We have the tendency to squander what we are abundant of. Water, comprising two thirds of the planet and roughly 70 percent of our body, truly dominates us. We take water for granted as we get used to having the privilege of owning this resource.
A glass of water that spilled was nothing because you can simply take a refill. But for all we know, being thirsty and dehydrated makes us totally enervated – that’s the time when even drops of water will make us appreciate.
Water is our instant cure – as it quenches, it purifies. Just like in our body, water does the same in land. It transports, dissolves, replenishes nutrients, and carries out waste materials. In an adult body, it experiences dizziness, weakness, fatigue, mood swings, irritability, and headache when the 20 gallons of body’s water supply loss about 2%.
Different case during sickness, the body will require more water than usual so that it can flash out unwanted substance within our system like bacteria and viruses.
The state of our water today
Our water today is greatly affected by pollution and global warming. Pollution due to an intricate ecosystem in marine and riparian species that begins in rivers, seas and oceans – putrefaction takes in our natural water and therefore affects the purity of it.
On the other hand, global warming is a threat that due to abrupt change in climate, our seemingly unending supply of water is not impossible to eventually evaporate when we keep on wasting water prodigiously.
The state of our drinking water today
Far from being pure, most of our drinking water contains some hundreds of deadly chemicals that flows from different water channels (this is due to improper waste management especially of toxic materials used in factories).
In addition, our drinking water is also contaminated with bacteria and viruses. Some may not yet aware of this but most already are and that’s when the surge in sales of bottled water and water filtration systems started.
Water used to be just free for all, free for all the animals and humans to use. But because of what we human beings have done, we started to pollute the water therefore making it unsafe to drink without having to be processed; water is no longer free for us.
Now we have to pay for water, water that we wash our clothes with, water that we wash our dishes with and water that we drink to sustain us. If you think about it, we are really just paying for what we did, for polluting the water.
What happened gave way to a new industry, an industry that has been really making it big ever since, and that is the industry of bottled water. How well is this industry doing? Well, it got the whole world spending about $100 billion every year for it.
Bottled Water vs Tap Water
Consumers these days are opting to drink bottled water over tap water. The global consumption of bottled water has been growing up by ten percent every year.
This rate is slowest in Europe and there has been a faster growth in South America and Asia, but the part of the world that is leading the pack in total consumption is North America. Did you know that America is now drinking even more bottled water than milk or beer?
But why do we keep on spending so much money on something that we can pretty much get for free, we really don’t need to spend extra money on bottled water when we can get it for free from our tap water at home, that would be less expensive for us. So what is the reason why people choose to pay for something that they can actually pretty much get for free or for less?
Well the answer to that is because it is more convenient. It is more convenient to just go to a store and buy bottled water or have it delivered to your home rather than making an effort to actually make sure that what you are drinking is really safe.
We actually continue to choose our very own convenience over the efficiency of our ecology, and because of that, we continue to pollute not only the bodies of water but also our land.
Another reason is because of the notion that people have that bottled water have a better taste and also because of the dangers that we perceive that is associated with drinking a regular tap water.
Is Bottled Water Really Safer than Tap Water?
Did you know that almost half of the water that is used for bottled water is actually derived from the tap? The tap water that is regulated by the EPA undergoes testing for different kinds of bacteria that can pose a hazard to the health of people.
They test the tap water for E. coli because this is required for their quality reports. On the other hand, bottled water does not have to undergo that kind of testing for it to be distributed.
The standards that were set by the Food and Drugs Administration would also pale in comparison when set against the standards that the EPA has for tap water.
For bottled water, there is a less frequent testing for bacteria, there is also no mandatory reports of violations that is required for them to pass to the federal agents, bottled water regulation does not also require for filtration of a disinfection at a federal level.
The National Resources Defense Council of the NRDC says that most of the bottled water is actually of good quality. But that does mean that it is safer to drink that tap water.
The NRDC tested more than 100 bottled waters and the results to that study showed that nearly one in the five water samples that they tested contain more bacteria that is allowed by the guidelines that was set by the microbiological purity.
Four of the water was found out to be violating the weak federal standards that were set to regulate bottled water. In eight cases of the bottled water that was tested, arsenic was found in at least one of the tests that was done, and it is at a level that could pose a potential risk to people’s health.
So to conclude the results of the test that was done by the NRDC, there is really no assurance that the bottled water you are buying is actually safer for you than the tap water.
The Truth about Bottled Water
There are more than thirty billion plastic water bottles sold in the United States alone in one year, but did you know that over that thirty billion, only twelve percent of the plastic bottles used were actually recycled?
And according to a recycling advocate, that is going to leave about twenty-five billion bottles that have to be incarcerated, littered or landfilled. So, there can really be no way that bottled water could be more responsible when it comes to the environment than tap water.
For a product that claims to be environmentally aware and responsible, the industry of bottled water really have its fair share of trashing mother earth.
The amount of oil that they need to make water bottled for a year could actually fill about a million cars for one years, more water is also used in making the bottled than actually filling it.
The Fear of Tap Water
The fear of tap water and its dangers that were inculcated into people’s minds actually played a big role in the surge and the success of the bottled water industry. This fear has been founded, but actually, more than ninety percent of tap water has been deemed safe on a federal level.
Of course, we will still have our doubts about that, but resorting to bottled water is actually not the answer. We can resort to another way, something that is more effective and safe, like our Berkey Water Filters.
EcoBlueLife.com is a replacement water and air filter company located in the United States. The views and opinions contained herein are solely those of the original author and do not represent Eco Blue Life or its affiliates. This article was originally published on TheBerkey.com
