Bottled water seems to find itself in the news periodically from time to time. I've recently gotten wind that it is currently in the news with regard to transparency, water purity, and bottle safety.
Invariably there are people out there who 'Pooh Pooh' the idea of bottles harming the environment and praising bottled water as the economical way for a family to have clean water. But how clean is the water really?
Though transparency has always been an issue... we are all I am sure aware of 'certain brands' who are basically bottling tap water. Many first world nations have plenty of clean drinking water as near as their own kitchen faucet. The problem is - we don't know it.
When have you ever seen your municipal government advertise the safety and purity of your tap water?
Do you know if your Municipality adds flouride to your drinking water?
How come we don't know?
I remember back in the mid 80's when I visited family in Mississauga, Ontario. My aunt would hook up the water purifier to the tap each evening before bed. It would reap us about 4 litres of clean water over the course of the night! And that was back in the 80's
I guess the tap water was bad back then... can you imagine what it is today?
I believe our lack of knowledge in the quality of our drinking water opens the door wide to the bottled water companies who, in many cases misleadingly, advertise the purity of their water and the guaranteed safety. Unfortunately they don't post their water quality charts either.
It is we who are fooled and taken advantage of.
Having lived in a 3rd world country for the better part of a year now, I can honestly say that the water bottle issue poses a problem far greater than is imaginable.
At least in the First world water bottles are one of the few plastics that we put in our 'recycle bin' that actually get recycled, but many countries don't have a municipal garbage disposal program, much less a recycling program.
In these 3rd world countries where the average annual income is less than the monthly salary of the 1st world, people do not buy in bulk... they buy in Individual packets. Bottles included, everything wrapped in the wonderous plastic. Where recycle means to refill and drink from until the bottle gets old and then toss it on the side of the road.
Is it less costly to buy bottled water than to buy a filtration system for your home?
Lets do the math.
For a counter top water filter (ie Minimal installation costs) you are looking at about $175 US
If you have a water delivery service you will pay approximately $10 per week for a small family or $120 US annually.
If you buy bottles of water retail and you buy even 1 bottle per day you are spending about $1.50 daily. Or $390 annually and that is considering purchasing 1 500 ml bottle 5 days per week.
So where is the savings. Bottled water costs you double the cost of a filter system annually, and you only buy your filter system once, and sometimes you need to buy a filter cartridge.
lets reduce as best we can
Sherri
