We tend to squander what we are abundant in. 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 take a refill. But for all we know, being thirsty and dehydrated makes us 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 inland. 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%.
In different cases during sickness, the body will require more water than usual to flush out unwanted substances 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 its purity.
On the other hand, global warming is a threat that due to an abrupt climate change, our seemingly unending supply of water is not impossible to evaporate when we keep on wasting water prodigiously eventually.
The state of our drinking water today
Far from being pure, most of our drinking water contains hundreds of deadly chemicals that flow from different water channels (this is due to improper waste management, especially toxic materials used in factories).
In addition, our drinking water is also contaminated with bacteria and viruses. Some may not be 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, making it unsafe to drink without being 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 ourselves. If you think about it, we are just paying for what we did, for polluting the water.
What happened gave way to a new industry, an industry that has been 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 faster growth in South America and Asia, but the part of the world-leading the pack in total consumption in North America. Did you know that America is now drinking even more bottled water than milk or beer?
But why do we keep spending so much money on something that we can pretty much get for free, we 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 why people choose to pay for something they can pretty much get for free or less?
Well, the answer to that is because it is more convenient. It is more convenient to go to a store and buy bottled water or have it delivered to your home rather than making an effort to make sure that what you are drinking is safe.
We continue to choose our very own convenience over the efficiency of our ecology. 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 bottled water has a better taste and the dangers that we perceive that are associated with drinking regular tap water.
Is Bottled Water Safer than Tap Water?
Did you know that almost half of the water used for bottled water is 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 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 less frequent testing for bacteria, and there are also no mandatory reports of violations that are required for them to pass to the federal agents. Bottled water regulation does not also require filtration of disinfection at a federal level.
The National Resources Defense Council of the NRDC says that most bottled water is actually of good quality. But that does mean that it is safer to drink than tap water.
The NRDC tested more than 100 bottled waters. The results of that study showed that nearly one in the five water samples that they tested contained more bacteria than the guidelines set by the microbiological purity.
Four of the water was found to violate the weak federal standards 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 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 no assurance that the bottled water you are buying is 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 recycled?
And according to a recycling advocate, that will leave about twenty-five billion bottles that have to be incarcerated, littered, or landfilled. So, there can be no way that bottled water could be more responsible for the environment than tap water.
For a product that claims to be environmentally aware and responsible, the industry of bottled water has its fair share of trashing mother earth.
The amount of oil they need to make water bottled for a year could fill about a million cars for one year, and more water is also used in making the bottled than actually loading it.
The Fear of Tap Water
The fear of tap water and its dangers that were inculcated into people’s minds 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 not the answer. We can resort to another way, more effective and safe, like our Berkey Water Filters.
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