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Alkaline Water Ionizer Machines Compared to Bottled Alkaline Water

Cost

Regularly purchasing bottled alkaline water can get expensive really fast. The Natural Resources Defense Council has said that "bottled water costs 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than your cities municipal tap water."(NRDC , Banthebottle).

Lack of Purity

The bottled water industry is very loosely regulated and nearly "40% of all bottled water starts out as tap water" (Businessinsider) and "studies have found bottled water to be no purer than tap water, and in some cases even harmful, with one out of every three containing harmful chemicals such as cancer-causing contaminants, bacteria, and carcinogens"(NRDC , EWG). With many of these contaminants being a direct result of the plastic bottle that is made from petroleum and the lack of regulation in bottling the water. Recent studies have discovered nearly 25,000 different chemicals inside a given single bottle of bottled water. Researchers tested 18 samples of commercially sold bottled water from around the world and discovered them to contain chemicals which interfered with hormone receptors in the human body. Tap water was tested as well, and no hormone interference was found. This lead the researches to look at the plastic in which the bottled water was packaged. Two classes of chemicals, maleates and fumarates used to manufacture plastic bottles, and known potent endocrine disruptors, were discovered in most of the bottled waters tested. Some of the harmful effects of endocrine disruptors (chemicals which interfere with hormones inside the body) are stunted growth, premature birth, infertility, early menopause, and early puberty - to name a few. Medical research also indicates that consuming these chemicals can trigger diabetes, heart disease, and certain forms of cancer. In other words, you may be taking a health risk just by drinking bottled water.

Environmental Impact

Scientific Study

In a study conducted by "the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory on 10 brands of bottled water revealed a wide range of pollutants, including not only disinfection by products, but also common urban waste water pollutants like caffeine and pharmaceuticals (Tylenol); heavy metals and minerals including arsenic and radioactive isotopes; fertilizer residue (nitrate and ammonia); and a broad range of other, tentatively identified industrial chemicals used as solvents, plasticizers, viscosity decreasing agents, and propellants"(EWG). Another study conducted by the National Resources Defense Council found that "after testing more than 1,000 bottles that about one fourth of the bottled water brands (23 of 103 waters, or 22 percent) were contaminated at levels violating strict enforceable state (California) limits for the state in which they were purchased, in at least one sample. The NRDC also found that almost one fifth of the waters tested (18 of 103, or 17 percent) exceeded unenforceable sanitary guidelines for microbiological purity in at least one test. In all, at least one sample of one third of the waters we tested (34 of 103, or 33 percent) exceeded a state enforceable standard for bacterial or chemical contamination, a nonenforceable microbiological-purity (HPC) guideline, or both"(NRDC). In other words, because the regulations around bottled water are so loose, you never really know what you are getting in your bottle.