| If you are like most Americans, you are aware that | | | | Perhaps you have purchased a gravity feed water |
| water supplies are not as dependable as we would | | | | filter. If so, you will save money over bottled water and |
| like. Over 2100 contaminants have been discovered in | | | | will not have multiple bottles to discard or recycle. If the |
| drinking water thus far. Our water source may be free | | | | unit is portable, take it with you on vacation so that you |
| of some of these, but who knows which are still | | | | can guarantee the water you drink away is as good |
| present? | | | | as that you drink at home. |
| Many reading this will have acted on these warnings | | | | What if you either have a built in filter, or don't have |
| and stopped drinking faucet or well water. For you only | | | | room to take your gravity fed water filter with you? In |
| filtered water is worthy of your family or yourself. That | | | | that case, a little planning ahead would still provide the |
| means you are either purchasing bottled water, or that | | | | same water you drink at home. You filter extra water |
| you have bought a water filter and are purifying it | | | | and store it to take with you. |
| yourself. | | | | But where should you store it? If you keep it in plastic |
| The problem is, when you go on vacation or on a | | | | containers, you could face a problem, especially if the |
| camping trip, you don't want to trust the water supplies | | | | water gets warm during storage. Plastic can leech into |
| available to have the same healthy water you enjoy | | | | the water, contaminating it. This is true of the PET |
| at home. If you are purchasing bottled water, then you'll | | | | bottles (made of polyethylene terephthalate) used by |
| take along a case or two. This option will probably | | | | most bottled water companies. Reusing them is not |
| provide you with safe water, but it is the most | | | | safe either. |
| expensive. Over eight billion gallons of filtered water | | | | What about the hard plastic bottles for sports drinks or |
| are sold annually at prices at times exceeding gasoline. | | | | water coolers? The National Institutes of Health |
| Bottled water may not be as pure is the label indicates | | | | recently showed that bisphenol, used to make these |
| but it would be fine for camping. However, keep in | | | | bottles, may cause neurological problems in developing |
| mind that if you discard the plastic bottles you use on | | | | babies. They have yet to discover the long range |
| your vacation, you only add to the environmental | | | | effects on adults. That may be a bit risky to store and |
| problem of plastics that could sit in land fills for | | | | transport water in those containers too. |
| centuries. | | | | Few choices remain. |