Way before marketing campaigns insisted that human beings needed at least 8 glasses of H20 each day to be properly hydrated and certainly well before bottled water became a designer accessory, there was an old fashioned but perfectly efficient way of quenching one's thirst -- filling up a glass with plain old tap water. For those who furrow their brow wondering what obscure concept I'm referencing, glasses and cups are a modern marvel of engineering and design. They are cleverly designed receptacles that collect liquids (and other items such as pens, paper clips, Spaghettios...) in lieu of using the far less efficient hand-cupping method. What makes these cylindrical containers even more practical is that, although many are made out of breakable materials, as long as they're treated with tender loving care, they can become infinitely reusable. Oh, and good news for the accident prone -- manufacturers have even created liquid holding receptacles that accomodate klutziness, so there's really nothing holding any of us back from adopting this old fashioned yet completely efficient system of water intake.
Oh wait...what's that buzzing in my ear? Oh right...I hear voices telling me that the liquid flowing out of my faucet is teeming with chlorine, bacteria and viruses, heavy metals, fluoride, and volatile organic compounds like pesticides and herbicides. That's how the whole bottled water business first came into being -- municipal water reports across the country revealed that there were all sorts of pollutants showing up in public supplies. Companies recognized that they could capitalize on this niche market by offering a pure alternative that was individually portioned and highly portable. After a few years of growing pains, profits ended up soaring through the roof. Of course, consumers didn't realize at the time that as many as 40% of manufacturers were using the same sub-par water that was flowing out of the tap -- Coca Cola's Dasani brand and Pepsi's Aquafina brand are two of the most high-profile culprits. Our society's bottled water habit has also come at an even greater environmental price considering that 8 out of 10 water bottles are thrown away in the U.S. each day (that's the equivalent of 60 million landfilled) -- in Great Britain, 10 billion bottles out of 13 billion purchased yearly are given the heave-ho.
The unnecessary disposal of a fully recyclable material is bad enough, but there's also the inherant properties of PET plastic and the fact that the longer it sits (or is exposed to heat), the more likely chemical components end up leaching into our supposedly purified bottled water. The Environmental Working Group tested 10 major brands and found an alarming array of foreign substances floating around in them...from pharmaceutical drugs, synthetic chemicals and disinfection by-products to arsenic, radioactive components and fertilizer pollutants. From a health and environmental standpoint, it's wise to bite the bullet and purchase some sort of water filtration system. There are so many versions available to consumers these days, including whole house, under the sink, faucet mounted and personal bottle varieties. Using filtered water and a cup or portable stainless steel container can enable everyone of us to generate an eco-friendly drop in the bucket that will really accumulate over time.
For those who are still on the fence and prefer ponying up the bucks for liquid from obscure sources that may purportedly be somewhat untouched by mankind, iceberg water or H20 from the Boxed Water Company may be just what your tastebuds are seeking. The latter U.S. based company is quite proud of their recyclable, biodegradable, and non-toxic water filled boxes but...uh-oh...now they have a foreign competitor. The Glacia Icebox -- which boasts 1/4 of the carbon footprint of American-produced PET water bottles (despite being shipped allllll the way from Norway) -- contains naturally occurring electrolyte-packed Norwegian arctic spring water poured into white compostable boxes. This cutting edge bevvy is available at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Sunflower Farmer's Market and various other natural food stores across the country. What choice do you think makes the best sense for your health as well as that of Mother Nature?
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