USA Water Filter Blog

Today, as I stood in line at the grocery store, watching the woman in front of me haul a huge case of bottled water up to the conveyor belt, I felt that familiar twinge…a combination of frustration and confusion.

All I could think about was those 24 unnecessary bottles ending up in the landfill. And the unnecessary oil it took to make the bottles. And the unnecessary mess that was made while extracting the oil.

“Why, why, WHY?” I wondered. Why would you pay for bottled water every week when perfectly good water flows out of every faucet in your house?!

And then it dawned on me. The answer was right there on the packaging. “Purified water.” One of the biggest reasons people buy and drink bottled water is because they think it’s cleaner than tap water.

But 40 percent of all bottled water in the U.S. is actually taken from municipal water sources. Bottled water companies are literally bottling up the same water that comes out of your faucet, jacking up the price, and laughing all the way to the bank.

Also disturbing is the fact that far less testing is done on bottled water than on tap water. It turns out that unlike tap water, bottled water isn’t tested for e. coli. And it can be distributed even if it doesn’t meet the quality standards of tap water. Unlike tap water, bottled water isn’t required to produce quality reports or even provide it’s source.

http://www.care2.com/causes/tap-water-is-cleaner-than-bottled-water-and-other-shocking-facts.html

 

NSA Water Filters

Fresh, pure, premium, and safe are some of the words that come to mind when we think about bottled water. But the question remains: is bottled water really better than tap water? At first glance, it’s easy to assume so. But when we take a closer look, it turns out bottled water isn’t really all that it’s tapped out to be…

Americans spent about $15 billion dollars on bottled water last year, and bottled water sells for at least 300 times the cost of tap water. Bling H2O sells individual bottles for $40. They justify the price with their “9 step purification process” and an aesthetic crystal-infused lining of the bottle. Bling H2O represents the zenith of ultra premium market of bottled water. How did we get here?

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2011/09/29/the-dirty-truth-about-bottled-water/

NSA Water Filters

I have never understood the addiction that some people seem to have to bottled water, let alone water itself. I hardly drink anything that lacks the fizz of carbonation, the lemon tang of Crystal Light or the bitter bite of coffee.

But from the U.S. to Canada, the administrations of 14 colleges, such as Saint Benedict and Macalester College in Minnesota, have taken note of the addiction and have acted against it.

The two universities have banned the sale of bottled water on campus during the past year for the sake of sustainability, according to a USA Today article.

The higher powers of Macalester College have tried to ease students into the transition, planting 31 “hydration stations” – water fountains with an additional spigot for refilling bottles – around campus, according to the article.

My reaction? I think buying water when it flows cleanly from taps is a strange and unnecessary luxury.

http://thecollegianur.com/2011/09/28/the-truth-of-tap-water/22150/

 

NSA Water Filters

Dramatists call this one of the biggest scams in social and economic history, and I have a hard time disagreeing: Bottled water.

It seems to me that people only continue to consume bottled water because a) it has become ingrained in American culture and b) the majority of Americans are too ignorant to think about it. But consider this:

• The price of bottled water is 10,000 times the price of tap water.
• 40 percent of bottled water comes from the same tap sources to which we all have access.
• Bottled water producers are not required to test for e. coli, disclose the source of their water or produce quality reports.
• Enough oil is used in the production of bottled water each year to fuel 1 million cars for a year (17 million barrels of oil, to be precise).
• It takes three times the amount of water that is actually in a bottle to produce it.
• 1.1 billion people in the world today do not have access to safe drinking water.
• http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/17928

 

NSA Water Filters

It surprised me to learn that opposition to the RSU’s Water Bottle Free initiative exists on our campus. The move is ethical, beneficial to nature and it aims to save students money — how could I not be puzzled. Let’s explore the RSU’s decision.

The first problem with bottled water is an ethical one: the waste created from plastic bottles is ecologically unjustifiable. A study by the Environment and Plastics Industry Council shows that of the 125,775.4 tonnes of plastic bottle waste created in Canada in 2002, only 60,949.5 were recycled. That means that 52 per cent of plastic water bottles were not recycled — and they’re just taking up space in a landfill. Polyethylene bottles do not decompose, so our garbage will compound and it’ll be there at the turn of the millennium (keep in mind that sales of bottled water have, unthinkably, gone up since then). The manufacture of plastic bottles also consumes oil and produces greenhouse gases. Why would we as conscientious and progressive Ryerson students support this industry?

http://theeyeopener.com/2011/09/guest-editorial-the-ethics-of-bottled-water/

 

NSA Water Filters

Vancouver Island University is weaning itself from the bottle — the plastic bottle, that is.

VIU campuses are phasing out the sale of plastic water bottles between now and June, but Cowichan’s ahead of the curve.

“The Cowichan campus was designed as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building, so it’s already built in water fountains around campus, and the cafeteria is not selling bottled water,” VIU’s Toni O’Keefe said.

She added that while the bottle-ban is part of the university’s environmental values, individuals are still allowed to tote their own plastic bottles in campus.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/130642898.html

 

NSA Water Filters

I have been boiling my drinking water for years now, The habit started out more for cosmetic reasons because I didn’t like the taste of tap water, and it developed into a concern for good health. Alas, when the electricity bills started to go through the roof, conservation measures had to be instituted, and I had to do a cost-benefit analysis of continuing this practice.

I shifted to bottled water, which was more economical for a while, but that too has taken a toll on my pocketbook, and so my latest experiment in accessing a constant supply of clean drinking water is to use the jugs on the market (various brands) with water filtration that uses activated carbon to purify water.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110928/health/health3.html

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110928/health/health3.html

NSA Water Filters

Beyond the issues of your health and the environment, which I’ll discuss in a moment, bottled water represents a novel form of privatization, in which private corporations have succeeded at making water a commodity.

The film compares the cost of drinking water to gasoline, stating that as the cost of water has surpassed the cost of gas, it’s becoming evident that drinking water is the next Empire… Already, the World Bank has estimated the value of the world water market at $800 billion per year.

In communities around the United States, people are now gathering together to protect their local water supplies from being sold by private corporations.

Changes in global climate have caused water supplies to dwindle in certain areas, and the film includes a segment highlighting the irony many of these communities now face. For example, in 2007, Raleigh, North Carolina faced a terrible drought. Yet the Pepsi plant continued their water bottling plant operations even at the height of the drought. Pepsi Company used an estimated 400,000 gallons of municipal water a day, which they bottled and sold back to the community right as it was running out of water… It would seem obvious that water supplies should be reserved for the local communities, but as stated in the film, when private corporations control the water supply, you end up with “a collision in moral values.”

http://www.nafwa.org/general-nutrition/alternative-nutrition/33278-ditch-this-habit-youve-been-tricked-to-think-its-healthy.html

 

NSA Water Filters

• By 2030, two-thirds of the world may lack access to clean drinking water, and while global climate change is partly responsible for dwindling water supplies, privatization of water sources poses a major threat to many communities
• According to World Bank estimates, the value of the world water market is about $800 billion per year, and with the cost of water surpassing the cost of gasoline, drinking water is poised to be the next industrial empire
• Even during drought conditions, some bottled water plants use municipal water and make tremendous profit by selling the water back to the community from which it was taken
• Consumers are frequently mislead into thinking that bottled water is healthier than tap water, but oftentimes it’s identical, and sometimes more contaminated
• http://www.nafwa.org/general-nutrition/alternative-nutrition/33278-ditch-this-habit-youve-been-tricked-to-think-its-healthy.html

 

NSA Water Filters

The growing consumption of bottled water has many people taking a closer look
at the industry. The association between bottled water and good health is now
being questioned, as well as the excessive garbage and costs that store-bought
water accumulates. Below are 20 reasons you should stop consuming bottled
water.

1. High Cost – You are not getting a good deal when you buy
bottled water. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), bottled
water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. Some vending
machines actually offer 12-ounce bottles of water next to cans of soft drinks,
charging the same for each item. This is simply a waste of your money, as water
if often available for free from many places.

2. Not Healthier Than Tap Water – Contrary to what marketers
would have you believe, bottled water is not the healthy, pure alternative to tap
water. Do not buy into this propaganda of fearing tap water, as it was placed in
the public’s subconscious in order to sell more bottled water.

3. Tap Water in Disguise – Sometimes, the “bottled water
versus tap water” debate is completely unnecessary. After all, many companies
are simply placing tap water in the bottles! Of course, they don’t do that without
greatly inflating the price of public water first.

http://www.h2bidblog.com/clean-water-web/should-you-stop-consuming-bottled-water/

 

NSA Water Filters