Here are 4 shocking facts that made me decide to drink filtered water for the rest of my life.
It is true that water is a life-sustaining resource that is essential to good health but can you always trust the cleanliness of your water source?
The tap water in most developed countries like the US are technically safe to consume but a closer look reveals some troubling issues. A safer option can be to buy bottled water but as I will later explain how it is sometimes no better than tap water. Also, the environmental impact of bottled water is pretty hard to ignore.
Here are 4 sad facts I discovered that led me to start using water filters.
Fact 1. Contaminants in tap water.
In 2009, the EWG (Environmental Working Group) carried out a 3-year study to analyse the quality of tap water in the US. The results are jaw dropping. The study reveals that the tap water supplied to around 85% of the US population contains more than 300 contaminants. However, the really scary part is that more than half of the contaminants were not subject to safety or health regulations. This essentially means that unregulated chemicals can legally be present in any amount because no safe limit has been determined. It also means that any long-term health effects of unregulated contaminants in tap water are simply unknown.
Fact 2. Bottled Water is a strain on the environment.
The other issue with using bottled water is it’s a single use item that immediately gets thrown away. Even if you take lots of extra care to recycle the plastic, it is still very costly to process the material into something reusable. Recycling also takes up resources and therefore also creates a strain on the environment.
Yes, water filters do require natural resources and don’t last forever but a good filter product will last for many years if not decades. Filter cartridges may need to be replaced periodically but this is nothing compared to the single use throwaway plastic bottles.
Fact 3. Boiling water doesn’t always make it safe.
Boiling water is a popular choice because it is relatively effective at removing low-level bacteria and contaminants. However, boiling water is not effective at removing things like lead, pesticides and physical particles. You should also remember that boiling water reduces its original volume and this leads to an increased concentration of the contaminants that it can’t kill.
Fact 4. Bottled water sometimes comes from the tap.
There are certain companies that source their bottled water from the same municipal water that runs through your kitchen tap.
Ignore the marketing claims that say things like “natural springs” or the images of picturesque glaciers. You should instead check the label and if it says “PWS” that means its source is from a ‘Public Water System’.
Final Thought.
It would be great if we didn’t have contaminants in our water to begin with and therefore didn’t have the need to use extra resources to ensure safe water. But until such time exists, I don’t think there is anything better for your healthy, wallet and the environment than filtering your water.
Investing in a good water filter means you can reliably know that you drink, bathe, cook with clean water and help reduce the landfill glut of plastic bottles at the same time.
Your friend,
Luke George
Scientific References
EWG Tap Water Database 2009 - ewg.org/tap-water/
A Review on Heavy Metals (As, Pb, and Hg), International Journal of Chemical Engineering Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 939161, 31 pages.
Should We Be Using Bottled Water? Bottled Water - The Facts, University of Nottingham - nottingham.ac.uk/etc/news-water.php
Image sources (in order of appearance)
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cdn.importantmedia.org/planetsave/uploads/2014/10/26050943/Plastic-bottles-being-landfilled.png