Micro-Recycling for the Green Earth Guru: A Look at Bottled Water aka Controversial Juice of Life

Sitting here sipping my bottled water, I happened to just now read the label and shriek. It is the brand Camelot and says refreshing PURIFIED WATER. Reading on, the back says it is bottled at 3300 Transit Road, West Seneca NY at the 4^th Generation Mayer Brothers (apple juice) plant, and the source is the ERIE MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY.

Strangely on the Mayer Bros bottling site I could not find my PURIFIED water from the MUNICIPAL SUPPLY WATER, the only thing I found was SPRING WATER, and FLOURIDE ADDED SPRING WATER. Perhaps my item is just not listed....

I would truly hope that any water out of a municipal water supply is not being sold as Spring Water......

So then I became more curious as to why I should keep buying it. What makes this NEW YORK MUNICIPAL WATER any better than my hometown BALTIMORE MUNICIPAL WATER?

Baltimore has two wastewater treatment plans and three filtration plants which treats and supplies 265 million gallons of drinking water daily! The answer, I found, after much research and comparison, was there is nothing better in Camelot purified than there is coming from my tap.

How could this be? I've been buying it at the ALDI discount grocery store for a long time.

I'M NOT ALONE

I was shocked to see that bottled water has been a controversy for years. Not just because of the purity and testing results, but the simple fact that Americans are spending billions on it. Also there is a lot of environmental concern, not just the recycling aspect but the pollution that is emitted into the environment when making the bottles.

DRINKABILITY: WHAT IS IN IT?

First let's look at the main fact: DRINKABILITY. I was shocked to stumble upon this article called "Bottled Water not so pure" posted in the newsroom of the News Now Network that recently covered the findings of a testing group on bottled water.

OH NO! The same chemicals found in bottled water have been proved to be found in my tap water, according to reports from Baltimore's Department of Public Works and coverage in the local WJZ news. NOTE: In Baltimore, they publish a once per year results of water testing for the public to view. It's called the annual water report. Make sure to read yours!

BUT IF TAP IS THE SAME, WHY DOES THE BOTTLED MUNICIPAL WATER TASTE BETTER?

So why then, does my water in the bottle APPEAR to taste better than the water in my glass from the tap? Is it some mind over matter thing? Here is where science kicks in.

Water technically is tasteless, but due to the additives or chemical traces it will indeed taste different based on the source. The fact there is hard and soft water, and some of it prone to different "legal limits" of chemical additives such as chlorine, fluoride, etc which are used to "purify", "filtrate" and "make it drinkable" via the water treatment facility.

Bottled water sometimes take it a step further, some bottlers claiming there is extra purification and additional filtration steps for this. Without duly researching, you can never be sure.

Spring water, however, is an altogether different monster, and supposed to be the juice of natural springs, AHHHH so clean and refreshing. Once again you should do your research to make sure it is indeed SPRING water and not MUNICIPAL SUPPLY water per the above example....

In Maine I have access to a natural spring. As tasty as that water is, I have to admit I did a side by side with Poland Springs and I could not tell the difference. I am no professional water taster, but it appears TRUE SPRING WATER is definitely a step up from my current municipal water bottler. So there is something in TRUE SPRING water that you just can't get artificially?

MAKE YOUR OWN YUMMY WATER

If you take your tap water and boil it, chances are it will taste much better. This is because in the boiling process any impurities are released.

If you allow a cold pitcher of water to sit in your fridge for a day or two, it may taste better then as naturally some of these chemicals are dissipated, making your water taste different, for better or worse according to some folks.

For those of you who don't have time to boil the impurities out of your tap water, using a water filter has many benefits including overall savings versus spending on bottled water in the long run. Be sure to read up to make sure the item has good reviews, and the filters are safe.

Toting your tasty beverage to work using a refillable sports type bottle (often made from recycled products) will also save you time in recycling your used bottled water bottles and polluting the earth with your caps.

GREEN EARTH SOLUTIONS

If you really think about it, many facilities can NOT recycle the actual bottle CAP. A few companies were trying to rectify this, but not all have it down pat to where it's a normal part of recycling. Just think about how much bottled water you have drank and how many bottle caps are out there, in a landfill, being eaten by birds thanks to your consumption.

You may think, "Oh it's just a tiny bottle cap", well look here and check out these pictures. According to the Caps Being the New Butts article at surfider.org, Japan has been recycling bottle caps so why aren't we?

(Just a little rant about recycling, the USA should really get on the same page, facilities at my local Giant store collect used plastic grocery bags for recycling, but my local Maryland recycling facility does not recycle them, and currently aren't they being outlawed in certain areas of California? If we could ALL recycle the same things, wouldn't it be grand?)

Not to mention, if you buy a water filter, and use a refillable sports bottle daily, it will also save the wind from blowing your bottles into the Pacific. Yes, bottles are lightweight and blow from the recycling bin, or out of the trash truck, and combine into the never ending mass of swirling plastic floating trash dubbed Trash Island. This never ending non-recyclable non-compostable plastic is not only harming sea life but is acting as a thorn in the side of the tree of life! Imagine mutated fish thanks to plastic contamination! OH NO!

POO IS THE NEW TASTY BEVERAGE

If you really dig deep enough into researching your tap water versus your bottled water, you may find that aside from a fancy label, it may indeed be identical

What's worse, the municipal bottle of water I just chugged could be RECLAIMED WATER.

Reclaimed water is just a fancy term for water that plants recycle which is made from wastewater like CRAP and POO water which is a whole other controversy in itself. Reclaim your pride and guts when you realize that as a bottled water consumer, you may indeed be getting a crappy drink, no pun intended.

Be sure to be a smart consumer -- do your research and beware of WATER that has been infiltrated with problematic sewage leaks in the past. Keep up to date by checking out your community wastewater facility site, and check out your bottled water by making sure it's a licensed bottling plant. A list of authorized bottling facilities can be on the web, like the one for NY found HERE. When in doubt, check it out. ...