subject: Bottled Water versus Water Treatment Systems for Home or Commercial Application [print this page] Bottled Water versus Water Treatment Systems for Home or Commercial Application
The rise in popularity of bottled water over the past 2 decades has been an interesting phenomenon. Companies selling bottled water have done a great job marketing it as healthy water, while selling it for approximately 5 cents an ounce versus tap water which costs less than 1 cent per gallon! Marketers of bottled water have convinced us that as compared to tap water, bottled water is pure, superior in taste and far more available.
In recent years, however, bottled water has come under fire as an increasing number of people have learned they're drinking nothing more than filtered tap water. Coca-Cola's Dasani and Pepsi's Aquafina are two very popular examples of this, bottling their water close to their distribution points, rather than from sources we often associate with bottled water such as artesian aquifers or natural springs high up in the mountains.
People have also become aware of the environmental impact, namely the amount of oil required to produce plastic bottles and transport bottled water to your local grocer, not to mention that bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year, with 80% of it simply thrown away instead of being recycled. And if those weren't reasons enough, there's also the controversy surrounding the chemicals found to be leaching from the plastic bottles into the water. Bottled water doesn't seem so healthy now.
So how do you change people's perception of tap water, while also providing them with the security the masses have come to associate with bottled water? Install a whole house water filter or commercial water treatment system. Doing so will optimize water quality, help to minimize our reliance on natural resources such as oil and offset our impact on the environment in the transport and disposal of plastic bottles.
Benefits to installing a water treatment system for home or commercial applications include removing disagreeable tastes and odors, including objectionable chlorine, many chemicals and gases, and in some cases it can be effective against microorganisms. In particular, reverse osmosis is highly effective in removing up to 99% of contaminants in water. It removes several impurities from water such as total dissolved solids, turbidity, asbestos, lead and other toxic heavy metals, radium, and many dissolved organics. The process will also remove chlorinated pesticides and most heavier-weight VOCs.
Water treatment and reverse osmosis systems can be implemented for use in housing developments, cosmetic production, food processors, hospitals, remote area drinking water systems, and water stores, just to name a few. So next time you reach for a bottle of water, make sure it's a reusable bottle (preferably stainless steel), and fill it up with delicious tap water recently purified by your water treatment or reverse osmosis system.
