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Researchers tested a bottle of Fiji Water against a glass of tap water. This is what they found.

Bottled water is filthy.

Image via Canva

A lab technician tests bottles of water

Here are six facts from the video above by The Story of Stuff Project that I'll definitely remember next time I'm tempted to buy bottled water.



- YouTubewww.youtube.com


1. Bottled water is more expensive than tap water (and not just a little).



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A Business Insider column noted that two-thirds of the bottled water sold in the United States is in individual 16.9-ounce bottles, which comes out to roughly $7.50 per gallon. That's about 2,000 times higher than the cost of a gallon of tap water.

And in an article in 20 Something Finance, G.E. Miller investigated the cost of bottled versus tap water for himself. He found that he could fill 4,787 20-ounce bottles with tap water for only $2.10! So if he paid $1 for a bottled water, he'd be paying 2,279 times the cost of tap.

2. Bottled water could potentially be of lower quality than tap water.



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Fiji Water ran an ad campaign that was pretty disparaging about the city of Cleveland. Not a wise move. The city ordered a test of the snooty brand's water and found that Fiji Water contained levels of arsenic that weren't seen in the city's water supply.

How was that possible? Sarah Goodman of the New York Times explains:

" Bottled water manufacturers are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities because of gaps in federal oversight authority. Bottom line: The Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water, and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water. FDA lacks the regulatory authority of EPA."

3. The amount of bottled water we buy every week in the U.S. alone could circle the globe five times!



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That sounded like it just had to be impossible, so we looked into it. Here's what our fact-checkers found:

"According to the video, ' People in the U.S. buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week.' National Geographic says for 2011, bottled water sales hit 9.1 billion gallons (roughly 34 billion liters).

A 'typical' water bottle is a half-liter, so that's about 68 billion bottles per year. Divided by 52 weeks would be a little over 1 billion bottles of water sold per week in the U.S. Because that's based on a smaller 'typical' bottle size, it seems reasonable that a half billion bottles a week could be accurate.

The Earth is about 131.5 million feet around, so yep, half a billion bottles of varying sizes strung end-to-end could circle the Earth five times."

4. Paying for bottled water makes us chumps.



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Beverage companies have turned bottled water into a multibillion-dollar industry through a concept known as manufactured demand. Bottled water advertisements used a combination of scare tactics (Tap water bad!) and seduction (From the purest mountain streams EVER!) to reel us in.

Well, we now know their claims about the superior quality of bottled water are mostly bogus. And research shows that anywhere from a quarter to 45% of all bottled water comes from the exact same place as your tap water (which, to reiterate, is so cheap it's almost free).



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5. Bottled water is FILTHY.

It takes oil — lots of it — to make plastic bottles. According to the video, the energy in the amount of oil it takes to make the plastic water bottles sold in the U.S. in one year could fuel a million cars. That's not even counting the oil it takes to ship bottled water around the world.

And once we've guzzled our bottled water, up to 80% of the empty bottles end up in landfills or noxious-gas-producing incinerators. The rest is either recycled or shipped to countries like India where poor people without environmental and labor protections have to deal with it.

On top of all that, the process of manufacturing plastic bottles is polluting public water supplies, which makes it easier for bottled water companies to sell us their expensive product.

6. There are 750 million people around the world who don't have access to clean water.


A child dies every minute from a waterborne disease. And for me, that's the core of what makes bottled water so evil.

The video wraps by comparing buying bottled water to smoking while pregnant. That may sound extreme, but after learning everything I just did about the bottled water industry, I can't disagree.



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If you're properly disgusted, here are a few ways you can help destroy the bottled water industry:

  1. Don't buy bottled water. Get a reusable water bottle. The savings will add up.
  2. Rally your schools, workplaces, and communities to ban bottled water.
  3. Demand that your city, state, and federal governments invest in better water infrastructure.

This article originally appeared 10 years ago.

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Health

Why the classic '8 glasses of water a day' needs to be debunked once and for all.

For many, this could be too much water. Experts say there's a much easier way to get your daily hydration needs met.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION/Pexels

Are we drinking too much water or not enough?

We all know that humans need water to survive, but how much just plain water do we actually need to consume each day to be healthy?

If your instinct is to say 6 to 8 glasses of water a day, you're not alone. For many of us, that figure has been ingrained into us since we were kids by health class teachers, family doctors and concerned caregivers alike.

However, needing 8 glasses a day of water is a total and complete myth.

Despite being deeply embedded in our collective conscience, there's little to no scientific evidence to back up the idea that drinking 8 glasses—or any specific number of ounces—of water per day is ideal. This fact might take a minute to digest, since these days so many of us carry water bottles measured in specific ounces to help us stay hydrated and may even track our water consumption with an app or daily planner.

Knowing how many ounces of water we should drink and tracking how much we do drink may give us a satisfying sense of control, but it's largely meaningless. According to the Mayo Clinic, staying hydrated isn't so much about how much water you drink but about how much fluid you consume overall, including from foods and beverages besides water. And that amount is different for every person because every person's body is different.

Additionally, our circumstances are different each day. If you're exercising or sweating from the heat, your body's hydration needs change. If you're sick, pregnant or breastfeeding, your hydration needs change. Certain medications can alter how much fluid your body needs, as can a high-salt diet.

But there must be some kind of guideline, right? We can't just be willy nilly drinking water whenever we feel like it in the age of step counts and sleep tracking apps, can we?

woman drinking a glass of waterFeeling thirsty?Photo by Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

Inadequate hydration is linked to early aging and chronic disease, among other things, so it's important to get enough fluids. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lists adequate daily fluid intake as:

- About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day for men

- About 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women

That doesn't mean that's how much water you should drink. Fluids can be found in food—many fruits and vegetables are high in water content and count toward hydration. Any milk you drink and even yogurt or cottage cheese you consume adds to your fluid intake. Soups and broths? Super hydrating. Other beverages, even ones that contain caffeine as long as you don't overdo it, count as well. And again, those numbers are just a general guideline. Your body size, overall health, environment and lifestyle all influence your own specific hydration needs.

Some doctors point out that we have a natural mechanism to tell us when we aren't well-hydrated—thirst. "Drink when you're thirsty" may sound like basic advice, but it's what many physicians recommend. However, thirst is a sign that your body is already mildly dehydrated, so some recommend drinking before you get thirsty as well.

Just don't go too far that way, either. Another common myth is that you can't drink too much water, but that's not true. A tragedy in 2023 in which a healthy mother of two drank four bottles of water in about 20 minutes and died of water intoxication highlighted the importance of not drinking too much water too fast. And drinking an excess of water overall, though rarely a problem for well-nourished adults, can make it hard for your kidneys to process properly.

One way to gauge your hydration level besides monitoring thirst is to check your pee. While it doesn't need to be clear(contrary to popular belief) it shouldn't be dark. According to Healthline's handy hydration chart, "lemonade" is about the shade you're looking for. Too clear means you're probably overhydrating. Darker than a light beer and it's time to up your liquid intake a bit.

Water is good. Hydration is important. Pay attention to thirst. Shoot for lemonade-shade pee. That ought to keep you on the right track for getting enough liquid without having to keep track of how many glasses or ounces of water you drink each day.

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Family

Most pregnant women know what they need to bring to the hospital. Doris' list had something extra.

For Doris, the list was very different.

via GQ/YouTube

Doris Alikado talks about her personal experience of maternal health in Tanzania.

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Bathrobe. Socks. Insurance card. Snacks.

Sound at all familiar? Maybe, maybe not.

These items would commonly be found on a checklist of things that expecting parents should bring to the hospital with them — in the U.S., anyway.

environment, health, health wellbeing

Doing the checklist.

Image created from Pixabay.

But what is that list like in other parts of the world?

For Doris, that list included water.

Doris, who lives Morogoro, Tanzania, had to bring her own water to the health center where she was giving birth in 2014. The water she brought was used to clean the nurse's hands, clean the delivery area, and wash the babies (she had twins!). Unfortunately, the water Doris brought ran out before she was able to wash herself or her clothes, so she had to wait 24 hours before cleaning herself.

parenting, parenting and children, Tanzania

Doris and family lives in Morogoro, Tanzania.

via GQ/YouTube

I'll let Doris tell the story herself:

Lack of access to clean water in Tanzania is a very big deal.

Everything turned out alright for Doris and her babies, but thousands of other women aren't as lucky. But there are ways to help: Organizations and individuals are pitching in to help build water taps, rainwater tanks, and latrines in Tanzanian hospitals, and they're making a huge difference.

"I want to express my gratitude to the health workers ... because they have a great sense of humor with the patients. But the problem is the availability of enough water." — Doris Alikado


This article originally appeared on 03.26.15

From Your Site Articles
Heroes

Scientist exposes the dark, sparkly secret behind glitter

"All glitter should be banned."

Photo by Didssph on Unsplash

such a beautful planet killer.

It's fun to make glittery holiday cards with the kids. Or without the kids. I don't know. Don't judge me.

But if you've ever worked with glitter, you know cleanup can be a mess. If it gets on your hands, it can take ages (or some fancy tricks) to wash it all off.

But once it's finally off your hands, where does that glitter go? Down the drain, probably. And some scientists aren't very happy about that.

Not very happy about that at all.

"I think all glitter should be banned," Trisia Farrelly of New Zealand's Massey University told CBS.

The problem? "It's microplastic," says Farrelly.

"Microplastic" is the name for the tiny, virtually indestructible pieces of plastic pollution that often find their way into our lakes, oceans, and even our drinking water.

And once they get into the water supply, they can choke or poison sea life. Even tiny plankton have been found nibbling on them.

glitter, biodegradable, fun, shiny, responsibility

Besides arts and crafts, glitter is also found in many cosmetics, such as nail polish or shampoos.

Photo from Pixabay

Glitter isn't the only source of microplastics. The majority come from larger plastic objects breaking down into smaller pieces. They can also come from the microbeads found in many body washes and shampoos. In fact, the United States has a partial ban on microbeads — manufacturers were supposed to stop putting them in rinse-off cosmetics.

Now that microbeads are getting the boot, it makes sense that people are giving glitter some side-eye. A handful of nurseries in the United Kingdom have already made the stuff verboten.

The good news is that if your heart is really set on that shimmery holiday card or looking fierce on New Year's, there are already non-micro-plasticky options open to you. Yes, biodegradable glitter is a thing.

Listen, glitter is amazing. No one is denying that. But with great shiny power, comes great shiny responsibility. Sparkle safely.

This article originally appeared on 12.01.17

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