USA Water Filter Blog

U.S. bottled water consumption grew an additional 3.5 percent in 2010, on top of the 24 percent increase from 2004 to 2009. Sales of bottled water have more than quadrupled in the past 20 years. Just how much water are we talking here? Lots. Every 27 hours, Americans consume enough bottled water to circle the entire equator with plastic bottles stacked end to end. The beverage industry has made a killing with bottled water, but at what cost to the environment?

Plastic water bottles can be recycled, but most are not. They end up in landfills or as roadside litter. The production and transportation of bottled water for the U.S. market alone consumes more than 30 million barrels of oil each year and produces as much carbon dioxide as two million cars. Tap water creates less pollution and uses much less energy than transporting and manufacturing plastic water bottles. According to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, close to half of all bottled water is drawn from municipal tap water. Expensive bottled water — right from the tap.

As if just plain bottled water wasn’t enough of a boondoggle, now you can purchase it enhanced with everything from taurine to ginseng. Don’t want to drink coffee to get your caffeine? Try some Propel Invigorating Water. What do you think makes it so invigorating?  Lifewater, VitaminWater, Snapple Antioxidant Water — they claim to help protect your body, boost your physical performance during exercise and provide you with your morning nutrition. They use these claims to increase sales, and that is really the only benefit they offer over plain water.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/20/health/tap-into-drinking-water/

 

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Last week in The Problem With Plastics, I highlighted four reasons why plastics may not be so great for certain applications.  Here are 10 ways to reduce or eliminate your exposure and lessen the effects.

1. Buy a reusable BPA-free or stainless steel water bottle instead of using plastic disposable water bottles. They are available online and in many local stores at reasonable prices.   If you are currently spending $2 per week on bottled water the savings  are $104 per year.
2. Bring a reusable shopping bag to the grocery store or mall instead of plastic bags. Many stores such as Target, Whole Foods and Stop and Shop will give you 5 cents per bag off your total.
3. Use reusable produce bags instead of the plastic ones. Many online and retail stores are now carrying produce bags.  I purchased mesh bags at the Dollar Tree in Nashua at 4 for $1.  You could also reuse the plastic produce bags.  http://westford.patch.com/articles/ten-ways-to-reduce-common-plastics

 

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TAMPA – When we’re out in the sun in the summer, it’s important to hydrate. And on the University of South Florida campus, the water bottles are out in force.

But according to a former full-time anthropologist, now-turned sustainability-guru for the campus, those throw-away bottles need to be dumped.

“The egregious thing about all this is that it takes three times the amount of water to produce the bottle as it does to fill it,” said Dr. Christian Wells, who’s looking to stop that plastic waste from filling up landfills, dumps, or ditches on the side of the road.

USF has bought — and installed — a bunch of  “water refilling” stations connected to water fountains all over campus. Anyone with a suitable decanter can belly up and download some free H20.

It’s one of the big initiatives Wells has brought here in his role of Director of Sustainability.

“Most of our research in sustainability is called applied research,” he said. “We actually take the product and demonstrate it and do something about it.”

As of right now, there are 15 of the machines located on campus, but the plan is to put twice that many into place

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_tampa/usf/usf-fountain-technology-aims-to-reduce-plastic-water-bottle-waste-

 

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This year Canada Day’s going to be green in Campbell River.

In support of Campbell River’s Green City Strategy, the Canada Day Committee is asking everyone to do their part to make Canada Day an earth-friendly event.

At each of the major event venues there will be composting and recycling bins. Look for these bins after sampling the many great foods available from local and visiting vendors. Composting will be available for paper plates, napkins and cups and non-meat food scraps. At the recycling stations, there will be drop-off bins for beverage containers, paper products and plastics numbered one to six.

Bring your own water bottle because you will also be able to refill at the special water stations set up at Robert Ostler and Frank James parks. In an effort to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles for Canada Day, there will also be compostable cups supplied by Quality Foods at the water refill stations.

“This green initiative demonstrates pride for our city and leading by example to educate our community and our visitors. From the Children’s Festival to the Skateboard Competition, the Canada Day gathering is a great way to bring recycling and respect for our environment front and centre,” says Carol Chapman, Chair of the Canada Day Committee.

“Being green just makes sense for all Canadians. We have the resources to be green, so let’s celebrate Canada Day by being green and making a difference,” Chapman adds.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Canada+goes+green/5035141/story.html

 

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In the July issue of Elle magazine, the Editor’s Letter reads, “Unemployment hovers around 9 percent, and people feel they can no longer afford the luxury of trying to live consciously.” Roberta Myers, editor-in-chief of Elle, penned this in the magazine’s green issue. This got me thinking: Isn’t this the ideal time to be conscious of the way in which we live?

Unemployment is a huge problem in the United States—yet we seem to miss the point. Shouldn’t making less money drive us toward consuming less and wasting less?

Living consciously is not a luxury; it requires commitment and creativity. If we choose to “go green,” we have to change our mentality, a hard thing to do when we’re accustomed to seemingly unlimited water running from our sinks and great access to gasoline and energy. Budgets should start to convert us into semi-environmentalists. Things as common as long showers, bottled water, and leaving the lights on should be concerns of ours at this critical stage in our economy.

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/jul/02/thinking-green-when-youre-red/

 

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Picture a pristine creek trickling over rocks as it meanders its way down a forested mountain. Then imagine scooping its water with cupped hands on a hot summer’s day and feverishly swallowing it down. Or better yet, walking into a cosmopolitan city and simply filling your water bottle with it.

The latter is what’s happening in Aspen, where city officials have just unveiled three bottled water filling stations in an effort to cut down on waste, lubricate its populace and highlight its top-shelf H20.

Backing up its “Better Than Bottled” slogan, the folks at City Hall even went so far as to conduct a taste test this week where 9 out of 10 people randomly surveyed chose Aspen’s tap water over the pricey Fiji bottled water — a business that actually started here in the Roaring Fork Valley — and Coca Cola’s Dasani bottled water.

Aspen’s tap water tasted better, smelled superior and quenched their thirst with a higher degree of satisfaction than their commercial counterparts, the respondents reported, according to city officials.

 

Three water filling stations have been set up downtown: One at the corner of Cooper Avenue and Mill Street, another at the intersection of Hopkins Avenue and Galena Street and a third at Rio Grande Park.

http://www.realaspen.com/article/687/Aspen-trashes-plastic-bottles-trumpets-tap-water

 

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Summer’s here and you’re thirsty! Parched, you walk in to your local convenience or grocery store and buy a bottle of water, a plastic bottle. Right then, you seal your fate. You’re going to plastics hell, where you’ll hear the sound of baby dolphins crying and watch images of struggling sea turtles for all of eternity.

OK, maybe not. But perhaps you should think twice nonetheless.

Today [June 29, 2011]is Rise Above Plastics day, a perfect occasion to remember that we should strive to reduce our plastic consumption all year. One easy way to embark on your journey through plastic purgatory is to start small: with water bottles. If the Mayor of San Diego can make the City do it, surely you can curb your consumption of this expensive luxury item.

Really, bottled water isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s not necessarily cleaner, and in fact, it’s less regulated than tap water. Yes, your tap water is probably safer to drink than an overpriced bottle of water. And yet, people wind up spending up to 10,000 times more on bottled water than we would have paid for tap water. Which translates to about $100 billion for our corporate friends.

http://obrag.org/?p=40640

 

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If you’ve ever taken part in any of the conferences or talks on water, you may have heard the discussion on the water we drink.

Not here specifically, but water in general.

It deals with the argument that using bottled water isn’t the best environmental move we’ve made. It’s not so long ago that people laughed at people who actually bought bottles of water, paying good money for something that comes out of the tap almost for free.

It’s not just Nanton that’s a bit skittish about water. It’s a North American trend.

Many cities have water that tests safer and tastier than bottled water, but water companies are sending the message that tap water isn’t safe. Just watch your television commercials. How many commercials do you see for bottled water.

http://www.nantonnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3195885

 

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ORILLIA – A folk festival would seem an obvious choice for earth-friendly initiatives.

Aaron Howes, chair of the Mariposa Folk Festival’s “greening” committee for the third year running, certainly thought so.

It was Howes – a member of the Mariposa Folk Foundation’s board of directors – who originally penned a ‘white paper’ on potential measures to lighten the festival’s environmental footprint.

“There were a bunch of other festivals that were thinking and doing these types of initiatives, and I felt it wasn’t even on our radar at the time and I felt it should be,” he says.
Two years, and a growing number of green initiatives later, Howes continues to steer the ship.

http://www.simcoe.com/what’s%20on/article/1036447–a-greener-festival

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