BOTTLED WATER A HEALTH HAZARD - TELL THE KIDS AND SAVE BIGTIME

BOTTLED WATER A HEALTH HAZARD - TELL THE
KIDS AND SAVE BIG TIME

TELL KIDS BOTTLED WATER NOT BETTER THAN TAP WATER AND SAVE MONEY

Schools sell bottled water to kids - around $1 a day - and
the costs add up for families. Kids feel because the water is sold that the
bottled water is BETTER - NOT TRUE!!!! School administrators don't care and
continue to allow this message to be given on a daily basis. Tell kids in your
communities the truth about bottled water. Also, the water sold at schools is
often kept at varying temperatures (unrecorded) and for varying lengths of time
(unrecorded). These storage conditions can make the water even worse with higher
bacterial counts. These elevated levels of bacteria can increase oral bacterial
count and increase cavities and gum disease.

Here is an article on
BOTTLED WATER from the web:

How much do you know about the bottled water
you drink? Not nearly enough, according toa new report released today from Environmental Working
Group (EWG)."Bottled water companies try hard to hide information you
might find troubling," says Jane Houlihan, senior vice president of research for
the Washington D.C.-based research and advocacy group.
EWG analyzed the
labels of 173 unique bottled water products and company websites to determine if
companies disclose information on where water comes from, how or if their water
is treated, and whether the results of purity testing are revealed. The
nonprofit also looked at how effective (and advanced) any water treatment
methods are. Researchers followed up by calling dozens of bottled water
companies to find out which ones willingly tell consumers what's in their
bottles.
The Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that
consumers have the right to know where their water comes from and what's in it
so they can "make informed choices that affect the health of themselves and
their families." Tap water is regularly tested and consumers can find their local water info
online. That's not necessarily the case with bottled water, which is
not required to disclose that information to consumers. "Bottled water is a food
product and every one of these companies is complying with federal law,"says Tom
Lauria, of the International Bottled Water Association.
More than half of the
bottled water products surveyed failed EWG's transparency test --18 percent
didn't say where their water comes from, and another 32 percent did not disclose
any information on treatment or purity of water.
Only three brands earned the
highest possible marks for disclosing information and using the most advanced
treatment methods available- Gerber Pure Purified Water,
Nestle PureLife Purified Water, and Penta
Ultra-PurifiedWater.
On the other end of the spectrum, these six
brands got the worst marks in EWG's report because they don't provide consumers
with the three basic facts about water on product labels or their company
website - Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water,
Vintage Natural Spring Water,Sahara Premium Drinking
Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking
Water,Market Basket Natural Spring Water,
andCumby's Spring Water.
How does your bottled water brand
stack up? Here's a look at the 10 top-selling* U.S. brands:
1.     Pure Life
Purified Water (Nestle),EWG grade = B
2.     Arrowhead Mountain Spring
Water(Nestle), EWG grade = C
3.     Aquafina Purified Drinking Water(Pepsi),
EWG grade = D
4.     Dasani Purified Water (Coca-Cola),EWG grade =
D
5.     Deer Park Natural Spring Water(Nestle), EWG grade = D
6.     Ice
Mountain Natural Spring Water(Nestle), EWG grade = D
7.     Ozarka Natural
Spring Water (Nestle),EWG grade = D
8.     Poland Spring Natural Spring
Water(Nestle), EWG grade = D
9.     Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water(Nestle),
EWG grade = D
10.  Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water (CGRoxane), EWG
grade =  F
Filtered tap water received the best grade (an A) from EWG because
if you change your filter regularly, EWG says it is purer than bottled water,
plus it saves money (bottled water can cost up to1,900 times more than what
flows from your tap). Drinking tap water also takes less of a toll on the
planet. EWG offers plenty of tips for filtering your tap
water so that you can drink the healthiest water
possible.

What should you do when bottled water is your only
option?"While our top choice is filtered tap water, when you do need to choose
bottled water, we recommend brands that tell you what's in the water and that
use advanced treatment technologies like reverse osmosis and micro-filtration," says
Houlihan. Advanced treatment technologies remove pollutants that other methods
don't. You should look for bottled water products that tell you where the water
is coming from and how pure it is.
Here are the results for all 173bottled water brands
included in the report. You'll find that some less popular brands rank even
lower than our list of top-sellers.
The advice to drink filtered tap water
can seem confusing when there are often reports about the contaminants found in
municipal water supplies. Just last month, for example, EWG announced that cancer causing hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) is in 31cities' tap water. Houlihan says
chromium-6 is as likely to be in your bottled water as it is in your tap water
and we need action from the federal government on this. She points out that a
reverse osmosis filter can remove the worrisome contaminant. You can guarantee
its removal in your home supply, but in many cases you don't know what's in the
bottle you're drinking from.
*Sales rankings from the Beverage
MarketingCorporation.