Water Anyone? 

Most of your bottled water is not local and even comes from cites that are far away and sometimes half way across the world. Transporting this water across these long distances burns massive amounts of fossil fuels and the manufacture of bottles used up 1.5 million barrels of crude oil in the US alone. This is just an amazingly large amount of unnecessary waste.

So, what do we do? I for one do not like the taste of tap water, and I live in a city where our water ranks as one of the best in the states. Although the EPA says that tap water is more safe than bottled water (since there is little/no regulation concerning bottled water) adding a water filtration system is a great way to purify your water at home and will aid in gently eliminating bottled water from your purchases. Another great product are the small portable filtration systems such as the Brita. Purchase a few stainless steel water bottles and you are all set to go! http://www.kleankanteen.com (For information on the plastic sports bottle debate, check out our article on Plastics) Just fill and go! These systems will save you money and you will have peace of mind knowing you are not contributing to the 600,000,000 water bottles that are disposed of EACH DAY and end up in land fills! 

Props to the below cities! San Francisco and L.A. have banned city-financed purchases of bottled water. New York has launched an ad campaign called "Get Your Fill" that sings the praises of tap water and gives residents a free stainless steel beverage container if they sign an online pledge not to buy plastic water bottles. Salt Lake City's mayor has encouraged residents to drink from the tap. Did you know??? At least a quarter of bottled water comes from a municipal water supply—the same source as tap water. PepsiCo announced last month that its Aquafina water bottles soon would sport labels stating the water comes from a "public water supply." Locally, Nestle's Ice Mountain water is pumped from wells in the Great Lakes Basin in Michigan.