Canadiana Backpackers Blog

(We’ve written about this subject several times on this blog; however, it is an issue that bears repeating.)

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They’ve even adopted a new term for it. On hot summer days they used to advise us to “drink plenty of liquids.” Sound advice. Simple and to the point.

These days that just won’t cut it. Today, we are admonished to “Hydrate!” A great marketing term for “drink plenty of liquids.” It somehow imparts a greater sense of urgency – falsely.

OK. Let’s get this right upfront. The bottled water industry in Canada is largely a scam! Got it? A SCAM!

Capitalizing on misconceptions, misinformation and outright fear mongering, the bottled water industry has duped a gullible public into paying for a commodity that is actually readily available for free.

The products they “sell” to you are often labled “pure”, “fresh”, “mountain spring” or “crystal spring” etc.

When it is actually, tap water. It is in fact, water from the same source as the water you find in your toilet. And they have convinced you to pay up to 1900 times the cost of municipal water (which it is.)

In fact, a litre of bottled water actually costs more than a litre of gasoline! And it is totally unecessary and damaging to the environment, as well.

It is estimated that more than 2 billion non-biodegradable plastic water containers pollute landfill sites in Canada alone. If you include the U.S.A., that number exceeds 20 billion (plus) in North America.

In recent tests conducted independently by the media, bottled water was found to be almost universally inferior to tap water when it came to bacteria count, chemical pollutants and overall purity. In fact, several well-known brands failed the quality demands as healthy water source.

There are NO firm testing guidelines for bottled water producers. On the other hand, Municipal water supplies (or water from your tap) is tested and re-tested every few hours.

Canada has more than 9% of the world’s freshwater. So be aware that if you insist on buying bottled water, you are more than likely drinking an inferior product and you are definitely no friend of the environment.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 7th, 2011 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.