The Wonders of Water: You Are What You Drink

By Joen Lane, Ideal Family Weight Loss Center

If we were to rely solely on the economics of good water consumption practices, they would dictate that we drink water from our taps. Overall, tap water is the healthiest when you take into consideration the local water source and the fact that the EPA has strict protocols for the water treatment processes versus the loose regulation of bottled water. What local treatment plants don’t filter or remove, the consumer can help control with whole house filtration systems or countertop systems at the faucet. Of course, the immediate point of disagreement that dispels this ideal is the debacle in Flint, Michigan last year, but one would hope that is the rare exception, not the norm.

Once more, we are reminded that we must always ask questions that advocate for our own health and well being. This includes everything we purchase, including water. It’s important to know the test results of your local water treatment plant. These results are available to the public upon request in every municipality within the United States. Many water companies post their findings regularly in local newspapers, so citizens are informed. Situations like Flint, Michigan show us why it’s important that you get to know the processes that regulate your public services and utilities and check up on what’s going on in your area. It’s your environment and your right to know.

Lucky for us, North America still has the large advantage where water is concerned. There is still controversy over bottle versus tap water, however, bottled water is leading the pack in the conversation as water shortages continue across the globe and sustainable water is becoming more scarce.

Let’s consider the following facts from an organization called Ban the Bottle:

• Americans consume over 8.6 billion gallons of bottled water
• Only one in five plastic bottles are recycled    
• Plastic water bottles can take between 400 and 1,000 years to decompose
• It takes 17 million barrels of oil to produce plastic bottles yearly. This could fuel 1 million   cars for a year
• It requires three times the amount of water to produce a plastic bottle than it does to fill it
• Bottled water costs over 1,000+ times more than tap water
• Most tap water is more heavily tested and regulated than bottled water
• In many taste tests, tap water was preferred over bottled water
• The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) conducted a comprehensive four-year scientific study of 1,000 brands of bottled water.

The results showed that one-third of the bottled waters violated their own industry standards for water quality

The first glimpses of commercial bottled water popularity began in 1968 and, in spite of the controversy, have slowly escalated to the 63 billion dollar industry it is today. During our search for the “best” bottled water, the top ten didn’t waiver much between white paper resources to research and marketing papers. However, one thing was very clear: the majority of waters chosen were bottled outside of the United States.

Top Ten Comparative Best Bottled Waters 2016

1. Tibet 5100 (Glacial/Spring), Tibet
2. Waiakea (Volcanic), Hawaii
3. Fiji (Artesian), Fiji
4. Perrier (Spring), France
5. Voss (Arteisian), Norway
6. Evian (Spring), France
7. Smart Water (Distilled/Filtered) USA
8. Volvic (Spring), France
9. Hildon (Mineral), UK
10. Icelandic (Glacial), Iceland

Most of the top ten were bottled in glass. Mountain Valley (Spring), and Dasani (Purified/Filtered) are two other USA companies that did not make the top ten list, but received honorable mention.

It pays to note that the National Resource Defense Council found 25 percent or more of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources (a.k.a. tap water); why not tap it yourself and save dollars and the planet? You are what you eat… or in this case, drink.

Joen Lane is a certified weight loss coach with ideal Family Weight Loss & Life Balance Center, offering Ideal protein, the medically developed, sensible weight loss protocol. The center is located at 2103 E. Washington St. in Bloomington. Their mission is to help people take control of their weight and keep it off. Classes are offered on a variety of food and lifestyle topics. For more information, please call 309-661-3235.

^{Source: 10bestwater.com}