The Story of Bottled Water

I start a new term next week and this class focuses on water, pollution, and environmental hazards. While preparing my course material, I was reminded of this great short video on why bottled water is so bad for the planet.This video is part of The Story of Stuff Project which has these great short videos on several topics. If you can spare a few moments in your day, check out: The Story of Bottled Water. 
And then head to your tap to fill up your glass....

And there is still time to enter my giveaway for a wooden teething bracelet! Pin It Now!

Tapped: A Review

Tapped, the movie, is a film that discusses the myriad of problems with the bottled water industry. Bottled water companies have moved into communities and are depleting their groundwater at alarming rates... often paying only 6-10 cents per gallon for the water they withdraw and selling it for a huge profit. These companies rarely put any money back into the communities whose lives they are destroying, nor do they take account the impact they are making on those companies. For example, Coca Cola (Dasani) continued to use large quantities of water in Atlanta during the midst of a major drought. Local residents were asked to conserve while the bottled industry continued to take what little water was left.
The film also touches on the pollution aspect of bottled water. The production of the plastic bottles (made from a byproduct of oil) is leaving drinking water polluted and causing increased rates of cancer and birth defects in towns near refineries. Despite the fact that water bottles are recyclable, only about 20% are actually recycled, and the rest end up being thrown "away".... and a lot of that plastic that is meant for landfills actually ends up in our oceans in a gyre commonly called the garbage patch. Here, the plastics break into smaller pieces and are consumed by fish, birds and other wildlife, often with dire consequences.
These plastic bottles can also leach BPA, an endocrine disruptor that has been linked to obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart problems and more. Furthermore, bottled water is not very well regulated. In any state that produces and sells the bottled water within state boundaries, there is no external regulation and the only form of regulation on the water going into the bottles is from the companies themselves. For bottles that do cross state lines, there is ONE person at the FDA who spends PART of her time regulating all of that bottled water. What does that mean? It means that while your city tap water is likely tested 10 or more time EVERY DAY, that bottle of water your just paid $3 for likely had no regulation whatsoever. Tests from independent companies have found high levels of arsenic, mercury, and other chemicals in many samples of bottled water. Not to mention that a good portion of bottled water (like most of that bottled from Coke and Pepsi) is actually just tap water from a city municipality. So, while they pay pennies for the water, they charge you dollars.
The bottom line is this: go buy a stainless steel reusable water bottle and fill it with tap water. It is safer for you, costs less, causes a whole lot less pollution and is not destroying communities.
I have done a bit of personal research on tap water versus bottled water, and have previously blogged about the problems with bottled water several times. So, this is an issue that is quite important to me. Whenever I teach about water in my environmental studies class, I always have the students do some internet research on the impacts of bottled water and ask them to examine their personal use of this product. It always amazes me how many of my (usually poor) students use bottled water on a regular basis and how uninformed of the problems they were contributing to by consuming such large quantities. Although I personally didn't learn a lot from this film, I did think it was a great summary of the problems related to bottled water consumption and is a great introductory film on this topic. It will definitely make it into the rotation for my environmental studies course. This movie is  currently on instant view on Netflix and is definitely worth a watch. Check out the film's website to learn more. Pin It Now!

Blue Gold: World Water Wars: A Review

I just finished watching a moving film called Blue Gold: World Water Wars. This film shared many of the same stories as FLOW (For Love of Water) and Water Wars, and even though I have heard this information many times, I was moved to tears more than once. Maybe those tears were partially due to pregnancy hormones, but even so, this film presents some important ideas that need to be shared.
This film focuses on the world's water supply, and how while it is dwindling away, governments across the globe are practically giving their water away to huge multinational companies to generate a profit from. Governments are taking water away from their own people in exchange for personal gain. Water across the globe is becoming privatized, and the cost to the people is skyrocketing while the water quality is degraded. Many citizens in developing countries cannot afford to pay for the water that comes out of their tap, so they instead walk miles to a polluted stream and risk contracting deadly diseases. And why? So some huge water company from Europe or the US can turn a big profit for their shareholders.
As climate change continues to haunt us and more and more water is being used for crop irrigation and industry, the water we do have is becoming more and more valuable. Groundwater supplies are diminishing and above ground sources are becoming polluted, yet the only people who seems to really understand the true value of water are those who have realized they can make a profit from it.
The best part of this film is the ending. It shows some of the successes in these water wars across the globe; the cases where the people banded together to stop the corporations and take back control of their water. It goes to show that YOU can make a change.. all it takes is a few like-minded individuals and some determination to demand the rights that you deserve.
I didn't enjoy this film quite as much as I enjoyed FLOW, but it is still a worthwhile watch. Thumbs up. Pin It Now!

More on Bottled Water

I have already blogged about the problems of bottled water, but this is a relatively hot topic and I have recently come across a couple of worthwhile short videos on the subject. The first link is a video created by one of my students and won runner-up in a National Geographic contest. The second is by Penn and Teller. Both are worth a watch.
* Bottled Water Confidential
* The Truth About Bottled Water Pin It Now!

Tap VS Bottled

Marketing ploys have led us to believe that our water is not safe to drink and that bottled water is the safe choice we can make for ourselves and our families. I am here to tell you that these ploys are exactly that: ploys. Bottled water is not safer for our health and it is definitely not safer for the earth that we are leaving to our children
First off, your tap water is highly regulated and needs to pass somewhat strict drinking water regulations set by the EPA. Now, I am not saying that every municipality has fresh untouched spring water coming out of the faucets, but, in general, your water should be safe for you to drink. However, if you have lead pipes or other problems in the interior of your home that is affecting your drinking water, that is a different story. You should have your water tested for lead, especially if you have young children in your home. Children are particularly sensitive to lead inputs and it can lead to problems with brain development and mental retardation. Also, if you get your water from a well, the EPA does not regulate your water either, and you are responsible for testing it and making sure that it is safe for you to drink. This may also mean being aware of what is going on upslope from your well! But, for the majority of us who have city water, our water is heavily regulated.
Bottled water, however, is not heavily regulated. Bottled water companies have the same standards set as tap water, but there is little to no enforcement of these standards. Furthermore, the bottled water companies are responsible for self-reporting anytime they go over the limit, and that would lead me to believe that tainted bottled water is much under-reported. Some bottled water comes from springs or groundwater, but much of it comes from someone else's faucet. Yes, you could be paying $1.50 to drink a bottle of someone else's tap water. Worse yet, you could possibly be drinking bottled water that came from someone's unregulated well water. Plus, the chemicals found in the plastic that the water is bottled in could potentially lead to harmful heath effects. More research about that still needs to be done.
Now let's look at the environmental impact. It takes almost 7 times as much water as is in a bottle of water to make the bottle. This is a major waste of water! Also, for every bottle of water consumed, it takes about 1/4 of that bottle full of oil to make and transport it. And, for each bottle of water, approximately 1.2 pounds of greenhouse gases (gases that contribute to global warming) are produced. This is per bottle people!
All of the bottles of water that are sold are one-use bottles, not to be used again. Only 1/6- 1/4 of these bottles are even recycled, and the rest end up in landfills. Plastic is very resistent and will take thousands of years to break down in a landfill. With the huge numbers of bottled water being sold in the US, these bottles in landfill start to add up very quickly! 28 billion bottles per year in the US alone! Yikes! A good source to share this information with your children can be found at:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/SpaceScience/Water-bottle-pollution
or look at: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/grossman/2008-09-19-bottled-water_N.htm for a more adult version!
Then there is also a cost to the communities that this water is coming from. Big bottled water companies go into communities and basically purchase water rights for next to nothing, extract huge quantities of water from an area, and leave. This depletes drinking water sources for many people, changes the flow of rivers for farmers, fishers and for recreation, and ends up disrupting the entire ecosystem. Yet these huge corporations leave nothing behind to benefit the towns they destroyed.... except maybe some local bottled water on the grocery store shelves which they can purchase for $1.50 each.
If this topic at all interests you, please watch the movie FLOW: For Love of Water. It does a wonderful job discussing many of the issues surrounding water use in the 21st century.
So, what to do? Drink your tap water! First, get your water checked for lead. Many cities will do this for free if you have children in the home (Portland does!), so get on google or ask around. Next, get a water filter that goes right on the tap. We use the New Wave Enviro filter and have loved it so far. You can find them at:
http://www.newwaveenviro.com/
Lastly, get a reusable stainless steel bottle (not plastic!) and carry it with you so that you dont ever have a need for bottled water! My choice in reusable bottles is Sigg. They are a little pricey (about $20), but well worth the investment. Think of all of the money you will save not buying those bottles of water! And you will be saving the environment and communities as well!
Take Back the Tap!
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