where does that bottled water comes from..............????????

August 16, 2007

Hi friends just go thru this............. Recently the makers of Aquafina brand water bowed to pressure from advocacy groups to start labeling the source of the water they use. Surprise surprise, it comes from plane old tap water that has been filtered. That means that we have been driving our own cars to a store to buy water that has been trucked around the country in semis that belch diesel smoke. Then we strain our backs heaving a couple of cases of water containing plastic made from petroleum and chemicals into our trunks and carry them home. The kicker is that our precious bottled water is typically 10 to 20 times more expensive than filtering the water from our faucets (which could save us about $2,000 per year). Now granted, having the water already neatly poured into a

fresh new bottle is very convenient indeed. However, since that is really the only difference between what we are getting out of our tap and what comes in the average bottle I think it’s time we step back in time (like the mid 1990’s) and start to use water from our own homes again. We simply need to find a good reusable bottle (I suggest stainless steal, glass, or a bottle from www.SIGG.com), then buy a water pitcher with a filter or install a relatively inexpensive faucet-mounted (Brita or Pur) or under-sink carbon filtration system and then let the savings begin. You won’t just be saving money but you’ll be reducing pollution created to ship and truck the water around as keep plastic bottles from sitting in our landfills for an eternity. Just think, it takes 63 million gallons of oil per year to make plastic water bottles for the US alone and we use 2.5 million

plastic bottles each hour of which, most are not recycled and the ones that end up in our landfill will take at least 1,000 years to break down. Ironically the island of Fiji is currently experiencing severe water shortages, yet the colorful bottles of Fiji water continue to be shipped to our refrigerators in a steady stream. (excuse the pun) Have any of you found other clever ways to keep yourselves properly hydrated without having to go through cases of water? What do you think about the recent news that the City of San Francisco decided to stop using public funds to purchase bottled water and must now use local tap water for all city offices and agencies?

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