Tap Water Quality Database

While we're on the subject of water...
Find out how clean your tap water actually is (in the U.S.) on the Environmental Working Group's National Tap Water Quality Database.

Take Back The Tap

Food & Water Watch has released a report detailing the reasoning behind choosing tap over bottled water (as encouraged in the Think Outside The Bottle campaign) and why America's sewer and water system is in need of a major overhaul. From the report:

• Bottled water costs hundreds or thousands of times more than tap water. Compare $0.002 per gallon for most tap water to a range of $0.89 to $8.26 per gallon for bottled waters.
• The Food and Drug Administration regulates only the 30 to 40 percent of bottled water sold across state lines.
• The Environmental Protection Agency requires up to several hundred water tests per month by utility companies while the FDA requires only one water test per week by bottling companies.
• Nearly 40 percent of bottled water is simply filtered or treated tap water.
• U.S. plastic bottle production requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars.
• About 86 percent of the empty plastic water bottles in the United States land in the garbage instead of being recycled.

Read/download the full report HERE.

Brita Filter Recycling Campaign

Beth Terry has started a grassroots campaign on her Fake Plastic Fish blog to encourage Brita, the popular water filter manufacturer (owned by Clorox), to take back and recycle their used filters. Get the details and find out how to get involved HERE.

Thanks Jessica!

Think Outside The Bottle

It's nice to see that America's obsession with bottled water is finally waning. Think Outside The Bottle is a pledge campaign which encourages the drinking of tap water. They've already nearly reached their 25,000 person goal, but hopefully they'll set the bar a bit higher once it's been met.

Thanks Cally!