14 Reasons why you need to avoid Bottled Water

How would you feel, If I ask you to avoid bottled water? Well, this would be completely illogical, why would somebody on earth like to avoid a lifeline. Well here are not just one but 14 Reasons why you need to avoid Bottled water.

All of us think (or rather told or conned) that bottled water is the safest bet for our health, particularly when we are traveling or eating out or just hanging outside.

When I travel, me and my family of 3, consumes, at least 12 to 15 bottles of water per day. Well that is a necessity to keep me and my family healthy, right?

WRONG! Bottled water is the worst that can Happen to you and your loved one.

During the last 2 decades, our water consumption habits have gone for a complete turnaround. Today we no longer consume Tap water directly.

At home we have fancy, app-controlled RO water purifier to remove all the impurities water has. When we travel outside we resort to all kind of fancy bottled water. At times the brand claims that it is purified spring water to what not.

Needless to say during past 2 decades bottled-water consumption has experienced tremendous growth. Though we believe that it is the safest bet to start healthy, however, this is a shortsighted belief. Yes, bottled water could be safe in the short run, however, we are creating a mess for ourselves and our children in multiple ways. On top of it, tap water in several cities of the world is absolutely safe with small tweaks.

14 Reasons why you need to avoid Bottled Water

You need to go beyond the phoney TV advertisements from the motivated bottled water manufacturers to learn what is really good for your little one.

Below are some of the things that you do not know:

1. Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes.
2. Worldwide bottling of water uses about 2.7 million tonnes of plastic each year. Less than 10% of Bottled water bottles are recycled, leading to almost 90% going out of our sight mostly in landfills. Just imagine how much might be sitting in landfills across the world.
3. Toxins from degrading plastic containers can leach into watersheds and soil. That’s just not something we need to give to global neighbours and future generations.
4. Plastic when in contact with water leaches Phthalate which can cause cancers or infertility.
5. Studies show that bottled water samples can contain phthalates, mould, microbes, benzene, trihalomethanes, even arsenic.
6. It estimated that actually 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water.
7. The withdrawal of water from the subterranean water reserves of aquifers and springs can aggravate drought conditions.
8. Your glorified bottled water is most probably nothing but the local groundwater. Most of the bottlers are today using processed water, which is municipal water or, more often, directly extracted groundwater that has been subjected to reverse osmosis or other purification treatments.
9. As much as 90% of bottled water in India actually comes from the tap, which means you are paying hundreds or thousands of times more for an illusion of purity.
10. Shiping of the bottled water results into huge consumption of fuel resulting in significant carbon footprint.
11. Your bottled water might be laden with harmful chemicals. Due to suboptimal storage and prolonged exposure to sunlight and heat, can cause potent estrogenic activity in bottled water, exposing consumers to chemicals that alter the function of the endocrine system by mimicking the role of the body’s natural hormones.
12. Several blind taste tests reveal that people cannot tell the difference between bottled and tap water.
13. Many plastic bottles end up being incinerated, releasing toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash laden with heavy metals into the air.
14. The energy to transport the water to market, to chill the bottles, and collect the empties is the energy equivalent of filling each bottle a quarter of the way with oil.

FACT: Bottled Water is Not Safer Than Tap Water

So what do we do?

Yes, yes I know you must be having several questions in your mind such as:

• When I travel I simply do not have access to clean drinking water, So what do we do?
• I do not even have access to tap water, when I travel outdoors, So what do we do?
• But My Tap Water Tastes Bad, What Should I Do?

First of all please note that Tap water or water from a well or a pond or river or odd tasting water does not necessarily mean that it is unhealthy or contaminated. At times the taste of the water is due to chlorination or the mineral content in the water.

Here is a very simple device which can make your life easy, wherever you are – LifeStraw PortableWater Purifier. LifeStraw Portable Water Purifier Bottle enables you to access clean drinking water simply by scooping water from a river or pond and sipping clean water through the mouthpiece. LifeStraw Go Portable water Purifier Bottle is a BPA-free water bottle.

It is ideal for hiking, backpacking, camping, travel, and emergency preparedness. The Bottle with straw-style filter design lets you turn up to 1,000 litres of contaminated water into safe drinking water.