USA Water Filter Blog

Is drinking bottled water the solution?

Evidently, many people believe so.

Bottled water represents, by far, the fastest growing segment of the beverage industry with annual sales exceeding $11 billion.

How has the bottled water industry created such a demand for a commodity that’s available for free?

By slick marketing tactics and taking  advantage of lax governmental regulations.

Playing the message that bottled water is cleaner, and therefore healthier, the bottled water industry has successfully created one of the most incredulous scams of the century.

Here’s how you’ve been duped:

• Studies reveal that about 40 percent of bottled water is actually regular tap water with possibly no additional filtering treatment.
• The EPA standards that apply to public water supplies do NOT apply to bottled water
• There are no restrictions protecting against a source of bottled water being located near industrial facilities or waste dumps.
• Overall, bottled water is less regulated than tap water.
• A recent Environmental Working Group test uncovered 38 contaminants in 10 brands of bottled water, including DBPs, nitrate, caffeine, arsenic, Tylenol, bacteria and industrial chemicals.
• http://waterfilters.mercola.com/drinking-water-filter.aspx

 

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Your body depends on clean water to perform its daily functions, such as digestion, temperature and blood regulation, respiration, and detoxification.

In particular, your body’s ability to flush out toxins and properly assimilate nutrients depends heavily on an abundant intake of clean, chemical free water. The more stress, toxins, and pollutants your body battles with each day, the more water it needs.

The quantity and quality of the water you use largely determines your body’s ability to shed excess fat and properly maintain your body’s largest organ, your skin.

While your entire body is 72 percent water, your skin is 80 percent water. Plentiful water is needed to maintain your skin’s elasticity and moisture barrier.

Your blood is over 90 percent water and uses water to transport oxygen, nutrients, and antibodies throughout your body.

 

http://waterfilters.mercola.com/drinking-water-filter.aspx

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If you’re like most people, you probably take your drinking water for granted. You crack open a bottle or turn on the filter on your tap and pour yourself a nice tall glass of cool, sparkling water.

Did you know that the cleanest-looking water isn’t necessarily the healthiest? Sometimes the greatest dangers with drinking water can’t be seen, tasted, or even smelled.

Impurities in your drinking water can come from a number of sources.

There are many different toxic synthetic chemicals used in society today. And, unfortunately, the list grows longer every year.

To make matters worse, even some naturally occurring substances can be harmful when they end up in your drinking water.

Then there’s the question of water treatment and the myriad contaminants that can result from the process of disinfection. Finally, distribution systems and pipes create hazards all on their own.

To be sure, your drinking water is subject to many, many potential points of contamination. And honestly, these potential hazards can vary from water source to water source…

http://waterfilters.mercola.com/drinking-water-filter.aspx

 

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To make your water safe to drink, your local water treatment plant most likely adds chlorine, chlorine dioxide, or chloramines to the water.

The practice of adding chlorine to drinking water began in the late 1800s and by 1904 became the standard in water treatment, and for the most part remains so today.

Chlorine isn’t necessarily used because it’s the safest or even the most effective means of disinfection. It’s used because it is the cheapest and it is highly effective at eliminating water borne infections that are all too common in countries like India and Mexico..

While chlorine effectively kills the harmful, disease-causing microorganisms, an unwanted side effect typically occurs at the same time.

Water supplies naturally contain organic matter, such as decaying vegetation. The chlorine-containing disinfectants react with this matter, generating toxic chemical disinfection byproducts, or DBPs for short.

And here’s the point that I want you to grasp…

Chlorine itself is relatively harmless. Research reveals that the disinfection byproducts (DBPs)produced from chlorine are potentially harmful to your health!

In other words, it’s typically the disinfection byproducts, the DBPs – not chlorine – that are responsible for the potential toxic effects of chlorinated water.

http://waterfilters.mercola.com/drinking-water-filter.aspx

 

 

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House Republicans (mostly driven by the tea partiers) want to get rid of “cumbersome environmental regulations” that allow the EPA to regulate and prevent waste products (pollution) from being spewed into the environment. They have inserted at least 39 provisions in a reauthorization bill to strip the EPA of its authority. They act as if the environment is something far away, something that shouldn’t concern us anyway. People, the environment is our home, we live in the environment. The water we drink, that is generated by the environment. The air we breathe, that is the environment. The food we eat, the grass we mow, the rivers we paddle, the land we live on, the oceans that sustain us, the wood that makes up our houses …; this is the environment!

Prior to EPA regulations, individuals and industry were able to throw their trash and dump their waste into the environment, free of charge, no treatment necessary. Don’t you remember the roadside dumps where people just threw their trash anywhere? Does no one remember the tragic Woburn Superfund case, made famous in the book “A Civil Action?” Long story short, industrial waste was thrown out the door and emitted into the air, causing massive contamination of air and water with tragic results to the people who lived nearby.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20110730-OPINION-107300304

 

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OK, the green gloves are off. “Shame on you if you drink bottled water!” shouts a post on Epicurious’ Recipe Swap forum. The discussion on the thread isn’t so much a debate as a community monologue, in fact, with a slew of others jumping in with their agreement.

Objections to buying bottled water mentioned include the waste of resources used in manufacturing the plastic bottles and then not recycling them all, and also paying for what’s often tap water anyway. Another issue: whether chemicals from the plastic bottles leach into the water.

I feel an Epi-log informal poll coming on…

Do you buy bottled water regularly?

Do you use a refillable water container?

Share your views on the bottled water issue here, and look out next week for my post on choosing paper, plastic, or cloth totes at the grocery store.

(Want to go greener? Watch our Green Kitchen videos, where eco-lifestyle expert Danny Seo shares tips for making your favorite room more environmentally friendly.)

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2011/07/water-tap-or-bottle.html#ixzz1TadV8s8i

 

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Eco-Friendly Practices

Reducing waste and adopting eco-friendly initiatives at the practice level can improve public perception and your profit. Renovating or constructing a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified building can demonstrate a physician’s compassion for the planet as well as his or her patients. Key features include:

• energy-efficient lamps
• high-efficiency windows
• natural ventilation and
• optimized insulation

Make Your Office Greener

Limiting noise in your office contributes to a more tranquil atmosphere and helps put patients more at ease. Noise reduction measures should provide spaces that allow the discussion of personal information to remain private.

Here are more tips to help your practice go green:

• Ask your utility provider for an energy audit to identify problem areas and solutions.
• Choose green cleaning products to improve indoor air quality.
• Cut water use in half by installing aerators on all faucets.
• Ditch disposables and switch to reusable items that can be cleaned and sterilized with less energy and water than making and shipping disposable items each time.
• Install motion sensors for lights and a programmable thermostat.
• Purchase recycled office products, make two-sided copies and recycle as many items as you can.
• Replace bottled water services with a filtration system in the water line.
• Select Energy Star-rated office machines and power down nightly to eliminate nighttime energy use.
• Use only low-VOC — volatile organic compound — carpet and paint for renovations or new construction to limit toxic emissions after installation.
• http://www.mdnews.com/news/2011_07/national_jul11_creating-a-new-normal-the-benefits-of-

 

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Have you ever wondered about the water that you are drinking? Is municipal water safer than private well water? How about filtered water and bottled water, maybe we should buy all of our water from the store. The United States is extremely fortunate to have the safe drinking water supply that we have, especially when we think about drought-striken third world countries with no source of clean water. Water is essential for daily living, not only for our health and survival, but also for cleanliness and recreation. August is “National Water Quality Month” – do you know the quality of the water your family is drinking?

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has jurisdiction over public municipal water supplies and requires that each city sample the water for safety and release the result of the quality water tests to the public. Municipal tap water is the source for 47.8% of bottled water, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, however bottled water companies are under no such requirement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the source of bottled water. There are no regulations that require bottled water companies to disclose the water’s source, method of purification and any pollutants that may be in the water. Keep in mind that some bottled water companies do supply this information, and as a wise consumer it is recommended to research the brand of bottled water that you prefer.

http://www.aledotimesrecord.com/news/facebook/x1217539499/Whats-in-your-water

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As we’ve previously reported, bottled water has a scary story and its one best not told at bedtime to small children. Why? Because you’re drinking tap water placed into containers that may have adverse effects on our health and certainly have adverse effects on the environment.

Luckily, the shady side to the bottled water industry is slowly being brought to light by a determined resident of Santa Monica. Stephanie Soechtig is the director of “Tapped“, a documentary by the producers of “Who Killed the Electric Car” and “I.O.U.S.A.” Soechtig, who has worked in television for ten years, is currently President of Atlas Films.

Recently, we spoke with Soechtig about the future of bottled water and why Michael Pollan is superior to George Clooney.

What would you tell someone who insists on drinking bottled water?

People still write to me asking how I can condone tap water with all the fluoride and chlorine in it – they still believe that doesn’t exist in bottled water. We have this blind faith when it comes to bottled water that it must be safer for us – why? Because we pay for it?

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2011/07/28/director-stephanie-soechtig-tells-us-why-bottled-w/

 

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Although we cannot survive more than one week without it, many consumers take this precious commodity for granted and abuse it daily. Our bodies are over 70 percent water so you would think we would be responsible for it, but this is not the case in much of the world today.

Nearly 900 million people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water today. On July 28, 2010 the United Nations General Assembly declared “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights.”

We all can make choices to be environmentally responsible or continue on the path to destruction. Our choices include choosing the tap over bottled water … sustainable practices at home … water conservation locally and abroad … responsible healthy lifestyles.

The non-profit organization, Food and Water Watch, advocates the elimination of bottled water and their slogan, “Take Back the Tap,” stresses the need for the bad habit of bottled water to end along with ending widespread pollution by plastic bottles. The only thing wrong with this picture is that most of our tap water is polluted.

FILTERING YOUR TAP

Tap water, at one time, was fairly safe to drink. Nowadays, with so many toxic chemicals – arsenic, chromium 6, perchlorates, lead, BPA, MTBE’s, and nitrates – in our water tables, it has become a necessity to use some kind of filter to reduce our risk of illness and life-threatening diseases from these toxins.

It is important to check with your local water district for specific contaminants in your water. If you are on a well, have your water tested yearly to determine what’s in it for your own safety. There are many in-line water filtration systems to remove just about everything from the water. They range from simple countertop water filtration, to faucet water filters and pitchers, to more sophisticated under-the-sink models.

http://www.topangamessenger.com/story_detail.php?ArticleID=4560

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