I gave up bottled water a few months ago after watching the documentary Tapped. I had already known about the BPAs (Bisphenol A)* and phthalates in the bottled water that are leached from the plastic. But until I saw the film, I was not aware of the obscenely grotesque amount of plastic bottles going into landfills and on beaches around the world. There are now large parts of oceans that are literally liquid plastic. Plastic moves up the food chain, and we are ingesting minute bits of plastic from our seafood.
The visuals of all those bottles in the film made me really conscious about recycling plastic bottles whenever possible. I made sure to buy a recycling can for the gym where I work. Every time I see plastic bottles in the trash I am painfully reminded of the vast amount that are thrown away, and the fact that most states don't have a refundable deposit law for plastic bottles--the 10 states that do have a very high recycling rate, but the bottle companies don't want to pay out that money to consumers so they don't favor these laws. For more information on bottle bills check out Bottlebill.org.
The pollution caused by making the bottles is toxic to nearby residents, causing many health problems. Producing a myriad of bottles deepens our reliance on the oil used to make the plastic as 1.5millions barrels of oil are used annually for plastic bottles.
Much of the bottled water sold is simply tap water. Tap water in general contains trace amounts of DBPs (disinfectant byproducts) which are linked to cancer. Other things found in tap water are nitrates, caffeine, Tylenol, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, arsenic and bacteria. But sometimes bottled water is tap water sold straight back to the consumer, why not drink out of a drinking fountain rather than buy a bottle of Dasani?
Volvic, Evian, Gerolsteiner, and Fuji are higher quality waters, but research is showing that even very small amount of BPAs and phthalates leached from the plastic affect our hormones, which can lead to cancer. Drinking out of a water bottle that has been sitting in the heat is said to be dangerous. In summer, these bottles are transported in trucks that are not air conditioned and are left on loading docks outside at times, so, depending on the climate zone, there is not necessarily a metric for knowing if the bottles have been exposed to heat.
Even more detrimental to drinking toxins is showering or bathing in them due to absorption through the skin. One long shower or bath can lead to the absorption of a weeks worth of toxins from drinking water. Aside from reverse osmosis, granular carbon filters (rather than carbon block) are the best. Brita is really not very effective.
I have not gone as far as some people by drinking fresh spring water, which is usually free. (Findaspring.com), but I do have drink filtered water from the gym where I work. At home I have a carbon block filter for my shower, but I am thinking about buying a better one for my shower and kitchen. Some people go as far as bathing/showering very quickly as to absorb as few toxins as possible.
At the gym we have a Kangen water machine that runs the water over a platinum plate to ionize it. This gives the water an alkaline antioxidant property. The water is said to be very healing as it raises the ph in the body. This is a very high quality machine, unlike others of its kind. Many immitators' machines break down faster and some eventually can leak titanium which is toxic. So for people interested alkaline water, I highly recommend contacting a Kangen dealer for a presentation. (I am in no way affiliated with Kangen.)
A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health), Alix
*Tip of the day: Most canned food comes in cans that leach BPA--try Eden's brand at Whole Foods for non BPA containing cans. Cans with BPA are banned in Canada. (Canned food used to come in tinned metal, but are now usually steel or aluminum with a protective coating inside.)
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