Challenge #25: Bottled water?

Stop using bottled water.

Limit bottled water consumption as much as possible, buy water filters instead.

“We do want people to know tap water is every bit as safe as bottled water. In fact, it’s tested more.”

-Jack Hoffbuhr

Hey, guys!

We’ll tell you why bottled water is not a good choice for the environment by laying down some disturbing facts that will help you see the problem. Hopefully, you’ll reduce the use of bottled water after reading this post.

Bottled water facts

Some of the facts below are really disturbing and highly alarming. Try and read through them.

• They use more than 17 million barrels of oil (that’s enough to fuel over 1 million cars for a year) just to meet America’s demand for bottled water annually.
• An average American uses 167 disposable water bottles but recycles less than 25 % of those.
• Americans use about 50 billion plastic water bottles annually. Of those for over $1 billion worth of plastic is wasted.
• Chemical element antimony that is found in PET plastic bottles can cause dizziness and depression already in small doses.
• Bottled water is in most cases just filtered tap water (that goes for Aquafina and Dasani which cover about 24 % of the US market).
• In most countries, public water is regulated by environmental agencies (EPA in the US) which perform water quality tests on a daily basis, moreover, results are available to the public. Bottled water is not tested that often and results are not available to the public.
• Many scientists claim there is no reason to believe that bottled water is safer than tap water.
• Water is free in most of the developed countries but the world spends over $100 billion on bottled water each year.

• It takes over 1,000 years to bio-degrade plastic bottles. Moreover, they produce toxic fumes.
• Only PET bottles can be recycled, others are discarded. On average 1 out of 5 bottles are sent to the recycle bin.
• There are over 2 million tons of discarded water bottles overflowing US landfills.
• 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water.

Financial aspect:

• To consume recommended quantity of water per day (8 glasses) for a year you pay $0.50 if you drink tap water and about $1,000 if you drink average bottled water.

So not only will you do the environment a huge favor, but you’ll also save quite a lot of money.

Water filters

We are lucky enough to have high-quality tap water in our hometown, in Europe. But there are many cities where tap water does not only taste funny but drinking it can also be a bit risky for your health. Luckily they’ve invented water filters that come in different forms. It all depends on your preferences, your situation, and your budget but there’s something for everyone.

If you prefer very simple low-cost solutions, you can simply buy a Brita Water Pitcher. It will cost you a bit more than $25 with one filter. Per year you’ll need about 6 filters which add to about $48 per year. This is a good solution if chlorine is your main problem since it reduces its taste and odor. It also reduces copper, cadmium, mercury, and it can remove up to 96.6 % pharmaceuticals.

A bit nicer to the eye is a Soma Water Filter. It will do the same job as Brita’s pitcher. It will cost just over $55 dollars to purchase it and around $60 per year for six filters.

If you want to be able to pour the water direly from the tap into your glass, then your best on-a-budget option would be a PUR Faucet Water Filter. You can get one of this for about $35 and it will cost you about $75 per year to change 5 filters. They are available in different shapes and colors. This one will also do almost the same job as Brita’s pitcher.

“Pure water is the world’s first and foremost medicine.”

-proverb

Though, if you can afford it, we’d recommend getting a Multipure Aquaperform Below-the-Sink with Faucet. It will cost you $550 and about $250 per year for filters. Which is still about $800 less than if you would have been drinking bottled water instead, not to mention the environmentally friendly part of the deal. Moreover, that way your filter is hidden and the filtration level is top-notch.

If you want your filtration system to stand out and even use it as a decoration for your home than what you’re looking for is an Ovopur Dispenser. It’s far from being cheap – it will cost you about $800 and $170 per year for 3 filters (still less than bottled water). However, it looks really nice and more importantly it provides you with super clean water. Moreover, it is the only one that simultaneously cools your water.

We hope you see that there are many different options that enable you to drink tap water. The best part is that even luxurious ones are cheaper than drinking bottled water.

It’s time to change our habits.

Take-home points:

• used water bottles produce a lot of waste;

• bottled water industry uses a lot of energy;

• they use 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water;

• buying bottled water is way more expensive than buying a water filter;

• stop drinking bottled water;

• if your tap water isn’t potable buy a water filter.

“If there is magic on this planet it is contained in water.”

-Loran Eisely

Have a nice and thirst quenching week. 😉

Love,

Good Earthlings