Why You Want to Avoid Bottled Water

Drinking pure water is easily one of the most important things you can do for your health, particularly when you drink it instead of sugary drinks like soda or juice. But relying on bottled water to do this is not the best answer.

Worldwide consumption of bottled water increased by nearly 60 percent to 41 billion gallons in 2004. We are on track toward consuming more than 50 billion gallons this year.

People pay premium prices for exotic bottled water brands like Fiji and Evian in the hopes that it is more pure than water from nearby sources. However, this puts a giant strain on both the environment and your pocketbook.

And bottled water is not an assurance of purity. In fact, up to 40 percent of bottled water is bottled tap water that may or may not have received additional treatment. On top of that, it may also be contaminated with the metal antimony.

So where can you find clean, affordable, environmentally friendly water supplies? Your best bet is to filter your own water at home using a reverse osmosis filter. Avoid drinking unfiltered tap water, as chlorine and fluoride, which are added to most municipal water supplies, are toxic chemicals that shouldn't be consumed in large quantities.

Clearly the most cost-effective and environmentally greenhouse friendly approach is to filter your own water. I have had my team working on a product to recommend for several years and we are actually getting close to finalizing that choice in the next few months and hope to offer you a very practical and inexpensive solution.

On Vital Votes, reader Mary from Cabool, Missouri warns:

"I can understand if you live in a town with chlorinated and fluorinated water why you might want to by bottled water.  At least until you can by some type of filtration system for your potable water.  However, I would recommend you read the label on the bottled water as many times they are from local water supplies.  This includes the ones that say spring water."

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