Why is bottled water waste a concern? Here are just a few reasons…

Americans used 50 billion water bottles in 2006 and sent 38 billion water bottles to landfills, the equivalent of 912 million gallons of oil.1, 2, 3, 4 If laid end to end, that’s enough bottles to travel from the Earth to the Moon and back 10 times.5 If placed in a landfill or littered, those bottles could take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.2

• The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes.6
• In 2006, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38.1
• Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles in 2006. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent, which means 38 billion water bottles — more than $1 billion worth of plastic — are wasted each year.1

Who Says Tap Water Is Unhealthy?

“Each day, millions of Americans turn on their taps and get water that exceeds the legal limits for dangerous contaminants.” —USA Today

An examination of 65 of the 3,000 largest utilities found that cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Providence RI, and Portland ME, are “manipulating the results of tests used to detect lead in water, violating federal law and putting millions of Americans at risk,” The Washington Post reported. More than 250 major cities currently exceed the EPA‘s lead standards, and many of them have been deceptive, or even fraudulent, in their reporting of the problems.

“Each day, millions of Americans turn on their taps and get water that exceeds the legal limits for dangerous contaminants.”
USA Today-Special Report, “How Safe Is Your Water?”

“Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is as much as 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.”
U.S. Council of Environmental Quality

“We have known for a long time that chloramines can trigger, rather than cause asthma.
Ralph Riley, Head of the National Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group

“Each day in America, about 30 cases of rectal cancer may be associated with THMs (chlorination by products) in drinking water.”
Natural Resources Defense Council

“U.S. drinking water contains more than 2,100 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer.”
Ralph Nader Research Group

“Drinking water plants are old and out of date, and water supplies are increasingly threatened and contaminated by chemicals and micro-organisms.”
Natural Resources Defense Council

“The way we guarantee safe drinking water is broken and needs to be fixed.”
Carol Browner, U.S. EPA Chief

“The risk of disease associated with public drinking water has passed from the theoretical to the real.”
Dr. David Ozonoff, Boston University School of Public Health

“More than 45 million Americans drank water supplied by systems where the unregulated and potentially deadly contaminant Cryptosporidium was found in their raw or treated water.”
Natural Resources Defense Council

“Drinking water in the U.S. is among the top four public health risks posed by environmental problems.”
Former EPA Administrator William K. Reilly

“Residues of 39 pesticides and their degradation products have been detected in the groundwater of 34 states.”
National Academy of Sciences

“Thirty-five percent of the reported gastrointestinal illnesses among tap water drinkers were water related and preventable.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

“There’s no telling precisely how many Americans get sick each year from drinking bad water… I would say that the cases we learn about are the tip of the iceberg.”
Deborah Levy, Waterborne Disease Expert, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

“Weed killers were found in tap water of 28 out of 29 cities tested. The results of these tests reveal widespread contamination of tap water with many different pesticides at levels that present serious health risks. We estimate that 45,000 infants in these 29 cities drank infant formula reconstituted with tap water contaminated with multiple weed killers.”
Environmental Working Group Report, “Weed Killers by the Glass”

“Each year in the U.S., lead in drinking water contributes to 480,000 cases of learning disorders in children and 560,000 cases of hypertension in adult males.”
U.S. EPA Report Summary

“Lead is the number-one environmental health threat to our children.”
U.S. EPA

“The one thing we know for sure about toxins in our drinking water, is that the more we look, the more we find.”
Jacquelyn Warren, Natural Resources Defense Council

And the list goes on and on!

The fact is that today in our industrialized society we use over 75,000 toxic chemicals, and over 1000 new ones are developed each year. We have learned the hard way that any chemical we use will eventually wind up in the water we drink. There is no “new water,” the planet just keeps reusing and recycling the same water over and over. Our water treatment plants are not designed to remove these synthetic chemicals, and as a result we find traces of health-threatening contaminants in most of our public water supplies.

Seventy years ago, before we had this multitude of chemical compounds in our environment, 1 in 50 people could expect to get cancer in his or her life time. Today, 1 in 3 Americans, 1 in 2 males, will become cancer statistics! Cancer is a man-made disease, and almost completely preventable. The purity of our water is one of the most important factors in the prevention of degenerative disease. With the risk so great and the solution so simple, why take the chance? In-home water filtration is the easiest, most effective and most economical way to have safe, healthy water for you and your family.

Aquasana makes healthy water affordable and convenient. The AQ-4000 is certified by the California Department of Health Services, the most rigorous certification entity in the world, to remove greater than 99% of alachlor, benzene, lindane, TCE, THMs, cryptosporidium, giardia, and VOCs, more than 97% of atrazine, and more than 93% of MTBE. Removal of benzene, atrazine, MTBE, VOC, cyst and THM is unique to the Aquasana AQ-4000. It performs better, has a more attractive design and, at less than 10¢ a gallon, the AQ-4000 is much more economical to use than a pour-through pitcher filter!

Never before has the need been greater for quality home water purification.

America’s tap water is contaminated with toxic heavy metals, synthetic organic chemicals, chlorination by-products, biological parasites and virtually thousands of harmful contaminants.

“E.P.A. reports show that U.S. water supplies contain over 2300 cancer causing chemicals…” — Ralph Nader Research Group

Studies also show that bottled water isn’t any purer than tap water, it simply costs more. Most quality home water purification products can provide water far superior to bottled water, at a fraction of the cost and in the convenience of your own home. The intention of this site is to promote the use of home water filtration, show what products are available and how to determine which ones are the best. Our goal is to also increase basic awareness of this critically important subject.

In America’s highly industrialized society we use over 80,000 toxic chemicals every day, and over 1000 new ones are being developed every year. We are learning the hard way that all of the chemicals we use, will ultimately show up in the water we drink. There is no “new water”, this planet keeps recycling the same water over and over. As we use more synthetic chemicals, the levels in our water supplies increases proportionately.

In contrast to popular belief, our water treatment facilities were not designed to take out synthetic organic chemicals and toxic heavy metals like lead. Municipal water treatment today is essentially the same as it was over 100 years ago, the water is flown through sand beds to remove visible particles and then bleach (chlorine) is added to kill most of the bacteria! We do not filter out the synthetic chemicals!

75 years ago, before all of these chemicals were present in our environment, 1 out of 50 Americans would get cancer in their lives… now, 1 in 3 Americans… 1 in 2 males, will become cancer victims! 1 in 8 women get breast cancer, childhood cancers have increased 300% in just the last 20 years… and much of this can be linked to the accumulation of man made chemicals in our body.

Profiles in Green City Programs: Austin Texas

Several cities across the US are noted for their progressive city governments and citizenry in regards to environmental issues.  Known as “green cities”, they not only initiate and practice policies that promote clean air and water, but often promote other programs and practices such as alternative energy systems and construction methods.

Austin, Texas consistently places in the various lists of the greenest cities in the US and the world.  The Green Guide, affiliated with National Geographic, chose Austin as number 2 on its list on Top Green Cities in 2006.  Criteria for its choices included air quality, electricity use and production, environmental perspective, environmental policy, green space, transportation and water quality.

A commitment to solar energy and green building is what won Austin its place on Green Guide’s list. The city offers some of the most generous rebates in the country for customers who use solar energy.   It also buys significant amounts of wind energy from wind farms in West Texas and plans to meet 20 percent of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2020. Austin also has established high standards for energy efficiency for its central business district and has initiated progressive policies to ]reserve water quality, ensure proximity to mass transit, and maintain a pedestrian-friendly urban design.

But it’s not just the city government that promotes green urban living.   Many of Austin’s creative citizens are becoming known around the country and the world for their initiative and success in creating local, community based projects that promote green lifestyles and a more healthy, cleaner urban environment.

The Rhizome Collective was founded in 2000 as a center for community organizing and urban sustainability education.  The collective took an old warehouse with an asphalt parking lot and have turned it into gardens, ponds and greenhouses that support tilapia, catfish, turkey, ducks and chickens   They host weekend workshops and seminars to teach people from around the world that they don’t have to wait on governments and corporations to go green, but they can start implementing their own projects with little background in engineering or the sciences.

Austin has permitted a number of private individuals to employ alternative construction methods to build homes inside the city limits, notably straw bale construction.  In 2001, there were about a dozen homes in the Austin area that were built from straw, including at least three inside the city limits. In addition to such progressive construction methods, the city has also permitted some people to recycle old buildings, such as warehouses into condos and upscale or innovative commercial properties.

Another citizen-initiated project that has contributed to the eco-quality of the area is the Carshare initiative.  This company allows members to pick up a car for a day at various locations around town. In this way, members can save money by not having to pay for their own private car (and consequently not having to pay for insurance, gas, maintenance and parking!).  It also helps reduce the amount of air pollution in the city by reducing the amount of automobile traffic in the city.

Finally, there is Good Common Sense, an online store founded by well-known and highly respected Austin musician Chris Searles.  Formerly a drummer for such notable artists as Alejandro Escovedo and Shawn Colvin, Searles founded Good Common Sense in an effort to help consumers make the kinds of choices that will help make the world a greener, safer place to live and work.   His store offers products that are environmentally friendlier than many products consumers might find in regular stores and shops. Consumers can find home weatherizing products, compostable dinnerware, fuel enhancer devices, and all kinds of recycled products.