Pollution Causes
40 Percent of
Deaths Worldwide,
Study Finds...

Well, most consumers think that drinking bottled water is safer and cleaner than drinking tap water. However, did you know that
most municipal tap water, even though it is far from pure, must follow stricter purity standards than the bottled water industry?

Contrary to popular belief, bottled water is loosely regulated and may be just as bad or worse than regular tap water. Bottled water has
actually been recalled several times in the past fewyears, due to contamination by arsenic, bromate, cleaning compounds, mold & bacteria.

While the picture on the bottle water label may show a crystal clear spring from some ancient geyser, your water may very well have
come from a well in an industrial facility parking lot. Obviously bottled water is no assurance of purity, cleanliness or safety.
Did you know that about 40% of bottled water is just bottled tap water that may or may not have received additional treatment?
In tests of bottled water contaminates, it was found to contain numerous chemicals, solvents, medicines,
and other potentially harmful ingredients. 

In a test performed by the Environmental Working Group, 38 low-level contaminants were found in bottled water,
with each of the ten tested brands containing an average of eight chemicals each. These included:
* Disinfection byproducts (DBPs), caffeine, Tylenol, nitrate, industrial chemicals, arsenic, and bacteria.
* Fluoride, an additive of questionable benefit, is usually present in both tap water and filtered bottled water.
* The toxic metal antimony has also been found in many commercially bottled water brands.

Probably the worst of the toxins found in both tap and some bottled water are the disinfection byproducts (DBPs),
such as trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). DBPs are formed when chlorine reacts
with natural organic matter like decaying vegetation in the source water during water treatment. 

Although adding chlorine to the water kills or inactivates the microorganisms that cause diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery,
and giardiasis, this water treatment technique has a serious downside. These disinfection byproducts are actually quite toxic themselves.
In fact, DBPs are about 10,000 times more toxic than chlorine and trihalomethanes (THMs), and are classified as “Cancer Group B”
carcinogens, which mean that they have been proven to cause cancer in laboratory animals. 

In addition, they have a strong link to reproductive issues in both animals and humans. In studies on humans, results show that
consuming chlorine treated water can double the risk of bladder and rectal cancers. 

On top of the toxins that have shown up in the bottled drinking water itself, chemicals leach out of the plastic bottle itself,
especially when it is exposed to temperature extremes of heat and cold. One of the worst offenders is BPA or Bisphenol A,
a known estrogenic compound and endocrine disrupter. BPA has been linked to obesity, cancers, neurological issues,
thyroid dysfunction, prostate and reproductive issues, diabetes, birth defects, and breast cancer. 

The biggest offenders were packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers,
which are the bottles typically used for bottled water. 

While you are paying top dollar for bottled water, the toll this takes on the environment, not to mention your wallet,
is absolutely enormous. 

Did you know that we purchased and drank (worldwide) over 26 billion liters of water last year worldwide?
That water came in about 28 billion plastic bottles, and, about 86% of those bottles end up as garbage.
That translates to 1500 bottles discarded A SECOND! And it takes up to 5 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water. 

And it takes about 17 million barrels of oil to produce those plastic bottles. That’s enough oil to fuel about 100,000 cars in a year!
2,500,000 tons of carbon dioxide are released in the atmosphere as a result of the manufacture of those bottles.
And that says nothing for the fuel costs and pollution to distribute these bottles of water across the country and the world. 

Where do all these discarded plastic bottles go you ask? Not into recycling unfortunately, but into our oceans.
There is a plastic ‘island’ floating around the Pacific Ocean TWICE the size of TEXAS, made up primarily of plastic bottles. 

Despite the obvious environmental toll of all those plastic water bottles, bottled water consumption is still on the rise in the United States.
And yes, there are huge health benefits to drinking clean water, especially over sodas and sweetened beverages. 

What to do? Well, for starters, stop buying bottled water - - your tap water will be about as clean as most bottled water!
Unfortunately, simple filters also do not filter out all the impurities and chemicals that get into our public water supply.

Your best bet (considering the average American spends $600-800 a year on bottled water) is a quality purification unit,
available for $400 or less!

Sources:
New York Times June 15, 2008
Dr. Mercola, August 01 2009 
Wikipedia, Bisphenol A
Chris Baskind, “5 reasons to not drink bottled water”,  Mother Nature Network, March 15, 2010. 

ONE FINAL NOTE ABOUT BOTTLED WATER...
* The smaller the bottle of water, the more expensive it is, and the more you save with the PIMAG Water System *

Nikken Water Systems are made using safe & environmentally-responsible materials...
...including special plastics which do not emit Bisphenol A or other toxic chemicals.