It goes without saying that water is essential to life. If that is true, then healthy water is essential to a healthy life. When you turn on a faucet and take a drink, you assume that the water is safe to drink. While the United States is a front-runner in the world in terms of monitoring and improving water quality, each person is responsible for knowing the quality of their own source of drinking water.
What “goes in the ground comes around” when you turn on the tap. If more people considered this every time they took a drink of water, this world would be full of environmental activists! Unfortunately, groundwater pollution can be difficult to pinpoint. Chemical compounds like VOCs and MtBEs can travel for miles underground. Municipal water supplies are mandated by the EPA to treat the surface water collected and distributed. However, the chemicals used to treat drinking water in a public water supply can also be harmful to your health. The quest for clean, pure drinking water leads many people to buying bottled water.
Is bottled water the healthier solution? Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, not by the EPA. Drinking water is less regulated for bottled water public water supplies. In fact, nearly 25% of the bottled water in the United States originates from two companies – Pepsi’s Aquafina® (13 percent of the market) or Coke’s Dasani® (11 percent of the market). Both brands are purified, bottled water that is sourced from municipal water supplies.* Studies in Europe and Canada have shown increased levels of antimony, a toxic chemical that is released from PET plastic bottles when exposed to higher temperatures.
Environmental impacts of bottled water. If you are concerned about the environment, here are some fun facts about bottled water that may interest you:
- The manufacturing of bottled water uses more than 17 million barrels of oil annually – enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year.
- The electricity used in producing bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes annually.
- It takes 3 times the amount of water to make the bottle than it does to fill it.
- Each week, the U.S. transports 1 billion bottles of water. That’s like a convoy of 37,800 18-wheelers delivering water every week.
- About 50 billion plastic water bottles were purchased in the United States last year. However, over 38 billion water bottles ended up in landfills or were incinerated.
Environmental activism begins at home. While most people are concerned at some level about being a good steward to the environment, everyone is most concerned about their own environment. When it comes to water purification, your best strategy is to catch these contaminants as they come into your home. Let Absolute Water System be your environmental advocate in helping you to deliver clean pure drinking water to your family!
* Fishman, Charles. “Message in a Bottle.” Fast Company Magazine July 2007: 110