We have all been schooled in the importance of water consumption. We’re told too many times to drink about 8 cups per day, but too little about the quality of water we drink and how to ensure we’re getting healthy drinking water.

So even if we are getting enough water, we might not be getting enough hydration. In some cases, we could even be harming ourselves with the water we drink. Learn why you should avoid some waters and embrace others.

What Not To Drink

The following common drinking water options lack the minerals your body needs to properly hydrate itself and may even contribute to disease:

1. Tap water is treated, processed and disinfected by the local sewage treatment center. It is purified with chlorine and treated with fluoride. Tap water has also been linked to cancer.

2. Distilled water is water that has its impurities removed by boiling water and then condensation the vapor into a clean container. However, this process rids the water of important minerals.

3. Developed more than 40 years ago, reverse osmosis involves forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane, moving from a stronger saline solution to a weaker one. The membrane blocks the passage of salt particles and some contaminants. However, this process does not remove small contaminants and removes alkaline minerals from the water, leaving it relatively acidic, which is dangerous to the body’s acid-alkaline balance.

4. Bottled water is something you should avoid, and for very good reason. It is often simply purified municipal water and is devoid of essential nutrients. The plastic containers also leach toxins into the water. If drinking bottled water, make sure it comes from a natural source and is stored in a glass container.

What To Drink

For truly healthy drinking water, stick to water from a natural source that contains inherent, essential  minerals. Well water, artesian or spring water, and mineral water are the most promising options. Well water comes from a hole dug deep in the ground that taps into a water source and then pumps it to the surface. Usually, if you don’t have access to city water, your source is from a nearby well. Natural spring water is bottled at the source while artesian and spring waters, albeit natural, are bottled off-site. Mineral water may be your best bet for healthy drinking water. It is derived from an underground source and has dissolved solids, much of which includes minerals and trace elements, such as magnesium, potassium, and sodium. If buying bottled water, make sure that it is in a glass container to prevent toxins from plastic getting into your water.

Photo Credit: rwhgould

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It’s up to us to say no to corporations buying up our public water and selling it back to us in plastic.

In the context of World Water Day on March 22, a report by the World Economic Forum ranked water shortage as one of the top global risks – right up there with widespread financial collapse and terrorism. And a recent U.S. intelligence report predicted that water shortages caused by population growth and climate change could spark terrorism and wars over the next 10 years.

You probably know that many people worldwide don’t have access to sufficient clean water for their daily needs, but the water wars are even in full swing in the U.S., as global corporations such as Nestle, Crystal Geyser, and Coca Cola obtain cheap water rights from strapped municipalities, bottle it, and resell it at a huge profit, turning what should be a human right into a global commodity.

These companies are not only sucking up the water in our natural springs, but, because they are meeting opposition in those efforts, they’ve turned to buying up our tap water, putting it in plastic, and selling it back to us.

Cases all over the country reveal that many of the deals are done in secret when a company buys or leases land from a private owner to access springs, and then makes deals with government officials to build a bottling plant. The company usually promises jobs in exchange for tax breaks, but, according to data provided by Food & Water Watch, the jobs are few (generally fewer than 10 for local residents) and low paying. (below the national average). Once the public gets wind of the deal, they often try to fight it.

In one high profile case in McCloud, California, a small mountain community near Mt. Shasta, Nestlé (which also owns Perrier, Poland Spring, and Arrowhead) gave up after a six-year battle with residents over a bottling plant that would tap the area’s spring water. Opponents had said the deal was done in secret without proper environmental review.

After that case, Nestlé turned to the tap, announcing plans to locate a plant in Sacramento that would bottle 82 million gallons a year of Sacramento’s municipal water supply and sell it to consumers under the company’s Pure Life brand (at a retail value of between $111 and $166 million). The Sacramento City Council and citizens were left out of the deal. Citizens formed a group to stop the plant, but it was unsuccessful and the plant opened in February 2010.

Just this week, it was announced that residents of Cascade Locks in Oregon are fighting a proposal by Nestlé to bottle water from the Columbia Gorge.

The bad publicity is starting to influence company actions. The Crystal Geyser Company recently nixed plans for a plant in Orland, California, after a citizen group sued to stop the plant from being built. To announce the cancellation, the company’s PR spin machine went passive-aggressive with a divisive, finger wagging letter aimed at opponents, essentially accusing them of depriving the good people of Orland of great jobs.

But Nestlé takes the cake for cynical PR efforts. This press release touting Nestlé work to improving watersheds across North America could have been torn from the pages of Jonathan Franzen’s novel, Freedom.

Lest you think it’s just big, bad corporations going after public water, it’s not. In Southern Oregon, one individual water speculator is looking to make a buck on the waters of the McKenzie River. In Maine the Passamaquoddy tribe is working to build a plant to manufacture water they plan to siphon from an aquifer on tribal lands.

We’ve only talked about the supply side. On the demand side, there are promising developments that could slow the trend toward privatization of water. In a move that concerned representatives from Coca Cola, The Grand Canyon banned all sales of bottled water earlier this year and several universities are considering or enacting similar bans.

Images: aweidner, jonicdao, brimelow

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Bottled water sales have dropped for the first time in at least five years as a result of  vocal environmentalists sparing the landfill and a recession that has consumers giving tap water a shot.

Americans drank 8.7 billion gallons of bottled water last year, compared with 8.8 billion in 2007, according to consulting firm Beverage Marketing Corp. This is the first decline this decade, signs the Siggs and advocacy groups are making a dent. (Here at EcoSalon, we’ve encouraged readers to Stop the Bottle in 2009.)

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Nestle, the largest seller of bottled water in the U.S., reported its profits fell 2.7% the first half of the year. Nestle sells Poland Spring, Deer Park, S. Pellegrino and Perrier. And while the corporate giant peddles many other brands of food, bottled water was the only sector failing in global sales during the first half of the year, down 2.9% because of weakness in the United States and Western Europe.

“I thought we’d never be able to impact sales of bottled water, and all of a sudden it’s really gained momentum,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of advocacy group Food & Water Watch. “I think we’re making real progress.”

The progress has resulted from campaigns launched by consumer advocacy and nonprofit organizations to educate consumers about the massive waste and environmental damage caused by plastic bottles. According to Food & Water Watch, people are wising up to the environmental costs of bottled water: production consumes energy and emits toxic chemicals; transportation guzzles oil, generating pollution; and disposal amounts to littering, with 86% of all bottles put in the garbage instead of the recycling.

The figures are a welcomed departure from last year when bottled water ranked America’s third most popular beverage (followed by soda and milk) with sales exploding 59% from 2003 to 2008, making it one of the fastest-growing beverages. Surveys show 70% of consumers drink bottled water.

Americans drank 8.7 billion gallons of bottled water last year, compared with 8.8 billion in 2007, according to consulting firm Beverage Marketing Corp. This is the first decline this decade.

Image: elNico

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