If you turn your nose up at tap water as you reach for your supposedly fresh bottle of water, you might want to reconsider. The EWG (Environmental Working Group) recently did a study on 10 of the most popular bottled water brands for pollutants; such as fertilizer residue, industrial chemicals, certain carcinogens, arsenic, and even radioactive isotopes, and found that the levels of contaminants were at the same level as those from tap water. In fact, resources say that your tap water may even be cleaner than bottled water, because it is more carefully regulated and monitored. So, the safest route would be to filter your existing tap water and the most eco-friendly as you won't be contributing the landfill with all those plastic bottles. Remember to always place your filtered water into a stainless steel or glass container, because drinking water out of plastic can be harmful to your health. Read this article on drinking water out of plastic bottles,
Bottled Water in your car, very dangerous!!!
Also, if you are addicted to sparkling or mineral water, and are interested in an alternative, I found the best. The Company Soda Club offers a "several home carbonation system" for making your own sparkling water. It is amazing, you just filter your tap water, pour it in one of the Soda Clubs bottles, place the bottle into the "Penguin" (which is the home carbonation system I chose, that injects the water with CO2), close up the "Penguin" and press the lever down until you hear a squeaking sound, usually about 5 seconds. Open it up, pull out your bottle ( glass bottles come with the Penguin), and be on your way. It is amazing! It tastes great, the bottles come with a nice screw top, and you can take them with you, and make as much sparkling water as you wish. We even take ours when we go on trips because it travels so easily! It is great for the environment as you will never have to buy all those stinking bottles, and recycle them all as well. It's a win-win situation, and now that we all know that tap water is of the same quality as bottled water, you won't have to worry about the water quality because it will be your own filtered water from your home. Check them out at SodaClub.com.
The Penguin is the first and only drinks maker with glass carafes; It's an eye catcher in every kitchen and dining room. Among the Penguin features are: customized carbonation level, easy to clean, automatic access gas release mechanism and minimal space usage on counter tops.
Starter Package, $199.99 (plus s/h)
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Penguin Sparkling Water & Soda Machine |
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2, 60-liter Carbonators (under license) makes approx. 120 carafes of sparkling water |
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MyWater Variety 3-pack |
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2 Penguin Glass Carafes |