Where Does Water Come From?

Water is a closed system: All of the water that exists today existed when the planet was first formed. The water in a dinosaur's drinking hole 250 million years ago maybe the same water in your afternoon tea tomorrow. The river water polluted by toxic runoff maybe in a baby's formula in 10 years.

Water Facts

Although, two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, only 3% of the water on the planet is fresh water. And only 0.01% is accessible to human beings. Annually, 3 million people succumb to untimely deaths from illnesses linked to contaminated water. Shamefully, at the beginning of the 21st Century, two billion members of the human family have virtually no access to clean water.

There is an old saying, “Dry Up!” Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening to us.

How much water is enough? Water intake requirements vary according to individual needs and circumstances. Under ordinary conditions, an average individual living in an environment with moderate temperature and humidity, about 8-10 cups of water daily is needed. (Short) If you wish to be more precise, take the number of pounds your body weighs and divide that number in half. The result is the number of fluid ounces of water that you should drink each day. For example, a 200 pound person should drink 100 fluid ounces (about 12, 8-ounce cups) of water daily. Notice that we wrote “water,” not “fluids.”

Throughout the day, water escapes from the body through perspiration, urine, feces, tears, nasal discharges, respiratory exhalation, and other pathways. Losses are increased by the consumption of beverages containing the natural diuretic, caffeine: coffee, tea, soft drinks, ect. It is estimated that we lose 9-12 cups of water even on a cool day without exercising.

Bottle Water: Safer Than Tap?

In contrast to the market image of “pure spring water” that is projected by the industry, bottled water is not always safer than tap water. That was the conclusion of a 1999 study by the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which found that one-third of the 103 brands of bottled water it studied contained detectable levels of contamination, including traces of arsenic and E. coli. One-quarter of all bottled water is actually taken from the tap, though it is further processed and purified to some degree, according to the NRDC study. In many countries, bottled water itself is subject to less rigorous testing and lower purity standards than tap water. “One brand of ‘spring water,’” reported the NRDC, “… actually came from a well in an industrial facility’s parking lot, near a hazardous waste dump, and periodically was contaminated with industrial chemicals at levels above FDA standards.”

The marketing hype about bottled water being more environmentally friendly and healthier than tap water is also misleading. In terms of nutritional value, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), bottled water is no better than tap water. The idea that bottled “spring” or “natural” water contains near-magical qualities and great nutritive properties is “false,” according to a 1997 FAO study called “Human Nutrition in the Developing World”: “Bottled water may contain small amounts of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and fluoride, but so does tap water from many municipal water supplies.” The FAO report also cites a study “comparing popular brands of bottled water [which] showed that they were in no way superior to New York tap water.”

All bottled water sold in North America comes in plastic bottles which add to environmental concerns. A study released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in May 2001 shows that the bottled water industry uses 1.5 million tons of plastic every year, and when plastic bottles are being manufactured or disposed of, they release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Furthermore, since a quarter of all bottled water is produced for export markets and transportation fuel results in carbon dioxide emissions, the WWF report contends that the transportation of bottled water is a contributing factor to the problem of global warming.

“One brand of ‘spring water’ … actually came from a well in an industrial facility’s parking lot near a hazardous waste dump.”

Worse still, the relentless search for secure water supplies to feed the insatiable appetites of the water-bottling corporations is having damaging effects. In rural communities throughout much of the world (and several suburban communities in the United States and Canada), the industry has been buying up land to access wells and then moving on when the wells are depleted. In Uruguay and other parts of Latin America, foreign-based water corporations have been buying up vast wilderness tracts and even whole water systems to hold for future development. In some cases, these companies end up draining the aquifer that serves the entire area, not just the water on or directly under their land tracts.

Claiming private property rights, bottled water corporations generally pay no fee for the water they remove from lakes, rivers, and streams. In Canada, for example, where the amount of water extracted by the bottling industry has grown by 50 percent in the past decade, bottlers have a legal right to take about 30 billion liters a year – approximately 1,000 liters for every person in the country. Close to half of all this bottled water is exported to the United States. Yet unlike the oil industry, which pays royalties, and the timber industry, which pays stumpage fees to the government, the water bottling business is not required to pay fees for the extraction of water in most Canadian jurisdictions.

The global gaps between rich and poor are also mirrored in the marketing strategies of the bottled water corporations. In its 1999 study, the NRDC reported that some people actually pay as much as 10,000 times more per gallon of bottled than they do for tap water in their communities. For the same price as one bottled of this “boutique” consumer item, says the American Water Works Association, one thousand gallons of tap water could be delivered to a person’s home. Ironically, the same industry that contributes to the destruction of public water sources – in order to provide “pure” water to the world’s elite in plastic bottles – is presenting its product as being environmentally friendly and part of a healthy lifestyle.

What can we do?

Bottled water should not be considered a sustainable alternative to tap water. It is not exempt from periodic contamination and is less energy-efficient than tap water. However not all countries have the benefit of clean tap water. Clean water is a basic right. Protecting our rivers, streams and wetlands will help ensure that tap water remains a public service which delivers good quality drinking water for everyone at a fair price.

As a consumer, make responsible choices and do not forget the 3 Rs:

1. Reduce your consumption
2. Reuse your water bottles
3. Recycle your bottles after you are finished with them.

Tony Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute, and Maude Barlow, chairman of the Council of Canadians, are co-authors of Blue Gold: The Battle Against the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water, now published in 17 countries.

Water Usage and Waste Statistics

*Numbers are based on approximate and average household use.

"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water."
-Benjamin Franklin

One of our most vital resources is the water beneath our feet, ironic because we can't see it and don't know it is there. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that about 130 million U.S. residents (almost half of the nation) got their drinking water from ground water wells. What if all the rain water that fell onto Maine in one year stayed where it landed? People would be practically swimming through water higher than their waists. But luckily, the 41" average of precipitation runs off into rivers, ocean, lakes, or aquifers. Aquifers are basically underground reservoirs. The water that seeps through the soil to reach these seemingly non existent reservoirs is most of the time much cleaner than water from reservoirs at the surface. This is true because many pollutants are filtered out as the water passes through the soil on its way to the aquifer. Aquifers are not polluted by boaters; there is no evaporation by the sun, almost no bacterial
life and no mud containing silt to cloud the water. Water flows into recharge areas, which are lands covered with soil and trees, to refill the aquifer. When these areas and wetlands are replaced by urban development, less water reaches these vital aquifers. This reduction in recharge has made aquifers in some areas increasingly sensitive to natural cycles of drought and flooding. Oil and road salt from paved roads trickles down with rain and pollutes aquifers. The ground water from aquifers contributes to the flow of surface water streams and is critical to the health of entire ecosystems.
Ground water also supplies water for crops, manufacturing, mining, and livestock. Ground water is under increasing pressure from a number of factors, including contamination and aquifer over drafting. Water covers about seventy percent of earth's surface. ONLY ONE PERCENT IS FRESH WATER, flowing through the rivers, lakes, and underground water systems. Much of that has already been polluted by humans. This is why aquifers and springs are so important. To maintain our health, preserve our environment, and support our standard of living, ground water protection is essential. Progress must continue to be made in ground water monitoring and in the protection of ground water. Ground water management will be one of the biggest environmental issues the United States is likely to face in the coming years.

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