Clean Water!

Water is arguably the planet’s most valuable resource. We can’t live without it. But what’s all the rage about bottled water? I couldn’t believe it a few years ago when I first saw it hitting shelves. Who would pay that kind of money for something not that different than what comes out of our taps?

Seriously, folks! Studies have shown that at least 40% of bottled water is untreated tap water. The industry is unregulated. Odds are very good that your town/city’s water is tested much more often than the bottling facility’s source.

Maybe your water doesn’t taste so great. There are filters for that. Sure the filters are made of plastic, too, but just consider how many plastic water bottles are hitting the landfills! It’s absolutely crazy. Whether or not you think plastic recycling works at all, only 1 out of 10 plastic water bottles are recycled. The rest wind up in the trash. They don’t even stand a chance of being recycled.

What’s better than recycled plastic? Using no plastic. The water bottle set-up is a no-brainer. Use tap water and a stainless steel water bottle like this one from the FlyLady shop. I bought a bunch of these for stocking stuffers (they took up a lot of room, lol) Christmas ’08 and we all love them.

This particular bottle has a couple of special characteristics. One, it’s double-walled, so it doesn’t sweat. The double-wall also helps keep the water at temperature much longer. Two, it has two screw tops. The whole top comes off so you can fit ice cubes into it, but when drinking, you unscrew the upper part which gives a nice size opening for sipping. Three, each bottle comes with all those colored cords. Why does that matter? Well, if your household has half a dozen of these bottles, it’s nice that everyone can choose their own color for the band so you don’t get them mixed up.

Changing to a refillable stainless steel bottle is one of the easiest things you can do for the planet. Go for it!