01.30.08
Bottled Water
Among the many feeds of articles and blogs I have received, many have pertained to bottled water. One article in particular, “Bottled Water: The Problems” reports that the American public spends $10,000 a minute for something that is free–water. What struck me in this article was that bottled water is not regulated like I thought. There are stricter laws regulating tap water than there are bottled water. Many of these plastic bottles end up in the landfills. So I notice the case of water on the floor by my kitchen cabinet. I am not a math major but even I can figure out that if I drink a case of water a week, by the end of the year, I will have used 1,248 plastic bottles.
Even reusing the plastic bottles is not healthy because the bottles are hard to clean and bacteria will grow with repeated uses. I have decided that another step for me to become green will be to give up bottled water. (After the case I have is used, that is.) I have decided to invest in a water filter for my tap and a reusable water bottle. I will do what I can to reduce plastic water bottle waste.
Bottled water corporations are changing the very way people think about water. Though many bottled water brands come from the same source as public tap water, they are marketed as somehow more pure. What’s more – bottled water corporations sell water back to the public at thousands of times the cost. Plastic bottles also require massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. Billions of these bottles wind up in landfills every year.
You can help reverse this trend. At events and over online networks tens of thousands are supporting the efforts of local officials to reduce the social impact and environmental harm of bottled water by prioritizing public water systems. Taking the Think Outside the Bottle Pledge is quick, easy, and sends the message that water is a human right, not a commodity.
Millions and millions of dollars are spent each week on advertising campaigns to give consumers the perception that bottled water comes from some pristine mountain spring or magical underground aquifer, assuring purity and quality. However, the fact is that bottled water is oftentimes little more than just tap water in a bottle… sometimes worse!
You see, the federal regulations that govern bottled water require it to be only as good as tap water, not better. There are no regulations or requirements that bottled water be any higher in quality than tap water, and according to some recent studies, it may often be of lower quality.
The fact is that people pay from $1 to $4 a gallon for the perception of higher quality, when in fact the quality of bottled water is at best unknown! Over 90% of the cost of bottled water is in the bottle, lid and label.
The bottled water industry is full of deception and questionable ethics. Industry lobbyists successfully fight every year to keep bottled water companies from having to abide by even the minimal health standards set by the EPA for tap water. The FDA, which regulates bottled water, states that “Companies that market bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public.”
In March 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report called “Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” NRDC’s report points out that as much as 40% of all bottled water comes from a city water system, just like tap water. The report also focuses on the fact that 60% to 70% of all bottled water sold in the U.S. is exempt from the FDA’s bottled water standards, because the federal standards do not apply to water bottled and sold within the same state. Unless the water is transported across state lines, there are no federal regulations that govern its quality. According to the NRDC, “Bottled water companies have used this loophole to avoid complying with basic health standards, such as those that apply to municipally treated tap water.” Also, all carbonated or sparkling waters are completely exempt from FDA guidelines that set specific contamination limits.
According to the NRDC study, “Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA’s specific bottled water standards, those rules are weaker in many ways than EPA rules that apply to big-city tap water.” For instance, if we compare EPA regulations for tap water to the FDA’s bottled water rules (these examples are quotes from the NRDC report):
- City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria. FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water).
- City tap water, from surface water, must be filtered and disinfected. In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water.
- Most cities using surface water have had to test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens that can cause diarrhea and other intestinal problems, yet bottled water companies do not have to do this.
- City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals, such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded the FDA to exempt bottled water from the regulations regarding these chemicals.
- City water systems must issue annual “right to know” reports, telling consumers what is in their water. Bottlers successfully killed a “right to know” requirement for bottled water
The Natural Resources Defense Council report concluded; “Therefore, while much tap water is indeed risky, having compared available data, we conclude that there is no assurance that bottled water is any safer than tap water.”
So why tolerate the inconvenience and high price… for water whose quality is such an unknown?
Point-of-use water treatment, with a quality in-home water filtration system, is by far the most economical, the most convenient and the most capable way of producing the healthiest, best tasting water… and at a fraction of the cost of bottled. Bottle your own!
With home water filtration you can conveniently refill your own bottles… at home… with great-tasting, healthy water for less than 10 cents a gallon instead of dollars per gallon.
Filtering out the chlorine, lead and other contaminants at the point of use, just prior to consumption, is really the only way to know for sure about the quality of your water. And when you factor in the benefits of lower cost, convenience and quality assurance, an in-home water filtration system is clearly the more sensible alternative to bottled water.
There’s also another great bonus… protecting the environment. Every day millions of plastic water bottles are being discarded… contaminating our precious natural resources. A single home water system can keep thousands of plastic bottles from ultimately polluting our environment.
Dare to be aware. learn the facts!
Rena Whelan said,
January 30, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Check out tappening.com. Great site. Great buzz about what they are doing. Really good information and resources.
Gail Spitz said,
January 31, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Good for YOU!!!
I think the whole bottled water phenomenon is ridiculous!!! If you take just a second to think about it, you will quickly realize that is nothing more than the beverage company’s latest attempt to snag our money – and they have been hugely successful at it – to the tune of about 15 BILLION dollars a year! Consumers are spending that much money on a totally unnecessary product! Just consider for a sec what 15 billion dollars could buy…or how many public water facilities could be updated and made cleaner if every consumer who purchased bottled water gave that much money to their munipical water treatment center instead…?
We installed an under the counter reverse osmosis system last year….($150 from Home Depot). Before that I used a terra cotta gravity filter dispenser that sat on the counter.
When I do decide to carry water with me I refill my SIGG stainless steel bottle or sometimes I still use my hard plastic Nalgene bottles.
I will NEVER buy bottled water again and I rarely drink it when it is offered!
BTW, I’ve also read that the advice of “drink 15 cups of water a day” is exaggerated and was actually created by, you guessed it, the beverage industry. Unless you are sweating profusely there is no need to drink that much water.
–Gail
macoffeegrounds said,
January 31, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I’m guilty too. We had a water guy come out and give us a fancy chemistry show on how dirty our well water is and how dirty our bottled water really is, and while the bottled water is somewhat cleaner than the well, it wasn’t much of an improvement. So why do we continue to buy it? It’s convenient. I guess we’re all suckers for convenience. Even after the chemistry show, did we change anything? No. What am I thinking? And we are paying for something that you’ve subtly reminded us is free.