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Bottled water harms environment: Tap water is equally clean & goodBY: Tim | Category: Food and Drinks | Post Date: 2008-08-03
Many of us have become so obsessed with bottled water that we have started to believe that it is the purest form of water and in order to avoid the intake of chemicals, pollutants and even to live longer & healthy we should avoid tap water as much as possible. Bottled water is clean but if you really compare the difference between bottled water and tap water, the difference in purity in most developed countries is hardly significant. In certain areas the tap water may not have a great taste or sometimes may have a slight odor, but it does not always mean that it is contaminated. Most of the county officials do a good job of maintaining the standard of tap water and regularly take samples from various parts of the city to see if it meets the strict standards specified by the health administration. The quality and purification standards of bottled water differs from country to country, but in most cases they are not extremely different. Drinking bottled water when you are travelling in a zone where tap water is unsafe to drink makes sense or if you are going on a long route where you will probably not have access to pure water, in cases like these it makes sense to drink bottled water but not like the way we have been doing in recent past. We see bottled water containers stacked up near our grocery outlets, retail shops and even in the quick pick gas station shops. In most of these cases we have access to the tap water but we have been blinded by the commercials of these bottled water companies who project bottled water as ultra pure, or misguidance by our friends and in some cases it may just be a fashion or a status statement. Bottled water often comes from the public tap water, glacial, spring and well water, then additionally purified (even if not really needed) to improve the taste and purity. Supporters of bottled water claim that since it is additionally purified it is not equal to tap water and is a good alternative to harmful soda's in the vending machines. I keep my plastic bottle at my workplace and simply rinse and refill it with tap water when needed. Every week (or more) I toss that bottle in a recycle bin and buy a new one. At home I just use the running water from the tap and fill up my cup of water. I do have a regular water filter (like Brita or Pur) which I use only when a guest is visiting my place since they may have concerns about tap water. Let me tell you the most outrageous incident that happened to me a few days back. In my office place I was filling tap water in my bottle in the break room, meanwhile a co-worker came and purchased a bottled water from a vending machine in front of me, I just happen to say "So you like to drink bottled water ?", her reply took me by surprise, she said "Oh Absolutely, I don't trust what comes out of our taps, anyway this (the bottled water she purchased) IS FOR TIPSY (her dog) ... see ya", meanwhile I was still filling up my plastic water with the water from the tap. When she left the break room I was not sure which one of us seemed a bigger idiot. In the year 2004 it was estimated that the total global consumption of bottled water was about 154 billion litres (or 41 billion gallons). Most people who use bottled water do not recycle the empty containers (more than 70%) which eventually make their way to our landfills. People who oppose drinking bottled water also do it because of the terrible effect it leaves on the environment. Bottled water uses up oil and other fossil fuels to be produced, stored and shipped and plastic itself does not decompose easily. The Pacific Institute estimates that producing the bottles for American consumption in 2006 required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil. If a container holds 1 litre it requires 3 to 5 litres of water in its manufacturing process (the higher estimate includes power plant cooling water). The place where these units are located also have a groundwater impact, excessive extraction of water leads to lowering of water tables. The FDA reports that:"about 75 percent of bottled water sold in the U.S. comes from natural underground sources, which include rivers, lakes, springs and artesian wells." The other 25% comes from municipal sources, which are the "sources" of two leading brands of bottled water--Dasani (Coca-Cola) and Aquafina (PepsiCo). In most cases drinking bottled water is a waste of money. You should check with your local authorities if the water from the tap is safe to drink and meets the standards. Being Green (environmentally friendly) is not simply driving a hybrid car like Prius or putting solar pannels on the top of your roof. There are cases when you want to keep bottled water for example if you live in an earthquake zone or a region prone to hurricane, it may make sense to keep a crate aside in your garage in case of an emergency. Some real life initiatives: - San Francisco city employees are banned from buying bottled water when tap water is available. - Salt Lake City has asked its department heads to eliminate bottled water. - Ann Arbor has banned commercially bottled water at city events. References: wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_water today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20055639/?GT1=10252 Article Source: http://www.saching.com About Author / Additional Info: Additional Articles: * Pain - Heart Break * Cycle: An excellent invention for all times * Rediscovered Life at 26!! * Networking and Your Loved Ones * Show us the Value and not the Price Of Education Does this article violate or infringe on your copyright ? It is a violation of our terms for authors to submit content which they did not write and claim it as their own. If this article infringes on your copyrights, then use our Contact us form with the detailed proof of infringement along with the offending article's title, URL and writer name. If you do not hear back from us then contact us again in another 10 days. Thank you. Comments on this article: (0 comments so far) * Additional comments are now closed for this article *
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