Green Drinking Water

By S.L. MacGregor

Bottled water has become a standard provision for today’s busy lifestyle. It is undeniably refreshing to have a bottled alternative to sodas, and, with such an abundance of choice in the bottled water market, there is a brand to fit every taste. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami recently illustrated an important role of the easily transported source of hydration in the face of contaminated local water.

There is, however, a dark side to this relatively healthy convenience. Bottled water has been scrutinized in the news recently over a number of concerns ranging from its impact on the environment to our basic assumptions about its health benefits. A variety of issues surround this controversy, perhaps led off by a startling evaluation of the real energy costs for bringing this product to our tables.
Gleick of the California based think tank, Pacific Institute has calculated that, when you factor in the manufacture of the bottle, the sourcing of the water itself, and its eventual transportation to market and disposal, you are paying 25% for oil (Seattle PI April 19, 2007). For a disturbing visual, imagine that that 16 oz bottle of water in your cup holder holds only 12 oz of water, because the remaining 4 oz is filled with oil. Add to that that most estimates place only one quarter of those bottles at the recycling center when we’re done with them (meaning the rest end up in a land fill), and this is an ugly picture of “healthy living” gone terribly wrong.

Even so, bottled water is so much better for us than that questionable water that comes from the tap, right? While many of us may be rationalizing the above energy consumption issue with an argument against the safety of our municipal drinking water, the water quality issue bears further investigation. Aside from the evidence of bottled water’s negative impact on the environment, many experts are pointing out the lack of evidence that bottled water is any safer to drink or better for our health than tap water (in fact, some argue that the reverse may be true).

While the EPA is in charge of our municipal water, and keeps tight reigns on its safety and quality, the FDA is the government body that regulates bottled water. Besides the EPA having higher standards to enforce in some cases, the catch here is that the FDA regulates only the products that cross state lines. If the water ihttp://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/402_h2o.htmldoes not touch it. See Bottled Water, Better Than the Tap? from the FDA’s Consumer Magazine, July/August 2002 for a good general discussion of some of the issues surrounding the water quality debate. Another great source for general information and links to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drinkingwater.htmlwater is on the National Library of Medicine’s web site. It also might be a good idea to see if that bottle of water you just bought is worth the expense at all. Get to know the language of bottled water to find out how to tell if your bottled water came from the tap, or underground, and what was done to that water to ensure its purity. A great site for gaining a general underhttp://www.allaboutwater.org/process of drinking water in general is AllAboutWater.org.

Beyond the water itself, concern surrounds the safety of the plastic bottles used to hold the water. The plastic used to make “sippy” cups and bottles used by infants and children has recently come under scrutiny for its leaching of chemicals into the liquids consumed from those containers, and we’ve all heard of the dangers of heating food and lhttp://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/114/bpaNational Geographic’s Green Guide for more information on this—also a great reference in general). Consensus has not yet been reached on just how much of these chemicals get into our food and water, or even exactly how dangerous these chemicals are, but it is clear that we should use caution and could benefit from reducing our exposure to these potentially harmful chemicals.

Clearly, it is important to our health to stay hydrated, and water fountains are not always there when we need them (and do not always meet our standards in the taste department), so are there any viable options to bottled water? One fairly straight forward option is to bottle your own water. This, of course requires that you secure both a portable container and a source of palatable and safe water. Both of these bear further discussion, so let’s start with a look at the water that you will be pouring into your bottle.

There are a variety of filters available today that remove everything from unwanted chemicals and toxins to potentially harmful pathogens such as Giardia and cryptosporidium. Some systems even zap the water with ultraviolet light as a means of removing the threat of disease. Filters are designed to fit under your sink, in your fridge, in a stand-alone pitcher or in your backpack for hiking trips. Not all filters are created equal, however, so if you have specific concerns or requirements for your personal water quality, you should do some homework to ensure youhttp://www.waterfiltercomparisons.net/WaterFilter_Comparison.cfm See Water Filter Comparisons.com for a detailed comparison between several filters, and an explanation of some of the factors to consider in the selection process.

If you are not interested in or able to filter your own tap water, but would like to cut down on the waste generated by all that packaging, you might consider purchasing water from a grocery store that sells tap water that is filtered on site. You can bring and re-use your own glass or plastic bottles, whether you prefer the gallon size jugs or the type that fit in a cooler or other dispenser system (read on for a discussion of the health concerns about plastic containers). If you decide to use a dispenser system, make sure you consider the energy used by the cooler when it heats/cools the water—it might be wihttp://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=water_coolers.pr_water_coolers Energy Star’s page for more information on the energy used by coolers.

Once you have made your water safe and palatable, you have plenty of options for where to put it. Containers are readily available in plastic, glass, aluminum, and stainless steel, all with their benefits and drawbacks.

Plastic has long been considered the top in convenience and durability, and there are countless options within this category. While some experts urge us to choose anything but plastic, due to the concern over chemicals leaching into our food and water, it pays to know a little about the diffEnvironmentally%20Sound%20Vehichttp:/www.ecologycenter.org/iptf/toxicity/mothersandothers.htmlles%202.docehichttp:/www.ecologycenter.org/iptf/toxicity/mothersandothers.htmlles%202.doc">This concise article from the International Plastics Task Force has basic information on the different types of plasthttp://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htma href="http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htm">Get Plastics out of your Diet, a well referenced diatribe against all use of plastic.

As an example of the recent evolution of the plastics debate, the water bottle maker Nalgene, once widely recognized as a maker of safe plastic bottles, has spent some time in the headlines regarding the safety of the plastic used in one of its lines of bottles. When Nalgene bottles came into common use, they seemed a clear alternative to softer, weaker plastics that made our water taste like, yes, plastic. Conventional wisdom (along with some research) told us that the amount to which we taste the plastic in our water correlates to the amount of harmful plastic that we are ingesting. Not necessarily, according to newer research that suggests that some of those “sturdier” anhttp://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/01/10/umbra-bottles2/?source=daily href="http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/01/10/umbra-botthttp://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/technical/bpaInfo.html this issue and Nalgene’s response to the concern).

In the case of Nalgene, as with other plastics, it pays to have an understanding of what those numbers on the bottom of the bottle mean. Nalgene uses at least two different types of plastic for different models, and, while one (the #2) is widely thought of as relatively safe, the http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2138565&page=1t health risks. (See Scientists Fear Chemical in Plastics Could be Harmful an ABC News report that came out when San Francisco banned the use of this plastic in baby bottles and toys in 2006).

If plastic seems too uncertain a venture for you, there are a number of alternatives. Although none quite match the portability, durability, and convenience of plastic, there are a variety of aluminum and stainless steel bottles now being sold as useful alternahttp://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/bottled_up/activities. (Ideal Bite has a good list of some options, including a tote for safe transit for glass bottles). For a concise and helpful discussion of the safety of various reusable water bottles, including some chttp://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/greenfeet7.htmater bottle, read this page from EcoMall (a guide to earth friendly product resources on the web).

Whether your focus is simply on living a more sustainable life, or includes an effort to live a longer life freer of harmful chemicals, you have many choices to make regarding your everyday purchases and the resulting footprint they leave on the environment. It is never easy to wade through the claims made by corporations who are trying to sell you product, and we all have our biases based on our personal experiences and beliefs. Arm yourself with as much information as seems reasonable, from as many sources as possible, and take it one step at a time.

 

     

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