water…how to do it right
(a continuation of Friday’s post….)
• A home water filter is a very good investment, and a true necessity if someone in your home is pregnant, very young, or has a weakened immune system. There are various filter types, but the ones that attach to your kitchen faucet or fit in a carafe are the best overall. Look for one that has a certification “NSF [National Sanitation Foundation] International Standard 53” on the packaging, and don’t trust the filters that might be part of your refrigerator, because many of these are not NSF 53 certified, and only filter out bad tastes, not contaminants. It’s critical you replace the filter as recommended on the packaging; otherwise, you will end up with a clogged filter that actually ends up putting more guck into your water. I recommend Pur filter products.
• Even with a filter, use water from the cold water tap, not the hot water tap, because the hot pipes dissolve more of the metal into the water.
• Bottled water is not the perfect solution, but when you are on the go, it’s healthier than a soda. For traveling, especially foreign travel, it’s clearly the safer alternative to tap water. If you do drink a lot of bottled water, you should investigate your brand to see how careful the company is with the testing and certification of their product. This will take some digging, as the label will probably not give much information, so you will need to look at the company website which might be heavy with cool mountain images and trim bodies, but not the facts you need. Then call or send an email, and if you get a runaround, look at other brands.
• Beyond the environmental issues of all that potential plastic waste, it’s not safe to reuse your plastic bottles, as over time the plastic itself may leach bad things into your water, along with the bacterial contamination concerns. So be on the lookout for the re-usable bottles sold just for this purpose, and consider filling them with filtered tap water. You’ll save a lot of money, and you will be much more “green”!
• For efficient exercising you need adequate water, about a quart or two per hour of vigorous exercise (some marathon runners have been known to over-do the water, so listen to your body carefully). Be aware that alcohol will make you urinate more and tend to dehydrate, so drink more water with those. If your skin and mouth and lips are dried out, know that being dehydrated makes you look older than you are. One reason young people tend to have nicer skin is because it is plump and hydrated, and, thinking internally, if you are dry on the outside, your brain may also be dried out some, and you may not feel as sharp. So to feel better, look younger, and function better, drink enough water. (Next time you feel a bit low energy, check your mouth and look at your urine. Your “batteries” may need a recharge!)
Paul Svedersky Said,
January 26, 2009 @ 7:07 pm
Here’s further reason to drink tap water and NOT bottled water (from “Take Back the Tap” organization):
Consumers are wasting billions of dollars a year on billions of gallons of bottled water in large part because advertising
spin has led them to believe that water in a bottle is safer or better than tap water. Truth is, tap water generally is just as safe, clean, and healthy as bottled water, and in many cases more so.
In fact, the federal government requires far more rigorous
and frequent safety testing and monitoring of municipal
drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency
requires that utility companies test municipal water hundreds
of times per month, while the Food and Drug Administration
requires only one water test per week by bottling companies.
Bottled water causes many equity, public health, and
environmental problems. Beverage companies often take
water from municipal or underground sources that local
people need. As much as 40 percent of bottled water
comes from the tap. Producing plastic bottles uses energy
and emits toxic chemicals. Transporting the bottled water
spews pollution into the air, adding to global climate
change.
By turning to your home tap, you’ll avoid the arsenic, microbes, toxins, and other pollutants that tests have found
in various bottled water brands. What’s more, you’ll face
less risk of exposure to chemicals that could leach from the
plastic bottle into the water.
Turning to tap water could help you save money, as well.
Tap water costs about $0.002 per gallon compared to the
$0.89 to $8.26 per gallon charge for bottled water.
Giving up bottled water also helps our environment. Annual
production of the plastic (PET or polyethylene) bottles
to meet U.S. consumer demand for bottled water takes the
equivalent of about 17.6 million barrels of oil, not including
the cost of transporting the bottled water to consumers.
That more or less equals the amount of oil required to fuel
more than one million vehicles on U.S. roads each year. Worldwide bottling of water uses about 2.7 million tons of plastic each year. And in the end, about 86 percent of
the empty plastic water bottles in the United States land
in the garbage instead of being recycled.
For more information about the problems with bottled
water and why tap water is better, please read our report,
Take Back the Tap: Why Choosing Tap Water Over Bottled
Water is Better for Your Health, Your Pocketbook, and the
Environment. It’s available at: http://www.takebackthetap.org
drDave Said,
January 27, 2009 @ 7:07 am
Thanks Paul for the info and the great resource link to:
takebackthetap.org