USA Water Filter Blog

Q: We recently got connected to Maynilad. After many years of buying dirty water from delivery trucks, we finally have potable water coming out off our faucets. I know Maynilad water is potable, but does it not contain chlorine? I think I read somewhere that drinking chlorinated water carries some health risks? Is this true? –Enrico P., Las Pinas City

 

A: Yes, Maynilad chlorinates water as part of its process for making its water potable. Chlorine is perhaps the most commonly used disinfectant worldwide. At its usual concentration in drinking water (two to three parts per million), chlorine is very effective in killing most disease-causing or pathogenic microorganisms—bacteria, viruses and parasites including protozoa—except for a few hardy species (e.g., the protozoa cryptosporidium).

At present, there are substances and devices available in the market that can remove DPBs or the organic substances that serve as precursor of DPBs from chlorinated drinking water. One of the cheapest among these is activated carbon which removes chloroform and other DPBs. Thus, if you filter your tap water with a device or filter that contains activated carbon, this will surely reduce your health risks from DPBs.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/315688/trouble-with-chlorinated-water

 

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Some colleges and universities such as Seattle University and the University of Wisconsin have banned plastic water bottles, like the brands Deer Park and Aquafina, from their campuses. Many more schools, restaurants, and other facilities are starting to follow this trend. The University of Maryland, New York University, and Stanford University have also made the effort to help the environment by banning the sale of bottled water in their dining halls. In the place they were originally sold there are now water fountains or other water dispensers where students can refill their reusable containers.

As of 2007 in an effort to help the environment and save taxpayers money, Frederick County the County Board of Commissioners will no longer buy bottled water with county funds. Some of the major cities such as Las Angeles, Phoenix, and Chicago have also made it illegal to buy bottled water with county funds. More than 100 other cities and 3 states (Illinois, Virginia, New York) have already taken similar action.

http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/articleid/436274/newspaperid/818/Ban_on_water_bottles_helping_the_environment.aspx

 

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With the dramatic increase in gas and food prices, most of us can barely make ends meet, let alone think about saving money. The good news is, with a little imagination and perseverance, there are still plenty of ways to pocket extra cash.

Follow these 22 simple tips and save at least $100 a week:

[See the best personal finance stories from around the Web at the U.S. News My Money blog.]

Buy a Water Filter

Purchasing bottled water hurts not only the environment but your wallet as well. According to the Learning Channel, a family of 4 can save up to $55 a week by making the switch from bottled water to water filters.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2011/04/29/save-100-a-week-with-these-22-tips

 

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What can you do?

 

– Shop at your local farmer’s market as often as you can. The average food item travels 1,400 miles from the farm to our plates, burning up significant fossil fuels and creating pollution.

 

Locally grown foods are fresher and closer to ripeness and their journey to your table has consumed far less fossil fuel. Furthermore, they are much less likely to have been exposed to post-harvest pesticides.

 

– Add more fruits, vegetables and grains to your diet and ease up on the animal fats.

 

Meat and dairy products are major sources of saturated fat in the American diet and contribute to a higher risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Plus, red meat production creates about 3.5 times more greenhouse gases than grains.

 

– Buy fresh. Avoid frozen or extensively processed and packaged foods.

 

–Ban the can. Canned foods are lined with a resin that contains a chemical that is building up in the environment and in our bodies. Opt for fresh, dried, frozen or foods that are packaged in glass.

 

–Turn on your tap. Bottled water is costly and the waste it creates is not good for the environment. And you might be surprised to learn that municipal tap water is actually more regulated than bottled water.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110411/LIFESTYLES07/304119982

 

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The next time you go to the vending machine for a bottle of water (costing 6 cents an ounce) or, instead, sip from the drinking fountain (free), you will be taking part in another debate that touches on the fate of humankind.

Because the next time you grab a bottle from a case in the fridge (costing a penny an ounce) or fill a glass from the tap (a penny for 5 gallons) you will be choosing between dollars and cents, essential hydration and environmental waste, and personal health and public health.

Let your wallet be your first guide, opponents of bottled water say.

“The bottled-water industry has really built a market on casting doubt on the quality of tap water,” said Kristin Urquiza, director of Think Outside the Bottle, a campaign devised by Corporate Accountability International, a Boston-based group. “But more and more people are saying, ‘Wait a minute, bottled water is costing thousands of times more than tap water.’”

http://www.flcourier.com/lifestyle/health/5185-bottled-or-tapped-the-water-debate-rages-on

 

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Cheers…to efforts to get away from all this bottled water
You’ve probably heard an excellent salesperson being described as being able to sell ice to Eskimos, or something like that. Well, the bottled water industry is just about as good at marketing, when you consider the millions and millions of bottles of water sold each year, in most cases to consumers who already have quality water coming out of multiple faucets and refrigerators in their homes, on demand.

 

It’s true, the bottled water industry is a juggernaut, and it’s attained this status, aside from the convenience of buying a bottle of water, at the peril of municipal water systems. The bottled water industry has made municipal water service to consumers’ homes seem less than pure, dirty even, when the opposite is for the most part true.

 

What’s the result? Millions upon millions of plastic bottles that take who knows how many thousands of years – or is it millions – to bio-degrade. It’s litter that never goes away, or ends up circling in that Texas-sized trash whirlpool in the Pacific Ocean. Not only that, people drink water out of so many plastic bottles that unhealthy chemicals start to accumulate in your body. That can’t be good.

http://www.crookstontimes.com/opinions/editorials/x1061067906/Editorial-Cheers-to-tap-water-Jeers-to-Christmas-in-the-spring

 

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Saying there is “always more to do” toward going green, Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, speaking Tuesday at the 8th Annual Sustainability Summit, not only lauded the campus’s achievements to-date but announced an ambitious new conservation goal: reducing the campus’s use of potable water to 10 percent below 2008 levels by 2020. “This will require an investment of $1.6 million over five years,” he said, but “we’ll save $250,000 a year indefinitely.”

UC Berkeley uses more than 600 million gallons of potable water annually — mostly for water faucets, toilets, showers and other domestic purposes on the main campus and in the student-residence halls. According to a study by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS), the campus can meet the new water-use goals by upgrading to lower-flow fixtures, repairing leaks, replacing heating equipment and encouraging water conservation. Negotiations are in progress for a source of non-potable water, suitable for irrigation. If those are successful, Birgeneau said, the campus would be able to double its water-reduction goal.

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/04/19/sustainability-summit/

 

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A lot of us with kids or planning to have kids have spent the past few years throwing out sippy cups and bottles, searching for food containers labeled “BPA-free,” and giving up bottled water to keep ourselves and our children safe from the risks posed by BPA. But a new study suggests that the plastics we’re using instead of BPA may pose the same risks. Here’s what you need to know about this study and a few simple ways to limit your family’s exposure.

Since 2008, there’s been a growing consensus that BPA, an organic compound found in certain plastics, is harmful to the health, especially for children, infants, and fetuses. BPA mimics estrogen in the body and has been linked to obesity, problems with brain development, problems with the development of the reproductive system, adult sexual dysfunction, thyroid problems, and certain kinds of cancer. Also, some other things, too. That’s a lot. While some countries like Canada have banned many uses of BPA, in the US, it’s still legal in most places, but many producers have stopped using it in things like baby bottles.

Because of concerns about BPA, manufacturers have started to replace it with other compounds, which many of us have flocked to with the understanding that “BPA-free” means “safe.” The new study casts doubt on that assumption. The researchers took common plastic consumer products–from baby bottles to deli wrappers, soaked them in saltwater or alcohol, and recorded what happened as the plastics broke down. What they found was that these plastics, too, released chemicals that mimic estrogen, meaning that concerns about BPA may hold for other plastics, too.

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/04/27/are-plastics-leaching-harmful-chemicals-into-your-family-food/

 

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In The Big Thirst, Charles Fishman argues that inspiring awe for our most essential resource is key to creating effective water solutions

WE PAY good money for bottled water. But we will often take a few sips, forget the bottle in the car for a day and throw it away when its contents become unappetising.

It’s a common scenario that sums up our contradictory attitudes towards water. As Charles Fishman writes in The Big Thirst, though water is a priceless – and precious – necessity, too often we treat it with outright carelessness. That bottled water costs hundreds of times more than tap water only increases the irony of our disregard.

Yet Fishman isn’t out to add to the chorus of laments about the global water crisis. While he acknowledges the grim reality of Australia’s prolonged drought, and dwindling water levels in Nevada’s Lake Mead, he skips the guilt trips in favour of success stories.

He marvels at the cultural change in Melbourne, Australia, where residents cut personal water use by 60 per cent in 12 years. He travels to India, where several slums have built their own 24/7 water service – an initially costly investment that has yielded invaluable benefits. He even praises Las Vegas for its water-saving priorities: despite gaining 685,000 residents – and a penchant for showy fountain displays – the city and its suburbs used about the same amount of water in 2009 as in 1999.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/04/the-wonder-of-water.html

 

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The Toronto Catholic District School Board’s (TCDSB) two Rizzos teamed up last week to get bottled water banned from separate schools across the city.

North York Trustee Maria Rizzo offered Student Trustee Natalie Rizzo (no relation) honorary credit on an unanimously passed motion aimed at eliminating bottled water from all 201 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in Toronto by September 2012 at the Wednesday, April 21 meeting of the board.

“Tap water in the City of Toronto is probably the safest water in the world, and we’re lucky that it comes out of our taps,” the elder Rizzo said. “I know that there are people who are addicted to bottled water and they think that it’s safer and cleaner, but what it does is it has enormous economical, social and environmental problems that we do not want to give over to the next generation.”

Last month, the younger Rizzo – a Grade 12 student at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts – helped organize a student rally at the Catholic Education Centre in honour of National Bottled Water Free Day. The nationwide event and awareness campaign, led in the TCDSB by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, encourages young people to take a stand in support of public water and against the privatization of water resources.

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/998205–catholic-schools-to-phase-out-bottled-water

 

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