USA Water Filter Blog

I posed this (age-old?) question on Twitter and Facebook today. To which one of myEnvironmental Studies colleagues replied, “the hose gives it taste.” Ah, yes, the taste of childhood, of a hot summer day and cooling off with a little bubbly from the green hose hanging from the side of the house. Heck, when I was a kid (1970s), we had a drinking fountain hooked up between the house and the hose. Still delicious. But is it safe? And what does it tell you about those bottled water people?

During my sophomore year of college, I spent four months studying in France. I had to make many language and cultural adjustments, but one of the biggest surprises was the general lack of public water fountains. As I journeyed across Europe on weekends and vacations, I learned the necessity of carrying a bottle of water.

Back home in the U.S., more people than ever are buying bottled water. Even in these difficult economic times, Americans purchase 500 million bottles of water every week! And this is despite the fact that we have near universal access to clean water in the United States (a blessing not afforded to more than a billion of our global neighbors).

So why exactly is bottled water so bad? Here are just a few of the many reasons to avoid purchasing bottled water:
• Bottled water costs around 2,000 times more than tap water. As Annie Leonard of www.storyofstuff.compoints out, that’s like paying $10,000 for a sandwich
• Much of the bottled water on the market today (including Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani) is nothing more than filtered tap water
• 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown into the landfill every hour
• Studies have shown that bottled water is no healthier than tap water in the U.S.
• Over 47 million gallons of oil are used per year to produce bottled water
• Currently only 10% – 20% of water bottles are recycled
• Manufacturers must use an additional 5 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water

http://www.blessedearth.org/blogs/why-i-dont-drink-bottled-water/

During a spot check by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ),six different types of bottled water were discovered to contain elevated amounts of the chemical compound bromate, a byproduct of the water sterilization process which, in excess, could lead to cancer. Among the water producers that are feeding you cancer water are Harbin Pharmaceutical Group and Jingyou Honghu Mineral Products Co Ltd. According to stuff we’ve read, excessive consumption of bromate may result in symptoms such as “nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain” as well as other scary stuff. 18 other brands of bottled/barelled water failed to meet general quality standards, as AQSIQ found high levels of not only bacteria (something we’ve worried about before) but free chlorine and strontium as well. A total of 220 different bottled/barreled water from 211 companies in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province were tested during the spot check.

http://shanghaiist.com/2011/09/01/are_you_drinking_cancer_water.php

Date night around my house usually includes a bowl of Smart Pop, a few drinks and a documentary film. Think what you will about the lack of pizzazz, I now know several things about Russian ballet, the economy, world food distribution and natural childbirth that I didn’t before. Last weekend, Tapped taught me a whole lot about bottled water that merits sharing. Here’s the message I took away from the film:

We’ve all bought bottled water. We’ve all carried it in our bags, left it in our cars and kept it on our desks at work. Bottled water offers convenience and thirst relief that has no calories, no sugar and no phosphate carbonation. It also costs more per gallon than the gas you put in your car. At roughly $6/gallon, Americans are buying water that costs pennies out of the tap. So why do we do it?

Reason #1: We think it’s safer or more pure than tap water. Ironically, bottled water, in some cases, is the same water that comes from a tap, according to the film, it just costs about 1,000 times more. In other cases, companies buy a parcel of land, pump the ground water and sell it in bottles. What if there’s a drought or an enforced water restriction? Oh well. You and I can’t water our lawns, but the water keeps a-pourin’ into the plastic bottles at the factory.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/word-from-a-mother/2011/sep/01/bottled-water-the-biggest-waste-of-all-time/

http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/word-from-a-mother/2011/sep/01/bottled-water-the-biggest-waste-of-all-time/

Students returning to Utah State University for fall semester found that they are now able to drink water from a fountain in two different buildings and fill their water bottle at the same time.

New water-bottle filling units have been installed at fountains in the Taggart Student Center and the Merrill-Cazier Library. According to the Utah Statesman, Diversity Vice President Brooke Evans led the initiative which was approved by Eric Olsen, Assistant Vice President for Student Services.

Evans says the goal is to promote the use of local quality tap water and refillable water bottles, reducing both the waste of plastic bottles and the fossil fuel it takes to transport them.

http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/news/local/USU-installs-two-water-bottle-filling-stations-128710038.html

New drinking fountains on campus were installed to prevent waste from thousands of disposable plastic water bottles.

Students looking for greener alternatives to their everyday habits need look no further than the drinking fountains in buildings all over Central Michigan University’s campus, said students in the Take Back the Tap Registered Student Organization.

The fountains are retro-fitted with water bottle filling taps, and encourage students to use refillable bottles to prevent unnecessary plastic waste from disposable ones. They first appeared in Pearce Hall last year and have spread to other academic buildings since then.

Thomas Rohrer, director of the institute of sustainable systems, said despite what many people think, the water from fountains or taps is really no different at all from the water bought in stores. All municipal water supplies are analyzed daily, and no health violations have occurred in at least the last decade. Unless the store-bought water is spring water, it’s really no different at all from tap water; approximately half of bottled water comes from public water supplies, he said.

http://www.cm-life.com/2011/08/31/tbtt-students-advocate-new-water-bottle-fountains/