Another Gift to the Bottled Water Industry

The New York Times ran a front page story yesterday on atrazine in drinking water (part of its series on worsening water pollution) and the state of federal tap-water regulation of this super-common weed killer (not good). The chemical is worrisome because of its ubiquity, its links with birth defects and low birth weights, and because it may have effects at levels lower than those previously suspected. (U.C. Berkeley's Dr. Tyrone Hayes, who correlated low-level atrazine exposure to deformities like extra legs in frogs, was absent from the Times story. You can read about his research in this article I did for Discover.)

The Times story reminds us that new chemicals appear faster than old ones are being tested, testing is often performed by manufacturers themselves, and mixture effects are difficult to sort out. The thing is, testing drinking water for every possible chemical of concern is extremely expensive, especially at lower and lower concentrations (parts per billion, parts per trillion). If a utility finds a chemical of concern, removing it can be enormously expensive (is this an argument for cleaning up only the small percentage of water we drink??). And after you remove a chemical like atrazine-using powdered carbon, for example-what do you do with it? The utility manager I interviewed in Kansas City said he dumped it back into the river from which it came.

I predict that learning more about low-dose effects of ubiquitous chemicals (perchlorate, MTBE, trichloroethane, perfluorochemicals -- all of which have been found in municipal water supplies) will give even committed tap-water drinkers pause. The Times says, "Sometimes, the only way to avoid atrazine during summer months, when concentrations tend to rise as cropland is sprayed, is by forgoing tap water and relying on bottled water or using a home filtration system." If I were living in farm country and pregnant, nursing, or the mother of a young child, I'd certainly get the best filter I could afford and be sure to use it during spring runoff.

The anti-bottled water groups, which have raised awareness of the products' environmental footprint and helped to drive down sales of bottled water for the first time in five years, acknowledge that all tap water isn't perfect and try to steer the public toward filters. But I've always found them a bit too trusting of municipal water supplies, which vary enormously across the country. I wrote an entire book on the pros and cons of both bottled and tap water (the just-released-in-paperback Bottlemania: Big Business, Local Springs, and the Battle over America's Drinking Water) and was surprised by how complicated the matter is and how local the issue. I realized, too, that living in New York City I was guilty of a certain arrogance -- the arrogance of the well-watered -and that ditching bottled water isn't so easy when you can't, or shouldn't, drink what's coming from the tap.

Still, bottled water isn't a good long-term solution to our water problems. It's too expensive, and its environmental costs are too high. Instead, we must fix our municipal systems -- upgrade treatment plants to remove contaminants, repair and lay new pipes to deliver water and, most important of all, better protect our watersheds from chemical and other pollution (this includes limiting deforestation and development). This past July, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced legislation to establish a $10 billion annual water trust fund that will, according to his website, "be financed broadly by small fees on such things as bottled beverages, products disposed of in wastewater, corporate profits, and the pharmaceutical industry. . . . The $10 billion annual fund will create more than 250,000 jobs."

I don't know if the legislation will pass, but I do know that we don't really have a choice about whether or not to protect (and improve) municipal water supplies. We're talking about water here - the stuff of life! Yes, people of means won't have a problem importing privately bottled "pristine" drinking water (so long as that water - and the oil to pump and transport it - lasts), but the vast majority of us can't afford this and won't.

What can you do? Demand to know what's in your water, do independent testing at the tap, and contact your utility and elected representatives if you don't like what you've found. Then get yourself a good filter (this site will help you pick one) and a reusable bottle and reach out to your local watershed protection group to offer your support.

 

 

Comments

[Guitarsandmore]

Did you know that if you have a water purifier you could die from eating the contaminants? Please do not eat your water purifier.

[Dredd]

Sickos are the only creatures that would want to poison their fellow citizens. Shame on them.

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/08/will-earth-follow-sun.html

[martinfrosa]

I have never been a fan of bottled water. Why drink it when a Brita water filter is available? I just don't get it.

Maybe someone can mention this to our new "environmentally sensitive" President who prefers FIJI water shipped thousands of miles to his door.

[Tom Lauria]

This is Tom Lauria from the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). The bottled water industry is a solid supporter and advocate for much-needed improvemen­ts/upgrade of our municipal water infrastructure. Ms, Royte is correct that it is a matter of urgency. It is an enormous undertaking, best addressed if all rate-payers and users of tap water work together to fund the decades of work ahead of us. Every company, every farmer, every citizen has a stake and a vested interest in a favorable outcome.

[Ted Wells - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't believe you. You don’t really want to fix municipal water systems and put yourself out of business lobbying for Big Water. Perhaps Nesle or IBWA sends a token check each year to some state water project to greenwash and to look like good citizens, then you secretly smile and your eyes flash $

[Ted Wells - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't believe you. You don’t truly want to fix municipal water systems. Perhaps Nesle or IBWA sends a token check each year to some state water project to greenwash and to look like good citizens, then you secretly smile and your eyes flash $$ signs when a toxin like atrazine bubbles to the media's attention. Oh yeah, sure, you're "a solid supporter and advocate for much-needed improvemen­ts/upgrade of our municipal water infrastructure" just like ExxonMobile is working so hard to protect our environment or Big Tobacco wants to help kids avoid cigarettes. Lobby somewhere else, sir.

[Tom Lauria]

The people in the bottled water industry do not compete with tap water; we compete with other packaged beverages on the store shelf. And they are ALL in plastic containers. Meanwhile, municipal water is indispensible for sanitation, hygiene, irrigation and a million other uses that make our lives so comfortable. Idon't know anyone who drags two cases of bottled water into the shower stall every morning to clean themselves. There is a time and place for tap water and a time and place when convenient, healthy and safe bottled water is a preferred beverage to many others with sugar, sweetners and other additives. It is not in the public interest to disparage hydration.

[bobbrouse]

hi
great great article,i am a reporter at water.ca, one of the functions of the site is a water alert system.
you send us an email with your contact info and we will let you know if there is an alert in your area.
there are a number of things that will startle most folks,1)pharma we did much testing on tap water, estrogen,t­ylenol,via­gra etc etc lots of it and no way that we know of to do big filtration, in our area tritium,which is used in exit signs ,and nuclear bombs, loads and loads of fertilizer by products.t­here are many many things in the water. as for bottled water, most are either municipal plants that put their water directly in the bottles. it is what it is and it aint what it aint so to speak. something that is probably on the books in most towns and cities are something called back flow valves, these are used in industrial water applications, problem is lots dont work, local enforcement doesnt have the manpower to make sure. so think of the factory in your town, down the street and hope that byproduct doesnt end up in your glass. this is systemic, its up to us to pay attention and ask questions, and hold companies accountable for what they flush,leak and fix it! its up to us and the media to light this up. our children drink this stuff. great article
bob brouse
water.ca

[Guitarsandmore]

put bottled water in glass bottles that can also be recycled and half of the argument against bottled water goes away.

Now haul the water from the spring to your door step with electric powered trucks and the other half of the argument against bottled water goes away.

You see, we can solve these problems, its just that no one wants to do it.

[TXsharon]

Then you still have corporations buying up all the water and controlling who gets this essential resource.

Also it takes energy and resources to manufacture glass and the electricity for the trucks.

Everyone should have equal rights to water. Just make the water we drink safe by eliminating the dangerous chemicals we use.

Support the FRAC Act.

[Guitarsandmore]

The sun provides free energy everyday to the planet. Solar panels convert the energy to electricity that can be used to recharge electric trucks or power a factory that makes glass.

As far as I can tell, corporations are interested in making a buck and don't care who buys the water. They are looking for a market.

Support Green economy.

[mlaiuppa]

Socialized water but not Socialized healthcare?

[RMankovitz]

Not to be outdone by atrazine in tap water, bottled water has the distinction of being contaminated with antimony! Antimony is a toxin similar to arsenic.

The majority of bottled water is sold in plastic bottles made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate). The production of these water bottles employs antimony trioxide as a catalyst. The antimony then leaches into the water contained in the bottle. Voila - contaminated bottled water.

If your water bottle is soft and somewhat squishy, or has a number 1 stamped on the bottom, you are likely to be the proud owner of this Frankenwater.

Of course, the plastic industry is doing their thing, paying researchers to "prove" there is no problem. The EPA, in its infinite lack of wisdom, has promulgated a "safe level" for antimony when no such level has accurately been determined. It is very reminiscent of the BPA (bisphenol-A) fiasco. I discuss do-it-yourself approaches to healthy water in my book "The Wellness Project."

The amount of antimony leached into the water depends on the temperature and time history of the bottle, over which we have little control. For those interested in following this circus, use Google to search: "antimony water bottle".

Here are a few choice links:

http://www.polarisinstitute.org/ottawa_is_bottled_water_safe

http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/press/news/news06/2601antime.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16470261

Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com

[Dredd]

Thank you.

[wadenelson1]

I've bicycled across Iowa a half dozen times with tens of 1000's of other cyclists in a major event called RAGBRAI.

The first year or so I could never figure out why there was NOWHERE to refill my water bottle. No spigots, no garden hoses, no fire hydrants set up with taps, nothing. It was bottled water or nothing, at $2 a crack. Town after town.

What were the organizers thinking! Was this just a racket to sell bottled water?

Then I caught a ride with a guy in a pickup truck after flatting. I mentioned the lack of "free" water. The friendly farmer told me how all almost ALL of Iowa's ground water was contaminated with herbicides and pesticides, from decades of spraying.

We've got to go to organic farming. FAST. Whatever farm or tax subsidies are needed to make organic techniques irresistable to ALL Farmers MUST be given.

Soon. Before it's too late.

[PhilipB]

Your post certainly caught my attention.

[mlaiuppa]

And in other states it's pollution from animal waste runoff from factory farms.

Add climate change to the mix.

The CIA was right...th­e next world war will be over water.

[boxvox]

We just noticed Brita Water filter’s anti-bottled water campaign (“Drink Responsibly” ) on an advertising poster along the road in my neighborhood, but I had no idea that bottled water sales were now heading downward. I wonder if that's entirely due to anti-bottle sentiment --(almost typed sediment--there)-- or if some of this is due to recessionary belt tightening.

[oldGunny]

"The $10 billion annual fund will create more than 250,000 jobs."

=250000 jobs @ 40k each.
Not bad in this economy