Water Filter Authority.com

I have personally bought a lot of bottled water in my life.  That is, until I started considering the environmental ramfications and cost of all those single-use plastic bottles.  Did you know that Americans spend over $15 BILLION dollars each year on bottled water?  We all know bottled water isn’t exactly cheap, but I figured if the water was healthier than tap water, or tasted better, then it must be well worth it to buy bottled water.  Boy, was I ever wrong.  I spent some time researching bottled water on-line, and what I discovered is simply shocking.  You must know the truth about this, and stop buying bottled water.  Even if you only buy a simple water filter pitcher or a faucet filter, one of the least expensive home water filters you can get, it is totally worth it to make this change for yourself, your family, and the environment as well. 

The Ugly Facts About Bottled Water

A lot of bottle water is just plain tap water.  Lots of marketing is done to give the illusion that it comes from a natural and pure spring, but that is just not the case.   For example, Aquasana and Dasani are just processed tap water.  Tap water, NOT spring water.

From Earth-Policy.org:

With sales growing by 10 percent each year, far faster than any other beverage, bottled water now appears to be the drink of choice for many Americans—they swallow more of it than milk, juice, beer, coffee, or tea.

It is usually packaged in single-serving plastic bottles made with fossil fuels. Just manufacturing the 29 billion plastic bottles used for water in the United States each year requires the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of crude oil.

Estimates for the energy used for pumping and processing, transportation, and refrigeration, brings the annual fossil fuel footprint of bottled water consumption in the United States to over 50 million barrels of oil equivalent—enough to run 3 million cars for one year. If everyone drank as much bottled water as Americans do, the world would need the equivalent of more than 1 billion barrels of oil to produce close to 650 billion individual bottles.

From Container-Recyling.Org:

Americans buy an estimated 28 billion single-serving (1 liter or less) plastic water bottles each year. More than eight out of ten end up in a landfill or incinerator. Hundreds of millions end up as litter on roads and beaches or in streams and other waterways. Taxpayers pay hundreds millions of dollars each year in disposal and litter cleanup costs.

Less than 20% of water bottles are recycled each year.  These bottles are typically made from PET plastic, a petroleum (fossil fuel) based material.

40% of the bottled water sold in the United States is tap water anyway.  And, only 40% of bottled water is even regulated by the FDA.

Tap water costs about a penny a gallon and bottled waters costs up to $10 a gallon.

From ABCNEWS.COM:

“20/20″ took five bottles of national brands of bottled water and a sample of tap water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City and sent them to microbiologist Aaron Margolin of the University of New Hampshire to test for bacteria that can make you sick, like e. coli. “There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated,” he said.

The sad truth is that we are all being defrauded by companies selling bottled water.  They are raking in millions, while we are all falsely believing that bottled water is better for us.  The fact is that a lot of bottled water is even LESS pure than water coming straight from the tap.  And, by perpetuating the on-going consumption of bottled water, we are all contributing to environmental pollution, the growing need for more fossil fuels to make the bottles, and this is all just so wasteful for no good reason.

The only other reason people (myself included) have used so much bottled water is convenience.  Let me tell you something, I bought a refillable water bottle (metal, not plastic) and I carry it with me everywhere I go.  I simple refill it with filtered water all day long.  Now I don’t spend anywhere near what I did on bottled water, and I feel a LOT better about the water that I am drinking, and the impact on the environment.  It is so easy to make such a simple change and choose to stop buying bottled water.  Get a filter (even an inexpensive one!) and a bottle, and stop this growing problem.  If you’re looking for a top-rated, easy to install drinking water filter, I recommend you visit Aquasana. They have been making and selling home water filters for years, and best of all, their award winning filters are not the most expensive brands on the market.

If you need any more convincing about the impacts of bottled water on our environment, take a look at this video.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (845 water bottles wasted every second!):

If you’d like to learn more, read any one of the helpful resources and articles listed below.

References (Sources of Information Used in this Article):

http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/03/26/bottled_water/

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update68.htm

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update68_data2.htm#table5

http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/case_studies/bottled_water_factsheet.pdf

http://www.container-recycling.org/plasfact/bottledwater.htm

http://www.container-recycling.org/assets/pdfs/reports/2007-waterwater.pdf 

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/pharmaceuticals-in-water.php

AP probe found traces of meds in water supplies of 41 million Americans

Here’s a scary thought: there could be trace amounts of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) and pharmaceutically active compounds and personal care products (PPCP) making their way into our drinking water.  These chemicals have already been discovered in surface and ground water and have been linked to ecological problems, even at trace levels of concentration.  Water treatment facilities attempt to remove impurities from our water, but these systems were never originally designed to deal with these modern threats.  Think about it, this wasn’t even a concern a hundred years ago when the world wasn’t overrun with chemicals and pharmaceutical products. 
 
What’s even scarier is that the regulations for measuring such contaminants and removing them from our water haven’t been completely defined and updated.  In other words, we don’t even know yet what compounds are harmful, and what measure of minute concentrations will actually cause toxicity, so there are no regulations yet on how much of it is acceptable in our water supply.

Regulatory issues won’t be tackled for years to come, but the EPA isn’t waiting for more study results before taking action. The EPA is educating the public and funding pharmaceutical programs by concerned groups and state and local government agencies.

There are numerous studies and projects underway now to identify the implications of such water contaminants to human health.  The general consensus is that any contaminants are in such low trace amounts that they are “unlikely” to cause harm in the human body.  Unlikely?  That isn’t good enough for me to feel secure drinking and cooking with this water, and it probably isn’t good enough for you and your family either. 

Many studies have shown that our conventional water treatment plants do not completely remove many EDCs and PPCPs.  The following drugs in the water supply have been detected:  antibiotics and antidepressants, hormone pills, tranquilizers, pain killers, cancer medication, and many more.  These substances can originally come from waste from industrial and farm uses, as well as from humans and farm animals.  Consider that “about 40 percent of US produced antibiotics are fed to livestock as growth enhancers.” (Source: University of Arizona).  More frightening quotes:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

If you’d like to read more on this issue, please visit these websites and resources:

Pharmaceuticals Lurking in US Drinking Water

Pharmaceuticals in our Water Supply, University of Arizona

Pharmaceuticals in Our Water Supply Are Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife

 

 

Advanced water treatment systems such as filtration with activated carbon or reverse osmosis, are viable systems for the removal of many trace contaminants.  However, more research needs to be done to make sure no harmful levels of these contaminants remain in our water.

Reverse osmosis filtration is extremely effective at removing particulates from water.  However, when it comes to home water use, it isn’t ideal because it also removes the helpful minerals that are present in natural water.  These minerals are good for your health and also make water taste better.  You’re better off with a combination filtration system that purifies your water without removing the good qualities of the water.

Whether you’re worried about drugs in your water, or any other water quality concern, you need to make sure you are using a good water filter for your family.  Educate yourself about the different types of water filter systems that are most effective and find the right solution so you can be confident that your family is drinking clean, pure, healthy water.