It is amazing how many people will choose lower prices over healthy foods and drinks. Fortunately, when it comes to drinking water, tap water is usually better for your health than bottled water. Now how often does that happen?
It is generally accepted that people should drink about half a gallon (64 ounces) or 2 litres of water per day. If you drink bottled water, you will be surprised how much the cost of the water adds up to in a year. If you drink bottled water purchased while “on the go” from vending machines or stores, you will typically pay between 5 to 8 cents per ounce. That equates to $3 to $5 per person per day, or $1,000 to $1,500 per year.
Very few people drink bottled water purchased exclusively from small bottles. If you drink exclusively from 18 litre jugs, the annual cost of drinking water for a person is about $300. That sounds like alot, but if a single person drinks the 2 litres per day(the recommended amount), then they need an 18 litre jug of water every9 days, which sounds reasonable. A jug of water costs about $7.50 when it is delivered (at home or work), so the math is correct. If you use bottled water for cooking, the cost jumps again.
People who drink from coolers at home and work oftern supplement their water consumption with small bottles that are purchased “to go” because they are not always around a cooler. In that case, they typically spend $500 per year. For drinking water! For a couple, that means $1,000 per yearn, and the figure could jump up tp $2,000 for a family of four. Unbelievable! When I wrote this, I had to go back and check my math as the figure seemed to be too high to be possible. If you see situation described above, you might want to consider thinking about alternatives that provide you with superior water and allow you to take a nice vacation every year.
Most families who drink bottled water don’t spend $2,000 per year because they simply don’t drink enough water. They can also cut costs by filling small reusable containers.
If you do fill up reusable containers, the options typically include: glass, plastic, or stainless steel. Glass is always the best as they don’t leach anything into the water. Glass bottles are much more sturdy than most people think and they are able to absorb a significant impact without breaking. For example, the glass bottles that we use can fall off our kitchen counter and land on a tile floor without breaking. Don’t ask!
If you participate in vigorous activities and are concerned about your bottled water container breaking, you can choose stainless steel or plastic, with stainless steel being the choice of preference. If you happen to be one of the lucky/smart people who have access to ionized water, don’t use a stainless steel container as the container will deionize the water.
If you have made the smart choice to drink water because it is the ideal liquid for your body, don’t feel bad about whatever you are spending. The alternatives to water cost a lot more money, and force your body to work much harder to get rid of the extra calories or contaminants that your body doesn’t need.
Before I leave the subject of the cost of bottled water, please consider that we pay about 2 cents per ounce for gasoline versus 1 to 8 cents for bottled water. Think about that for a minute! Procuring bottled water is virtually free while it cost millions to explore and drill for oil. Then the oil has to be transported to refineries that cost about $4 billion to build to be refined into gas. Then the gas has to be shipped to storage areas and then shipped to gas stations that are expensive to build. Then you must consider the labour costs involved in all of the processes. Now you get to the really expensive part, which is government taxes on the gas. All of these costs are included in gasoline that you purchase for about 2 cents per ounce. Think about that the next time you purchase a 20 ounce bottle of Dasani or Aquafina for $1.75 out of a vending machine.
When you consider the phenomenal profits margins available on water sales, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that bottled water companies spend tens of millions of dollars convincing the public that “pure” bottled water is good for you. It should also come as no surprise that our natural water sources are being bought up and privatized. If you think water is expensive now, wait to see what water costs in the future.
But what about the awful taste and the contaminants such as chlorine, chloramines, and fluoride that is in our municipal drinking water?
Governments mandate that municipal drinking water is safe. What does that mean? It really means that the water that comes out of your tap won’t kill you right away. Municipalities take the bacteria out of the water which chlorine or chloramines, and they do a good job of it for the most part. However, there are always exceptions.
In order to remove the bad taste of chlorine or chloramines, a simple and inexpensive charcoal filter that can be installed under your kitchen sink will do a great job. You should be able to purchase a good filter and canister housing for under $100.
If you want a more sophisticated filter system, a three canister system will most likely remove virtually all the bad stuff while allowing the healthy minerals to remain. A three canister system, including the filters typically cost about $250. The filters should last about a year, and the replacement filters should cost about $100
The bottom line is that you can provide clean, safe, good tasting water for your family for about $100 per year if pre-filter your tap water. Talk about a “no-brainer”
Stop drinking bottled water. If not for your health or the environment, do it for the $500 you will save each year.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and the quoted sources.
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Hello Rob,
First let me say you have a wonderfully informative web site and I am glad I stumbled on to it after searching the web for about a week.
My search was narrowed down to the PH factor from a variety of sources including health food stores. It all started two years ago when I read Kevin Trudeau’s book “Natural Cures they don’t want you to know about”. I read all your blogs and they’ve answered many questions except the obvious ones concerning ionizers, test equipment, filtering systems etc. I could line up my questions and e-mail them or, I can be reached anytime at home in the evening until around midnight at 416 ***-****
Hope to hear from you soon,
Sincerely, G. Cloutier
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Hi Gerry:
Thanks for the nice words. For someone like me who doesn’t get paid for this, compliments are my currency.
First off, I edited your telephonen number out of your post. I will call your as requested to answer your questions, but ‘m sure you don’t want every water sales person in North America calling you to tell you how amazing their product is.
I understand that you and others are frustrated that I don’t name names for water ionizers and filtering equipement. I refrain from talking about specific brands on purpose. I have visited hundreds, no, make that thousands, of websites connected to water ionizers and other products. I have never found a site about water and water ionizers etc that didn’t have a business angle. When someone that runs a website has a business angle, then objectivity and independent analysis goes right out the window.
When I decided to blog about water and the products that can make our water better, I also decided that it wouldn’t be a commercial venture. The pay sucks, but as the blog grows, I actually feel like I’m making a difference in my own small way.
I will contact you at the number that you left so that you can ask me all the questions on your list. If you are looking to purchase a water ionizer or a purification system, I don’t sell them. However, I will likely be able to answer your questions so that you can decide on your own. I will also ask you questions about your needs and source water conditions, as the answers are the key to choosing the right products.
Rob
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Hello Rob,
I have been exposed to information about ionized water largely through Enagic and have always been concerned about it’s bias, therefore reviewing your blog is refreshing and you are providing a great service. Given your expertise on water and all the research you have done, there are a couple things about water that I’m curious about and would like your feedback on if possible.
btw….I used a RO water system and gradually destroyed my health, over a 10 year period before I realized what was happening in 2000. I’m still in the process of recovering and although I’ve looked into water ionizers, I eventually purchased a Utopic water system for the following reasons
a) it restructures and alkalizes water, naturally without electricity,
b) it erases water’s memory.
Below is a quote from their website http://www.utopicwater.ca/index_files/Comparisons.htm
“Current water treatment systems only take the junk out of water; they were never designed to remove the ‘memory’ of junk that water retains.’
My problem is that while I can consume utopic water during the day, if I have it later in the day or early evening it is so energizing, it prevents me from sleeping. On the other hand, when I’ve consumed ionized water, purchased through a local Enagic Distributor here in Toronto, it seems to help me with sleeping. Regardless, in addition to the fact that water ionizing systems do not erase memory, another concern is that over the long term they deplete the body’s energy. The following is quote from the utopic water website (as above), identifying this issue…
“Magnetized or electrically-treated water is stimulatory in nature and depletes the human energy system, as it adds life-restricting and frequency-scrambling information to the body’s genetic world. Since the effect is cumulative, the health outcome is not realized for years until the depletion of vital elements is beyond the body’s capacity to compensate for it and systemic toxicity reaches a point of no return, causing life-threatening illnesses.
When water suffers an extremely high loss of energy and frequency, it leeches the missing resonances back from the body’s governing vessel and conception vessel meridian polarities slowing down or halting repair and regeneration in the body”
My question is do you have any knowledge of these issues and given your expertise and experience what are your thoughts especially the suggestion that water ionizers deplete the body’s energy over the long term?
Many thanks in advance for your time and attention to my query.
Sincerely
Corry Ryken
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Hi Corry:
Thanks for following the blog and providing your comprehensive comment.
I agree with you that RO water systems are harmful in the long run. I wrote an article on my thoughts about RO systems which you can find at:
http://www.waterfyi.com/reverse-osmosis/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-reverse-osmosis-ro-system/
I don’t know anything about the Utopic system. I like to keep an open mind about different products, but I have to admit that I find the material that you have quoted from the website leaves me feeling skeptical. I do agree that water treatment systems take “junk” out of the water, but the wording makes me wary of the credibility of the author. I would also like to see evidence of the a) and b) claims made by the website. I have read the article that the Utopic site refers to where the site claims that ionized (magnetized) water depletes human energy. The author of the article proposes a theory that has never been confirmed by anyone. In fact, there are tens of thousands of long term users of ionized water around the world and I have never seen a single report that backs up the claim made by the author.
I focus my research on ionized water, but I do like to investigate other concepts. Based upon the material that you have quoted from the Utopic site, I don’t think I would even bother to investigate the company. I could be wrong about Utopic, but they would need to provide more than a couple of unsubstantiated statements offered by a third party before I would spend my time researching the company.
I appreciate your efforts to make me aware of their website. I’m willing to listen to anyone that is interested in educating or helping others. My Dad used to tell me “even a bad idea is better than no idea at all”. He was referring to the fact that it is important to think and investigate, and he also pointed out how dissecting a bad idea can lead to other ideas.
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