Last Saturday, June 21, 2008, the KCRW show Good Food interviewed Elizabeth Royte, author of Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. Ms. Royte discussed drinking water’s commercialization, tap water and the environmental impact of plastic water bottles.
With 50 million plastic water bottles consumed annually and with sales of bottled water continuing to increase, it is important for us to examine the costs associated with our drinking water, including our distribution system and local water supplies. In addition to the tremendous waste associated with bottled water, the amount of water used in the production of bottled water is 3 times the amount sold, and the amount of oil used in bringing bottled water to market is 1 quarter per every liter sold. Bottlemania’s website provides links for information on water testing, filters, and groups fighting to protect municipal water supplies.
An Environmental Working Group analysis of Nitrates and nitrites tests reported by 15,803 public water suppliers in 28 states shows that between 1998 and 2003, 96.4 million people in 10,920 communities drank water contaminated with Nitrates and Nitrites. In 97 of these communities, tap water was contaminated at levels above health-based thresholds.
Texas had 1,302 water supply systems serving 13.9 million people contaminated with Nitrates and Nitrites, which was the highest state in the study. Coming in second was Washington with 1,257 systems serving 3.9 million people.
Nitrate & nitrite is a chemical that enters water from fertilizer runoff, leaching septic tanks, and erosion of natural deposits. Potential health impacts associated with Nitrate & nitrite include cardiovascular or blood toxicity, kidney toxicity, and reproductive toxicity.
The Maximum Contaminant Limit (MCL) for Nitrates and Nitrites is 10 parts per million (ppm). Water suppliers report an average of 0.7 Nitrate and Nitrite tests per year. 23,948 water suppliers failed to report any Nitrate and Nitrite tests at all. Testing for Nitrate and Nitrite can be done by anybody, accurately and safely at home. Our water test kits provide the accuracy of a laboratory to everyone with fast and accurate results. Please visit our site H2OKits.com for more information.