Yes, Bottled Water Costs More than Gas–Much, Much More

Water is such a precious resource that it has been referred to as “liquid gold.” In recent years, bottled beverage companies have taken advantage of the scarcity status of water to market and popularize bottled water. To get consumers to jump on the bottled water bandwagon, these bottled water companies have placed their water in its own category of “premium water”, with advertising campaigns that suggest their water is “spring water” or “mountain water” and cleaner and purer than municipal tap water.

In fact, according to the site Food and Water Watch, as much as 48.7% of bottled water actually comes from municipal tap water. Popular and “premium” bottled water brands such as Dasani and Aquafina, are actually tap water. Six years ago, PepsiCo. Inc., the makers of Aquafina, even admitted that this water brand came from tap water and announced that they would re-label their bottles to state as such that it came from a public water source.

It is interesting to note also that when people are given taste tests of bottled water versus tap water, the latter is frequently chosen as the one that has better taste. Showtime TV once did a study on water drinkers in New York and gave them a blind taste test, where an overwhelmingly majority of them, 75%, chose the tap water over the bottled water:

In the U.S., tap water is federally regulated under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is tested for dangerous contaminants, whereas bottled water is not as stringently regulated under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as previously written about in a Zuvo Water blog post.

Thus the quality of bottled water certainly doesn’t justify its high cost, if most of it comes from tap water, which usually costs just pennies to consume.

It is shocking to find for instance, that a gallon of bottled water costs more than 2x a gallon of gas. A gallon of gas currently averages about $3.50-$4.00. In order to fill up a car that has a 15-gallon tank, it would cost about $60.

A liter of bottled water averages about $2.50 from a convenience store. A gallon is made up of 3.79 liters, which means that a gallon of bottled water would cost about $10. Thus if one were to fill up a 15-gallon tank car with water, it would cost $150 total, versus $60 total for filling it up with gas.

According to the EPA, the $2.50 spent on a liter of bottled water would pay for about 1,000 gallons of tap water. Bottled water companies are making huge profits by drawing water from public water sources, putting it in plastic containers, and reselling it at thousands of times the price of regular tap.

At the $10 per gallon rate, bottled water also costs more than a gallon of milk (which can range anywhere from $3-$8), as well as more than an entire 12-pack of beer, the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage.

People will cite the convenience of bottled water as the main reason why they buy and consume it, as it is easy to pick up at a store, gas station, convenience mart, etc. Tap water is catching up to this convenience angle. Water bottle refill stations are beginning to make their way onto U.S. universities, into airports, and in parks around cities. Since 2010 for instance, San Francisco has installed outdoor water bottle refilling stations (“tap stations”) around the city to provide everyone with access to its high quality tap water while on the go. The tap stations enable one to reuse their own container rather than purchase costly single-use bottled water.

Once the convenience of tap water catches up, it will be hard to justify paying 1,000 times and up the cost of tap water for bottled water.

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Are you looking for a great alternative to bottled water? Download our Buyer’s Guide

Where does lead come from?

Lead is a metal used by many civilizations to transport water, and used as far back in history as Roman times. It has a variety of uses but has been banned in household paint since 1978 and was eliminated from gasoline by the late 1980s. It is still found in water service lines, lead solder and brass fixtures. It is also added to metal alloys such as brass and bronze, and it exists in many older water faucets and fixtures.

Lead is rarely found in source water, but is present in water service lines and enters tap water through the corrosion of plumbing materials. Homes built before the mid ‘80s are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures, and solder. However, new homes are still at risk: even legally “lead-free” plumbing may have levels of lead up to 8 percent.

The effects of lead

Lead is a toxic substance and has serious effects on human health. Even low levels in drinking water, when ingested continuously, will cause a deterioration in one’s health. These effects are cumulative and usually are irreversible, especially in sensitive populations such as fetuses, children, and pregnant women. In babies and children, exposure to lead in drinking water above an action level can hurt developing brains, resulting in delays in physical and mental development, along with deficits in attention span and learning abilities. In adults, lead in drinking water can cause high blood pressure. Adults who drink lead-infected water over many years are also at risk of developing kidney problems.

Lead poisoning used to be a much larger concern in the United States, but has declined significantly as lead was banned from paint and gasoline and other sources. It is still a concern for tainted drinking water however. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 10 to 20 percent of exposure comes from lead released into drinking water caused by corroded pipes in homes and buildings.

What can you do to reduce your risk of lead poisoning?

How concerned should you be about the water that you and your children are drinking? That depends, in part, on where you live. In some communities, water distribution lines still have lead service connections. And, if the water in your area is especially acidic or “soft,” it can be very corrosive. The more corrosive the water, the more lead it can dissolve as it stands in pipes.

To be proactive about reducing your risk to lead poisoning in your drinking water, check with your local water department to see whether the service connection to your building contains lead. The age of your home will tell you a lot too. If you aren’t sure about the pipes in your home and want to know more about them, have a plumber inspect them.

Whether or not you have had your water tested for lead, there are also several simple changes you can make in your daily water habits to protect yourself and your family.

• • Flush your pipes before drinking: The more time that water is sitting in your home’s pipes, the more lead it may contain. Anytime the water in a particular faucet has not been used for six hours or longer, “flush” your cold-water pipes by running the water. In the morning, run the faucet where you normally take your first drink of water or fill up your coffee pot until the water turns as cold as will get. This flushes out the water that has been standing in your pipes overnight. If no one is home and using water during the day, do the same thing in the evening.
• • Use cold water: Always use cold tap water for cooking, drinking, and preparing baby formula or foods. Hot water is likely to have higher levels of lead.
• • Fill a container with water: After you have flushed your pipes in the morning or evening, fill a jug with water and store it in your refrigerator for cooking or drinking use later on.
• • Have an electrician check your wiring: Corrosion within your plumbing may be greater when grounding wires from your home’s electrical system are attached.
• • Have your water tested: After you have taken the precautions listed above for reducing the lead in water used for drinking or cooking, have your water tested. The only way to be sure of the amount of lead in your water is to have it tested by a competent laboratory. Your water supplier may be able to offer information or assistance/information on testing.

Treatment devices for removing/reducing lead in water

You can also purchase a home water treatment device for lead reduction, such as a Zuvo Water Filtration System. The product you purchase should meet the ANSI/NSF Standard 53 for Drinking Water Treatment Units. This standard addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as lead, that may be present in public or private drinking water.

Your best defense against lead in drinking water ultimately is knowledge. If you are concerned about lead, learn as much as you can about the pipes that lead to your house and the plumbing that runs to your faucets. Follow the previous steps described to reduce your chances of lead poisoning, such as flushing out your pipes before drinking and using only cold water for cooking and drinking.

For more information on lead poisoning, a web site such as EPA’s site on water, http://water.epa.gov/, and its drinking water section, has a lot of detailed information on lead in water. Another site with additional information is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): www.cdc.gov/

Water supplies are becoming strained. In 1990, 30 states across the United States reported “water-stress” conditions. In 2000, that number increased to 40, and then to 45 in 2009. Water prices have risen steadily as well over the last dozen years. A USA Today study of 100 municipalities showed that water rates doubled during a 12-year stretch in 25% of those municipalities, and in a few, even tripled. All these alarming factors point to a greater need than ever to conserve water. Taking measures at home to conserve water not only saves you money, it will also benefit the community at large.

One often overlooked method of conserving water is to switch to filtered tap water. One gallon of spring water (or bottled water of any kind) requires much more water to produce than just the water in the bottle. Energy and water is used to transport the water, produce the bottle, and run the equipment. Buy your own water filter and connect it to your faucet, or place a water filter in your fridge.

Home dwellers that utilize water filtration systems can even be more water efficient depending on the type they select. Reverse osmosis systems are incredibly big water wasters and are not recommended for water conservation. Although they don’t require electricity if you are on municipal water, a RO system will waste 4-8 gallons of water for every, one gallon of filtered water produced. Not only are all these gallons of water wasted, but many dollars are also wasted on your utility bill. Consider getting a more water-conservation friendly water filtration system, such as Stratus by Zuvo Water, which does not create any wastewater at all and is currently available on Indiegogo.com.

Filtering water at home is also cheaper than relying on bottled water. Even when factoring in the cost of the variety of filtering systems on the market, from inexpensive carafe and pitcher filters to costlier countertop or under-counter filters, filtered tap water is still far more affordable in the long run than bottled water.

Here’s a comparison of the average cost of one gallon of tap water, one gallon of filtered tap water, and one gallon of commercial bottled water:

• • Tap water: $0.002 per gallon
• • Average home filtered water: from $0.06 to $0.20 per gallon
• • Bottled water: from $0.89 to $8.00+ per gallon

Choosing a water filter can seem like a daunting process, but it doesn’t have to be. Find out what is in your water. Contact your local utility and request a copy of the Annual Water Quality Report, also called the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). The report will give you information about any contaminant violations in your water system and help you figure out what type of filtration system is best for your home. And even though there may not be contaminants of concern based on the CCR or your test results, in the case of a private well, a home water filtration system can still provide an added layer of safety/protection for your water.

There’s a revolution going on in your kitchen. In most homes, the kitchen is the hub — not just for cooking and eating, but also as the popular family “hang out” spot in general. Some studies show that families spend more time together when there’s a computer in the kitchen, including a return to kids doing their homework while sitting at the kitchen table.

It’s not just the computer that has made its way into the kitchen. High technology in general is transforming this most traditional of family rooms. Some of us remember watching “The Jetsons,” an animated science fiction series about a 2062 family living in a futuristic utopia. This utopia featured robot maids and other elaborate robotic contraptions, holograms, and connected devices providing a glimpse into what the kitchen of the future would be.

It’s inevitable that real technology has crept into the kitchen. Various surveys have indicated that two-thirds of consumers are planning to make a “technology purchase” in the next six months. This was evident during Christmas, as the best-selling gifts from the holiday season of 2012 were smart phones, iPods, tablets and e-readers.

Kitchen appliance manufacturers are not blind to the tech trend. They are  incorporating it with increasing sophistication into their new product offerings, realizing that consumers are using features such as memory presets, touch technology and the like in many areas of their lives and will expect it in their kitchens and bathrooms. Manufacturers are designing appliances that can provide other functions and make life easier for busy consumers. As intelligent appliances become more widely available and connected to a smart electrical grid, they will also become more energy efficient.

In recent years at the annual Las Vegas-held Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — the behemoth of all international tradeshows for anything high tech and electronic — the Connected Home section has steadily grown. A larger and wider array of top and startup kitchen appliance manufacturers are showing up and showing off their “smart” products, evolving into a “connected appliance” tech zone. And it is the smart kitchen appliances that have also increasingly commanded CES news and headlines of “hot product” stories written by tech press attending the show. At the most recent show in January of this year, easily the hottest, most written about product was an electronic fork that monitors one’s eating habits.

Indeed, in the kitchen, new product innovations have quickly emerged, including induction cooking, convection ovens, energy efficiency, touch screens, and intelligent and cloud-connected appliances. Many of these innovations show up on kitchen appliances due to the popularity of the feature on another high tech device.

We can probably thank the proliferation and dominance of smart phones, for instance, for one of the aforementioned and hottest, tech trends in the kitchen—the intuitive touch screen interface. Smart phones were among the first to introduce touch screen technology to the mass consumer market. There are millions of smart phone users that are now very used to the touch screen functionality. That same functionality is establishing itself in the kitchen, where touch screen interfaces on new refrigerators, ranges, ovens, microwaves, and dishwashers have become commonplace. For example, refrigerators are now coming equipped with built-in LCD screens so people can download apps that provide not only recipes, but even news and weather as well.

Acacia Tri-Flow Intelligent Faucet

There is also a proliferation of kitchen faucets that feature intelligent, “touch sensing” technology. Zuvo Water’s new Stratus faucets, for example, have a touch-sensing feature that not only turns on the filtered water, but also show users the status of the water filtration system using LED lights. (The Stratus faucet is currently available to order in through an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign alongside its water filtration system.)

High-tech design is another trend in kitchen appliances. Not only are manufacturers bringing the functionality of high-tech gadgets to appliances, they also are borrowing their sleek and streamlined designs. There is an oven range vent hood on the market for instance, that was designed by a former Apple Computer designer. Who could have imagined that one of the most basic kitchen essentials has its design origins linked to perhaps the most innovative and well-known tech product company of our time? At Zuvo Water, the Stratus faucets were designed by a leading Silicon Valley design firm more known for its work on consumer electronics and hardware products (its living frame for Instagram photos, for example) than for kitchen appliance design.

Stratus by Zuvo – Bamboo Tri-Flow Intelligent Faucet and Zuvo Smartphone App

Alongside its smart faucets, Zuvo’s Stratus water filtration system is an intelligent ecosystem delivering water information and hydration via the cloud. The Wi-Fi communication allows Zuvo to deliver to one’s smartphone a whole host of important information about a user’s water; information including the remaining life of the filter, the actual reduction of contaminants in the water, and the daily rate of water consumption in their household. With the personalized Hydration Coach App, one can precisely manage all of one’s daily water consumption requirements and get information on replenishing the body’s hydration balance. Even a basic gadget such as a water filter has received the high tech treatment.

Today’s kitchen appliances are smarter, faster and more efficient than ever before. And they have to function that way in order to keep up with consumers’ ever-changing and increasing demands. What is truly exciting about the smart kitchen appliance trend, though, is that previously high tech functionality and features, such as touch technology, were once only available in the most expensive, high-end, premium appliances. Today, as appliance manufacturers incorporate more tech into their new products, they are making them available at mid-level prices that are within reach of the mass consumer. The high tech kitchen can be the present and future for all of us.

On January 15^th we’re launching Stratus by Zuvo Water on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.com. Are you wondering what Indiegogo is? It’s a platform where people who want to raise money can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out. Indiegogo is also a place to discover what people all over the world are passionate about and how to get involved.

At Zuvo Water we’re passionate about water and redefining the hydration experience in the home. Zuvo Water’s mission is to restore consumers’ enjoyment of and trust in their tap water and offer a better alternative to bottled water, thereby providing cost savings, convenience and care for the environment.

Combining modern faucet design, Zuvo’s patented water filtration technology that replicates nature’s cleansing process, and a Cloud-connected app, Stratus is the most intelligent water system on the market.

Stratus is more than just a stylish faucet and high-tech filter, it’s an ecosystem designed to revolutionize tap water.

How It Works

Stratus combines a Wi-Fi enabled Zuvo Water Filtration System, a stylish and intelligent faucet and a smartphone app to provide you with great-tasting water, style and information all in one package.

Stratus Overview – “putting water back in the cloud”

Stratus Features

•Water information via the Cloud – the combination of Wi-Fi communication built into the Zuvo system and a Cloud-connected app deliver to your smartphone a host of important information about your water such as the remaining life of the filter, the reduction of contaminants in water based on local water quality, and the daily rate of water consumption in your household.

•Water quality database & hydration coach app – Leveraging smart phone technology and the largest database of water quality information in the world, the Stratus app provides real-time filter diagnostics and important information about the consumer’s local water municipality. With the personalized, hydration coaching feature, you can precisely manage all of your daily water consumption requirements. By inputting age and weight, it will give you an approximate daily hydration target.

•More than simple carbon filtration – The Zuvo system goes beyond simple carbon filtration. By combining ultraviolet light (UV), ozone, and carbon filtration in a patented five-step process, the Zuvo Water Filtration System recreates nature’s way of cleansing water. The ozone/UV combination is not only effective at killing bacteria; the two-pass setup also prevents bacterial film from growing on the filter and contaminating the water. The Zuvo system has been independently tested to NSF/ANSI Standards 42, 53 and 55 Class B for Drinking Water Treatment Units by an accredited third-party laboratory.

Bamboo Tri-Flow Faucet

Hibiscus Beverage Faucet

•Stylish and intelligent faucets – Zuvo Water has been working for the last year with one of the leading Silicon Valley design firms, D2M, who also created the crowdfunding sensation Instacube. D2M designed and tested Stratus and created a full range of innovatively designed and styled, intelligent faucets. Faucets will be available in Bamboo and Acacia tri-flow and Hibiscus beverage faucet styles in chrome, brushed nickel and oil-rubbed-bronze finishes. The intelligent, touch-sensing faucets not only turn on the filtered water but also show users filter status with intuitive LED lights.

•Eco-consciousness – Zuvo Water is 100% committed to reducing the global consumption of bottled water and raising consciousness about the value of water. The Stratus reduces the expense and waste of bottled water by not adding to the more than 60 million plastic water bottles that end up in landfills every year. Additionally, the Stratus is designed according to sustainability principles. Non-painted and BPA-free plastics were chosen for durability, health considerations, and recyclability.

The end result is the world’s first intelligent, drinking water system right in your home that installs on your countertop or underneath your sink.

Existing Customers

Do you love your “Zuvo” system? If the answer is “YES!” you may want to consider upgrading to Stratus. To show of our thanks for being a Zuvo customer, we’ll give you a refund if you back the Stratus campaign on Indiegogo.com and we meet our goal to raise $50,000.

a) Order Stratus with a Hibiscus beverage faucet and receive a $50 refund or
b) Order Stratus with a Bamboo of Acacia tri-flow faucet and receive a $100 refund.

Email refund@zuvo.com to receive your refund.

Mark your calendars and place your order beginning January 15^th.

Thank you for helping us to revolutionize the enjoyment of and trust in your tap water!
-the Zuvo Team

VOCs are “volatile organic compounds.” They are synthetic organic compounds–chemicals synthesized from carbon and other elements such as hydrogen, nitrogen, or chlorine. VOCs have important properties in common: they evaporate or vaporize readily (they are volatile.) They are not a product of nature, but are man-made to meet hundreds of diverse needs in our everyday lives and are emitted by thousands of common products. Examples include paints, varnishes, wax, cleaning, disinfecting, cosmetic, degreasing, and hobby products. Fuels are made up of organic chemicals. All of these products can release organic compounds while you are using them, and, to some degree, when they are stored.

The manufacturing of VOCs has risen dramatically during the past 50 years and thus have inevitably crept into our water as a harmful contaminant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that VOCs are present in one-fifth of the nation’s water supplies. More than 700 synthetic organic compounds have been identified in drinking water supplies across the U.S. They originate from a variety of sources, including the aforementioned everyday household products and leakage or improper disposal of chemical wastes from commercial and industrial establishments. VOCs can have very dangerous effects on one’s health. At high levels of exposure, many types of VOCs can cause central nervous system depression (drowsiness, stupor), liver and kidney diseases, and a variety of cancers. All VOCs can be irritating upon contact with the skin, or to the mucous membranes if inhaled.

For VOCs found in water supplies, EPA has established a maximum contaminant level (MCL). Water containing a chemical in an amount lower than the MCL is considered safe to drink. Drinking water containing one or more VOCs at levels above standards should not be consumed. And because little is known about the compounding effects of exposure to multiple VOCs, attention should be given if two or more VOC chemicals are found in your drinking water. In any case, all sources of VOC contamination in water should be eliminated when possible.

How do you protect your water from, and reduce VOCs? Protecting your water source is the most effective method to eliminate exposure to these chemicals.

Public water systems are required to be monitored on a routine basis for contamination. In regards to private water supplies, however, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to regularly have their water quality evaluated. If you live in an area where there is potential for organic compounds in your water, have it tested periodically for VOCs. If VOCs or other contaminants are found at levels approaching or above drinking water standards, the source of contamination should be eliminated.

If testing indicates contaminant levels that exceed drinking water standards, water treatment systems can be used to reduce them to well below the standard. Home filter systems are designed to reduce water contaminants and will provide a high quality water supply if properly installed and maintained. Be sure that systems purchased for home treatment of VOCs are certified to remove those found in your water.

Activated carbon filters are generally very effective at removing most organic contaminants from water. Certain forms of carbon also have a greater capacity for VOC reduction. The effectiveness of carbon filters is related to:

(1) the type and level of contaminant(s)
(2) the level of water usage and
(3) the type of carbon being used.

Large concentrations of VOCs and high water use will reduce the carbon life. The manufacturer’s guidelines for replacing carbon filters should always be followed.

And even though there may not be contaminants of concern, or in the case of a private well, test results turn up OK, a home water filtration system like the Zuvo Water Filtration System, used in combination with a Zuvo VOC filter, can provide an added layer of safety/protection for your drinking water. The Zuvo system will also improve the taste and quality of otherwise potable municipal or well water.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has previously recognized fluoridation of public water supplies as one of the “ten most important public health advances of the 20^th century.” Others named in this list of notable ten include: vaccination, motor vehicle safety, control of infectious diseases, and recognition of tobacco as a health hazard.

Yet, lauded as it is as a public health advance, water fluoridation has become quite the hot-button issue in the U.S. and a politically charged one when it becomes a ballot item that communities vote on. A myriad of scientific evidence suggests that fluoride might possibly pose more dangers than it does benefits, and there is a strong “fight water fluoridation” movement that has taken hold across the land. Hundreds of communities have eliminated fluoride from their municipal water supplies in recent years.

What exactly, is fluoride? Fluoride is the name given to a group of compounds that are composed of the naturally occurring element fluorine and one or more other elements. Fluorides are present naturally in water and soil at varying levels.

In the 1940s, scientists noticed that people who lived where drinking water supplies had naturally occurring fluoride levels of approximately 1 part fluoride per million parts water (ppm) or greater, had fewer dental caries (cavities) than people who lived where fluoride levels in drinking water were lower. It was subsequently discovered that fluoride could prevent and even reverse tooth decay by inhibiting bacteria that produce acid in the mouth and by enhancing re-mineralization, the process through which tooth enamel is “rebuilt” after it begins to decay.

Water fluoridation is the process of adding fluoride to the water supply so the level reaches approximately 0.7 ppm, or 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water. This is considered to be the optimal level for preventing tooth decay.

Water fluoridation in the U.S. first began in 1945. The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, adjusted the fluoride content of its water supply to 1.0 ppm and thus became the first city to implement community water fluoridation. By 2008, more than 72 percent of the U.S. population served by public water systems had access to fluoridated water.

When the CDC included water fluoridation in its top public health advance list, it introduced this honor in glowing words:

“Fluoridation…safely and inexpensively benefits both children and adults by effectively preventing tooth decay, regardless of socioeconomic status or access to care. Fluoridation has played an important role in the reductions in tooth decay (40%-70% in children) and of tooth loss in adults (40%-60%.)”

Currently, although two-thirds of the public water supplies in the U.S. still contain fluoride, the dissenting voices against fluoride have grown louder and noisier.

Some scientific studies suggest that fluoride is an extremely neurotoxic chemical which interrupts basic nerve cells in the brain and is a contributor to factors such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, birth defects, insomnia, infertility, cancer, and diabetes, as well as dental fluorosis (a defect of the tooth enamel) and skeletal fluorosis (a crippling bone disease.)

On the website www.naturalnews.com, Dr. Ted Norris, who holds a Ph.D. in neuro-endocrinology, is even quoted warning about the extremely harsh consequences of too much fluoride exposure: “Fluoride causes chronic obesity. It causes fatigue. It causes depression. It causes lack of energy, and that’s not even to get into the osteosarcomas and the hip replacements. It’s devastating. I think it’s worse than lead.”

Water fluoridation has also been rejected by many of the world’s other large and developed countries, including France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Finland and India. All of these countries decided not to fluoridate their public water supplies after special commissions and health secretaries reviewed the negative evidence against fluoride.

However, there are staunch advocates on both sides of the water fluoridation issue. Despite the rejection of so many countries to inject fluoride into their water, it is still promoted by the World Health Organization. The American Dental Association also vigorously promotes fluoride, and the CDC continues to promote it as well, refuting the negative studies on its website: “Experts have weighed the findings and the quality of the available evidence and found that the weight of peer-reviewed scientific evidence does not support an association between water fluoridation and any adverse health effect or systemic disorder.”

A more compromising, lets-meet-in-the-middle point of view come from those who believe that fluoridation of municipal water supplies is no longer necessary or can be reduced, because fluoride has now been introduced into most toothpaste. Levels of proposed water fluoridation have been decreased as a result of the toothpaste factor, but experts think that more fluoride than can be received in toothpaste is still needed by most people.

And some also think that public water fluoridation may be needed in areas where the people are poor and disadvantaged, but no longer in the U.S. and other industrialized countries where availability and use of fluoride toothpastes is universal, and as a result, tooth decay less prevalent.

With both sides so passionate about the debate over whether water fluoridation is good or bad, it is incumbent upon concerned citizens to look into the arguments for and against and make their own informed decision, just as a conscientious voter would read the pros and cons of a ballot measure on their voter pamphlets before casting their vote. And as mentioned, the topic of water fluoridation itself is indeed showing up on ballots across the country.

How ironic is that? Literally in some communities, people get to cast a vote, either for, or against, water fluoridation. Where do you fall? Are you a fluoridation friend or foe?

Zuvo Water is evaluating the feasibility of incorporating a solution into the Zuvo Water Filtration System that would reduce fluoride. We’re interested in your feedback. Would a solution that reduces fluoride be of interest to you?

October 18th marks the fortieth anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Why is the Clean Water Act important? To understand the why, let’s start with what the Clean Water Act is. In 1972, Congress passed this landmark legislation when many of our waterways were so contaminated by industrial waste and other pollutants that they were unfit for public use. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio infamously caught on fire because of the contaminants in the water.

The Clean Water Act or CWA, is the primary legislation in the United States that addresses water pollution. Under the CWA, the EPA established water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.

Goals of the Clean Water Act

The CWA set a national goal “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters”, with interim goals that all waters be fishable and swimmable where possible. The 1972 act introduced the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), which is the permitting system for regulating the discharge of point-source pollutants. The law requires that any point-source facility, such as a municipal wastewater treatment facility, that discharges polluted wastewater into a body of water must first obtain a permit from the EPA. The operator of the wastewater treatment plant is required to meet discharge standards for a number of contaminants and report on compliance on a regular basis. What is impressive is that the 1972 statute, its regulatory provisions and the institutions created 40 years ago, still make up the bulk of the framework for protecting and restoring the nation’s rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands and coastal waters.

Successes of the Clean Water Act

The CWA sought to make all water fishable and swimmable by 1985, and gave regulators the tools to actually follow through by punishing polluters. After four decades and because of the CWA, an estimated 65 percent of U.S. waterways are now fishable and swimmable. So the CWA continues to be a work in progress towards reaching the goal of all waters being fishable and swimmable, but we’ve come a long way since the days of the Cuyahoga River burning. The Clean Water Act is important for ensuring we continue to roll forward and not back.

Fracking isn’t a word we learn in school, and it’s likely one that isn’t familiar to many people. So what is “fracking” anyway and what does it have to do with water? Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing, a method used to extract natural gas or oil from rock deep below the earth’s surface.

Fracking is a controversial and meaty topic. It’s one of those classic struggles between tree huggers and capitalists, Democrats and Republicans, the left and the right. The arguments occur over protecting the environment including air, water and soil versus domestic energy independence and job creation. But that’s not all! There’s also a moral versus financial dilemma for property owners who typically live in rural areas and in many cases make a living by farming.

Here’s why this matters in regards to drinking water systems. All water that flows through a drinking water tap comes from a water source like snow melt, that makes its way into a river or reservoir, or groundwater that is stored in an underground aquifer. The fracking process involves injecting a well with high volumes of water mixed with chemicals and sand into openings or fractures in the rock. The pressure forces larger openings in the rock to occur through which pockets of natural gas or oil escape. Assertions that fracking is safe are largely true when the term only refers to the actual process of pumping the fluids into the ground to break apart the rock.[1] It’s all of the supporting operations like drilling the well, setting off explosions and storing wastewater in open containment basins associated with fracking that puts underground water at risk. Once groundwater and other drinking water sources are contaminated, it is very difficult and costly to restore them to their original quality. This is partly why the EPA, at Congress’ request, is studying whether fracking may be harmful to groundwater and drinking water systems.

Given the growing population and increasing stress on water resources, are the benefits of fracking worth the risk of destroying what are presently good-quality water supplies? Residents in New York State didn’t think so and successfully lobbied for a moratorium on fracking in 2010 so that state regulators could conduct an environmental review and develop rules. Opponents of fracking cite unknown health impacts, oil and gas companies’ exemption from the Clean Water Act, and lack of requirements for oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals, many of which are likely or known carcinogens, used in the process. Proponents argue that fracking operations should be expanded because natural gas provides a cheap, clean way to generate electricity (especially compared to coal) and to move towards greater domestic energy independence. Not to mention this is an industry where jobs are being created.

This is one of the best-researched and comprehensive articles we’ve come across on fracking. It’s a blog post written by wired.com geek mom, Laura Grace Weldon. Why do we give it such high marks? For three reasons:

1. 1. it’s a first-hand “in my backyard” account by a mom who questions the impact to her family
2. 2. it’s written so that anyone can understand the technical information and
3. 3. it’s thorough and sorts through the confusion surrounding fracking.

Weldon’s article provides an in-depth investigation of the following issues that make the story of fracking so complicated, rich and complete with a diverse cast of characters:

• • Sorting though the confusion
• • Disclosure and rights
• • Health and environmental considerations

What would you do, if you were a landowner faced with signing an agreement with an oil and gas company that holds the promise of a new source of income for you and your family?

Where do you think the line should be drawn, if at all, between doing what is necessary to create jobs versus protecting natural resources especially, drinking water systems?

_________________________

Are you considering a UV water filter system? Download our Buyer’s Guide

Water conservation is nothing, if only practiced in theory.  Living sustainably requires people to make conscious decisions in light of the earth’s limitations.  Because the world’s population is growing and the water supply is not – we must each do our part to conserve what we can.  The Arizona based Water – Use it Wisely campaign website has a list of over one hundred ways to save water. Grey water and rainwater harvesting are just two water conservation methods that can be done at home, and we highlight them in this post because they both contribute a great deal to the cause.

For starters, just replacing the potable water used to flush your toilet with grey water would save 20 gallons, per person, per day.  If you live in a four-person household, that equates to 2,400 gallons per month!  Imagine not only how much potable water you could save, but also how significant the decrease in your utility bill could be!  On a grander scale, the EPA estimates that 4.8 billion gallons is flushed down the toilet daily in the United States.  Each year, Americans could reduce 1.75 trillion gallons of water, simply by flushing toilets with grey water. That’s amazing.

Many retrofit systems are available on the market to convert to grey water for toilet flushing. Some systems require more home alterations than the others, but all are effective in application. The Aqus System is an example of a retrofit product designed to collect water from the bathroom sink drain and supply it to your home’s existing toilet. It filters and treats the water, and lasts for a decade or more. Typically, the system has paid for itself ($200) within four years of use.

Rain water reuse can be as simple or inventive as anyone prefers. This method of water conservation could easily utilize a home’s gutters to initially collect the water. After that, place a bucket below the spout and distribute as needed for watering plants or washing a vehicle. More precise rainwater harvesting solutions exists as well, which can supply direct irrigation. The more evolved rainwater harvesting technologies require greater time and energy upfront, but require less attention later.

There are small ways to contribute to a sustainable world. Will you save a few gallons of water here or there? Please do. You’ll no doubt save money, and a great deal of our earth’s most vital resource: water.

The United States’ drinking water standards are high. Under normal circumstances, the water is clean, safe, tastes ok and is used for so many different things. The same water that we drink is used to flush the toilet, water the plants and wash the car. Does a toilet require potable water for flushing? No, absolutely not. Could the runoff water from the dishes and shower be reused for other purposes? Yes, definitely.

Think of it this way: three levels of water quality exist – white, grey and black. White water is that which we drink, potable water. It’s been filtered and disinfected specifically for us to safely consume. Grey water is the wastewater that flows from a home’s shower, bathroom sink, washing machine and/or bathtub. This water is then purposed for reuse, typically in the form of landscape irrigation. Black water is flushed toilet water, containing materials unsafe for reuse, unless properly treated. Water from the garbage disposal, dishwasher and kitchen sink is usually referred to as black water as well, because of high levels of organic waste.

On average, 280 gallons of water goes down the drain per household, per day and more than half of that could be reclaimed as grey water. Reasons to reuse water include sustainability, making your home more green, reducing your water bill and reducing your water footprint. Water reclamation can simply be done by collecting shower water with a bucket and reusing where applicable. Other specific tools are available to do the trick, for example hooking up a bathroom sink to a machine that funnels the grey water to the toilet.

Rainwater harvesting is another way to conserve water. This method involves collecting and storing rainwater, and reusing it for irrigation or for consumption.

In our next blog post, we will be discussing specific examples of water conservation and grey water application, and what it can do for the home and the environment. In the meantime, do you reclaim water or harvest rainwater? If so, please tell us about it. Would you consider it if you don’t do one or both of these, and for what uses?

In restaurants, water is quickly on the rise as the preferred drink – perhaps because of the price, for health reasons, or for the palate’s sake – as water has a way of simply pairing with a meal. Clean water hydrates, keeps us active, clears up our skin and does so many more things for our bodies – it’s amazing! But what about when the water isn’t clean? What happens when people drink contaminated water, and what can be done about it?

Contamination in water comes from a whole slew of man-made and naturally occurring things: industrial waste, hazardous sediments, household chemicals, bacteria, viruses and parasites to name a few. We’ve previously discussed some ground and surface water contaminants, but what do parasites have to do with water?

The most notable parasitic water outbreak in the United States occurred in Milwaukee in 1993. Cryptosporidium, a parasite, had unknowingly contaminated Milwaukee Water Works’ (MWW) source water: Lake Michigan. The source water flowed to MWW as it always did, and after being treated, was provided to the homes of Milwaukee residents.

Although the turbidity readings had been unusually high, which can signal microbial contamination, the MWW employees did not catch the problem until after the fact, as all of the water quality standards were met. The municipality became alerted of the problem when people throughout the city began calling about diarrhea, and increased absences from school and work were reported. A boil alert was put into effect, the water plant was shut down, and in a week’s time, the incidence of sickness tapered off. When all was said and done, this specific parasite, in a single occurrence, caused 400,000 people in Milwaukee to become sick, and resulted in 100 deaths of people with weak immune systems.

So how did this happen? For starters, cryptosporidium contaminated the water source through infected stools of animals or people. Secondly, Cryptosporidium cysts have tough walls that can withstand many environmental stresses and are resistant to chlorine which many municipalities use to disinfect water.

Of course since the 1993 outbreak, more measures to keep water safe are being taken. The EPA’s Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule regulates that 99% of Cryptosporidium be removed if a municipality serves 10,000 people or more.  Since then, no more large-scale outbreaks have occurred. However, if you are served by a smaller scale source for your water or looking for an added factor of safety, consider a home filtration system like the Zuvo Water Filtration System. The Zuvo system is tested to NSF/ANSI standards for the reduction of protozoan cysts including Cryptosporidium.

We’d like to hear from you, what potential drinking water contaminants are of most concern to you?

Have you ever drunk bottled water? If you’re like most Americans or Canadians, of course you have. Bottled water is a healthy alternative to soft drinks, and has been marketed in a way that suggests it’s also safer and more pure than tap water. As stated in the previous post, that’s simply not the case. Bottled water is less regulated, unsustainable, and expensive and consumes a great deal of precious natural resources. Thanks in part to truthful, informative media coverage like “The Story of Bottled Water,” the public’s positive attitude about the once beloved beverage has rapidly decreased. Watch this telling clip about the full life cycle of a one-time-use plastic water bottle, from production to consumption.

To recap, bottled water is wasteful and unnecessary, to say the least. It depletes the oil supply, requires more water to produce the bottle than goes into it, can contain illness-causing contaminants, and unless the plastic bottle is recycled pollutes the earth with each bottle consumed. An alternative exists, and it’s good for you, your wallet and the planet: use a refillable, reusable water bottle. If you’re not happy with the taste of your tap water, consider filtering your water for a pure, clean glass of water.

So, after knowing the facts, why would you buy and drink from the plastic bottle?

Running out the door, you grab a bottle of water. It’s calorie-free, it’s convenient, and it’s there.  Forget the ease of your home’s user-friendly faucet, and the countless refillable bottles you have somewhere in the kitchen.  Forget that you already pay for the water coming out of your tap, and that it costs mere pennies, compared to the dollar-something, name-brand H20.  Besides these factors, tap water is also significantly more regulated and green than bottled water packaged in plastic.

Tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which sets the limit for more than 85 different contaminants in drinking water. Each municipality must test the drinking water it supplies on a required schedule to determine quality and safety.  When excess contaminants are found, the public water system is required to notify the community it serves, and to efficiently remove the potential threat, as mandated by the Safe Water Drinking Act.  This Act also requires that consumers receiving treated water be updated annually via a Consumer Confidence Report about the source and quality of their water. In a previous blog post titled “You Have a Right to Know” we discussed the importance and value of Consumer Confidence Reports.

Bottled water, on the other hand, is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The FDA requires manufacturers of bottled water to follow the specified Current Good Manufacturing Practices. These practices include sanitary handling, protecting the source of the water from pollutants, using quality control measures, and testing the water for contamination. Unlike the EPA, the FDA does not require certified lab testing nor do manufactures have to report violations regarding excessive contaminant levels. In addition, bottled water companies do not have to inform consumers about where their water comes from, which could be sourced from groundwater, surface water or even straight from the tap (which often is the case)! The key differences between EPA tap water and FDA bottled water rules are summarized in this table. Along with the other differences already mentioned, the FDA does not require testing for fecal coliform and E. coli (an indicator of disease causing pathogens) nor does it require the same frequency of sampling that the EPA does.

Although bottled tap water ensures quality, what’s the point?  On average, a gallon of municipally-treated water costs two cents, whereas an eighth of that amount of bottled water costs between one and two dollars! Beyond the personal financial cost, there is a large environmental cost that comes with bottled water.

Bottled Water Environmental Footprint:

• • It takes nearly 7x the water consumed in a bottle, to produce and deliver a Fiji Water bottle
• • 1.2 pounds of Green House Gases are emitted by the transportation of a one-kilogram bottle of Fiji Water
• • In 2008, as much as 162 million barrels of oil were consumed to produce, transport and dispose of bottled water around the world
• •Less than 20 percent of water bottles are recycled

It’s unfortunate that convenience is so readily chosen over safety, expense and waste. The market is full of reusable water bottles to choose from, which not only saves money, the earth and your health, but also will help you drink more water. So, make a choice today, pledge to do good and to Take Back the Tap.

Lead, arsenic and unpronounceable words like Cryptosporidium (also known as “Crypto”) aren’t your everyday vocabulary words. We understand that. However, these specific words are important in determining everyday health for you, your family and your neighborhood.  Water is an incredible ingredient for your well-being, and the quality can and should be guaranteed. Today, community water systems ensure drinking water quality through compliance with primary standards for approximately 90 contaminants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with setting the standards and regulating the levels of contaminants and indicators in drinking water. What may be surprising is these public drinking water standards have only been in place since 1974 when the Safe Drinking Water Act became law.

Drinking water, as well as bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants doesn’t necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk.[1] Annual drinking water reports, also known as Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs), are provided each year by water utilities, detailing local water quality to customers. The EPA requires community water systems to supply these reports by July 1^st each year to the people it serves including home-owners, apartment building landlords and mobile home park residents.

CCRs are required to include several key points about the water it delivers. What source does the water come from? What are the contaminant levels in the local water as compared to the EPA maximum contaminant level (MCLs)?  What is the probable cause of the delineated contaminants? If contaminants exceed the maximum level, what are the potential health effects? The community water system must also provide a plan of action to bring the contamination level below the MCL. The dangers of lead, nitrates, arsenic and illness-causing Cryptosporidium are also entailed in the report.

Each summer, a report is distributed to community members via newspaper, direct mail and/or the Internet. Some reports are also available for download from the EPA’s website.  If a contaminant does surpass the maximum EPA level, consider having your drinking water tested. In addition to the yearly report, pay attention to changes in the color, odor and taste of your water. Changes in these characteristics can indicate that something is not right in your water; a home water-quality test will inform you of specific contamination concentration levels such as lead, iron and coliform bacteria. With this information, if a contaminant, such as lead, exceeds the MCL, consider installing a home water treatment system like the Zuvo Water Filtration System to reduce the concentration to below the MCL.

The United States government amended the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1999 to include the vital, public information the CCR provides. Take advantage of it. Check your water quality. If necessary, improve your water quality with a home water filtration system.

Have you read your annual Consumer Confidence Report provided by your local water utility? Do any contaminants in your drinking water exceed the MCL? If so, what have you done to mitigate the risk?

Water is absolutely essential for life. Think plants, think animals, think humanity, think whatever you want – it’s vital, isn’t it?  Its uses abound – hydration of course, but also hygiene, cooking, recreation and the manufacturing of so many goods.  So it’s only fitting that this week, we give thanks for this naturally reproducing thing called H2O.

To function properly, we must drink water.  Our bodies and the vast majority of our vital organs are composed of water.  Without consuming about half of our body weight in ounces on a daily basis, we may experience dehydration symptoms including lethargy, lightheadedness, headaches, dry skin, achy joints and low blood pressure.  Consider a dry, withering plant. What is the first thing it needs for life? Water of course!  Regardless of which wonder-grow solution you add to the plant, it will not thrive without water. The same is true for the human body.  We need pure water to function as we should, and thankfully – most people have access to it.

About seven out of eight people have access to clean drinking water, which leaves 884 million people lacking that basic right.  Without clean water, individuals of all ages are more susceptible to disease, infections, diarrhea and even death.  Children are denied education in impoverished countries due to the lack of sanitation facilities and because of their, or the women’s duty to fetch water daily.

Along with many other organizations, Pump Aid demonstrates how important clean water is by the work they do.  They build self-sustainable wells for poor, rural African communities who can then draw the water, as opposed to walking miles to get their daily supply.  Pump Aid also helps communities build a sanitary toilet, and teaches them how to irrigate nutrition gardens.  It is by these actions, that we realize how vital water really is.

We are blessed with the easy access to clean water, which is life giving in so many ways. Take advantage of it!

Each morning in many houses besides your own, a daily routine begins. You brush your teeth, shower, flush the toilet, make a family-sized batch of oatmeal and remind your children to brush their teeth too. Though morning routines are not identical, life’s basic necessities and cleanliness norms suggest that “getting ready” always requires one thing: water. When you turn the faucet’s handle, you expect water to readily flow from it. But how does it get there, from start to finish?

As we explained in a previous blog post about the water cycle, initially the water is supplied through precipitation, and is collected as surface water or groundwater in a river, local lake or a well. Water is then pumped from one of these sources to a water treatment plant, for the town’s use. Once it reaches the plant, the water goes through a series of treatment processes, to make it safe to drink and use in your home. A typical water treatment plant includes the following processes: coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection and storage.

After sediment is removed from the water through coagulation, sedimentation and filtration, the water needs to be disinfected to remove illness-causing pathogens. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets contamination limits for drinking water according to the Safe Drinking Water Act, which are all based on a minimal, healthy level.  Arsenic, lead, viruses and mercury are just a few of the contaminants regulated by the EPA, and reduced by water treatment plants.

Public water systems disinfect water through one or more processes, including chlorine treatment, ultraviolet radiation (UV), and less common alternatives including ozonation, boiling and pasteurization. Gaseous forms of chlorine treat public water, reducing disease-causing bacteria and organisms, and removes minerals like iron and hydrogen sulfide. After primary disinfection occurs and the water leaves the municipality, some disinfectant remains to continuously keep water safe. Some utilities have switched from free chlorine to chloramines for maintaining a disinfectant residual in the distribution system. The secondary or residual disinfectant can, and often times does, affect the taste and odor of your tap water, though is not harmful. Alternatively, ultraviolet treatment kills contaminants through radiation, and safely improves water quality. This type of process does not affect the taste or odor after the fact, albeit nor does it have a disinfectant residual.

The filtered and disinfected water is stored and then used when it is needed. Tanks, aquifers and water towers, are all types of reservoirs used for water storage.  Water towers typically hold enough of a water supply for one day of the population’s use. Water towers are usually elevated by structure and location, providing sufficient pressure to deliver water to the homes and businesses within the town. After the water volume in the tower is reduced from a day’s use, more water is pumped in at night when usage is minimal from the municipal source.  By the time you awake in the morning, the tower is filled with clean water – ready for you, your family and your town’s use.

What is the initial source of your drinking water? Do you know how it’s treated?

One hundred years from now, history books and museums may tell the tale of water-pumping wells. Today, an estimated 15 million US households, or 60 million people, rely on private wells for their main source of water.  With 15 percent of the US population using wells, it’s important to know not only how they work, but also, what the quality of the water is that wells supply.

Private wells pump groundwater to the surface for a plethora of purposes. People pump well water into their home for hydration, cooking, cleaning, showering, and to run appliances.  The majority of this water is used for agriculture; specifically irrigating crops, and a smaller percentage for feeding livestock. Wells are most typically found in rural areas on private plots of land, and are not regulated by the EPA.

The contaminants affecting the water supply depend largely on geographic location and the prevalent industries surrounding the well.  Mining and construction can release heavy metals into the ground, resulting in arsenic in the groundwater, which can cause cancer after long-term exposure.  Nitrates and bacteria are released into the water through septic tanks and factory farms, which both contain large amounts of human and animal waste.  People with weak immune systems, including infants, the elderly and AIDS-afflicted individuals are especially vulnerable to nitrate and bacteria contaminants. Pesticides, fertilizers, household waste like cleaning products and used motor oil, and industrial discharges are also a potential threat to the water that comes from private wells.

It is important to test your well water periodically because unlike water that goes through a municipal source, no one is ensuring the quality and safety of your water. Each state has different requirements, so check with local agencies for the proper testing procedures. If and when you notice a difference in taste, odor and/or color, be sure to test your water and determine the best course of action to maintain quality, drinkable water. If your water has been deemed safe to drink and you’re still not happy with the taste and odor, consider a Zuvo Water Filtration System, as it offers a pure, clean glass of water, every time.

“Don’t eat the paint,” your grandmother advises, as she fills a glass of water straight from the tap. “Gladly,” you think, neither tempted by this odd warning nor confused about the meaning. Old homes have lead paint; by now – it’s a well-known fact. What your grandma doesn’t know, is that the old pipes that bring water to the faucet are made of lead, and heed an important warning of their own in your freshly poured glass.

Lead is a naturally occurring, inexpensive metal that is bluish-gray in appearance and easy to manufacture. Because of its inherent properties, lead is used in a variety of products including batteries, bullets, piping and up until 1978, paint. Though useful, this metal has serious effects on people when overexposure occurs. Lead-based paint was banned by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission because of the poisonous effects on children, which resulted in irreversible slowed mental and physical development and a reduction in attention span. Lead poisoning in adults can negatively affect muscle coordination, reproduction, increase blood pressure and cause nerve damage.

Lead can also be consumed through tap water that is supplied through lead-based pipes, fixtures and connectors built in homes most typically before 1986.  The water becomes contaminated when it sits in the lead pipes for several hours, and the metal leaches into the potable water. Leaching cannot be pinpointed to one single factor, but occurs more frequently from soft and acidic water, high temperatures, and in old plumbing. In recent years, lead exposures have decreased, thanks in part to the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule, which monitors lead levels at the tap and takes necessary measures if required. However, as reported in a recent article in the Chicago Tribune concerns have been raised about the screening process for lead.

Apart from municipal checks or using a home water quality test kit, there is no way to tell whether there is lead in drinking water, as the metal is odorless, tasteless and colorless when dissolved in water. Because of this, it is important to check with your local municipality to ensure safe drinking water. Ask if your water has an action level of 15 parts per million (ppm), which exceeds the EPA’s maximum level, and if your street’s water main pipe has lead in it.  If the lead concentration in your tap water exceeds the action level of 15 ppm, running your water for 30 to 45 seconds, or installing a home filtration system is recommended to reduce it. The Zuvo® Water Filtration System is certified to meet the NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for the reduction of lead.

Are you concerned about lead in your water? If you are, please contact Zuvo Water for more information or check with your local water utility.

There’s no use denying that we’re biased. So okay, we admit it. We love water, and our bodies need it!

We feel better when we regularly drink it, and are more alert and more active.  There’s a good reason for this since our body is made up of 60 percent water. More than that, the majority of our vital organs are made up of water:

• • 90% of lungs
• • 83% of blood
• • 80% of brain
• • 75% of muscles

We need H20 because we’re made of it, and because our bodies naturally lose a great deal everyday. To be more precise, about 1.5 liters of water is lost daily through urination for the average adult, and another liter through the combination of breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Because of this, replacement of the body’s liquids is vital.  So, how much water is enough?

According to recent studies, the old magical rule of 8 glasses per day is considered outdated and inaccurate. The new rule of thumb varies, but the Institute of Medicine recommends 91 ounces (2.7 liters) and 125 ounces (3.7 liters) of total water a day for women and men, respectively. But before you get overwhelmed by this number, it’s important to note that 20% of your daily fluid intake comes from food, and the remaining 80% comes from water and any other beverage you consume throughout the day. This equates to just over 9 and 12.5, 8-ounce servings of water and other beverages per day for women and men, respectively, making the recommended amount less daunting, right?

Still, drinking water enables the body to function optimally. This calorie-free beverage helps suppress your appetite, which is very helpful when trying to lose weight. Staying hydrated provides you with energy and healthy skin, and also cures digestive problems and cleanses the body of toxins. After a six-year study, researchers found that drinking more than 5 glasses of water a day reduces the likelihood of dying from a heart attack by 41% compared to people who drink less than 2 glasses. Dehydration is a common cause of headaches, so try drinking a glass of water before reaching for the aspirin.

To feel your best and stay hydrated, try bringing a reusable water bottle with you wherever you go. It’s a good reminder to continue drinking the good stuff throughout the day, instead of reaching for the convenient, less healthy, and less sustainable alternatives like bottled water and carbonated beverages.  If for some reason you’re not keen on the taste of water, try adding a slice of lemon so you can enjoy the incredible effects this natural beverage has.  To your health!