Blog Action Day - Water

Our neighbour posted about Blog Action Day, which intends to unite the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue. The issue for 2010 is water.

She posted this great video that highlights the many faults of bottled water. Additional information can be found at Inside the Bottle. The City of Toronto has banned the sale of plastic water bottles on municipal premises starting in 2011 (similar bans have been passed/implemented for other cities and university campuses).



We recently submitted a sample of our water to be tested for lead, as I am concerned that the supply line from the city to our property line has never been replaced (we have replaced all supply lines inside the house). Aside from that concern, it is my understanding that tap water in our city is as good or better than bottled water in every way. Tap water is better regulated, MUCH better for the environment, and MUCH cheaper (our house is not metered, so I could argue that our tap water is free). We do not keep bottled water in the home; we use a quality filter in our fridge for all drinking water.

Some other notes with a more global perspective:

• It takes 6.3 gallons of water to produce just one hamburger.
• The average American uses 159 gallons of water every day – more than 15 times the average person in the developing world.
• Every day, women and children in Africa walk a combined total of 109 million hours to get water.
• Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.