Bottled water has been falling out of public favor for years now, once people began to realize just how detrimental all those plastic bottles are to the environment – and what a rip-off bottled water often is in terms of price and purity.

Now, instead of toting a plastic bottle of water everywhere, the “in” thing is to carry a refillable bottle of filtered tap water -- it’s better for you and the environment.

But the International Bottled Water Association was not going to let their once trendy beverage fall into the shadows without a fight. So, they created “Bottled Water Matters,” a Web site and YouTube channel that is cleverly disguised as a “cool” grassroots movement to bring bottled water back.

In reality, the videos and the Web site are nothing more than a front group for the bigwigs behind the bottled water industry – the bottlers, suppliers and distributors – all of whom are probably sweating bullets, worried that consumers might finally be catching on to the truth.

The Truth about Bottled Water

There are many problems with bottled water, but the most obvious is the fact that you’re paying a premium for something that is in many cases indistinguishable from regular tap water.

Bottled water typically costs more than $1.50 per bottle, which is 1,900 times the price of tap water. But, about 40 percent of bottled water IS regular tap water, which may or may not have received any additional treatment.

Most municipal tap water must actually adhere to stricter purity standards than the bottled water industry. The EPA requires large public water suppliers to test for contaminants as often as several times a day, but the FDA requires private bottlers to test for contaminants only once a week, once a year, or once every four years, depending on the contaminant.

So if you think water that comes in a bottle is automatically pure, think again.

An independent test performed by the Environmental Working Group revealed 38 low-level contaminants in bottled water, with each of the 10 tested brands containing an average of eight chemicals including disinfection byproducts (DBPs), caffeine, Tylenol, nitrate, industrial chemicals, arsenic, and bacteria.

Fluoride (a highly toxic bone poison that should be avoided at all costs) is usually present in both tap water and filtered bottled water. Many bottled waters actually make a point of adding fluoride back into the water, so if you are drinking bottled water please make sure yours is fluoride free. The toxic metal antimony (a silvery white metal of medium hardness) has also been found in many commercially bottled water brands.

When you drink bottled water, not only is the water itself potentially contaminated, but the bottle it comes in often poses serious problems of its own.

Drinking from Plastic Bottles is Not a Good Idea

Plastic often used to make water bottles contains chemicals like BPA and phthalates, which mimic hormones in your body -- and which can leach from the bottle during normal consumption. If you leave your water bottle in a hot car or reuse it, your exposure is magnified because heat and stress increase the amount of chemicals that leach out of the plastic, into the water, and then into your body when you consume it.

This is concerning, as even tiny concentrations can cause problems such as:

• Structural damage to your brain


• Hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, and impaired learning


• Increased fat formation and risk of obesity


• Altered immune function


• Early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles, and ovarian dysfunction


• Changes in gender-specific behavior, and abnormal sexua| behavior


• Stimulation of prostate cancer cells


• Increased prostate size, and decreased sperm production

So the container your water comes in should receive just as much attention as the water itself, and plastic is simply not a wise choice for a beverage holder from a health perspective … not to mention the extreme amounts of waste -- 1,500 water bottles are thrown away every second!

National Geographic cited one statistic that the U.S. public goes through 50 billion water bottles every year … and most of those are never recycled! No wonder large portions of our oceans are essentially turning into plastic.

The manufacturing process of the bottles is also an environmental concern. About 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to manufacture water bottles each year around the world, and the processing itself releases toxic compounds like nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide and benzene.

Also extremely harmful to the environment is the way corporations are pumping water from underground aquifers. These natural springs serve as water sources for nearby streams, wells and farms, but the aggressive pumping can easily dry them out prematurely.

Do You Really Want to “Buy” Your Water?

In the United States and most other developed countries, we are fortunate enough to have access to water supplies for a very low cost … for now.

I suspect you’d agree that water is more a “right” than it is a commodity. And private corporations should have no more control over the selling of water than they do the selling of our air supplies. Well, this is already occurring to some extent as corporations make a profit selling water -- which at times even makes water less available to the people living in the area.

Even public water supplies are being increasingly taken over by private corporations, and in some areas of the world are up for grabs by the highest bidder.

This has been publicized in countries such as Bolivia, where residents battled police and the military to protect their water rights from the US-based Bechtel Corporation, but you should know water privatization initiatives are being pushed all over the world … including in the United States.

One way you can take a stand against this issue is by refusing to support the bottled water industry in all its forms, and instead secure access to pure water for your family using your tap at home. I do highly recommend that you filter your tap water before drinking it, however.

Actually, an even better option than using your tap may be finding a gravity-fed raw spring in your area. This water is naturally filtered by the earth and it is not pasteurized or heated like nearly all commercial bottled waters.

You see there are living organisms in pure raw spring water like algae that are actually beneficial for you, but when you heat the water, just like pasteurizing milk, you damage it and miss out on these “living” benefits.

Now, before you dismiss this idea because you think there are no such springs in your neck of the woods, there is a Web site called FindaSpring.com that will help you find a spring in your area. Typically they are even monitored by the local municipalities for contaminants.

I strongly encourage you, your family and your friends to use this resource to secure FREE and pure water. You can easily store 10 five-gallon jugs (ideally look for glass varieties) in most cars and it is a wonderful opportunity for you to stock up on truly pure water.

This is one secret the International Bottled Water Association surely does not want you to know! There is likely a spring within one hour of your home where you can get pure water, for free, anytime you want … and I highly suggest you take advantage of it.