Water on the Go

 

Written by Jenny Catton

 

Whether at work, travelling, or exercising, many of us reach for a bottle of water to stay hydrated when on the move. And whilst it’s vitally important to stay well-hydrated in order to maintain good health, our thirst for bottled water may be bad news for the planet. Billions of bottles of water are produced each year and the manufacturing process, transportation process, and waste all take their toll on the environment.

 

Bottled water is also expensive and if you’re buying several bottles a week, the cost can mount up.  It therefore makes sense to seek out alternatives to bottled water that will keep us healthy and hydrated without damaging the planet or our bank balance.

 

The obvious choice is tap water whenever it is available. If you find that the taste of tap water isn’t as nice as bottled water, try using a water filter.

 

In the office, invest in a water machine – but forget disposable paper or plastic cups; use a glass instead.

 

Most gyms have a water machine or water fountain so make the most of these rather than taking bottles of water with you.

 

When you’re travelling or don’t have access to tap water, invest in a reusable bottle that you can wash and refill. Choose ones that are labelled as BPA-free as this substance has been linked with some recent health scares.

 

For reusable water bottles that help fund sustainable clean water projects in developing countries across the world, visit:www.frankwater.com

 

Categories: bottled, bottled water, Bottles, catton, hydrated, jenny, nbsp, tap water, Water, water machine, written

Could Water in Plastic Bottles Be Damaging Your Health?

We’ve all heard the warnings about how fizzy drinks can damage our wellness and wellbeing, and so it’s no surprise that many of us are looking to bottled water to provide a better alternatives. Even traditional soda companies like Coca Cola, Nestle and PepsiCo are cashing in on this by producing water and marketing it as a healthy alternative.

 

This has directly lead to the United States consuming more bottled water than any other country (despite having a natural abundance of clean drinking water coming straight out of the taps!) and this in turn leads to serious environmental problems. Every 27 hours, the US throws away enough empty water bottles to run, end to end, around the circumference of the equator.

 

If it were vital for our health, then perhaps the environmental toll would seem more worthwhile, but in truth, bottled water could be doing more harm than good. Marketers use words like ‘fresh’, ‘pure’ and ‘pristine’ to sell this bottled water, and try to undervalue the health benefits of tap water. At the same time, issues with contamination have led to over 100 different recalls of bottled water batches in recent years. Tap water is tested hundreds of times every day and is constantly monitored, whereas bottled water manufacturers are not required to test the water at all. This is completely unregulated and the FDA has no jurisdiction over the quality of the bottled water sourced.

 

Some of this water is even the exact same water that comes out of your taps – mined and bottled in the same state where you live, and then sold back to you at a hugely inflated price.

 

Not only that, but small towns across the United States and the rest of the world are being exploited due to their water resources, feeding the demand of giant corporations and selling public water to make a profit. Poor neighborhoods are even being poisoned by the toxins involved with manufacturing the plastic bottles.

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