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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Rethinking Bottled Water - by Gina Shaw WebMD.com

I've never been a Bottled Water Drinker. It has always been obvious to me... That any Mass Production and the Manufacturing Process, is bound to have... Well, just plain old Dirt and Filth, Everywhere. And after a brief stent, at working in a Food Manufacturing Plant. I know this to be true, from first hand experience. If you've ever heard of the old Book, called "The Jungle". Then you already know what I'm talking about. "The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968).^[1] Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the lives of immigrants in the United States. Many readers were most concerned with his exposure of practices in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, based on an investigation he did for a socialist newspaper. The book depicts poverty, the absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and the hopelessness prevalent among the working class, which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption of people in power." It tells allot about Food Manufacturing in America, at that time. And just what was even allowed to be put into food, by the FDA. And I really don't believe, that things are all that different now. Well, actually, I think that "things" and people are, if any thing, worse now. And any time that there are Billions of Dollars to be made. And there is Stiff Competition in most all Businesses. Which causes People to want to Cut Corners, in order to make more Profit. Then I don't trust the Product to be "Safe and Effective". Besides all that. Bottled Water either has no taste to me or tastes like the Plastic Bottle, that it came in. So, why in the World, would anyone pay so much for Water in a Plastic Bottle? At least our local Governments Officials, who over see the Local Water Supplies. Have no Profit Making Agenda, in mind. Ok, Perhaps, there are some Under the Table Deals and Kick Backs, here and there. But, we the Voters, will indeed not Re-Elect these People. When we find out about these things. And they may just well be put in jail, if they are found to have done something to contaminate or neglect the Care and Cleaning of our Local Water Supplies. Where as, Big Corporations who Produce Bottled Water. Are infrequently Monitored by our Under Funded and Under Staffed Government Systems, that are in Place Today. Besides all that, Most of this Bottled Water, is not Produced in America, anyway!:O That's my 2 Cents... Now, check out what Gina Shaw of WebMD.com has to say....

Don

Rethinking Bottled Water

By Gina Shaw

WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

Over the past decade, bottled water has become an ever-present part of American life. You’ll find bottles of Dasani, Poland Spring, Evian, or Aquafina at the gym, in the checkout line at the grocery store, in the office.

Sales of bottled water nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007, reaching about $11.5 billion. In 2007, Americans drank 29 gallons of water per capita.

But that’s begun to change. From a peak in 2007, bottled water consumption dropped in 2008, down by 3.8% from the previous year. Recently, cities, schools, natural food stores, and restaurants have begun to “buy local” -- offering tap water rather than bottled -- for environmental and economic reasons. For example, many of the mayors at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors voted to phase out the use of bottled water. And more and more individual consumers are following suit.

Picking up a bottle of water at the supermarket or the gym is quick and easy, but it has its costs.

Bottled water is expensive. Depending on where you live, you’ll pay between $1 and $2 for the average 16-ounce bottle. (That’s between 240 and 10,000 times the cost of tap or filtered water.)
Bottled water is hard on the environment. Even though about 23% of plastic water bottles are recycled, that still leaves about 2 million tons of bottles pouring into landfills every year.
Bottled water isn’t necessarily purer than tap water. An investigation by the Environmental Working Group found chemical contaminants in every brand tested -- including disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue, and pain medication.

What’s Really in Bottled Water?

In a lot of cases, bottled water is just tap water. The EWG report found that at least two distributors (Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club) were basically bottling and selling tap water, while many other major brands, including Dasani and Aquafina, distill or purify tap water for their product. If your bottle doesn’t say “spring water” on it, chances are the water came from a municipal water source.

In most cases, you really don’t need to buy bottled water. Municipal tap water is almost always safe to drink, experts say.

“It’s often a question of palatability -- a lot of municipal water has some residual chlorine taste,” says Craig Mains, an engineering scientist at the National Environmental Services Center at West Virginia University. “But there’s a lot you can do to improve the taste and quality of your tap water.”

Refrigerate. “Just putting a pitcher of water in the fridge for awhile will remove the chlorine taste that bothers many people,” Mains says.
Boil. If you’re worried about contaminants in your water, boiling the water is an inexpensive way to remove microbes.
Filter. There are many types of water filters available. You can buy water pitchers with built-in filters or filters to attach to your faucet. These are inexpensive options, ranging from $20 to about $60. Many refrigerators also come with filters for their water dispensers. Water filters can also make tap water safer for small children and people with compromised immune systems.
Mega-filter. You can buy a whole-house reverse osmosis filtration system from a company like Culligan for about $1,000, plus a monthly service cost that includes filter replacement. Culligan claims that this works out to about six cents per gallon of filtered water.