“Back to the Tap” Movement
David Fankhauser, PhD
Professor of Biology and Chemistry
University of Cincinnati Clermont College
4/13/2015
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Introduction
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4/13/2015
Clean water is essential for life.
Population pressures are leading to
competition for water.
Pure, clean, safe water is everyone’s goal,
some cities do this well.
But is bottled water better?
What are the real costs, both financially and
to the environment?
What can I do?
What should we as a society do?
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What might be wrong with
tap water?
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We flush our wastes into our rivers:
“Out of sight, out of mind.”
The America (and all of humanity)
has a poor record on adequate
treatment of waste water.
Many chemicals sent into the sewage
waste stream are passed through
sewage treatment.
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Cincinnati water in the “bad old days”
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Today, officially this water is “treated”
Major
contaminants
are removed
in STPs.
But, for
instance, is
soap removed
in the Nine
Mile STP?
Many
chemicals are
resistant to
standard
treatment.
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Some pharmaceuticals are not
removed by treatment
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These pharmaceuticals:
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Antibiotics
anti-convulsants
mood stabilizers
sex hormones
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These have been found
in the drinking water
supplies of at least 41
million Americans.
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Including bottled water
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Evidence of effects of drugs in water
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Endocrine disrupting
chemicals (EDCs)
interfere by
mimicking, blocking,
or altering hormones
and their signaling
systems. An
example is the
feminization of male
fish.
4/13/2015
Fathead Minnow, studied at Cincinnati EPA
“The majority of … EDCs reach aquatic
environments via effluents of sewage
treatment plants. “
http://www.epa.gov/eerd/VGQPCR.htm
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In some parts of the world,
bottled water makes sense.
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In some
countries, it is
wise to drink
only bottled
water.
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But developed
countries
generally have
high quality tap
water.
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NYC:
GREAT water
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New York City,
because of its
protected
watershed, has
superb quality
tap water.
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Baltimore also protects its watershed
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The Loch
Raven
Reservoir
watershed
is the
largest
watershed
within
Baltimore
County.
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Baltimore
city
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Land use in Baltimore’s watershed
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SW Ohio had a
chance for pure
water
The East Fork Reservoir
drained low population,
non-industrialized region
(but with considerable
agricultural usage).
But CECOS, a mammoth
national toxic waste dump,
was permitted directly up
stream… Now closed, the
wastes remain as a threat.
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What exactly IS bottled water?
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Much bottled water is no
more than filtered
municipal tap water.
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For instance:
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Aquafina by Pepsi-Cola
Dasani by Coca-Cola
Both municipal water
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Pepsi’s original slogan for Aquafina:
"So pure, we promise nothing…"
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As well they couldn’t…
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A classic PR scam
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Ironically, standards are lower
for bottled water than tap water
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Tap water is much more strictly
regulated and tested.
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Water bottlers are not required to
test for the presence of E. coli,
Cryptosporidium, Giardia,
asbestos, or certain organic
compounds such as benzenes
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Why is it so popular?
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Corporate ad
campaigns instill fear of
tap water, implying that
bottled water is safer…
Status symbol (“only
poor or low class drink
tap water”)
Push for drinking 8
glasses of water a day
(follow the money)
Does not taste like
chlorine
Avoiding sugar drinks
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So what do you
pay for bottled
water?
Much more
expensive than
gasoline…
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How absurd can we get?
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Deep seawater from Hawaii is the most
expensive bottled water in the world.
Hawaii Deep Marine Inc.’s Kona Nigari
water, sells for $33.50 per 2 oz bottle.
It’s extracted from a depth of 915 feet,
over 700 feet more than is necessary for
the water to be considered deep
seawater.
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And the cost to the
environment?
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Plastic manufacture,
bottling, and transport
all cost oil.
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86% of empties in the
States are sent to
landfill.
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(In the orient, they are
better at recycling.)
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Any guess what we are looking at?
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Hint: this is five minutes worth…
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Getting closer…
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In 5 minutes…
2,000,000 water bottles in US
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http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php
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Phthalates and Bisphenol A
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PET bottles (#1) are made with
polyethylene terephthalate. Phthalates
are hormone disrupters.
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Bisphenol A is found in beverage bottles
marked #7 (including some baby bottles).
It is an estrogen like compound.
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Bottled water stored for long periods,
especially in the heat, leach these
materials into the water.
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Never heat beverages in a PET container.
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America has among the safest
tap water,
but consumes most bottled water
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A caution about home water filters
1) Place a sterile Millipore filter
2) Attach a cylinder
Fresh tap water:
3) Draw water through with vacuum
Filtered tap water
4) Place filter on nutrient pad
4/13/2015
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Labs/Microbiology/Drinking_Water/jpgs/Drinking_water.html
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At home:
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Draw tap water and allow to ‘breathe’ overnight to
reduce chlorine. (Fill a glass gallon jug half full.)
Change filter on your water filter regularly (monthly?).
Dispose of pharmaceuticals (Incineration? Hazwaste?
Landfill?)
Do not use garbage disposal, it adds to sewage
treatment plant load.
Be an activist to your water works: read the analysis
reports, demand they test for pharmaceuticals.
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Making the broader community
Bottled Water “unfriendly”
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Insist on tap water in the US and other developed
countries when served water.
Push to remove bottled water service at all
functions: government, church, business, etc.
Tax or require deposit on all bottles.
(Chicago already has a 5 cent tax/bottle.)
Reduce use and discharge of pharmaceuticals into
waterways.
Work to make Knox Presbyterian Church “Bottled
Water Free” and to promote such actions in the local
Council of Churches, and to petition remedial
actions by the City of Cincinnati and beyond.
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Model for a petition to the church
governing body
WHERE AS:
• Bottled water is damaging to our environment due to plastics used, cost of bottling,
energy cost of transportation, the widespread litter it generates, and the requirements
for landfill disposal.
• Municipal tap water is as a rule more carefully regulated and at least as safe as
bottled water.
• One of the roles of the church is to be a good shepherd to our environment and to
guide the community in morally responsible practices to this end.
BE IT RESOLVED:
• We the undersigned attendees of Knox Presbyterian Church request that the church
make it policy to discourage the use of bottled water at church functions.
•We request that Knox Presbyterian Church propose to the local Council of Churches
that the Council take a stand against the use of bottled water.
4/13/2015
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