Archive for the ‘Water’ Category
Not many women who’ve recently turned 30 can brag that their husbands gave them the gift of a toilet for the big day. I’m not making fun of Nate; in fact, I asked for a toilet. I’ve been thinking lately about upgrading a water-using appliance/utility to use less H20 in light of the overwhelming mess our metro area finds itself in when it comes to water supply and usage.
My ulterior motive for asking Nate for a birthday toilet was that I know the guy is as thorough a web-researcher as you will find, and that he would single out the best, most affordable option available. And he delivered.
In the “olden days,” your average toilet had a three gallon tank. Three gallons of water lost per flush– wow. Nowadays the standard low flow toilet has a 1.6 gallon tank. Our new Australian beauty, the Caroma, is a dual-flush toilet (with a #1 and #2 option, if you will) with a .8 gallon small flush and 1.2 gallon big flush. And the amazing thing is that it flushes like a champ with a 4-inch trap, twice as wide as the average. Check out this video of a guy flushing a large russet potato with the .8 gallon flush: http://mysa.vo.llnwd.net/o2/salife/012707potatotoilet.wmv
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Statistics:
- 24% of the bottled water on the U.S. market, including Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s Dasani, is filtered tap water.
- The San Francisco Department of Public Health has determined that their tap water costs the consumer $.03 per gallon, over 300 times less than the same amount of a typical bottled water
- A Brita faucet filter can remove 99% of existing lead and chlorine from municipal tap water
Making the switch
Given the environmental impact of the bottled water industry, I have a clear conclusion in mind: I don’t want it. Two questions remain, however:
1) Is bottled water more “pure” than tap water
2) What’s the best way to filter tap water?
To answer the first question, I’ll ask two others: what microbial demons reside in tap and bottled water, and who regulates it? Tap water regulation falls under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water. Both groups consistently screen for water contaminants ranging from microorganisms (i.e. giardia) to disinfectants (i.e. chlorine) to inorganic chemicals (i.e. lead).
EPA and FDA standards for safe drinking water are very similar, and if one were to rate which agency had stricter regulations, it would be the EPA with tap water. In fact, a published article from the FDA’s website states: “Each time the EPA establishes a standard for a chemical or microbial contaminant, the FDA either adopts it for bottled water or makes a finding that the standard is not necessary for bottled water in order to protect the public health.”
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Recently I heard a news report about a gas station owner who revealed that, like most gas station owners, he makes hardly any money on the gasoline he sells; the cash cow is the merchandise inside the store. His biggest money maker? Bottled water. While there is ever-present speculation about whether or not my bottle of Poland Spring water came from a tap or a hole in the ground, it’s cold, it tastes good, it’s portable and it’s disposable. For these reasons, along with brilliant marketing that allows for a low to high end spectrum of packaged water, bottled water is everywhere these days.
It is exciting to see statistics that show that Americans will soon consume more bottled water than soda, but underneath the trend toward healthier hydration lies the reality that a massive amount of packaged water exists where none did before. So, my question: What sort of impact does the production and distribution of disposable bottled water have on the volume of American waste and, ultimately, climate change?
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A crack at reason
While the voices of dissent are few, a number of North American organizations have taken action to convince people to drink locally, not globally. Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson (in ‘06) and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome (in ‘07) have requested that city organizations stop providing bottled water to its employees. In San Francisco’s case, Mayor Newsome issued an executive order that bans city departments from buying any sort of bottled water for employees. City officials can still bring thier own bottled water to work, but they won’t be getting any from the water cooler down the hall. And the United Church of Canada, in 2006, “advised its 590,000 members to stop buying bottled water for economic and environmental reasons.”
On the lawmaking front, Oregon’s state legislature will vote this year on expanding their “bottle bill,” which would extend refunds for glass and aluminum containers to plastic bottles as well. If the bill passes, each plastic bottle will have a five cent deposit due back to the consumer if they return it. We may continue to see leadership in various organizations speaking out against a product that a vast majority of North Americans consider benign.
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