Stay hydrated (this summer), but best avoid drinking from plastic water bottles

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Water in plastic bottles can cause all sorts of health and environmental problems – so rather use tap water and use a refillable bottle instead. If you do not like the taste of tap water or are concerned about the chlorine and possibly even fluoride in the water then use a (charcoal) filter.

The weather this summer has been (mostly) glorious, but the heat means we all need to drink more water to stay hydrated. A fact many people forget and then get sick.

As water makes up about 60 percent of our weight keeping well hydrated is vital for proper functioning as every system in the body depends on water. Dehydration can lead to all manner of ills, including kidney failure and death.
Water helps with alertness and performance in sports, it controls appetite, and it also keeps symptoms like fatigue, headaches and dry skin at bay.

In the summer heat, we perspire more and need to drink more. Also, perspiration causes us to lose salt which we have to replenish and for that reason the military issues soldiers with salt tablets in hot conditions.

But in the summer, drinking water from a plastic bottle – which we all know is an expensive way to get water¹, and is never great from an environmental point of view² – means that the exposure to chemicals such as BPA and phthalates³ which leach from the plastic into the water is made worse by the heat. (BPA and phthalates can cause a whole host of problems to the immune system, the brain and the prostate.)

When we talk here about plastic bottles it refers to those made from PET primarily and those made from polycarbonate material of the old style. There are plastic bottles that do not leach BPA and other nasty stuff and thus are usable.

So, follow these guidelines to stay hydrated, healthy and cut down on waste:

On the move: If you're out and about: drink tap water using a refillable, re-usable bottle and you have a number of choices in that department. The best choice is glass, but that is breakable. The next best is stainless steel but there are also some BPA free plastic bottles to be had such as the Ohyo, which is a collapsible water bottle, the Brita with even a built-in charcoal filter, or, last but not least, De Dopper. Plastic is not always bad in all three cases they are BPA free.

About 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to make water bottles each year around the world, and the processing itself releases toxic compounds like nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide and benzene. Not to mention the health problems that plastic water bottles can cause.

There are many public fountains and refilling places for reusable bottles that can be found on the Internet in and around London and possibly also elsewhere. Unfortunately many pubs and such like are very reluctant to fill up people's bottles and this is rather a shame. Everyone is seeing Pound signs in front of their eyes all the time instead of being community and environmentally minded.

At home: Drink tap water at home instead of buying water and, as said, if you don't like the taste or are concerned about impurities as well as chlorine or even fluoride then use a charcoal filter and filter your water. The same goes for being out and about.

You could also invest in a distiller which guarantees total safety as far as your water is concerned distillation will remove (almost) everything. I never say 100% as it simply is not possible.

You can use filtered water to drink at home, or fill up a refillable bottle to take around with you. But avoid, as much as possible, buying bottled water which, aside from the fact that the plastic bottles may leach chemicals, and thus the stuff is not good for your physical health, it is also not good for your financial health and that of the Planet.

Who, in their right mind, would pay $2 for less than a quart of bottled water which, in a great majority of cases, is but tap water which may, or may not, have been filtered and, maybe, undergone “reverse osmosis”.

In Britain and many other countries tap water is perfectly safe – safer in fact than bottled water as municipal water undergoes much stricter testing than does bottled water – to drink as it comes and even better so if filtered or distilled and then left to settle for a couple of hours.

Please remember also that hydration is not just important in the summer heat. Also in the cold of winter dehydration happens fast, only you do not realize it as easily and often it can be too late. So, remember to stay hydrated at all times with your own refillable water bottle and tap.

Give me tap...

© 2013

1 Typically bottled water retails at up to 500 times more than the price of tap water. ETC, University of Nottingham.

2 Bottled water also has considerable environmental costs, including the energy costs of production and transport, and the environmental costs of disposing of (or, very rarely, recycling) the bottles. Sustainweb

3 Studies have shown that phthalates, which are known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones, can leach into bottled water over time. NDRC

Tapwater iPhone App Has Arrived - Get Tapwater on the go for FREE

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Tapwater revolution is gathering momentum. With more than 440 ‘refilling’ stations in the UK, tapwater.org has come a long way since it launched in November 2010 with only a handful.

But let's look at the past. For years, nay decades and more, we used to have public tap water fountains in public parks, at schools and elsewhere. And then? Then they were taken away. Why? Beats me. And suddenly it also had to be bottled water. Bottled “spring” – what spring – water was supposed to be so much healthier than municipal water.

Now the recently launched tapwater.org iPhone app lets you locate free tap water refilling stations where you are. It will show you the closest pubs, shops, cafes and public fountains in your area. All part of tapwater.org’s global network, offering drinking water on the go, it's free to download and available now on the App Store. All you need is a reusable bottle and you can get one from them soon as well.

A not-for-profit organisation, Tapwater.org’s aim is to develop a global tap water map by partnering up with similar schemes in Canada, America and Holland where networks are already in place.

To support the scheme Tapwater. Org will be selling wholesale/retail a high quality stainless steel "lifebottle” designed by Neil Barron who won 2009’s Carafe for London competition sponsored by Thames Water as part of its London on Tap campaign. The bottle will be available to buy from Tapwater.org’s website or through it’s participating partners in June.

Tapwater.org intend to feed back 100% of profits from the organisation into providing funding for water related schemes in educational establishments and participating businesses.

As far as i am concerned this is a great idea but then again regular readers will know my take on bottled water vs. tap. Make mine tap every time, as long as we are talking safe municipal water supplies.

For further information about joining the scheme please go to www.tapwater.org or contact Cristina@tapwater.org

© 2011

Tap water saves money

Save about £800 a year by drinking tap water

by Michael Smith

Even if you do not buy the environmental argument as regards to bottled water – and I think you should take that message on board as well – then at least buy the financial one.

From the financial point: if you happen to drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day by buying bottled water you will spend about £800 or so. If, on the other hand, you would drink the same eight glasses of water a day using tap water you will spend less than £1 a year or thereabouts.

Now in this current economic climate I am sure saving say £799 a year by switching from bottled water to tap really makes sense, alone from the financial viewpoint. Add to that the environmental point and it is really a great win for both you and the planet.

Buying bottled water in our countries where we have clean and safe drinking water on tap makes no sense and does not just hurt the environment; it also hurts your pocketbook rather badly. Do something about it: Drink Tap instead.

When we look at India or any other Third World country that you might like to name, and at what they have to do there to get drinking water, let alone clean drinking water, and at the fact that we get it for basically free in our homes; and we still buy water in bottles, which in many cases is nothing else but tap water, filtered maybe. That is absolutely and utterly crazy. We must be made, literally. The entire bottled water industry thing is loony.

Apparently Americans buy 28 billion water bottles every year, with a trend that is, the gods help us, rising. This, if we have the figures right, uses the equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil. This amount would be sufficient to fuel one million cars for 12 months worth of driving, as far as American gas guzzlers are concerned. Imagine what could be done with this isn fuel efficient cars. With less than a quarter of all discarded PET bottles being recycled it costs American cities about $70 million to clean up the discarded bottles annually. I hate to think how much the cost would be if we would combine this with say the UK and the rest of the EU.

The cleanliness rules for tap are far more stringent than for bottled. Most municipal tap water has to be tested for E.coli, fecal coliform bacteria, Cryptosporidium and/or Giardia, whereas the much vaunted bottled water does not. Yet bottled water can “cost as much as $10 per gallon compared to less than a penny per gallon for tap waters.” And people still believe the myth that bottled “spring” water is safer than tap? Yes, they do.

Stop buying bottle water, it’s messing with the environment through unwarranted materials extraction and wastage, as well as contributing to climate change. Not only are glaciers shrinking, but so are the volume of readies in your wallet or purse. Go buy and use a reusable water bottle, as long as it is BPA free – and there are a number on the market by now, and use tap water.

Also, we do not have enough fresh spring water about as it goes and we are wasting water by the gallon and flushing much of it down the drains, literally. We can, therefore, not afford this stupid notion of drinking water from bottles in countries where our tap water is perfectly safe to drink.

Let's stop this madness.

© M Smith (Veshengro), November 2008
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