Bottled Water

az1965

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The Truth About Bottled Water

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By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding - Posted on Tue, Jul 21, 2009, 1:35 pm PDT


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Eat This, Not That
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Imagine you’ve just been given a choice: You have to drink from one of two containers. One container is a cup from your own kitchen, and it contains a product that has passed strict state, federal and local guidelines for cleanliness and quality. Oh, and it’s free. The second container comes from a manufacturing plant somewhere, and its contents—while seemingly identical to your first choice—have not been subjected to the same strict national and local standards. It costs approximately four times more than gasoline. These products both look and taste nearly identical.

Which do you choose?

If you chose beverage A, congratulations: You just saved yourself a whole lot of money, and, perhaps, even contaminants, too. But if you picked beverage B, then you’ll be spending hundreds of unnecessary dollars on bottled water this year. Sure, bottled water is convenient, trendy, and may well be just as pure as what comes out of your tap. But it’s hardly a smart investment for your pocketbook, your body or our planet. Eat This, Not That! decided to take a closer look at what’s behind the pristine images and elegant-sounding names printed on those bottles.

You may actually be drinking tap water.
Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.

Bottled water isn’t always pure.
Scan the labels of the leading brands and you see variations on the words “pure” and “natural” and “pristine” over and over again. And when a Cornell University marketing class studied consumer perceptions of bottled water, they found that people thought it was cleaner, with less bacteria. But that may not actually be true. For example, in a 4-year review that included the testing of 1,000 bottles of water, the Natural Resources Defense Council—one the country’s most ardent environmental crusaders—found that “about 22 percent of the brands we tested contained, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits.”

It’s not clear where the plastic container ends and the drink begins.
Turns out, when certain plastics are heated at a high temperature, chemicals from the plastics may leach into container’s contents. So there’s been a flurry of speculation recently as to whether the amounts of these chemicals are actually harmful, and whether this is even a concern when it comes to water bottles—which aren’t likely to be placed in boiling water or even a microwave. While the jury is still out on realistic health ramifications, it seems that, yes, small amounts of chemicals from PET water bottles such as antimony—a semi-metal that’s thought to be toxic in large doses—can accumulate the longer bottled water is stored in a hot environment. Which, of course, is probably a good reason to avoid storing bottled water in your garage for six months—or better yet, to just reach for tap instead.

Our country’s high demand for oil isn’t just due to long commutes.
Most water bottles are composed of a plastic called polyethylene terepthalate (PET). Now, to make PET, you need crude oil. Specifically, 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of PET water bottles ever year, estimate University of Louisville scientists. No wonder the per ounce cost of bottled water rivals that of gasoline. What’s more, 86 percent of 30 billion PET water bottles sold annually are tossed in the trash, instead of being recycled, according to data from the Container Recycling Institute. That’s a lot of waste—waste that will outlive you, your children, and your children’s children. You see, PET bottles take 400 to 1000 years to degrade. Which begs the question: If our current rate of consumption continues, where will we put all of this discarded plastic?

To learn the truth about diet soda, energy drinks and discover the best no-diet weight loss solutions on the planet, check out all of the eye-popping lists at eatthis.com. Also, sign up for your FREE Eat This Not That! newsletter and stay informed about the best choices for you and your family.
 

Shane

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Thtats why I drink tap water regularly!
 

Shane

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I hope you have a good filter connected to your tap that can filter all the unwanted minerals as well as chlorine and flouride.

Nope none. Don't plan on getting one either.
 

trueherotillman

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nice article... i take an empty water bottle and fill er up at the work 5 gallon water jug....free and convenient (except on the weekend anyway).
 

dreamcastrocks

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Tap water literally hurts my stomach to drink. It isn't psychological either.
 

Shane

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I am a water snob at that isn't psychological either. ;)

I say psychological. Considering that over the years much of the bottled water you drink has been worse than tap. Proven by this article. You probably didnt get sick to your stomach either. :p
 

Mulli

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I live in a building with pipes that are seriously old. I buy large plastic things of water that fit in the fridge, because 1) I can and 2)because it tastes better.
 

Mulli

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About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.

so 75% is not from municipal sources?

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dreamcastrocks

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I say psychological. Considering that over the years much of the bottled water you drink has been worse than tap. Proven by this article. You probably didnt get sick to your stomach either. :p

Opinion noted, but frankly rejected. ;)
 

thirty-two

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bottles water ftw! (and yes I read the article)
 
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az1965

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More on water...

Water Purification and Storage
With all this talk about safe drinking water, an obvious point of concern is where to get it, or how to make your own. Water in bottles is no guarantee of safety, especially since many just run tap water through a carbon filter. I tend to favor the HEB Glacia water or the Fiji water. If you want a purification system of your own, let us compare the different methods, each of which has its strengths and weaknesses. The primary methods are Carbon Filter, KDF (i.e. Zinc and Copper alloy) Filter, Reverse Osmosis, and Distillation. The following table compares what each method handles. A carbon block filter won't handle minerals, nitrates, salts, or fluorides, but will handles chlorines and volatile chemicals whose boiling points are below that of water. Beware of using Reverse Osmosis, however, as the quality of filtration drops dramatically with use. Not only do bacteria eat the membrane, but fluorides are so caustic that continual use requires the membrane to be replaced monthly. Distillation is most reliable method overall, but must be combined with a prefilter to remove volatile chemicals. A KDF prefilter is preferable as these are cheaper and more durable than carbon. Another caveat of distillers is that you must get one with glass/pyrex components instead of stainless steel, which would add aluminum into the water. Such distillers are expensive.

Avoid drinking water from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plumbing, which automatically excludes most tap water. PVC plumbing seeps a list of known carcinogens into the water. Water storage is as important as filtration. This is one of the problems with bottled water. Most of the bottles are made of cheap plastic which seep carcinogenic like Dioxins and Vinyl Chloride. It is therefore important to avoid prolonged water storage in those cheap plastic bottles. Use glass/pyrex or polycarbonate bottles instead, which are made by companies like New Wave Enviro Products. To check your plastic bottle to see if it is polycarbonate, look for the number 7 in the little recycle triangle symbol on the bottom of the bottle. Always use clean, purified water for all drinking, cooking, etc. At the risk of being redundant, avoid all aluminum, as this is a potent combination with fluorides!
 

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abomb

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Over 3 million single-use plastic bottles are used every day. 90% of them never make it to recycling.

Nalgene's rule!
 

Dback Jon

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The worst offender to me is Fiji water - yeah, take water from a small island, ship it in plastic bottles across the ocean, and then pay a premium for it.

Morons drink Fiji water.
 

dreamcastrocks

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The worst offender to me is Fiji water - yeah, take water from a small island, ship it in plastic bottles across the ocean, and then pay a premium for it.

Morons drink Fiji water.

Best.Water.Ever.
 

Mulli

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The worst offender to me is Fiji water - yeah, take water from a small island, ship it in plastic bottles across the ocean, and then pay a premium for it.

Morons drink Fiji water.
Sometimes Fiji is fine, sometimes it is gross. Problem I have with it is Fiji Islanders treat their bodies of water as toilets.
 

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