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Children
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Materials
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Interview
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Chlorination
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High
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Comparison
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Emergency Water
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Alternatives to
purchased bottled water
Additional issues
and
articles about bottled
water

I have always been a big advocate of tap water—not because I think it
harmless but because the idea of purchasing water extracted from some
remote watershed and then hauled halfway round the world bothers me.
Drinking bottled water relieves people of their concern about ecological
threats to the river they live by or to the basins of groundwater they
live over. It's the same kind of thinking that leads some to the
complacent conclusion that if things on earth get bad enough, well,
we'll just blast off to a space station somewhere else.
Sandra Steingraber, Having Faith, 2001 |
The Bottom Line:
Bottled water is not necessarily more pure or
safer than tap water.

Bottled water costs hundreds to thousands of
times
more than tap water, and tens to
hundreds of times more than home-treated
water.

Bottled water has often been demonstrated in
blinded tests to taste the
same as tap water.

Bottled water can have
no magical properties
to cure disease, help
you hydrate any better,
give you more energy, balance your body's pH,
or lose weight better or faster than tap (or
filtered) water.

Bottled water wastes resources and pollutes the
earth and atmosphere at every
stage of its production, distribution, and disposal of used bottles.

Are there any benefits to purchasing bottled water?
Are there better, more affordable strategies to satisfy your thirst on the road?
“I am sorry, Evian and San Pellegrino and
Dasani and all the other bottled waters out there—Aqua
Velva, Wells Fargo, Muddy Waters, Joan Rivers, Jerry
Springer, whatever—but the current campaign against paying
good money for bottled water when tap water is perfectly
good (and very likely purer) is so sensible on the face of
it that I am now done with you.
Fini. Kaput. Ausgeschlossen. No more designer water. Water
is water. If you want lemon flavoring, add a slice of lemon.
You want bubbles, stick a straw in it and blow.
My father, a true conservative, would have smiled on this.
All his life he resisted the attempts of big corporations to
gouge him by selling him stuff he didn’t need and so he was
not a consumer of high-priced water, anymore than he
would’ve purchased bottles of French air or Italian soil.
No, San Pellegrino and Perrier got rich off the pretensions
of liberal wastrels like moi who thought it set us apart
from the unlettered masses. We ordered it in restaurants for
the same reason we read books we don’t like and go to operas
we don’t understand - we say to the waiter, ”Perrier,” to
give a continental touch to our macaroni and cheese.
Enough. Man is capable of reform once presented with the
facts, and the fact is that bottling water and shipping it
is a big waste of fuel, so stop already. The water that
comes to your house through a pipe is good enough, and maybe
better."
Garrison Keillor Sept. 29, 2007 in the Salt Lake
Tribune
(Old
Faithful Bottled Water skit - APHC
7/5/97) |
- There are times and places where the immediate
availability of safe water is critical, as in the aftermath of a
disaster where normal water distribution is interrupted &/or the local water is
polluted. Bottled water can help tremendously in those situations
- but so could portable water treatment stations.
- When traveling out of town the water quality/safety
may be unknown (or known to be bad). That would be another
instance where purchasing bottled water would make sense.
In the absence of a disaster or travel, however, the main (and
arguably the only) benefit to bottled water is convenience - you can
take bottled water with you wherever you go or purchase it when you get "there"
and be reasonably assured of drinking safe, good tasting water.
Of course it has always been possible to take water
with you - back when I was a kid you simply filled a canteen or thermos
from the faucet and went on your way.
Today there are a wide variety of reusable water containers in plastic,
metal, glass and ceramic. Plastic and metal are most commonly used
for individual-use portable containers and glass and ceramic are mostly
limited to bulk water storage.
Alternatives to
purchased bottled water
Drink the local tap water -
In most cities in the US and other developed
countries the local tap water is safe.
Check if traveling, and if there is any question about
the water quality use a
portable water treatment device or buy bottled water.
Fill your own reusable bottle!
Filling your own reusable bottles and effectively cleaning them between uses
does
take some time and uses resources (water, soap, energy to heat the
water, and "elbow grease"). Some of the "convenience factor" of
pre-packaged
of purchased bottled water.
With a moderate initial expenditure and attention to
cleaning the container,
bottling your own tap water will cost well
under one cent per gallon.
If you have concerns about using tap water to drink
and fill your reusable
water containers, you can economically treat
your water with any of
the home treatment methods
described on this
page
that fit your
needs and budget and fill a 16oz water container for
$0.01 to $0.04.
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Concerns have been raised about the safety of some types of plastic
containers.
National Geographic Green Guide -
Plastic Containers:
Introduction
Plastic Containers:
Health Issues
Plastic Containers:
Solutions
Safer plastics - #2HDPE, #4LDPE, and #5PP
When choosing plastic containers, even those you'll use over
and over again, choose those that are accepted for recycling in your
area. Although #1 PETE is one of the most commonly recycled types, there
are no containers designed for re-use made from it, and one should never
re-use single-use #1 plastic bottles because their design doesn't lend
itself to proper cleaning and the bottles can harbor bacterial growth.
There are, however, a number of reusable containers made from another
commonly recycled plastic, #2 HDPE. Number #4 LDPE and #5PP plastics,
although not as widely recycled, are also good choices since, as with
#2, most research has not shown leaching of any carcinogens or endocrine
disruptors.
Basic Plasitc Info and Tips and the
Smart Plastics Guide
Avoid polycarbonate (#7) baby bottles
and sippy cups. For baby bottles, try and use glass (e.g.,
Evenflo), polyethylene (e.g., Evenflo, Medela, Playtex) or polypropylene
(e.g., Gerber, Medela) instead. Sippy cups made of stainless steel
(e.g., Kleen Kanteen), or of polypropylene or polyethylene (e.g., Avent,
Evenflo, First Years, Gerber, Playtex) are safer. Be sure to check the
bottle or cup to be sure of the type of plastic it contains. As for
baby bottle nipples, try and use silicone which does not leach the
carcinogenic nitrosamines that can be found in latex.
Bottled Water Backlash
None of the following plastics have been shown to leach
carcinogens or endocrine disruptors.
#2 HDPE (high-density polyethylene) is durable and widely
recyclable.
#4 LDPE (low-density polyethylene) is used in some food wraps
and sandwich bags.
#5 PP (polypropylene) is popular in reusable containers, though
not frequently recycled.
For an alternative to plastic, try the Thermos Stainless Steel Beverage Bottle #2550.
With a stainless-steel exterior and interior, it keeps beverages cold or
soups, coffee and tea hot 10 times longer than plastic bottles, or try
Sigg 's .6-liter Oval Traveler Reusable Bottle in stainless steel.
{other brands of metal containers you can look up on the web
include Klean Kanteen
(stainless steel),
Sigg
(ceramic-lined aluminum)
What You Can Do
Avoid leaving water in any plastic bottle in the heat.
{this would include purchased bottled water}
Hand wash reusable bottles gently.
Don't reuse PET bottles -
particularly baby bottles.
Fill reusable bottles with your own tap water, filtered if
necessary.
Is reusing
disposable water bottles (#1 PETE ) safe?
Research has turned up two opinion groups:
the refillers: The refillers say that washing and re-using water bottles
is safe, particularly if they
are washed regularly with hot, soapy water.
the non-refillers (represented, in particular, by the International
Bottled Water Association, an
organization that represents the interest of companies that sell
bottled water): Those in the
non-refilling camp state that only bottles specifically made to be
reused should be refilled. For
starters, they say that all kinds of bacteria can thrive in
made-to-be-disposed bottles, even
after washing.
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Additional issues and
articles about bottled
water
Kerosene and bottled water:
Ed Quillen,
Columnist for The Denver Post: 05/23/2008
Mr. Quillen coined the term
Equivalent
Kerosene Quotient (EKQ), to denote the amount of fuel required to transport
water from its source to a bottling plant. He specifically proposed a requirement to post the EKQ on bottles of
Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water if Nestle goes ahead with plans to truck
water 250 miles from a spring in the mountains near Nathrop, Colorado to
Denver for bottling. After researching the amount of water Nestle
is planning to ship, the amount of water a tanker truck can carry, and
average miles per gallon of the trucks, he calculated that the EKQ for trucking
the water to Denver would be 1.74 teaspoons of fuel per liter bottle.
1.74 teaspoons isn't much, you may say, but that works out to 1,680
gallons of fuel per day to transport the
planned 194,400 gallons of water.
Related Story 3/23/09
Update, August, 2009 -
Nestle wins approval to tap Colorado ground water - The world's
largest beverage company has won approval from
officials in Colorado to extract and bottle
spring water from the mountains of south central
Colorado... Nestle Waters North America may
draw 65 million gallons of water a year from a
spring in Chaffee County to sell under its
Arrowhead brand, county commissioners decided
Wednesday.
Bottled water in the Comics: The
University of Maryland used a
“Cathy” comic strip
from August 19, 2007 to encourage students to toss
their plastic water bottles in favor of a more environmentally friendly
alternative — tap water. The University of Maryland recently removed all
bottled water from the resident dining offerings and instead has installed triple filtered water stations with free student access.
The Sunday, May 18th "Doonesbury" comic strip assessed bottled
water as "... a triumph of perceived need over reason — the greatest
marketing coup in history."
Search for comics with this theme
here. (use
bottled and water as the search terms)
Time Magazine, Aug. 09, 2007
Water sales topped
$10.8 billion last year--all for something you can get virtually free.
"It's like marketing air," marvels Allen Hershkowitz, an industrial
ecologist with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). But
the phenomenal growth in bottled water isn't just draining our
wallets--it's also putting stress on the environment. It takes oil to
make the plastic in all those bottles and oil to transport the water
from its source to the consumer, and that means greenhouse gases--a
primary cause of global warming.
Bottled Water:
Pure Drink or Pure
Hype?
This is the online version of National Resource Defense Council's March
1999 petition
to the FDA and attached report on the results of our four-year study
of the bottled water industry, including its bacterial and chemical
contamination problems. The petition and report find major gaps in
bottled water regulation and conclude that bottled water is not
necessarily safer than tap water. The online version contains all of the
report's text, tables and figures; it does not include the accompanying
Technical Report or additional attachments to the petition.
Message in a Bottle-1: Americans
spent more money last year on bottled water than on ipods or movie
tickets: $15 Billion. A journey into the economics--and psychology--of
an unlikely business boom. And what it says about our culture of
indulgence.
from
Fastcompany.com, July/August
2007
...Bottled water is often simply an indulgence,
and despite the stories we tell ourselves, it is not a benign
indulgence. We're moving 1 billion bottles of water around a week in
ships, trains, and trucks in the United States alone. That's a weekly
convoy equivalent to 37,800 18-wheelers delivering water. (Water weighs
8 1/3 pounds a gallon. It's so heavy you can't fill an 18-wheeler with
bottled water--you have to leave empty space.)...
...Bottled water is not a sin. But it is a choice...
...Once you understand the resources mustered to deliver the bottle of
water, it's reasonable to ask as you reach for the next bottle, not just
"Does the value to me equal the 99 cents I'm about to spend?" but "Does
the value equal the impact I'm about to leave behind?"
Message in
a Bottle-2: Despite the Hype, Bottled Water is
Neither CLEANER nor GREENER Than Tap Water.
from emagazine.com September/October 2003
...A 2001 World Wildlife Fund (WWF) study confirmed the widespread belief that consumers associate bottled water with social status and healthy living. Their perceptions trump their objectivity, because even some people who claim to have switched to bottled water “for the taste” can’t tell the difference: When Good Morning America conducted a taste test of its studio audience, New York City tap water was chosen as the heavy favorite over the oxygenated water 02, Poland Spring and Evian...
ABC Reports - interesting videos - although
you do have to watch an ad first.
Is Bottled Water a Rip-Off? - As much as 45 percent of bottled
water comes from municipal water supplies - some is treated, some is
not. Jul. 08, 2009
Bottled Water Safety - Environmental Working Group study reveals
contaminants in some bottled water samples, although the levels were
below EPA limits. October, 16 2008
Bring Your Own Bottled Water
-
How to improve the quality of the water you
drink and the planet you live on.
Feb. 6, 2008
Aquafina, As Good as Tap Water - A top
brand of bottled water reveals its source is no better than tap.
Jul. 27, 2007
Bottled Water, Wasted Energy? -
Restaurants serve up tap water amid claims bottled water pollutes. Jul. 8,
2007
$75 Bottled Water - Though it can
be had for free, bottled water can be pricier than fine wine. Feb.
17, 2007
Bottled Water Biz - Americans spend billions
on bottled water, but it's really no better than tap. May. 11,
2006
Selling the Air We Breathe - Some marketers
think bottled oxygen industry could be as big as bottled water.
Apr. 21, 2006
Inside the
Bottle is a
Polaris
Institute project designed to stimulate citizen awareness about the
bottled water industry. This site has begun to
map the bottle water locations of the industry's Big 4 corporate
players. Citizens are invited to contribute to this map by investigating
and reporting how the industry operates within your community.
Bottled Water: Why Is It so Big? Causes for the Rapid Growth of
Bottled Water Industries
Nestle Loses Sales as Alice Waters Bans Bottled Water -
1/22/08 -- Tap water is fine for Alice Waters, who stopped selling
bottled stuff last year at her environmentally conscious Chez Panisse
restaurant in Berkeley, California. That could be bad news for
Nestle SA.
Living in a
Bottled Water World by Bill Melton - I have a keen dislike for
bottled water. I’m not so much against bottled water in and of itself --
bottled water is great for helping people recover from being without
water after hurricanes and tornados or for people planning trips across
the desert. What upsets me is how so many folks have come to think the
only way they can drink water is to buy it from a store even when they
have plenty of fresh running close by. And I really get bent out of
shape at ...
Fiji’s bottled water brand leaves a bad taste in the mouth - Fiji
Water is sold as the epitome of chic, but there's a darker side to its
ritzy image. The water racks up its carbon footprint by being
transported to Scotland from half way across the globe, and its sexy
uber-cool image is doing wonders for the country it hails from. Fiji
after all is a nation ruled by one of the world's most repressive
regimes...
Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle - Obama sips it. Paris Hilton loves it.
Mary J. Blige won't sing without it. How did a plastic water bottle,
imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become
the epitome of cool? — By Anna Lenzer
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