The Truth of Water

1
The Truth of Water

• Bottled Water vs. Tap Water Whats the
  difference anyway?

Sarah Shimek Duda Minnesota State University,
Mankato, Water Resources Center
2
Bottled Water Myth Busters

• "If you were cool, you were drinking bottled
  water," says Ed Slade, Evian's vice president of
  marketing since 1990. "It was a status symbol.
• no one should think that bottled water is
  better regulated, better protected or safer than
  tap," says Eric Goldstein, co-director of the
  urban program at the Natural
• Resources Defense Council
• (NRDC), a nonprofit organization
• devoted to protecting health and
• the environment.
• Up to 40 of bottled water is
• sourced from tap water

http//www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/bottled_wa
ter_b.php
3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
Healthier?

• In 1999 the NRDC tested more than 1,000 bottles
  of 103 brands found a third of the brands
  contained bacterial or chemical contaminants,
  including carcinogens, in levels exceeding state
  or industry standards. (Thats 34 brands!)
• Approx. 60-70 of bottled water is not regulated
  at all.
• Contamination can come from leaching of chemicals
  in the bottles themselves.

http//blog.case.edu/james.chang/2007/06/29/bottle
d_water_mania
7
Leave-no-trace or Muddy Boots Ecological
Footprint

• The Fiji Water plant is a state-of-the-art
  facility that runs 24 hours a day. That means it
  requires an uninterrupted supply of electricity,
  something the local utility structure cannot
  support. So the factory supplies its own
  electricity, with three big generators running on
  diesel fuel.
• According to his calculations, it takes about 72
  billion gallons of water a year, worldwide, just
  to make the empty bottles, says Todd Jarvis, PhD,
  associate director of the Institute for Water and
  Watersheds at Oregon State University.
• Americas recycling rate for PET is only 23,
  which means we throw away 38 billion water
  bottles a year more than 1 billion worth of
  plastic.
• About 1 billion bottles of water a week are moved
  around in ships, trains and trucks in the United
  States alone. That's a weekly convoy equivalent
  to 37,800 18-wheelers delivering water.

8
(No Transcript)
9

• Bottled Water's Environmental Toll (Eco Footprint
  cont)
• The energy used each year making the bottles
  needed to meet the demand for bottled water in
  the United States is equivalent to more than 17
  million barrels of oil. That's enough to fuel
  over 1 million cars for a year. If water and
  soft drink bottlers had used 10 recycled
  materials in their plastic bottles in 2004, they
  would have saved the equivalent of 72 million
  gallons of gasoline. If they had used 25, they
  would have saved enough energy to electrify more
  than 680,000 homes for a year. In 2003, the
  California Department of Conservation estimated
  that roughly three million water bottles are
  trashed every day in that state. At this rate, by
  2013 the amount of unrecycled bottles will be
  enough to create a two-lane highway that
  stretches the state's entire coast. In 2004
  the recycling rate for all beverage containers
  was 33.5 percent. If it reached 80 percent, the
  reduction of greenhouse gas emissions would be
  the equivalent of removing 2.4 million cars from
  the road for a year. That bottle that takes
  just three minutes to drink can take up to a
  thousand years to biodegrade.

10
(No Transcript)
11
Pennies from Heaven

• If the water we use at home cost what even cheap
  bottled water costs, our monthly water bills
  would run 9,000.
• Bottled water costs more ounce by ounce than
  oil, Amber Collett, Corporate Accountability
  International
• In the U.S. combined water sewer bills average
  only about 0.5 of household income
• National average cost of tap water is 2.00 per
  1,000 gallons, the same amount of bottled water
  would cost 8,000

12
Tap Water Just as Pure Practically Free

• Indeed, while the United States is the single
  biggest consumer in the world's 50 billion
  bottled-water market, it is the only one of the
  top four -- the others are Brazil, China and
  Mexico -- with nearly universally reliable tap
  water.
• Minneapolis water tested 400 1,000 times daily
• Common treatment processes include coagulation
  (settling), filtration, and disinfection.

13
Filtered Water The Perfect Beverage?

• 4 out of 10 Americans use a home water treatment
  unit
• Point of Use Filters (POUs ) include filter
  pitchers, faucet filters, distillers, reverse
  osmosis units
• Point of Entry Devices (POEs) include adsorptive
  media (carbon filters), aerators, water softeners

14
(No Transcript)
15
The Last Drop
Tap Water Regulated by EPA Bottled Water Regulated by FDA
Cannot have confirmed E. coli or fecal Coliform bacteria. A certain amount of any bacteria is allowed.
Filtered and/or disinfected No federal filtration or disinfection requirements.
Violation of drinking water standards are grounds for enforcement. Bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold.
Utilities must have their water tested by certified labs. Such testing is not required for bottlers.
Tap water results must be reported to state or federal officials. There are no reporting requirements for bottlers.
Water system operators must be certified. Bottled water plant operators do not have to be certified.
Water suppliers must issue consumer confidence reports annually. There are no public right-to-know requirements for bottlers.
Costs pennies a day Costs .80 to 4.00 per gallon.
Contains essential nutrients for the body such as calcium and iron. Natural minerals are removed by filtration.
Chlorine residual in water to prevent bacteria growth. No disinfectant present to kill bacteria in bottles.
16
Resources

• Sources for this presentation include
• U.S. EPA, www.epa.gov/safewater (Bottled Water
  Basics, Filtration Facts, Water on Tap What you
  need to know)
• Bottled Water A river of money, by Fast Company
  http//articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Ext
  ra/BottledWaterARiverOfMoney.aspx
• Bottled Water vs. Tap Water, Readers Digest
  http//www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-an
  d-stories/rethink-what-you-drink/article51807.html
  
• Bottled vs. Tap Which is safer, L.A. Times Oct.
  13, 2008 http//articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/13/h
  ealth/he-nutrition13
• Bottled drinking water, World Health
  Organization, http//www.who.int/mediacentre/facts
  heets/fs256/en/
• Clean water shortages cause global concern,
  Minnesota Daily, March 26, 2008
• Test Results Chemicals in Bottled Water,
  Environmental Working Group, Aug. 14, 2008
  http//www.ewg.org/node/27011/print

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)