This is the first of a three part series on Bottled Water, Tap Water and Healthy Eco-friendly Alternatives to Bottled & Tap Water. Parts 2 and 3 will be posted here over the next few weeks, so check back soon & read the entire 3 part series.
A century of worldwide ignorance and global greed has significantly reduced the quality and quantity of our planets most important natural resources.
Pointing fingers of blame at past generations doesn’t fix the problem and it’s not fair to pin this ecological disaster on the environmental ignorance of past generations who were intentionally kept in the dark by government agencies and global leaders focused on expanding their industrial growth and power at any price.
Today’s global inhabitants know what’s at stake and we’ve risen to the occasion. Cities, Counties, States, Countries and entire Continents Countries have spent the last 20-25 years cleaning-up, restoring, preserving and protecting our planet’s natural resources, but their efforts would have faded long ago if not for the passion and commitment of people just like you and me. Americans have always pulled together when times get tough and there’s a long list of eco-friendly things that we can all do to help clean-up, restore and preserve our natural resources for future generations.
No contribution or effort to save our environment is too small, yet many people feel they aren’t doing enough and are actively searching for eco-friendly actions that positively impact our environment in a larger and more expedient manner. If you’re looking to get more involved or play a bigger role in the clean-up, restoration or preservation of our environment’s natural resources with little or no effort and don’t mind putting an extra $500 – $1,000 in your pocket each year then we can point you in the right direction.
Just Say No to Bottled Water
Drinking Bottled Water is one of the most, if not the most, dangerous, destructive and cruel things that you can do to our natural resources, our environment and the well being of our planet.
Over 60 Million Plastic Bottles a Day are disposed of in U.S. landfills from bottled water use. As if the direct impact of burying 40 Billion Plastic Bottles a Year in U.S. landfills weren’t enough, they also put a tremendous strain on our natural resources and our health.
17 Billion Barrels of Oil are used each year to produce the 40 Billion Plastic Bottles that end up in U.S. landfills annually. Those 17 billion barrels of oil produce 2.5 Billion Tons of Carbon Dioxide Pollution and carbon dioxide is responsible for 90% of Global Warming and it wreaks havoc on the air we breathe. In a very ironic twist, it takes three times as much water to produce a plastic bottle as it does to fill it.
Add in the transportation fuel and the energy resources used annually in production and distribution of bottled water and the total barrels of oil used by the bottled water industry in the U.S. alone is over 50 million barrels each year. To put that figure in a more familiar perspective, 50 Million Barrels of Oil is the equivalent of running 3 Million Cars for an Entire Year. And we benefit how?
Is Bottled Water Healthier & Safer than Tap Water?
Fortune 500 Bottled Water Companies have become very proficient at spending tens of millions of dollars to create the perception that bottled water tastes fantastic, promotes a healthy lifestyle, is safer than tap water and comes from some one-of-a-kind pure as the virgin snow mountain spring high in the Swiss Alps.
In this case, perception isn’t even in the same time zone as reality and statistics have proven again and again that most bottled water is little more than tap water in a bottle. It’s gotten so out of hand that the U.S. FDA states that “Companies that promote bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public.”
The following info-graphic is a side by side safety and health comparison of Bottled Water vs. Tap Water and you can decide for yourself if bottled water is safer and healthier than tap water.
As you can see, the laws and regulations that govern the bottled water industry leave a lot to be desired. In an attempt to educate, inform and clear-up any perceived bottled vs. tap water safety misconceptions by American consumers, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report entitled “Bottled Water; Pure Drink or Pure Hype” and we’ve taken the liberty of listing some of the most disturbing differences between the way our supply of tap water is regulated and the way that bottled water is regulated!
- City, state and federal law mandates that city or municipal tap water can not contain any form of confirmed E. Coli or fecal coli-form bacteria. The FDA, the governing body of the bottled water industry, has no such restrictions or rules for the bottled water industry and a certain amount of Coli-form bacteria is allowed in bottled water.
- All city tap water that comes from surface water, must be filtered and disinfected. In contrast, the FDA has no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water
- Tap water sourced from surface water must be tested for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens known to cause diarrhea and intestinal problems in humans, but bottled water companies are exempt from performing such a test.
- Tap water must meet certain standards for dangerous, toxic or cancer-causing chemicals, such as phthalate (the chemical that leaches into our systems when we drink water from plastic bottles, but the FDA was somehow persuaded to exempt bottled water from the regulations regarding these chemicals.
- Municipal and City tap water systems must issue an annual “Right to Know” report that shows consumers a detailed breakdown of what’s really in their water. A similar “Right to Know” bill was proposed for bottled water only a few years ago, but bottlers fought the legislation and successfully killed the “Right to Know” requirement on all bottled water products.
If you’re still not convinced to “Say No to Bottled Water” then this little tidbit might just push you over the edge. Bottled Water costs anywhere from 250 to 10,000 Times More than U.S. Tap Water and switching from bottled water to tap water can Save You $1,000 Per Year or more.
The bottom line is that bottled water isn’t good for anyone except the companies that bottle it. It’s not good for our natural resources, it’s not good for our environment, it’s not as healthy or safe as tap water and it costs a thousand times more than you’ll ever have to pay for U.S. tap water.
It took past generations over a hundred years to decimate and pollute our planet’s natural resources and we can’t cleanup and restore those resources overnight, but it can be done. We all share in this responsibility and Saying No to Bottled Water is a huge step in the right direction!
“Just Say No to Bottled Water” is Part 1 of a 3 Part Series. “How Safe is Your Tap Water?” and “Healthy, Eco-friendly Alternatives to Bottled & Tap Water” will be posted on our site over the next few weeks and you can read all three by visiting us at www.fordsplumbingandheating.com/blog/
