I want to write about water today. Water in the sense of environmental health more so than physical health, but do let me start there.
We all need fluids to maintain well, our life. We get the fluids we need both in the things that we drink and the foods that we eat. There was a time when many health care professionals from docs to exercise physiologists were telling us that we need 8x8 glasses of water a day, or 64 ounces. That was never a scientific finding or official recommendation, and most people know that now.
We still need water however and where we get it has also been a matter of controversy. I.E “everyone and their water bottles”… plastic and waste, chemicals and landfills, cost and fraud, tap water vs spring..(in bottled water) etc.
I live in an apartment and have for the last two years. The water from my tap has an awful taste. I have struggled with this dilemma, as I do drink 60 or so ounces of water a day. Buying packages of bottled water every week is too costly for my wallet and our environment. I tried filling bottles with water and leaving them uncapped in the fridge for say 24 hours, as my niece suggested, but it only took the edge off. I filled my bottles at work from the portable water cooler as often as possible, but it wasn’t enough.
I went away for about a week and when I came home, I was unaccustomed to the taste of my tap water again. It was gross. I kept thinking it could not be good for me.
Now I have gone back and forth with what to do for almost the whole two years. I looked at filters you add to your faucet and filtered pitchers. I evaluated a home water delivery system, or buying a cooler and refilling it at the supermarket weekly. For a while I bought two gallons of water on the weekend to drink during the week, but even recycling those two jugs was an issue for me. Plastic recycling is not necessarily a safe, economic or even actual thing. I worry about that.
So I finally bought a water pitcher which came with one filter and an additional box of three filters, on sale at Walmart I think. Fifteen dollars each. The filters last 2-3 months. It was the best thing I ever did. The water tastes fine. I do not have to carry any cases of water or gallon jugs and I do not have to discard any waste. Also, if it is true that plastic bottles can leak chemicals into our water, I am mostly avoiding that as well.
So if you also struggle with this, I recommend the pitchers!
My schedule is getting the best of me and I am not sure that I will be able to blog tomorrow. If not, please accept my advance apologies… Deirdre
2 comments:
I LOVE my Pur pitcher! I bought it when I moved here 3+ years ago and it would have lasted me many more years had I not knocked it onto the tile flooring (just replaced it last week cuz I couldn't live without). Every now and then when I'm trying to detox and drink only water and tea, I scrub and slice a cucumber into the bottom part of the pitcher (under the filter) and have infused water. That tiny bit of flavor keeps me from feeling like I am missing out when I choose water instead of a cocktail in the evening. The cucumbers have about a 36 hour shelf life before they need to be replaced.
We use a pitcher too and LOVE it! Really helps the flavor of the water and is cost effective. I only wish ours would hold more water - seems like every time we fill up a glass we have to refill the pitcher...might have to invest in the dispenser model.
As for water bottles, personally, I dislike them, except for the convenience and accessibility. However, one interesting use for plastic H2O bottles is water purification in third world countries. Called SODIS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection
The bottles are left in the sun for 2+ hours and any bacteria in the water was been killed. The trade off, I assume, being all the carcinogens from the plastic - which is more important, clean water to drink or avoiding cancer? Wouldn't it be great if no one had to make that choice?
Thanks for another great post Deirdre!
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