Should We Ban Water Bottles? Pt. 1

If you were offered a brand new bottle of water or a glass of water from the tap, which one would you reach for? We’ve talked before about how “enhanced” bottled waters are pretty gimmick-filled and may be more of an issue than a boon. We’ve also touched on the current water crisis as well as some of the current complications with tap water today. Any mention of Flint, Michigan will probably bring the dangers of water contamination and an overall shortage to mind for years to come. What about plain, bottled water? 

Bottled water has had a chokehold on the American preference for decades. Many of us grew up believing that bottled water was just cleaner and more heavily filtered than what came out of the tap. Even as we drank from hoses and accidentally swallowed lake water, we knew that just based on the cost alone, there had to be something special about that plastic-encapsulated H20. That’s one reason many of us were up in arms when it came out that Aquafina was literally straight from the tap. So, besides the possibility that they are identical to what comes from your kitchen faucet, what are the other big reasons that bottled water might be a bust?

The most obvious reason is right in the name: Plastic. Plastic waste is one of the biggest contributors to global warming and we, as a global community, need to be doing our utmost to combat such an unnecessary strain. More than 17 million barrels of oil are required to produce enough bottled water to meet America’s current demand. Even though some plastic bottles can technically be recycled, less than 1 in 5 are eligible. Even fewer make it into the recycling process. Most end up in a landfill or the ocean. Millions of tons of plastic bottles are currently floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Island. In addition, plastic often carries several chemical contaminants. Have you ever left a water bottle in your car and wondered if it was still okay to drink? The simple answer is, probably not. The longer answer is that the integrity of the plastic used for most bottles (roughly 93% of them) holds up until about 70 degrees. At that point, you are likely ingesting a significant amount of microplastics and heavy metals as well as an unknown cocktail of chemical contaminants that differs slightly between brands. So again, if you are considering drinking that hot, bottled water from the backseat, maybe just don’t!

Below we’ve included some additional reading resources and next time we will talk a little more about how the production of bottled water is ironically wasting a precious, limited resource: water. 

Resources:

The Real Reason You Should Stop Buying Bottled Water

The real cost of bottled water - Sustainability - University of Que    ensland

Reasons to Avoid Bottled Water | Sustainability at Harvard 

Water Quality & The Water Crisis

We’ve discussed why drinking water is so important for the body to continue functioning well, but will just any water do? You probably already know the answer to that question, particularly if you’ve ever seen gray water or a swampy pond. Similarly, you might be ok with your dog drinking water from a stream, but you might hesitate to do the same. Rightly so as water picks up bacteria and general debris from its surroundings and needs to be carefully cleaned and filtered before consumption. Otherwise, to borrow from our earlier analogy about attempting to clean a car without water, we’d be attempting to clean a car with muddy water. The same way that water would leave behind a film of new grim and gunk, improperly sourced or unfiltered water can introduce new, harmful bacteria, chemicals, parasites and other unwanted particulates into the body.

Globally, more than 13% of the population is still without safe and clean drinking water. Fully preventable diseases and exacerbated health risks are linked to this lack and each day 800 children under the age of 5 die from contaminated water and little to no water-related sanitation resources. There’s no call to action here but if you’d like to learn more about how you can help solve this global problem, I’ll be including a couple helpful links below.

Here in the U.S. we are facing a different challenge as, though sanitation accessibility and drinking water quality is higher, we still face water contamination due to industrial runoff and as a commercial manufacturing byproduct. In addition to heavy metals like lead or mercury, recent research has gone into perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFASs. PFASs are not currently regulated by the federal government, yet they, like uranium, arsenic, lead and other regulated pollutants, build up in the environment and are linked to a number of health complications such as reproductive cancer, liver damage, thyroid disease, pregnancy complications and immune system dysfunction. 

So, now it would seem that we, the consumers, are caught between a rock and a hard place. We must consume water but many of us are probably consuming contaminated water, especially if we are usually drinking directly from the tap. What is the solution? The big picture is that we need to support the regulation of PFASs at a federal level and the implementation of technologies designed to remove them from our water supply. For now though, the burden still remains with the individual. Granular activated carbon filters and reverse osmosis are two options for filtering your own drinking water. The EPA also suggests nanofiltration osmosis, ion exchange resin, and powdered activated carbon for removing PFASs. Get your water tested, whether you have your own well or are using city supplied water and then find the filtration option that works the best for you! 

Below we’ve included several articles on PFASs and the Global Water Crisis. Enjoy!

Forever Chemicals article.

EPA Information on PFAS

More on the Global Water Crisis + And More + And a little more.

Water, Water, Everywhere and Still You Do Not Drink?

We see the necessity of water in the world around us daily. Trees and crops need water to grow. Rain replenishes the streams and streams feed the biggest and smallest creatures in our environment. We see what happens when there is a drought like what the west coast is currently experiencing. Less life, limited life, death. Why then do many of us imagine the case will be any different if we deprive our own bodies of water? 

Water is needed for nearly all the essential functions of the body. You’ve likely heard that over 60% of the body itself is made up of water. Did you also know that your blood is more than 90% water? Meaning the highway by which every system in your body receives nutrients and takes out the trash is, almost entirely, water. Imagine for a moment attempting to wash a dirty car without water. You could scrub away and even apply soap but without water, you’d still have a mess. Your body is essentially the same way. Your major organs, such as the kidneys, liver, colon and skin work pretty hard to get rid of trash whether it’s through defecation or sweating. Garbage that yields no nutrients to the body and could actually be quite harmful if it hung around is ejected through one mechanism or another and all of it requires a good deal of water. This built in detoxification system that runs on water is really the baseline of every gimmicky “detox” plan you might see. Before one spends a ton on a special pill or powder to cleanse one’s body of toxins, one might try simply increasing one’s daily water intake for a month instead. You might be surprised at the difference just that small change can make. There is no magic amount of water intake that everyone should drink but a good starting point is your weight in ounces divided by 2. So for example, if you weigh 150 lbs, that would be 150/2 = 75 ounces of water. It’s also important that a person pair an increase in water intake with a balanced diet so that they maintain the level of nutrients they need as they increase their body’s ability to use them. 

There are also a number of additional factors that could determine how much water you drink. Exercise requires more water as sweating, one of those very important toxin-flushing systems we mentioned, also dehydrates you. So, if you sweat for a while, you need to replace the water lost. The same is true of crying, bathroom use and even bleeding. Certain foods can also require more water to process or cause you to flush water from your system faster. American culture has readily incorporated a coffee habit into common, daily life. You may have heard that coffee is a diuretic, albeit a relatively mild one. That said, coffee, while a liquid, may actually increase your overall need to drink water as you excrete fluids more often. These dietary and lifestyle adjustments are usually pretty minimal but if you find them overwhelming, regularly consuming the recommended amount of water for the day is an excellent beginning! 

Below are a few links regarding the importance of water consumption if you’d like some additional reading. Later, we will talk about water quality here in the U.S. and if it’s still a relevant issue today!

Medical New Today Article

Additional Reading