Did you know that almost half a Trillion plastic water bottles were sold globally in 2016!
It is smart for us to ask how this rise in plastic is affecting me and my family
History of Bottled Water
Originally sold as a medicinal treatment, carbonated mineral water was a luxury. Marketed as a cure-all for disease, bottled water made its profit off the disillusion of better health.
Marketed in a similar way modern bottled water industry has doubled in the last 20 years.
Increased demand for bottled water gave birth to brands that marketed themselves in lucrative ways to appeal to a wide range of audiences.
Names like Spring Water, Natural Mineral Water, and Glacier Water made health conscience consumers pull out their wallets.
These names aren’t all they crack up to be.
Spring Water, Natural Mineral Water, and Glacier Water
Bottle water brands label their products so they are appealing to an imaginative audience.
The label shows pristine water, flowing from the mountains into the bottle.
These brands slightly deceive their target audience by giving the wrong impression.
Most “Spring Water” sources the water the same way your municipality sources water.
Multiple wells draw water from a large reservoir and feed the processing plant, where it treats the water for bacteria and viruses then filters it back out and puts it into the bottle to distribute.
Most of the time do not even treat for that.
When tested most Spring Water contains incredibly high levels of hardness impurities and rock sediment that can lead to increased risk of kidney stones.
Purified Bottled Water
Bottling plants buy water from the local municipalities for pennies per gallon.
Then, they do some basic filtration and sell it to you for almost a 500% markup
In-home Filtration methods like Kinetico K5 allow you to have Reverse Osmosis Water like Dasani right at your kitchen sink for so much less!
Consumers put their confidence in bottled water found at the store.
Expecting bottled water to be a safer option than the typical bottled water.
In a study done by the NRDC they state, “estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is just tap water in a bottle—sometimes further treated, sometimes not.”
The Regulation on Bottled water
Bottled water is the privatization of public drinking water.
Unlike the EPA who requires testing regularly from municipalities that serve a specific area, the EPA does not test bottled water!
The FDA has less than one full-time staff member in charge of checking the quality of the bottled water industry, sold across the nation.
If sold within state lines, bottled water has even fewer regulations.
43 out of 50 states have one staff person to monitor all the bottled water sales.
Bottled water could be the exact same water from your tap or even worse.
So next time you buy water at the store know that it could be the same water you are getting from your tap, just marked up and sold back to you.
The Plastic Problem
Plastic Water Bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
This plastic is easy to mass-produce and as a result, it usually deteriorates and leaches into your drinking water.
Orb Media released a study that estimated roughly 10.4 plastic particles exist in every liter of bottled water.
Pollution, Pollution, Pollution
Plastic bottle waste is not only a national problem, but a national disgrace!
The US consumes 1000 bottles of water a second and for every six water bottles used in America, only one makes it to the recycling bin.
When consumers are done with drinking the bottles, they screw back on the caps, leading to a packing peanut effect in our landfills.
Save Money, Save the Planet, and Protect your Health
The simplest way to take control of your health and reduce your contribution to the pollution crisis is by installing a drinking water system in your home.
Instead of paying exorbitant amounts of money to have someone else filter regular city water, save money by investing in one of our bottleless drinking water systems
If you live in East Tennessee, we here at Aqua Clear would love the opportunity to serve you and your family
If you live outside our coverage area find a water expert near you
