Transcript Where Does Drinking Water Come From?

Bottled Vs. Tap
which is better ?
This project talks about:
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What is ground water
Tap Vs. Bottled water
Purity of water
Where the contaminates
come from
EPA and the FDA
Burlington water supply
labeling
Health risks
Water options
Water
• Water is an Important
component of our everyday
lives
• 60 % of our body is made up
of water
• Every body system requires
water to function
• Everyone's water needs are a
little different and depend on :
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Exercise
Environment
Illness or health condition
Pregnancy or breast feeding
• How do we get our water?
• Tap water
• Well water
• Bottled water
Where Does Drinking Water Come
From?
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In rural areas the majority of water
comes from wells
Wells get water from aquifers,
which are natural reservoirs under
the earth's surface
There are three different types of
wells
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Dug- 10-30 ft deep.
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Driven- 30 to 50 ft deep.
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usually located in areas with thick
sand and gravel deposits where the
ground water table is within 15 feet of
the ground’s surface
Drilled- 100-400 ft
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Run the highest risk of being
contaminated
Must intersect bedrock fractures that
contain ground water
In the urban areas water comes
from surface water sources such
as:
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Rivers
Lakes
Reservoirs
Tap Water
• Regulated by EPA
• Often disinfected with
chlorine
• Strict and precise
guidelines
• Just as safe or safer than
bottled water
• leakage or bacterial
corrosion of piping can
occur
• Water tested very often
• Very low cost
Bottled Water
• considered a food product, is
regulated by US FDA quality
standards
• Appears to taste fresh and
refreshing
• Disinfected with ozone
treatment (high strength
oxygen that is also an oxidant
like chlorine but does not add
taste.)
• Can have less pollution when
water source is far from
communities
• Less testing and standards
How pure is my water?
• NO water is completely pure
• Water
• is filtered through rock and soil
• Sits stagnant in lakes
• Flows through rivers
• All of these have potential for minerals and
contaminates to be dissolved into drinking
water.
Where do the Contaminates come
from?
• Locally somewhere in
your neighborhood
• miles away from your
home
• Contaminated areas
include:
• Waste from factories
• Substances used on
farmland crops
• Waste from households
and yards
• natural erosion of land
and rock formations
Most common Types of
contaminates
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Microbes
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From both human and animal waste
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E. coli
Cryptosporidium
Giardia
Salmonella
Chemical contaminates such as:
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Pesticides
heavy metals
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arsenic – can cause
thickness/discoloration of the skin,
nausea, vomiting, numbness in
extremities
Lead- can damage kidney’s, blood, and
nervous system. Very high levels can
cause retardation and even death
Radon- can lead to an increase in lung
diseases
Nitrates- can lead to decreased blood
profusion in the body causing poor
oxygenation.
Even chemicals used to remove certain
contaminants can themselves create
chemical by-products that pose a threat
to human health
Natural Resources Defense Council
• Four year scientific study
• 1,000 + bottles of water tested, 103 brands
• about one-third of the waters tested
contained levels of contamination -including synthetic organic chemicals,
bacteria, and arsenic –
• “A key NRDC finding is that bottled water
regulations are inadequate to assure
consumers of either purity or safety”
• The government has only
some specifications and
standards on bottled water.
Unlike tap water which is
strictly controlled and
frequently tested by
government officials
• There is no law saying how
many bacteria a bottled water
may contain. And there are no
federal filtration or disinfection
requirements.
• Graph from (NRDC, 2003)
Some Key Differences Between EPA Tap Water and FDA
Bottled Water Rules
Water Type
Disinfection
required?
Confirmed
E. Coli &
Fecal
Coliform
Banned?
Testing
Frequency
for
Bacteria
Bottled
Water
No
No
Carbonated
or Seltzer
Water
No
No
Big City Tap
Water (using
surface
water)
Yes
Yes
Must Filter
to Remove
Pathogens
, or Have
Strictly
Protected
Source?
Must Test
for
Cryptospo
ridium,
Giardia,
Viruses?
Testing
Frequency
for Most
Synthetic
Organic
Chemicals
1/week No
No
1/year
None
No
No
None
Hundreds/
month
Yes
Yes
1/quarter
(limited
waivers
available
if clean
source)
2004 Annual Consumer Report
on the Quality of Tap Water
The City of Burlington
Chittenden County, Vermont
• Met all state and federal
drinking water requirements
• All substances were under the
maximum contaminant level
(MCL)
• The amount detected value is
the result of a four-quarter
running average.
• Turbidity is a measure of the
cloudiness of the water. It is
monitored because it is a good
indicator of the effectiveness of
the filtration system. During the
reporting year, 100% of all
samples taken to measure
turbidity met water quality
standards.
Deceptive Labeling
• "Spring Water" (with a picture of a lake
surrounded by mountains on the label) -- Was
actually from an industrial parking lot next to a
hazardous waste site.
• Alasika™ -- "Alaska Premium Glacier Drinking
Water: Pure Glacier Water From the Last
Unpolluted Frontier, Bacteria Free" -- Apparently
came from a public water supply. This label has
since been changed after FDA intervention.
• ¼ bottled water is bottled tap water, (some
. estimates go as high as 40 percent)
• FDA allows bottlers to call water “spring water”
even though it may have been brought to the
surface using a pump well and may be treated
with chemicals.
• Some bottled water marketing is misleading
• 1995 FDA rules to prevent misleading claims,
still has not eliminated the problem.
Health Effects
• it has been estimated that
up to 900,000 people fall
ill due to infectious water
• up to 900 die annually
from waterborne
infectious disease
• Exposure to microbial
pathogens in drinking
water can lead to
temporary health
problems while long
terms exposure can be
cause long term health
concerns.
Health effects cont.
• Acute symptoms include:
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gastrointestinal illness
fever
diarrhea
dehydration
• Long term exposure can
cause:
• cancers
• neurological effects
• reproductive and
developmental problems
• heart disease
• diabetes
• immune problems.
Who’s at risk
• Anyone who come in contact with
contaminated water is at risk for
developing adverse health problems
• various factors influence what specific
effects that a person might
experience. These include:
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the specific contaminant(s) exposed to
the amount
whether the exposure was chronic or acute
demographic characteristics
any preexisting health conditions
effects from smoking and dietary habits
the interaction of multiple chemicals
Who’s at risk cont.
• Those most susceptible to the
contaminates are:
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pregnant women
infants and children
the elderly
Those with compromised immune systems such as
those who suffer from HIV, cancer, or those who
are transplant candidates
Water options
• Water filters
• unplumbed - Carafe (Brita)
or faucet mounted (pur)
filters
• plumbed- Go under sink
and require professional
instillation
• Bottled water
• Store bought
• Home delivery
• Well water- requires
yearly testing just like tap
water
Water Option Costs
TYPE
Yearly cost
Cost per
gallon
Unplumbed
filters
$ 75-80
31-35 cents
Plumed
filters
Store bought
$100-120
42-48 cents
$214
89 cents
Home delivery $540
$2.20
Bottled Water and the Environment
• The process in making bottled
water requires a lot of energy,
in addition to the production
process, the delivering of
bottled water from far away
places also contribute to
pollution. Also, bottled water
produces a huge amount of
plastic waste. Lastly the
distribution of bottled water
requires more resources than
the delivery of tap water.
(Bottled Water vs. Tap, 2003)
• A study by the world wildlife
fund also finds that every year
1.5 million tons of plastic are
used to bottle water.