Who is affected by bottled water

Reach out to your member of Congress to take action and express your support for this bill. If you're not sure if your tap water is safe, check your Consumer Confidence Report , which outlines the contaminant levels of your tap water. We also urge you to reach out to your local water supplier to find out where your water comes from. We can all do our part to reduce plastic pollution.

Check out Clean Water Action's award-winning ReThink Disposable program which works with businesses, restaurants, schools, communities, and individuals to help them make the switch from single-use disposables to reusables. Not only will this save you money, it will help improve your health and keep our planet clean.

View the discussion thread. Skip to main content. The Clean Water Blog. Water , Waste. National , New Jersey. By Tatum Pied. My Account.

Recent years have seen an increase in awareness regarding the negative impact plastic water bottles have on the environment. Unfortunately, while most people know that plastic water bottles are bad for the environment, this awareness has not resulted in a significant drop in the use of disposable water bottles. In fact, so much plastic waste makes it into our oceans that it is estimated that over a million marine animals are killed by plastic waste each year, often due to accidental plastic ingestion.

However, while the environmental effects of disposable water bottles alone should be enough to make us consider purchasing a reusable water bottle and a home water filter, there are also other benefits to be gained by ditching plastic water bottles. While the environmental impact of plastic bottles gets most of the attention, there are also other reasons why you should consider switching to a reusable water bottle.

Here is an overview of just a few of the other reasons to go reusable, including some lesser-known dangers of drinking bottled water. One of the primary reasons consumers continue to purchase bottled water regardless of the potential environmental impact is due to a perception that bottled water is higher quality, more pristine water; and there is a reason for this misconception.

Most advertisements for bottled water depict a fresh stream or mountain spring in order to make it seem like their bottled water is purer than tap water or other brands of bottled water. However, water that is bottled from special springs is rare, and the fact is that most bottled water comes from similar sources as your municipal water supply, meaning that there is likely nothing special about your bottled water other than its branding.

In fact, Aquafina now states on its labels that its water comes from public sources. Additionally, as we will discuss below, in some cases your bottled water may be less pure than what comes out of your tap at home. While bottled water is often depicted as being higher quality than tap water, the fact is that in many instances bottled water is glorified tap water. While some manufacturers put their water through additional filtering before bottling it, many do not and simply charge for the packaging.

Thusly, even though it is likely the same water as what comes out of the tap at home, you may be paying thousands of times more for the same product when you buy bottled water. In fact, some studies have even suggested that bottled water is less safe than tap water in some places. This is due to the fact that the municipal water supply that comes to our homes is highly regulated. The EPA regulates public tap water supplies and sets legal limits for hundreds of contaminants that could show up in water, and they regularly test for these contaminants.

Alternatively, bottled water undergoes very little regulation, and recent studies have found traces of phthalates, mold, microbes, arsenic, and thousands of other contaminants in bottled water. Considering bottled water may not be as pure, or as safe, as many people think, you would likely get the purest drinking water by filtering your tap water at home. The primary risk associated with drinking bottled water is the fact that you can be exposed to harmful toxins from the plastic.

Even though water is not acidic unlike soda , whenever you drink out of a plastic bottle, you risk ingesting the chemicals used to make the bottles as these toxins can leach into the water over time.

BPA and other plastic toxins can then make their way into your bloodstream, which can cause a host of problems including various cancers as well as liver and kidney damage. Unfortunately, at this time scientists do not fully understand all of the potential long-term effects of ingesting toxins through the consumption of bottled water; however, these toxins can accumulate in your system over the years leaving you prone to a variety of health problems.

While more manufacturers are choosing to sell BPA-free plastic water bottles, it is still a common component found in water bottles made from Type 7 plastic. One of the many problems with BPA is that it acts as a faux-estrogen, and when consumed in water through leaching plastic it can cause a variety of chromosomal abnormalities that have been tied to birth defects and developmental disabilities in children.

Exposure to the estrogen in BPA can also cause decreased fertility in both men and women, and when children are exposed to BPA while in the womb this can lead to complications later in life such as hyperactivity disorders, early-onset puberty, and an increased risk for certain cancers.

It is then often recommended that women do not drink bottled water particularly water from Type 7 plastic bottles when pregnant. Exposure to the toxins in plastic water bottles has also been linked to higher rates of disease as adults. It has been found that people who drink a lot of bottled water, and in particular those who had high concentrations of BPA in their urine, were three times more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, and were 2.

It is no secret that obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. Rooftop solar reactor makes liquid fuels with water and CO2 drawn from air Rooftop solar reactor makes liquid fuels with water and CO2 drawn from air Producing all the jet fuel needed for global aviation would require solar fuel plants covering only 0. As traffic and roads spread across the world, scientists hope a new global study of roadkill could help alert people to where species are most threatened by collisions.

In a life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, high-density, high-rise cityscapes were the worst-case scenario. Smart, powerful environmental journalism doesn't come cheap. Anthropocene is science-based, nonprofit—and reader-funded. The findings, from a study focused on Barcelona, found that the sustainability benefits of avoiding bottled water far outweighed the perceived health benefits of drinking it.

By Emma Bryce. August 20, What to Read Next. Blood on the pavement Blood on the pavement As traffic and roads spread across the world, scientists hope a new global study of roadkill could help alert people to where species are most threatened by collisions. Aim low when designing the climate-friendly city of the future Aim low when designing the climate-friendly city of the future In a life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, high-density, high-rise cityscapes were the worst-case scenario.

All Donations Doubled from Now until Dec 31 Smart, powerful environmental journalism doesn't come cheap.