Thrifty Alternatives to Bottled Water: A National Campaign

We've pinched and reorganized our household budgets. But we often overpay for commercially bottled water, which costs 3,000 times more than tap water. On an annual basis, the typical American consumer spends $1,400 on bottle water, versus 49 cents for the same amount of water from our kitchen faucet, according to the Center for a New American Dream, a nonprofit consumer group in Maryland.

Bottled water does not taste better, according to blind taste tests, and tap water must meet stricter safety measures. Therefore, New American Dream has just launched a national educational campaign designed to promote filtered water from the kitchen sink.

To help you calculate how much more you may be spending for bottled water, New American Dream provides a cost calculator at www.newdream.org/water. By plugging in how many bottles of water your family consumes each year and the retail costs of that water, you'll find out how much you could save by switching to filtered tap water.

Consider these numbers: A gallon of water from your kitchen sink costs about .002, which is less than one cent, based on the national average. In contrast, you'll pay --on average -- about $1.50 for a 20-ounce container of bottled of water. What's more, about 40 percent of the bottled water sold in stores, is actually just tap water, according to New American Dream.

Fortunately, there are cheaper alternatives. For the home, there are filtering systems that include simple counter-top pitchers --for less than $20-- that filter water poured into the vessel and elaborate filters for the kitchen faucet. And when we're away from home, portable but reusable bottle filters enable you to filter water from faucets and drinking fountains.

Here are tips for saving money with do-it-yourself filtered water.

*Get a local report. Request a "Consumer Confidence Report," which measures contaminants in local water. Ask your local water company for a copy of that report or check online through the Environmental Protection Agency. A local water safety report will help you decide what type of filter is best for your home.

*Stay chilled. To avoid impulse or emergency purchases of water bottles, keep a stock of cold water in reusable, nontoxic bottles in your refrigerator. Stash extra reusable bottles in the family cars, backpacks and other practical locations.
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Redecorating the Bathroom to Save Money

To save water and energy, I'm giving my bathroom a makeover that will include a new clock and a shower head. There are also various municipal programs that will underwrite a portion of the bathroom makeover if I opt for water-efficient appliances.

A clock for the bathroom is one of several conservation tips from Water -- Use It Wisely, a global water-education program. A clock will remind us to limit showers to less than five minutes, thus saving 1,000 gallons a water a month.

Our family underwent the online Family Water Audit at www.wateruseitwisely.com and scored an encouraging 25 out of 36 points.

Meanwhile, government incentive programs encourage the use of water-efficient appliances and fixtures. Miami-Dade County is offering $100 rebates to consumers who install high efficiency toilets (HETs), which range in cost from $100 to $750, according to Maribel Balbin, a county water efficiency manager. Replacing older toilets with an HET can save up to 29 gallons of water a day. In other parts of the country, there are similar programs. Check with your local government.

Miami-Dade will also replace residents' old shower heads with a new water-efficient appliance. Stop by a local office with your old shower heads (up to two) for replacements. Call 311 for the closest location.

In the Keys, the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority has various money-saving incentives for consumers, including a toilet exchange program that offers a $100 rebate for consumers who purchase water-efficient units, said Kerry Shelby, deputy director of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.

This is from my latest column in the home & design section of the Miami Herald.

Turn Garbage Into Liquid Cash: Save 1000s of Gallons of Water

Save water (and liquid cash) by shutting down your garbage disposal. That's just one several water-saving, money-conserving, green-living tips in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Living by Trish Riley.

Here are conservation tips from that book:

• Bowl Rinse & Recycle Water: Instead of cleaning fruits & veggies under a steady stream of water, rinse the produce in a bowl. Every now and then, I've used this strategy and I'm going to make more of a commitment to use this method of cleaning fruits & veggies. The water in the bowl can be recycled to water your plants and garden. Or perhaps the veggie/fruit rinse water can be used for other "secondary" purposes. Here are my suggestions: Mopping, cleaning non-food surfaces and washing windows.


• Dish Washing Tricks: Don't rinse your dishes before loading up the dishwasher. "Just scrape off food and load them," according to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Living. The book also recommends waiting to run the dishwasher until the machine is full.


• Shower Tricks: Shut down the shower while you lather up the hair and suds up the body. Turn the water back on to rinse. Watch the clock: Limit your shower to only 5 minutes. These steps alone can save 1,000 gallons each month.


• More Shower Tricks: Swap your old showerhead for one of those low-cost, "low-flow" showerheads, which could conserve your water usage by at least 20 percent.


• Toothbrush Tricks: If you turn off the water while brushing your teeth, you'll save "4 gallons per minute, which equals 200 gallons per week for a family of 4," according to Trish Riley.


• Garbage Disposal: Don't send food scraps down the garbage disposal, which requires a stream of water. Try this: Use table scraps and food waste as composting material for the family garden. "This will save water and prevent the need for filtering and treatment down the line."

Keep in mind that the average consumer in the U.S. uses about 1,600 gallons of water daily.

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Tap Water is Just Toilet Water, Bottled Water Company Says

Why drink the same water you use to flush? That's the essence of a recent spend-more pitch made by a bottled water company in France. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the company has launched an anti-tap water campaign with a large picture of a toilet.

Here's the main pitch from the article:

"I don't drink the water I use to flush," read many of the posters, which displayed a photo of a white toilet bowl marked with a big red "X." Next to the discredited commode was a large picture of Neptune's Cristaline brand of still bottled water. "I drink Cristaline," the ad concluded.

This anti-frugal campaign is pretty disturbing for several reasons:

1) A number of so-called upscale bottled water products are actually dressed up & priced up municipal water. (tap water)

2) Municipal water is actually tested for safety more frequently than many private label water products.

3) Many home filtering or pitcher-filtering systems produce excellent-tasting water, with fewer contaminants. Our filter pitcher (from Walgreens for less than $20, plus filters) works great, but it's slow. We now use a sink system that is just fine.

There are even more steps you can take to improve the safety and quality of the tap water in your home, according to this report from the Family and Consumer Sciences Department in Pinellas County, an area of Florida.

If you are simply trying to improve the taste of your water, a filtering pitcher will do a good job for you. But if you are trying to remove lead or specific contaminants, you may want a permanent filter installed. Before you buy, be sure you know which contaminants the system will filter out.--Alice Hankins
Educational Instructor Family and Consumer Sciences--Pinellas County, Florida

The author makes excellent points about the safety of bottled water and the environmental impact of discarded plastic bottled water containers.

Sales of bottled water in this country have exploded in recent years. Bottled water, in spite of its popularity, may not be safer or more healthful than tap water. Some studies have found that tap water tends to have lower bacterial counts than bottled. Also, some brands are just packaged municipal tap water, sometimes further treated, sometimes not. In addition, bottled water is costly and bulky. Thick opaque containers can impart a plastic flavor. Big rigid polycarbonate water-cooler jugs can leave chemical residues. --Pinellas County

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