It seems that every six months or so, another delusive study about bottle water is released. What is worse is that the mass media loves to broadcast and print the disinformation. The result is that thousands of intelligent citizens are treated liked idiots.
The latest report to make my blood boil was released this week. The Government Accountability Office and the Environmental Working Group(who are they?)claim that consumers know less about the water they buyin bottles then the water that comes out of the tap. They say this is because bottles do not contain the same information that municipal water producers must disclose. Well, here is my first argument.
Does anyone know what their tap water contains? Do you know what the tapwater your served in the restaurant contains? I don't remember a waiter ever offering me a water analysis when I'm in a restaurant. Maybe itwas on the bottom of the glass!
The reality is that once a year municipalities are required to provide each customer with a water analysis. Most people would not understand them. Most people likelyt hrow them away, I speculate. The labels on bottled water contain some information including the source of the water and some mineral content.They are too small to contain the whole 22 page water analysis. But mandatory on every bottle is a contact telephone number to call to request this information.
The Bottled Water industry is highly regulated and most reputable bottled water companies adhere to FDA regulations. Most are members of the IBWA, International Bottled Water Association which requires that their members adhere to their strict rules.
Because I defend the bottled water industry, as well ascitizens rights to choose what ever beverage they please, you might think that I do not approve of tap water. Contrarily, I think the major municipal water utilities do a good job treating our water supplies andprovide a safe product. A major problem that seems to be always overlooked by those that decry bottled water and recommend tap is thatpeople do recognize that tap water has problems and is just not as convenient to obtain when away from home. The chief problem,particularly where I live in Florida, is the taste. The water contains chlorine necessary for sanitation but unfortunately departs a bad tasteand odor. Many restaurants serve water with lemon for that reason. If you filter it with a carbon filter the water tastes very good. Yea fortap water. Unfortunately, most of use do not carry our filtration equipment with us when we travel to work, the park the gym etc. Mucheasier to buy a bottle of water.
Bottled water companies process water much the same way municipalities do. The difference is that one is a government entity and the other is for profit. If the for profit screws up they can be out of business. If the government entity screwsup, we all boil water for a week but they keep on going. So we trust Nestle, Coke, Pepsi, Evian, Poland Spring and the many other well known brands to do the right thing.
When I watch video of government meetings I rarely see anything but bottled water on the table. When the GAO presented their report before a sub-committee of congress, I wonder what was on the table in front of every attendee, tap or bottled water?
Bottled Water Blog
"Talk" About Everything Bottled Water
BOTTLEDWATERBLOG.NET
Custom Label Bottled Water Review
Custom label bottled water is a very popular form of advertising. Many companies, large and small find that custom label bottled water is an inexpensive way to advertise their company and their products. The average cost of a custom labels bottle of water is approximately $0.40. Compare this to other advertising specialty products and you will see that the cost is actually quite low. A distinct advantage is that in additional to incorporating a company logo, which is all that is allowed on many ad specialty items like pens, letter openers, tape measures, bottle labels can have all kinds of text messages. Astute marketer can include on their labels telephone numbers, addresses, web sites, promotional messages and much more.
But customizing bottled water is not just for business. Churches and other faith based groups utilize their own private labeled bottled water to announce services and spread the word of the lord. Other non-profit groups such as baseball leagues, soccer leagues, cheer leading organizations, schools, use this ad medium for fund raising. And civic groups such as towns and cities customize bottled water labels with messages to promote causes of interest.
Custom label bottled water is a cost efficient means for marketing and promotion.
But customizing bottled water is not just for business. Churches and other faith based groups utilize their own private labeled bottled water to announce services and spread the word of the lord. Other non-profit groups such as baseball leagues, soccer leagues, cheer leading organizations, schools, use this ad medium for fund raising. And civic groups such as towns and cities customize bottled water labels with messages to promote causes of interest.
Custom label bottled water is a cost efficient means for marketing and promotion.
Fact: Drinking "Smartwater" Does Make You Smart
New bottled water products are launched all the time. There are probably two dozen a year. Sadly, or luckily,depending on the product, most of these fail or disappear within months. But there is one product became highly successful but has won the hearts and minds of the American bottled water consumer. That product is Glaceau "Smartwater".
Smartwater was launched approximately 5 years ago along with Glaceau's other successful product line of Vitamin waters. But Smartwater is the purified water product with added electrolytes (calcium and magnesium additives) that promises to make you smart if you drink it. How can you go wrong with a promise like that. And thousands over the years have accepted the challenge.
The original bottles included a "Genius" meter printed on the side of the bottle. The more you drank the smarter you became and when the bottle was empty the meter indicated that you reached genius level. Very cute. Very creative.
Smartwater continues to be a huge selling product for the Coca Cola company which purchased the product line from Energy Brands in 2007. Smartwater can be found in many retail stores and also on-line at Bottled Water Store.com<a href="http://www.bottledwaterstore.com/smartwater.htm"></a>. Smartwater is the best selling product at Bottled Water Store.com. Customers like to have cases delivered to their door at home or work and often purchased Smartwater as gifts.
Smartwater was launched approximately 5 years ago along with Glaceau's other successful product line of Vitamin waters. But Smartwater is the purified water product with added electrolytes (calcium and magnesium additives) that promises to make you smart if you drink it. How can you go wrong with a promise like that. And thousands over the years have accepted the challenge.
The original bottles included a "Genius" meter printed on the side of the bottle. The more you drank the smarter you became and when the bottle was empty the meter indicated that you reached genius level. Very cute. Very creative.
Smartwater continues to be a huge selling product for the Coca Cola company which purchased the product line from Energy Brands in 2007. Smartwater can be found in many retail stores and also on-line at Bottled Water Store.com<a href="http://www.bottledwaterstore.com/smartwater.htm"></a>. Smartwater is the best selling product at Bottled Water Store.com. Customers like to have cases delivered to their door at home or work and often purchased Smartwater as gifts.
Maintaining Well Run Municipal Drinking Water Systems
Bottled water is the only source of competition for municipal water treatment services. Sometimes it's price is criticized as too high because it is vastly more expensive per liter than municipal drinking water. But the price is often attacked as too low because it does not include the environmental cost of the plastic containers. Ideally, bottled beverages and goods of all kinds should include the environmental costs of the products. It is nonsensical to ban plastic water bottles but not to ban plastic bottles of Coke or Pepsi. For that matter, consider all of the products we all purchase consistantly and packaged in plastic that after use goes directly into the trash.
Bottled water and municipal water is highly regulated yet the quality of municipal as well as rural drinking water is not consistent across the country. The potential result of banning bottled water would be to eliminate choice for consumers.
Bottled water and municipal water is highly regulated yet the quality of municipal as well as rural drinking water is not consistent across the country. The potential result of banning bottled water would be to eliminate choice for consumers.
Bottled Water To The Recsue - Again
Hardly a week
goes by that I don't get an Email or a comment to a blog from someone
who is anti bottled water. It is of course perfectly respectable to
have an opinion pro or con about anything but what usually happens is
that, in the end, the writer is just pushing a product of some sort.
These are usually water filters, RO systems, tap water etc. Please
don't misunderstand stand me, these are wonderful products and I am
involved with all of them, more than you would think. So it is that
when the writer recommends the end of bottled water for much overplayed
reasons, I cant help but become dismayed. That is because not one of
the substitutions for bottled water has ever saved lives in an
emergency, such as a hurricane or flood.
A town in Palm Beach County Florida has what is being referred to as a "cancer cluster" because of an unusually high incidence of and deaths from various forms of brain cancer. All of the homes in this community get their water from private wells. These wells have been tested to determine if the water is the cause of the problems. For the most part the wells tested negative for most potential cancer causing cataminates. A small sampling of the wells did have elevated levels of radium or radioactive alpha particles. Much of our water throught out the country contains various levels if radium-226 or 228 but typically in amounts well below EPA standards. The radium in the ground water is being investigated as a potential source of the health problem.
On Thursday the community received a visit from one of Americas most famous consumer advocate and anti-pollution crusader Erin Brockovitch. Remember the oscar winning movie starring Julia Roberts?
Ms Brockovitch's advise to the residents of this village in turmoil was to remain calm and to try not to panic while the she and the state agencies work to determine the cause of the problem. She advised everyone at the meeting to take short showers and "Drink Bottled Water".
For more about how important bottled water is for our society, check out another story about bottled water saving lives, just this week, at www.bottledwaterstories.blogspot.com.
A town in Palm Beach County Florida has what is being referred to as a "cancer cluster" because of an unusually high incidence of and deaths from various forms of brain cancer. All of the homes in this community get their water from private wells. These wells have been tested to determine if the water is the cause of the problems. For the most part the wells tested negative for most potential cancer causing cataminates. A small sampling of the wells did have elevated levels of radium or radioactive alpha particles. Much of our water throught out the country contains various levels if radium-226 or 228 but typically in amounts well below EPA standards. The radium in the ground water is being investigated as a potential source of the health problem.
On Thursday the community received a visit from one of Americas most famous consumer advocate and anti-pollution crusader Erin Brockovitch. Remember the oscar winning movie starring Julia Roberts?
Ms Brockovitch's advise to the residents of this village in turmoil was to remain calm and to try not to panic while the she and the state agencies work to determine the cause of the problem. She advised everyone at the meeting to take short showers and "Drink Bottled Water".
For more about how important bottled water is for our society, check out another story about bottled water saving lives, just this week, at www.bottledwaterstories.blogspot.com.
The Beverage Guidance System
The Beverage Guidance System was developed by a panel of
experts headed by Dr. Barry Popkin at the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill. Over the past several decades, levels of overweight and obesity have
increased across all population groups in the United States. Concurrently, an
increased daily intake of 150–300 kcal (for different age-sex groups) has
occurred, with approximately 50% of the increased calories coming from the
consumption of calorically sweetened beverages. The panel ranked beverages from
the lowest to the highest value based on caloric and nutrient contents and
related health benefits and risks. Drinking water was ranked as the preferred
beverage to fulfill daily water needs and was followed in decreasing value by
tea and coffee, low-fat (1.5% or 1%) and skim (nonfat) milk and soy beverages,
noncalorically sweetened beverages, beverages with some nutritional benefits
(fruit and vegetable juices, whole milk, alcohol, and sports drinks), and
calorically sweetened, nutrient-poor beverages. The Panel recommends that the
consumption of beverages with no or few calories should take precedence over
the consumption of beverages with more calories.
In an effort to help Americans make better decisions, the beverages are assigned categories from level 1 to level 6. Popkin recommends beverages in levels 1 through 3 while beverages in levels 4 though 6 should be consumed in great moderation.
Water of course, is the best hydration fluid and is level 1. The entire report can be downloaded from bottledwaterstore.com by clicking on this link: http://www.bottledwaterstore.com/bevguidesys.pdf
In an effort to help Americans make better decisions, the beverages are assigned categories from level 1 to level 6. Popkin recommends beverages in levels 1 through 3 while beverages in levels 4 though 6 should be consumed in great moderation.
Water of course, is the best hydration fluid and is level 1. The entire report can be downloaded from bottledwaterstore.com by clicking on this link: http://www.bottledwaterstore.com/bevguidesys.pdf
One Municipality Above the Rest
The past year has seen cities and various other municipalities across the US and worldwide initiate or support initiatives to ban the sale of bottled water. The claimed motivation is to reduce the amount of plastic bottles that end up in landfills. I believe that this thinking is misguided considering that there are a plethora of bottles, both plastic and glass that also end up in landfills. I can talk a lot more about that. In fact I will in another blog.
For now I wish to congratulate the folks at Flagler County FL for their intelligence and thoughtfulness demonstrated by their new recycling initiative. The county is trying to educate their populace about recycling bottled water bottles. One way in which they are getting the message out is distributing their own bottled water with their message right on the label. Here is the label with their message:
Maybe it is because Flagler County is in Florida, a state that recognizes the value and importance that bottled water provides. Besides the convenience and portable hydration provided by bottled water in this hot weather state, bottled water has saved lives during many hurricane situations. When disaster strikes, anywhere in the world, do relief agencies truck in water from municipal water treatment plants and then fill glass bottles for disaster victims? We all know that bottled water is one of the primary relief supplies.
Hats off to Flagler County. Good luck with your recycling campaign.
For now I wish to congratulate the folks at Flagler County FL for their intelligence and thoughtfulness demonstrated by their new recycling initiative. The county is trying to educate their populace about recycling bottled water bottles. One way in which they are getting the message out is distributing their own bottled water with their message right on the label. Here is the label with their message:
Maybe it is because Flagler County is in Florida, a state that recognizes the value and importance that bottled water provides. Besides the convenience and portable hydration provided by bottled water in this hot weather state, bottled water has saved lives during many hurricane situations. When disaster strikes, anywhere in the world, do relief agencies truck in water from municipal water treatment plants and then fill glass bottles for disaster victims? We all know that bottled water is one of the primary relief supplies.
Hats off to Flagler County. Good luck with your recycling campaign.
Claims Agains Bottled Water Unfounded
One claim is that bottled water is no different than tap water. Well, it is different in a lot of ways. One being it is in a bottle so the delivery system is completely different, which makes it a convenient option for people who are on the go. The package also ensures that it is sanitary. It is different than tap water, which travels through pipes and has other issues.
Environmentalists have said that bottled water is simply bottled tap water, but in reality 75% of bottled water is from springs and natural sources. The rest of it, if it is bottled from municipal sources, is treated and has to meet certain standards and regulations beyond what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations are for tap water. The standards for bottled water are different—they basically meet EPA regulations plus packaging regulations, which are just as stringent, if not more.
Another claim is that bottled water is unduly wasteful, more wasteful than other products, but there is really no evidence for that. It is not a huge portion of solid waste, and putting taxes and bans on it is not going to have much of an impact on the amount of waste that goes into a landfill. Bottled water containers are recyclable and the part of the story that is not being told is that the 5-gal containers are recycled at nearly a 100% rate. They are used 30 to 50 times over, so they are an environmentally friendly product from that perspective.
There are also a lot of claims about the chemicals in the products, but a lot of times the chemicals referred to do not even appear in the bottles. BPA is not found in single-serving containers. It is found in the 5-gal containers, but at such a low level that it is inconsequential. There has never been a public health issue cited from [chemicals in bottled water containers], it’s just speculative and way overblown.
Just a Few Reasons Why We Love Bottled Water
Bottled Water, the fasted growing beverage category of the last 20
years is under attack. After being hailed as a natural healthy
alternative to soft drinks and other sugary beverages, it is being
maligned from environmentalists and those that seek favor in a "Green"
sort of way. But all this shall soon pass.
Why? Because bottled water fulfills our need to be mobile and hydrated. Or, if in a meeting, have a source of sealed safe water to quench our thirst. There are many ways bottled water serves as a convenience in our daily lives. One common way that comes to mind is the bottle of water in our car. Or maybe when taking the baby or dog or both for a long walk. On the way to work out or play a sport and forgot to bring your bottle from home, buy a bottle of water.
Do you coach kid sports? Do you fill 15 bottles in your kitchen sink or bring do you fill a 3 gallon jug, buy and bring them to the field for the kids? A case of bottled water costs less than $5 and fits in a cooler. Easy. Also sealed and safe.
Don't get the idea that I don't believe in bottling tap water, because I do. And I have been doing it for years. But that is because my tap water is filtered and dechlorinated and tastes great. Like bottled water. But most people do not have filters on their tap water and when tap water is not cold it often tastes bad as a result of the chlorine and organic content that is normally present.
Bottled water provides many other conveniences so I think that once the assault is over it will emerge as healthy and desirable as ever. Bottled Water is here to stay.
Purchase or learn more about bottled water.
Why? Because bottled water fulfills our need to be mobile and hydrated. Or, if in a meeting, have a source of sealed safe water to quench our thirst. There are many ways bottled water serves as a convenience in our daily lives. One common way that comes to mind is the bottle of water in our car. Or maybe when taking the baby or dog or both for a long walk. On the way to work out or play a sport and forgot to bring your bottle from home, buy a bottle of water.
Do you coach kid sports? Do you fill 15 bottles in your kitchen sink or bring do you fill a 3 gallon jug, buy and bring them to the field for the kids? A case of bottled water costs less than $5 and fits in a cooler. Easy. Also sealed and safe.
Don't get the idea that I don't believe in bottling tap water, because I do. And I have been doing it for years. But that is because my tap water is filtered and dechlorinated and tastes great. Like bottled water. But most people do not have filters on their tap water and when tap water is not cold it often tastes bad as a result of the chlorine and organic content that is normally present.
Bottled water provides many other conveniences so I think that once the assault is over it will emerge as healthy and desirable as ever. Bottled Water is here to stay.
Purchase or learn more about bottled water.
Redesigned Bottles for a Green Environment
Bottled water companies continue toward their goal of reducing the impact of plastic bottles on the environment. One way bottlers are making a contribution is by reducing the amount of PET content in each bottle. Brand owners are steadily taking advantage of an average 2-gram material savings on bottle and the cap achieved through moving to light weight closures and reducing wall thickness. Further work is being done involving the shape of bottles along with the development of ultra might weight bottles such as Sidels "No Bottle" and Krones ultra light weight alternative.
This month Evian revealed its carbon footprint as part of Evian's new sustainable development initiative. It's 1 liter bottled water equals 198 grams (.436 pounds) of CO2. That's the equivalent of less than one mile driven in the family car. One liter of Evian consumed is less than .5 percent of a typical persons daily footprint.
An alternative to PET may be bottles made from plants. The increase in global input prices, energy prices and increased environmental concern has renewed interest inbio-polymers such as PLA,PHA and PGA. As costs increase these renewable pack types approach price parity and rapid technological advances in terms of clarity and rigidity has led to brand manufacturers taking increased interest in these alternatives.
Another new alternative is Reverte oxo-biodegradable (oxo-bio) PET plastic preforms and bottles introduced by Norland Intl. and Planet Green Bottle Corp. These bottles break down naturally and in most cases turn to CO2 and moisture within 5 to 10 years. Reverte has been formulated for a two year shelf life and the degradation process is triggered by UV light, heat and moisture. Plastic bottles containing the Reverte technology will degrade in landfills, ditches, rivers and oceans.
This month Evian revealed its carbon footprint as part of Evian's new sustainable development initiative. It's 1 liter bottled water equals 198 grams (.436 pounds) of CO2. That's the equivalent of less than one mile driven in the family car. One liter of Evian consumed is less than .5 percent of a typical persons daily footprint.
An alternative to PET may be bottles made from plants. The increase in global input prices, energy prices and increased environmental concern has renewed interest inbio-polymers such as PLA,PHA and PGA. As costs increase these renewable pack types approach price parity and rapid technological advances in terms of clarity and rigidity has led to brand manufacturers taking increased interest in these alternatives.
Another new alternative is Reverte oxo-biodegradable (oxo-bio) PET plastic preforms and bottles introduced by Norland Intl. and Planet Green Bottle Corp. These bottles break down naturally and in most cases turn to CO2 and moisture within 5 to 10 years. Reverte has been formulated for a two year shelf life and the degradation process is triggered by UV light, heat and moisture. Plastic bottles containing the Reverte technology will degrade in landfills, ditches, rivers and oceans.