AquaPrix Blog

Study Finds 232 Toxic Chemicals In New Born Babies Including BPA

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) published a study finding 232 toxic chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of minority newborns.  The tests confirm each baby was exposed to a host of dangerous substances during pregnancy.  Find the full report here. 

Up to 232 Chemicals Found In Newborn's Blood

Finding multiple compounds in each infant, the laboratories cumulatively identified 232 industrial compounds and pollutants in the babies.

Nine of 10 randomly selected samples of cord blood tested positive for Bisphenol-A (BPA).  Seven billion pounds of BPA, worth $6 billion, were produced in the US last year.  BPA is widely used in food packaging, baby bottles, and water bottles—in particular 3 and 5 gallon water bottles used in water delivery service.

Numerous studies have linked BPA exposure to a wide range of health problems, including breast cancer, diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, and neurological disorders.

Stronger Protections Sought To Protect Pregnant Women

Last year the FDA released a review that found BPA exposure did not pose a risk to public health. Relying on two studies paid for by BPA producers, the agency's announcement met intense criticism, leading consumer and public health advocates to push for another review of the chemical's safety under the new administration.

In June, in response to congressional committee questions about BPA, the FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg announced the agency was taking the concerns seriously and was conducting a fresh scientific review.  The results were expected at the end of November. 

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it needed more time to review BPA.  Canada has banned BPA in some applications.  The National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection Agency are also looking into BPA.

What to do?  Where employees and pregnant employees are concerned, do not compromise on health and safety, and consider the implications of using bottled water.  If you know someone who is pregnant or may become pregnant, make them aware of the risk.  Yet another reason to dump bottled water delivery service.   Innowave coolers are laboratory tested BPA free.

Top 10 Reasons To Ditch Your Bottled Water Cooler

It’s no secret the 5-gallon bottled water cooler at the office is outdated technology, like the typewriter and the mimeograph.  Here are 10 reasons to kick that clunker to the curb and join the 21st Century:

1. Save Money

A typical business with 35 or more employees can save 25% and 50% on bottled water each month.  First there is cooler rental.  Then every 5 gallon bottle comes with a bill and a deposit.  The more employees drink, the greater the cost.  Add employees, better increase the water budget and the deposit.   When fuel costs spiked, water delivery companies quickly slapped on fuel and delivery surcharges.  The charges continued long after fuel costs dropped.  On top of it all, the price per bottle keeps inching up and up, 7% annually on average.

With a Filter Cooler or Point-Of-Use (POU) system, the monthly charge is fixed.  Adding employees?  Let them drink all they want—it doesn’t cost any more.  Surcharges and forfeiting deposits are history.  

2. No Deliveries

Deliveries are a hassle at best.  With increasing focus on facility security, badging and escorting are growing more prevalent.  Where security clearances are required, deliveries can be a nightmare.  Worse are missed deliveries that let your business run out.  Stop wasting time shuttling bottles around to meet ever changing demands.

Filter coolers are plumbed in so the water supply is unlimited.  There are no delivery hassles, no shuttling bottles, and no running out of water.

3. No Changing Bottles 

No one looks forward to changing water bottle on the cooler and dealing with potential spills and mess.  If not properly sanitized, microbes can ride the bottle into the cooler and contaminate the water.  Is everyone at the office who might change a bottle trained on the proper procedures for sanitizing and changing water bottles?  Changing water bottles also results in an occasional worker’s compensation claim.

Never change a bottle again at your office with a filter cooler.  And eliminate the possibility for a work comp claim from lifting awkward 42 lb. bottles.

4. Better Quality Water

Plastic 5 gallon bottles leach bisphenol-A, a known endocrine disruptor, into the water.  After delivery, the water bottle is opened and dumped into the office cooler.  Everyone is familiar with the glug, glug, glug of air entering the bottle as the water flows out.  This illustrates a potential pathogen pathway—what germs are going into the bottle with the air?  When was the bottled water cooler last sanitized?  What comes out of the cooler might not be so pure.

Innowave filter coolers are certified BPA free.  The filtration technology is the same used at the bottled water plant.  Once purified, heated and chilled water is isolated from the outside world until dispensed and purity is maintained.

5. Continuous Microbial Protection

Bottled water contains no disinfecting agents.  At the office, bottled water coolers have no built in microbial control.  So there is nothing to inhibit microbes from growing in the water cooler.  Where water flows, germs grow.

Filter coolers can easily remove the taste and odor of municipal disinfecting agents on site.  Once the disinfectants are removed, Innowave filter coolers have built in Ultra-Violet (UV) to control microbiological elements in the water.  The UV output interrupts the DNA of microbiologicals prohibiting them from growing out of control.  Furthermore, Innowave filter coolers feature BioCote anti-microbial protection inside and out for improved hygiene.

6. No Storing Bottles

Storing adequate supplies of bottled water can present problems.  Bottles are bulky and take up precious office, storage, and shelving space.  Often bottles must be hauled from remote storage.  Frequently bottles are stored outside, where birds, possums, raccoons, rats and other animals can climb on them, compounding contamination issues.  In the office, dirt and dust can collect on the bottles.

Filter coolers completely eliminate bottles.

7. Go Green! Eliminate Plastic Waste

Each 5 gallon water bottle can only used 3-5 times before being scrapped.  With each use, microscopic cracks and gouges build up.  With enough cracks present, the bottle cannot be properly sanitized.  Each bottled represents several pounds of plastic waste, and it adds up--2 million tons end up in landfill each year. 

Filter coolers eliminate the continuous stream of plastic bottles and lids filling the landfill or finding their way into the environment.  

8. No Need To Sanitize The Water Cooler

Would you drink out of the same cup for a week without washing it?  A year?  If you drink from a bottled water cooler, you might be without knowing it.  Most people do not realize their company, not the bottled water delivery company, is responsible for periodically cleaning and sanitizing the bottled water cooler.  The International Bottled Water Association recommends sanitizing coolers every 6 months.  When was the last time your bottled water cooler was sanitized? 

Because of the closed design of filter coolers and the continuous UV disinfection system used by Innowave, filter coolers eliminate the need to sanitize the cooler every few months.   

9. Eliminate Your Carbon Footprint

Trucks delivering bottled water suck up huge amounts of fuel, an estimated 18 million barrels of oil each year.  The result is millions of tons of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere every year. 

Drinkable water is delivered to virtually every business office.  In comparison to bottled water delivery, the fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions due to delivering the additional drinking water to replace bottled water is zero.  Give the planet a break.

10. Your Bottled Water Cooler May Be Making You Sick! 

According to the American Journal of Public Health, 35% of all gastro-intestinal illnesses are water related and preventable.  Yes, your bottled water cooler may be making you sick.  Yet another reason to move to an improved filtration cooler with multiple levels of protection and built in UV.

Interested in exploring options to switch your business from bottled water delivery to a sustainable, eco-friendly filter cooler?

Contact AquaPrix, we can help.

 
Better Water.

Better Health.

Better Bottom Line.

There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute: $11 Per Gallon “Green” Bottled Water

Feeling guilty about the environmental impact of drinking bottled water?  Coca-Cola Japan has an app for that.

In a bottled water industry built on marketing hype, Coca-Cola Japan is targeting the “eco-guilty” and “eco-image conscious” consumer, dubbed “part-time green” consumers.  Coke has “tapped into consumers willingness to take small steps toward “greening” their daily lives, but without making major sacrifices”.

Coke is betting image conscious consumers will pay an 18% premium to buy water marketed as “green”.  At 130 yen per 520ml bottle, Coca-Cola is charging an eye-popping $11.00 per gallon for water.

To reinforce the “green” marketing, Coke advertising has developed a catchy “three step disposal ritual” in a new video.   The “1-2-3” campaign encourages the consumer to

1. Buy!
2. Drink
3. Remove-label-twist-and-discard (hey, isn't THAT 3 steps?)

Source:  http://fivebyfifty.com/2009/05/22/low-guilt-bottled-water/

Tapped Explores Bottled Water's Impact on People and Communities

"Tapped" is a film documentary that dives into the bottled water industry and "its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil." 

Visit the Tapped website for more information and additional trailers.   Click the "Theatres" tab on the right to get date and time listings for movie theater showings.

Featured in the film is Nestle's plant scheduled to open in McCloud, CA, which ran into a wall of opposition as described in this Businessweek article.   Opposition to Nestle' has spawned groups like StopNestleWaters.Org which has a page dedicated to the McCloud situation here.

Here's the "Tapped" trailer.  If anyone has seen the film, please give us a review!

What’s in this water sample? Drinking Water Testing Misconceptions

Clients will occasionally request sampling and laboratory testing of their drinking water.  Frequently, the ensuing discussion uncovers some common misconceptions about water contaminant testing in laboratories.  

A typical request is please “lab test what’s in the water”.   The assumption is drinking water samples are sent to the lab and the lab sends back a list of contaminants present (if any) along with the concentrations of each.   

Laboratory Testing

Unfortunately, water testing in the lab does not proceed upon the open ended “what’s in the water” methodology.  The fundamental reason becomes apparent upon realizing the “universe” of potential water contaminants includes over 18 million different compounds.  Thousands more contaminants are developed by industry every year.  Testing for each of these potential water contaminants would be exorbitantly expensive and literally take years.  

Few people have trouble sharpening their focus.  Usually the requester has some idea what contaminants are of concern and why.  Frequent and legitimate concerns are contaminants like lead, arsenic, and copper.   With the “universe” of contaminants cut down to size, the lab can get to work. 

What’s ND?

Often the goal of testing is to prove there is no contaminant “x” in the water.  Laboratory test results are often less than satisfactory in this regard.  This brings up another common misconception about lab testing—the inability to prove something does not exist.

Test results often indicate the detected level of a contaminant as “ND”.   ND stands for Not Detected.  A careful reading of the test result notes will indicate “at a specified concentration”.   Does a result of ND confirm the contaminant is not present in the water?  No.  The contaminant could be present at a lower concentration than the test equipment can resolve.

So often the end result is not a conclusive finding ruling out the existence of contaminant “x”, but a more vague statement about none detected over a certain threshold concentration.

Keep these concepts in mind when considering having water samples tested and you will not be disappointed.