Content area
Full Text
earthwatch
Why bottles and purifiers really hold water
There was a time when we scoffed at the idea of bottled water. After all, why buy water when you can get it from the tap, seemingly for free? Times have changed, however. Today's health-conscious consumers, even kids, are toting bottles of water. Whether it's for health reasons, drinking those requisite eight glasses a day, or to avoid chemicals and pollutants from the public water supply, water has come into its own as the beverage of choice.
And it's not only just plain ol' spring water, either. The past few years have given us myriad waters to choose from-glacial, artesian, oxygen-enriched, purified and even functional water that's been fortified with vitamins, minerals or herbs. Bottled is certainly popular-it's a $5 billion dollar business in the U.S., alone.
In fact, its popularity is growing so rapidly that it's poised, in this decade, to become the second largest beverage segment after soft drinks says Jonathan Hall, publisher of "The Hall Water Report." But is bottled water really better?
WATER BUGS
Americans are definitely turning off the tap, partly in response to the quality-inconsistency of municipal water supplies. In 1993, a water-borne outbreak of Cryptosporidium in Milwaukee, Wisc., caused an estimated 400,000 residents to become ill with flulike symptoms, leading to several deaths among those who were immune-impaired. Cryptosporidium, a waterborne parasite that thrives in animals and is transferred through animal waste, has been found in rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs and in other types of surface water.
That's not all. An August 29, 2001 report put out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "Developing Strategy for Waterborne Microbial Disease," says that the "consequences of microbial [bacterial and parasitic] contamination are severe."
WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER?
Adequate chlorination kills much of the harmful bacteria in water, but...