Selling distillation or reverse osmosis (RO) products can be difficult for dealers whose customers have little or no knowledge about those products.

It can be even harder for a dealer when a customer is misinformed, and even thinks drinking water from an RO or distiller system can leach nutrients from the body.

So what does a dealer do if a customer says drinking distilled or RO water is harmful?

1. Use the military as an example.

Horace Mansfield, a 25-year sales manager for Kansas City-MO-based Durastill, said to tell them the US Navy drinks distilled water.

The US Navy has used water with less than 3 parts per million total dissolved solids (TDS) for more than 40 years, according to a 1993 Water Quality Association (WQA) report, which also said the Army’s field personnel drinks RO water.

2. Cite the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The US Environmental Protection Agency conducted a one-year project in San Ysidro, NM, in which the drinking water TDS was reduced from 800 milligrams per liter (mg/L) to a range of 40 to 70 milligrams per liter. No one from the military or the New Mexico city reported ill health effects, the WQA said.

These studies were cited in a March 1997 Water Technology article by the magazine’s technical advisor Lee Rozelle, who said drinking water with low TDS levels, found in distilled water, is not harmful.

Rozelle indicated the body’s control mechanism of homeostasis — the maintenance of static or constant conditions of the body — keeps tight controls on body fluid composition regardless of drinking water TDS for a normal person under normal conditions.

3. Cite the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Randy Hill, owner of Hill Stills in Redwood City, CA, said he sometimes has customers who fear they’ll miss nutrients in RO and distilled water, but Hill tells them most nutrients come from food, not water.

John Schlafer, vice president and chief engineer for EcoWater Systems in St. Paul, MN, said that according to the FDA, if a person wanted to get the daily calcium requirement, they would have to drink five gallons of water or only three cups of milk.

Schlafer advises dealers to tell customers there is no scientific data supporting the nutrient-leaching theory, and to consult with their doctors if they have more questions.

4. Cite expert reports.

A 1993 report, ”Why I Drink Distilled Water,” by Dr. Clifford C. Dennison, said the main source for minerals comes from food, and that few of them come from water. Most minerals in water “merely contaminate our water and hinders the water from performing its natural functions,” Dennison said.

“These waters carry 80 percent of all sickness and disease,” Dennison wrote. “They may contain over 700 identifiable chemicals, all of which permeate our systems and may begin accumulating there. When water brought into our bodies is already polluted, its natural cleansing functions are impaired. As a result, we may develop health problems as these pollutants build up in our blood vessels, joints and internal organs.”

However, be aware that at least one study disagrees. Zoltan P. Rona’s report, “Early Death Comes from Drinking Distilled Water,” claims purified water becomes acidic and leaches nutrients.

5. Cite anecdotes.

Gary Patterson, national sales manager of Lancaster Pump, in Lancaster, PA, said that several years ago a French family came into his store looking for an RO product because kidney stones were common in their family. They wanted an RO product because the water it created, with no minerals, would not add to more calcification of the kidney stones.

Because of its inherent lack of minerals, RO water drinkers should use a multivitamin as a supplement, said Patterson.

“I don’t know evidence if RO or distilled water is good for the body, except for what you’re drinking is pure,” Patterson said. “And purity can’t be all that bad.”