We are all aware that our sources of trustworthy drinking water are decreasing. Uses of farming chemicals have polluted ground water sources. Then again new contaminants are discovered in what was considered pure water. In fact, 2100 such toxins in drinking water have now been identified, some with names longer than this sentence.



If you live in an older home, you will want to see if your water goes through lead pipes. These can add dangerous metals to otherwise acceptable water. City water systems do not have the cleanest record of following the standards established by the EPA. The standards allow a level of contaminants that they consider safe. But is it?

Many Americans have turned to bottled water as a result of this problem. Eight billion gallons of bottled water are sold annually, and this number is rising yearly. People are confident that, when a bottle says "Spring water" or Glacier water," it must be safer than what they get out of the faucet. However, this assumption may not be true.

The first reason is that what is inside the bottle may not be what it says on the outside of the bottle. Though interstate sales of bottled water are regulated by the FDA, the industry within state borders is not regulated. Some states do not retain even one full time employee to oversee inspections. The FDA does not consider water a high priority and may not even check bottling plants yearly. Several bottled water companies recently agreed to print on the labels the source of their water (often the faucet), and stop duping the drinkers into thinking it came from a glacier somewhere.

The second problem is, even if the water did come from a spring, it still may not be safe. Remember the concerns mentioned above? Wells and springs are not exempt from these contaminants. It's possible that you may be avoiding your own wells and springs by buying water that came from another's well or spring that is worse off than yours!

The third problem deals with the plastic bottle itself. Most water comes in bottles marked with a number 1, or the name PET or PETE. This stands for polyethylene terephthalate. The bottles are probably safe if the water is drunk without extended storage. However, if the bottles are stored in warm areas, the plastic can actually leach into the water.

The National Institutes of Health recently showed that bisphenol, used to make water cooler jugs, sport drink bottles, and other hard plastic bottles, may case neurological problems in developing babies. How might it affect the rest of us? So if you bring water from home in plastic bottles to avoid the water cooler, you may not be any better off.

Finally there is the issue of the environment. Eighty per cent of all bottles never make it back to the recycling plant. Instead they become landfill that will not biodegrade. Also, water is needed to make the bottles and an estimated 72 billion gallons is used for that each year. In fact, some figure that it takes two liters of water to make one liter of bottled water.

An alternative to these problems with bottled water is to purchase a water filter and purify your own water. Be sure the filter uses the activated carbon method. Then store the filtered water in glass containers and transport it in a glass lined thermos. The good news is that, in the long run, you will actually save money over the cost of buying bottled water, and you will have the peace of mind that you are drinking water that is safe and healthy.