightly modified version) in kitchens all over Europe and probably other parts of the world.

Take a pot of water, pour in a shot of vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower oil) and add a spoonful of sugar. Boil the water. Let it cool down. You should be able to observe both the drop of oil (a second phase as it is immiscible with water). Furthermore, if you taste the water it will taste sweet. This is enough to show that simple oils (a type of lipids or fats) and sugars are not destroyed in solution or emulsion with water at boiling temperatures.

Your question proceeds to answer itself thenceforth.

Jan
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You are laboring under a misunderstanding that most non-chemists have when it pertains to chemistry. You are unaware of the absolutely massive scale of tinyness that things are in.

Let's say you go to the sea and fetch a glass of water. Scoop it up. Now, you decide to have a contest with your friend. You have a magical bag that can contain anything in whatever amounts.

So you set off trying empty the water glass, one molecule at the time...

...and your friend sets off trying to empty the oceans of the world with one glass of water at the time.

You keep the same pace, the number of glass or molecule per minite.

You will lose, and with eons upon eons. You will not finish before the universe dies, though your friend migh.. In a $20$ cl glass of water there will be approx $4$ moles of water which is, if I typed it correctly, about $24920000000000000000000000$ molecules

Boiling water, purifying it, cleaning, scrubbing, leaching - none of these create pure water without contaminants. There is only a question of how many contaminants you can handle. 1 per 10000 or 1 per 10000000 makes the difference

Boiling water for 10 minutes brings the number of organic still living beings in the water down to a level where it does not harm your body. (normally - there are some parasites more durable than others - and harmful prions will be unaffected). It will still contain dead organic beings, mucus, shit, piss, toxic metals, harmful toxins - but in quantities your body can handle.

As long as tap water is measurably drinkable (potable, from french) the water works doesn't really care about the level of contaminant (of course they do, but if it is drinkable, it is drinkable, and the bar is set very low for that)

So no, boiling water is not strictly necessary as long as the level of contaminant is below whatever level of that contaminant is perceived as safe. And making the water chemically pure, as in totally free, of that contaminant requires a lot more than boiling, and is rarely done - and if you want water that clean you usually make it from it's constituent atoms or distill it repeatedly.

Don't be afraid of minute quantities of contaminants - you have been exposed to them since birth. Fun fact, if your eyes sting when swimming in a public swimming pool, it is likely ammonia (di) chloride, which is likely from urine. Enjoy!

Stian
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    @JohnDoea That is not to be found, no. If you, as per admission, have the understanding of the tinyness of things, this should be apparent to you. There will always be stuff that is not the right stuff in stuff. It is all about dosage. Accept it or die. (Not a threat, just a fact of life, without water you die). Also, bottled water is usually way more contaminated than tap water, unless you are in a 3rd world country. Or Flint, Michigan. – Stian Jan 09 '20 at 11:19
  • Nice answer. That is what I meant commenting on basically the same question days ago (mentioning omeophaty). – Alchimista Jan 09 '20 at 11:53