|
People have
turned to bottled water!
 Witness the $22 billion bottled water industry...
sometimes we pay more for water than gas! The problem is bottled
water is most often
nothing more than filtered tap water! And it takes 3 gallons of water
to make one gallon of Reverse Osmosis type bottled water! Add to
that the fact that plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water.
Then consider the environmental pollution which is resulting from
plastic waste, especially plastic bottles and bags. The growth in
plasic water
bottles sold has gone from 3.3 billion in 1997 to 15 billion in 2002.
That's a lot of water -- and a lot of waste!
 It
takes 1.5 million barrels of oil (enough to fuel 100,000 cars for
a year) to make the plastic bottles to meet Americans' demand
for bottled water!*
The kind of plastic most commonly
used for water bottles, polyethylene terephthalate, or PET,
is recyclable. But consumers recycle just
one of every five bottles they drink, with the rest ending up in
landfills, according to Pat Franklin, executive director of the
Container Recycling
Institute, a Washington group that promotes recycling.
The bottom line is that
wasted energy and wasted resources are being landfilled unnecessarily! * Source:
Earth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., environmental think
tank.
Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype?
 In March of 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) released a report called "Bottled Water Pure Drink
or Pure Hype?" NRDC‘s report points out about one-fourth
of bottled water is actually bottled tap water, according to government
and industry estimates (some estimates go as high as 40 percent).
And FDA rules allow bottlers to call their product "spring
water" even though it may be brought to the surface using
a pumped well, and it may be treated with chemicals. The report
also focuses on the fact that 60 to 70% of all bottled water is
exempt from FDA‘s bottled water standards, because it is
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.
Bottled Water Vs. Tap Water
Chemicals, contaminants, pollution,
price:
new reasons to rethink what you drink and beware of
bottled water.
By Janet Majeski Jemmott.
Growing Thirst
Remember the drinking fountain, that once ubiquitous, and free,
source of H2O? It seems quaint now. Instead, bottled water is everywhere,
in offices, airplanes, stores, homes and restaurants across the country.
We consumed over eight billion gallons of the stuff in 2006, a 10
percent increase from 2005. It's refreshing, calorie-free, convenient
to carry around, tastier than some tap water and a heck of a lot
healthier than sugary sodas. But more and more, people are questioning
whether the water, and the package it comes in, is safe, or at least
safer than tap water -- and if the convenience is worth the environmental
impact.
What's in That Bottle?
Evocative
names and labels depicting pastoral scenes have convinced us that
the liquid is the purest drink around. "But no one should think that
bottled water is better regulated, better protected or safer than tap," says
Eric Goldstein, co-director of the urban program at the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit organization devoted to protecting
health and the environment.
Yes, some bottled water comes from sparkling springs and other pristine
sources. But more than 25 percent of it comes from a municipal supply.
The water is treated, purified and sold to us, often at a thousandfold
increase in price. Most people are surprised to learn that they're
drinking glorified tap water, but bottlers aren't required to list
the source on the label.
This year Aquafina will begin stating on labels that its H2O comes
from public water sources. And Nestlé Pure Life bottles will
indicate whether the water comes from public, private or deep well
sources. Dasani acknowledges on its website, but not on the label
itself, that it draws from local water.
Labels can be misleading at best, deceptive at worst. In one notorious
case, water coming from a well located near a hazardous waste site
was sold to many bottlers. At least one of these companies labeled
its product "spring water." In another case, H2O sold as "pure
glacier water" came from a public water system in Alaska.
Lisa Ledwidge, 38, of Minneapolis, stopped drinking bottled water
a couple of years ago, partly because she found out that many brands
come from a municipal supply. "You're spending more per gallon
than you would on gasoline for this thing that you can get out of
the tap virtually for free," she says. "I wondered, Why
am I spending this money while complaining about how much gas costs?
But you don't ever hear anyone complain about the price of bottled
water." Ledwidge says she now drinks only filtered tap water.
The controversy isn't simply about tap vs. bottled water; most people
drink both, knowing the importance of plenty of water. What they
may not know is that some bottled water may not be as pure as they
expect. In 1999 the NRDC tested more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands
of water. (This is the most recent major report on bottled water
safety.) While noting that most bottled water is safe, the organization
found that at least one sample of a third of the brands contained
bacterial or chemical contaminants, including carcinogens, in levels
exceeding state or industry standards. Since the report, no major
regulatory changes have been made and bottlers haven't drastically
altered their procedures, so the risk is likely still there.
The NRDC found that samples of two brands were contaminated with
phthalates, in one case exceeding Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) standards for tap water. These chemicals, used to make plastic
softer, are found in cosmetics and fragrances, shower curtains, even
baby toys, and are under increasing scrutiny. They're endocrine disrupters,
which means they block or mimic hormones, affecting the body's normal
functions. And the effects of exposure to the widespread chemicals
may add up.
When exposed to high levels of phthalates during critical developmental
periods, male fetuses can have malformed reproductive organs, including
undescended testicles. Some experts link phthalates to low sperm
counts.
Water bottles do not contain the chemical, which means the phthalates
detected by the NRDC probably got into the water during processing
at the bottling plant, or were present in the original water source
(phthalates have been found in some tap water).
Bottled water is regulated for safety, but it's a tricky thing.
The EPA regulates tap water, while the FDA oversees bottled. Yet
FDA oversight doesn't apply to water packaged and sold within the
same state, leaving some 60 to 70 percent of bottled water, including
the contents of watercooler jugs, free of FDA regulation, according
to the NRDC's report. In this case, testing depends on the states,
but the NRDC found that they often don't have adequate resources
to oversee bottled water, in some cases lacking even one full-time
person for an entire state.
The FDA requires bottlers to regularly test for contaminants, but
the agency considers bottled water a low-risk product, so plants
may not be inspected every year. According to one FDA official, it's
the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that the product complies
with laws and regulations. Some bottlers turn to NSF International,
a trade group that conducts yearly unannounced inspections of plants,
looking at the source of the water and the treatment process, and
testing for contaminants. Other companies belong to the International
Bottled Water Association (IBWA), which also performs annual unannounced
tests to ensure the plant is up to FDA standards. IBWA has its own
regulations, some of which are stricter than the FDA's.
From
Reader's Digest - Full Article Here
Cost of Bottled Water Comparisons
Isn't it time to change? Go "Green"!
Find out more about the AquaMaker for
your home and office!
|
