Eco Fitness & Bottled Water

If you’ve read Part I, there’s a good chance you’re interested in learning more about eco fitness and about the myths pertaining to bottled water.

What about learning how you can easily make your own bottled water that is just as healthy (if not healthier) and costs WAY less than store bought bottled water? If so, what say we read on?

Eco Fitness Basics

So, let’s assume you’re just like most of the rest of us Americans when it comes to drinking water.

There’s a really good chance that (like me at one time) you have assumed that all bottled water is better for you than what comes out of your tap…so you’ve probably bought lots of the stuff.

Our bodies, after all, are pretty much made up of water, so why wouldn’t you want to give it the best fuel you can, right?

Well, I’m here to tell you that most anyone can accomplish that goal without having to refinance your home each year to provide your family with clean, healthy, great tasting drinking water. It’s easier than you think.

Eco Fitness & Bottled Water Myths

If you’ve read Part I you now know that at least 1/3 of all purchased bottle water on the market is in actuality- BOTTLED TAP WATER.

This is no joke. And it isn’t only the smaller/lesser known companies who engage in this practice. Do some homework and you’d be amazed at the names on some of those bottles. This is something that has only surfaced in very recent years.

You also learned that:

  • People in the U.S. buy more than half a BILLION bottles of water every week! 
    Enough to circle the globe twice.
  • Americans throw out 38 billion empty water bottles a year, more than $1 billion worth of plastic.
  • On average, bottled water costs 2000 times more than tap water.

Keeping these facts in mind, maybe it’s time to consider your own home’s tap water as a sensible way of providing your family with clean affordable drinking water. Let’s take a look at a few simple ways you can do this.

 3 Ways to MAKE YOUR OWN BOTTLED WATER 

 

1.       CARBON is Green?  If like me your home’s water comes from a public drinking water supply, here’s the good news- it’s probably way healthier than you think.

Public water supplies (unlike private wells) are governed by a fairly strict set of guidelines that require stringent, regular testing. This insures protection against most water supply contaminants that pose serious health related concerns. In other words, there’s a very high probability that the really bad stuff like Radon, Arsenic and Bacteria just simply don’t exist in your water supply.

So why does my public water taste so awful, you might ask? Well’ there’s a good chance it’s from the Chlorine that’s used to protect your water against bacteria and viruses. The very same thing that makes it safe to drink can make you feel like you just took a great big gulp out of your neighbor’s pool. Pardon the visual!

The answer: A Carbon filter. Carbon filters are a simple and inexpensive way to remove tastes such as Chlorine and many other kinds of flavors and odors.

Most carbon filters are made from nothing more than ground up coconut shell or re-used charcoal by-products.

These filters come in many forms including units that attach directly onto your faucet as well as simple “pitcher” style containers that accomplish the same task.

For more pronounced chlorine presence, you can always consider having your local water treatment professional install a “cartridge” style filter for either your entire home or install it directly under the sink.

You can easily change out your own cartridge inserts when needed. Another plus is that you can simply pick up replacements at your local hardware store or even online.

 2.        RO –The marriage saver.  Reverse Osmosis (also referred to as RO) is a water treatment process that’s been used for years, especially by the bottled water industry.

And there’s absolutely no reason you can’t use this same process RIGHT UNDER YOUR OWN KITCHEN SINK.

In our previous home, my wife and I received our water from a private drilled well.
reverse osmosis eco fitnessFor all intents and purposes our well produced high quality water. Very little hardness, pH was great, no Arsenic or Radon to speak of. So what was the problem you might ask?

In this case, Sodium was the disturber of marital bliss.

Our Sodium levels were elevated. Not high enough to be a serious health concern for us, but the water just simply didn’t taste good….and my wife was kind enough to make sure I was aware of this…frequently!

The solution (and marriage counselor extraordinaire): Reverse Osmosis.

RO systems such as the system we install from Vertex are a great way to treat for many of the flavor and odor related concerns typically found in both private and public water supplies. They also offer a low cost effective method of dealing with many serious health related contaminants such as Arsenic, Uranium, Bacteria and Sodium.

3.       STAINLESS STEEL is your friend.  For those who keep up with the news or get a lot of up to date information about health & fitness, you’ve probably heard of BPAs (Bisphenol A) in plastic water bottles. According to recent studies those who drink from Polycarbonate water bottles may be at a greater risk from health related concerns. 

Luckily there are some very simple alternatives for those like me who are determined to carry their own sources of clean, great tasting water without being a prisoner to purchasing costly bottled water week after week.

Klean Kanteen is a maker of eco friendly and health oriented water bottles. According to their site, the safest alternatives for traditional plastic water bottles are:

  • Stainless Steel
  • Glass
  • Plastic bottles marked with 1,2,4 or 5

For more information on BPAs and Poly-carbonate, please visit the Department of Health and Human Service’s website.

Ok, no more excuses now. With a little bit of thought and a slight change of lifestyle you should be well armed to start the process of creating your own clean, healthy, great tasting water.

For additional information on water testing or treatment feel free to contact Ward Water via email: office@wardwater.com or you can give us a call at 207-675-3272.