Natura^® Water

The Pacific Institute finds that it took approximately 17 million barrels of oil equivalent to produce plastic for bottled water consumed by Americans in 2006—enough energy to fuel more than 1 million American cars and light trucks for a year. The widely cited 1.5 million barrel statistic is an error, the result of a miscommunication between a journalist and a researcher in 2003. That researcher and others now stand by this updated assessment.

Click here for full report >>

Alternatives to Bottled Water
There are many ways that the individual person can make a difference in terms of bottled water. Here are some ideas that you can consider.

• By a reusable water bottle. The reusable bottles will cut down on the amount of plastic bottles going to the landfill and/or ocean every year.
• Drink tap water. Most cities have safe tap water so buy a reusable water bottle and keep filling it with tap water.
• If you do buy a plastic water bottle, reuse it or recycle it. Last year the California Department of Conservation estimated that nine out of ten bottles are not recycled and that there were one billion bottles ending up in the garbage. Those bottles could have been recycled into 74 million square feet of carpet or 16 million fleece sweaters!
• If you drink bottled water for health reasons, consider installing a reverse osmosis water filter in your home instead. The money you spend in buying the filter will be worth the money you save every day by not buying bottled water.
• If you are concerned about the tap water in your community, get together with the other residents and work with the city to improve how the water is treated.
• Petition the federal government to increase funding for safe drinking water across the country and especially in rural and First Nations communities.
• Work with water organizations to promotes the importance of safe drinking water and the need to protect your community’s water source as a way of ensuring high quality drinking water for future generations.

Sources:
Bottled Water a Fact Sheet from the Safe Drinking Water Foundation
People Magazine article “Banned! Top chefs just say not to serving bottled water – and yes to helping the environment”. July 16, 2007
Macleans Magazine article “Green Report: It’s so not cool” May 14, 2007

Bottled v. Tap
The reason people drink bottled water is because they believe bottled water is healthier than tap water. Most often this idea is false.

Health
Incidents of drinking water contamination such as the E coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario and the Cryptosporidium outbreak in North Battleford, Saskatchewan have done a lot to cause people to think that their drinking water is unsafe. Large cities rarely have a problem with the water coming out of the taps. It is smaller communities and First Nations communities that have a greater chance of drinking water issues, just look at Saddle Lake, Alberta or Kashechewan, Ontario.
When incidents of drinking water contamination occur, the sales of bottled water go up because people begin to question the safety of their drinking water. Bottled water companies take the opportunity presented by an incident of contamination to create more doubt in the safety of drinking water and to promote the safety of bottled water. However, there is no health advantage to drinking bottled water. The regulations surrounding bottled water quality are insufficient. Would you drink bottled water knowing that the company can bottle water containing E coli and Cryptosporidium? Or that they only have to test their water once a week for bacteria?

People have become ill from drinking bottled water. In 1994, there was a cholera outbreak in Saipan a United States territory in the Marianas Islands (http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/appb.asp). The cause was found to be contaminated bottled water and only those people who drank the bottled water became sick.

Cost
Aside from the poor regulations there is also the cost of bottled water. In 2005, Canadians spent 653 million dollars on 1.9 billion litres of bottled water. The companies producing bottled water often increase the price and people can spend 240 to over 10,000 times more for bottled water than for tap water.
Not every one in the world has access to clean, safe drinking water. The World Health Organization along with the United Nations and UNICEF estimates that it would cost 1.7 billion dollars per year (above current spending) to provide clean drinking water to every individual in the world. Improved sanitation would cost another 9.3 billion dollars. The 11 billion dollar total sounds like a lot of money but is actually only 24% of the 46 billion dollars that bottled water is worth.

Sources: Bottled Water a Fact Sheet from the Safe Drinking Water Foundation Natural Resource Defense Council

Transporting Water

This aspect of bottled water is a source of huge amounts of pollution. After producing the bottles (and causing pollution), bottling the water (and causing pollution) then comes shipping the bottles across the world (and causing even more pollution).
Most often bottled water is transported by the semi truck-load. Driving the water around the country and continent causes massive amounts of exhaust which converts to an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases and Global Warming. The fuel needed for the trucks comes from the oil rig operations that are doing their part in polluting not just the air with the emissions from machinery but are also causing pollution in the process of producing oil.

When the bottled water makes its way across the ocean the pollution can be just as great. The fuel used to power the ships releases greenhouse gases. There is the chance of oil leaks and spills. And there is a new form of pollution that is ruining water habitats and ecosystems everywhere, especially the Great Lakes. Invasive species are plants and animals that are not naturally found living in the waters of the Great Lakes but have been introduced accidentally and are taking over the habitats of the naturally occurring species of plants and animals.
The tanker ships use water to compensate for the load they are carrying. The ballast water helps keep the ship at a safe depth in the ocean. The ships take on water in the harbour and then head out to sea. When approaching their destination, it was common practice to empty the ballast water at the new harbour. However, when the ship filled up with ballast water, they also brought along a few critters that are not common to the waters of the new harbour. The introduction of new species is a form of water pollution that is often overlooked. And although bottled water is not the main cause of these invasive species the fact that water is shipped over seas means that bottled water is contributing to the pollution of vast areas of water.
The amount of oil needed to make the bottle, fill it and ship it releases an estimated 250 grams of greenhouse gases per bottle of imported water. Some analysts state that when one quarter of the water in each bottle was replaced with oil that is an accurate description of the amount of oil used.

Source:
Bottled Water a Fact Sheet from the Safe Drinking Water Foundation
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/ballast.shtml
http://www.epa.gov/owow/invasive_species

Water
The water that goes into water bottles is another cause for concern.

Types of Water
There are six types of water that is bottled. Each type has specific criteria it must meet in order to be labelled that type of water.

1. Spring Water is water that comes from an underground source and that flows to the surface naturally (not pumped to the surface). It must have less than 500 parts per million TDS (total dissolved solids)
2. Mineral Water is the same as spring water except that is has more than 500 ppm of TDS.
3. Well Water is water that is same as spring water but is pumped to the surface.
4. Artesian Well Water rises to the surface under its own pressure from a confined aquifer.
5. Purified Water can come from an underground source or it can come from municipally treated water. It is also called distilled water, deionized water and reverse osmosis water.
6. Carbonated Water is water that contains carbonation either naturally or from adding carbonation. It can come from a spring, well or community water supply.

Regulations and Standards
In Canada, bottled water is regulated under the Federal Food and Drug Act because once water is sealed, it is considered a food product. There are nine regulations for bottled water but five deal with labeling, one with prepackaged ice and ONLY 3 with bottled water quality. The three water quality standards state that:

• Mineral water and spring water must be from a groundwater source and cannot contain any coliform bacteria.
• If the water contains coliform bacteria, more than 100 total aerobic bacteria per mililitre, and naturally occurring fluoride ions it cannot be sold
• Distilled water, demineralized water and carbonated water definitions.

The regulations surrounding quality are scary. According to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Act in the United States bottled water does not have to be disinfected or use certified operators or labs. When it comes to contaminants like E coli or Cryptosporidium, bottled water is NOT banned from using water containing these organisms and the water going into the bottles only has to be tested once per week. The companies producing bottled water do not even have to have filters in the water system to get rid of pathogens.
There is also the concern of water bottling plants depleting the water sources they are using to the point where the original users have nothing left and are forced to buy their water.

Source:
Bottled Water a Fact Sheet from the Safe Drinking Water
Foundation Bottled Water Basics – an EPA document on bottled water

Water Bottles

One of the problems with bottled water is the bottle that the water comes in. These bottles can cause major problems in the environment and for the person drinking from them.

Making the bottles
Every year the US makes 2.7 million tonnes of plastic into water bottles. The plastic is made from a product called PET. Making 1 kilogram of PET uses 17.5 kilograms of water. So in order to make 2.7 million tonnes of plastic there is 47 million tonnes of water used. That’s enough water to fill 18 862 Olympic sized swimming pools! If you were to swim in one of those pools every day, it would take you almost 52 years to swim in the amount of water used to make water bottles in one year!! Click on Math for the calculations.

Water is not the only natural resource used to make the plastic water bottles. Oil is also used. In order to make all the water bottles for one year, the United States uses 20 million barrels of oil. That’s enough oil to fuel 100 000 cars!

Storing the bottles
When water sits in the bottles some of the chemicals from the plastic begin to leach into the water. A 2006 Canadian study found that after water bottles made with PETs had been stored for six months, there was a significant amount of antimony (a toxic chemical) found in the water.
There is also some concern about bisphenol A which acts like a synthetic hormone. There is concern about bottles made from PET leaching bisphenol A into the water. This dangerous chemical is currently being researched by the Canadian government to determine just how dangerous it can be.

Disposing of the bottles
Many people in Canada recycle their used water bottles. But there are an estimated 88% of bottles that end up in the trash instead of the recycling facility! Unfortunately the plastic bottles often end up in the landfills and often oceans. It takes sometimes thousands of years for the bottles to breakdown in landfills. In the oceans, the bottles react with the sun light and eventually break down into plastic pellets and are eaten by birds and fish. Eating the plastic kills the birds and fish. Sometimes the plastic does not break down at all. Some researches believe that plastic in oceans will stay there for thousands of years and may never break down completely.

The 12% of plastic that is recycled is often not used to make new bottles because it is too expensive to use. The recycled plastic is used to make things like fleece jackets, fiberfill pillows, carpet and many other products.

Source:
Bottled Water a Fact Sheet from the Safe Drinking Water Foundation People Magazine article “Banned! Top chefs just say not to serving bottled water – and yes to helping the environment”. July 16, 2007
Macleans Magazine article “Green Report: It’s so not cool” May 14, 2007
Bottled Water Basics – an EPA document on bottled water

-Sustainability Advisory Group for Environmental Stewardship, Wesleyen University

We are working with Bon Appétit to find ways to reduce our use of bottled water on campus. Individuals can help by not buying it. Transportation of bottled water is an unnecessary use of gasoline, and other statistics associated with bottled water’s impact on the environment are staggering:

• The EPA has stronger regulations for tap water than the FDA has for bottled water. Thus, bottled water is not necessarily safer to drink.
• An estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle–sometimes further treated, sometimes not. (NRDC)
• 86% of plastic water bottles in the US become garbage or litter, which is 30 million bottles a day.  (Container Recycling Institute)
• Sent to the landfill, the bottles can take up to a millennium to biodegrade.
  (E magazine)
• Globally, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water per year.
• 1.5 million barrels of crude oil is used to produce the water bottles consumed by Americans each year.  This amounts to enough to fuel about 100,000 US cars for a year.
• Bottled water is 5,000 times more expensive than tap water.
• Americans spend over $15,400,000 on bottled water every day.
• Bottled water companies enter communities, dry up their local water resource, and degrade aquifers.  This often leaves communities without an adequate safe water source. (Earth Policy Institute)
• Over one third of the world faces serious water shortages. (United Nations Environmental Programme)
• $100 billion is spent on bottled water annually.  One year’s worth of bottled water expenditures could completely cover the development of efficient and sustainable water infrastructure throughout the entire world, three times over. (UN Millennium Development Goals).

Source: Wesleyen University

Worried about bottled water or contaminated tap? Fret no more! Restaurateur Robert Colombo has blazed a green trailby installing the first Natura water purification system in Texas inThe Club, Villa O and soon, Trece. The system uses local tap water, which is purified through a three-step process, producing a water-snob approved eau in sparkling or still.
The Club. 3102 Oak Lawn Ave., Ste.110, 214.526.3100; Villa O, 4514 Travis St., 214.780.1880.

Dallas Modern Luxury

View Article

Yes, it’s true. L.A. restaurants are now charging for tap water. By playing on customers’ healthy-living fixations of the moment—parts-per-billion H20 hysteria and globalwarming-consciousness—owners are convincing diners to pony up previously unheard-of fees for each bottle to offset the cost of running their recently acquired Natura filtration machines. Since last fall, fresh carriers of the Brita-like system include Comme Ça (charging $5 per bottle), Il Grano ($6), Luckyfish ($3), Akasha ($5) and Foxtail ($3). The bottles themselves have been shrewdly sculpted as Voss-like status symbols “I wanted to set the tone high,” says Natura cofounder, Marco De Plano. A number of the restaurants say they’ve chosen to attach a price primarily in order to recoup on Natura’s monthly rental cost, which can peak at up to $500. “People may give you a weird look when you bring it out,” says Angeli Caffé manager Jason Marx, “but when you tell them about how it reduces our carbon footprint, they really get behind it.” In fact, local foodies tallying their bills at places like Lucques and Ortolan have already grown accustomed to chipping in donations each March for the L.A. Tap Project, which supports UNICEFs efforts to provide access to potable water around the world. Still, it’s crystalclear that only a few nights’ worth of water tabs could easily cover the relatively modest Natura fee. The rest? Purified profit. Talk about liquid assets.

-Carrissa Marsh
Angeleno

View Article

It began as a normal dinner at the new BLT Steakhouse in Los Angeles when a fidgety waiter with spiky hair and smart spectacles addressed the table with that signature question, “Still or sparkling?” For almost a generation, bottled water has been the nouveau-champagne of the high-end dining circuit. At the most fashionable dinner parties and restaurants, a well-placed bottle of Fiji or San Pellegrino wasn’t just a drinking choice but the embodiment of a healthy and sophisticated lifestyle. And then the end came.

A crowd dotted with Prius-driving movie people and hemp-wearing writers began specifying “tap water” with an air of pride that had evolved from embarrassed whimpers at the beginning of the antibottled water movement. Requests for tap water usually were greeted with a blank stare from staff well aware that frequently poured bottled water can add almost 15% to the average dinner check and tip. But this particular time there was no roll of the eyes. A few seconds later on the table arrived a selection of stylish, chunky water bottles — the sort of fancy Italian kind that usually costs $10 and requires two hands to pass around.

Those at the table stared in silence. Guests were left speechless as they pondered the enormous carbon footprint of transporting such heavy bottles across the ocean atop double-tailored diesel trucks with heavy-footed drivers and into the basement of this L.A. restaurant. When the waiter was asked about the mistake, he informed the table that it was Natura Water, an in-house water filtration system that provides bottled water from an on-site tap. Essentially, it was filtered, carbonated water from the tap, but really delicious and served in trendy re-usable water bottles. The table drank, and then drank some more, quietly loving its bottled water all over again while marveling at what could be the greenest innovation ever to hit the water world.

Natura Water was invented by Italians and engineered in America. It’s the only on-site water purification system currently on the market offering chilled sparkling and still water. Previous carbonated systems tended to lack a good design, looking more like explosive helium canisters that could get one placed on the government’s No Fly List.

The Natura Water system is sleek and chic, and offers a variety of stainless-steel water filtration models that look like a hybrid espresso machine with three minimalist pull-down dispensers. The models are offered on a rental or purchase basis, depending on the size and needs of the business or residence.

The inner filtration system of Natura Water is supplied from the everyday water line rerouted into the machine and its two high-grade carbon filters that remove dirt, rust, sediments, chlorine and contaminants like lead or mercury. From there, the freshly filtered water flows through an ultraviolet disinfection chamber that kills 99.99% of all microorganisms and germs. The final step of the filtration system takes place in the refrigeration and carbonation chamber, a device made entirely of stainless steel that allows the machine to maintain a constant temperature and carbonation before being poured into a glass.

Every Natura Water system comes with a selection of glass bottles in sizes up to 1 liter. These iconic bottles are available in thick frosted or translucent glass with embossed logo and chrome-colored cap with a red stripe. Not only stylish, these all-glass bottles are ideal for re-use and not prone to the deterioration and hazards involved in re-using disposable plastic bottles.

Certain restaurants — such as Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse — prefer to use their own glassware. The Berkeley, Calif., eatery was one of the first to remove all bottled water from its menu, serving instead its in-house filtered water in engraved crystal pitchers.

Several cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Salt Lake City have banned the purchase of bottled water at all city offices and are proactively trying to ban or tax the sale of all bottled water within city limits. Behind this campaign is the enormous carbon footprint involved in transporting bottles like Perrier, Evian and San Pellegrino from places as far away as Italy and France.

“The transportation, the pollution, the recycling costs — there is nothing wrong with drinking water where it is made,” says Natura co-founder Marco de Plano, “but it is wrong to transport it and subsidize it all.”

Of the 30 million bottles of water consumed every year, about four-fifths of those plastic bottles end up in local trash containers that are then picked up by gas-guzzling garbage trucks and deposited in the country’s overflowing landfills, according to a report from ABC News.

Getting the Natura Water system in the hands of residential clients is the next step. Right now, the cost and installation of the machine makes it practical only for households drinking lots of water. A recent quote in the Los Angeles area for an entry-level residential water system was $4,800 with an additional $300 for installation. If a family of four is drinking three liters of water a day, it would take a bit more than a year for the family to recoup the cost of the machine (based on an average of 99 cents per bottle of water). But taking into account the amount of shopping time and gas spent to and from the grocery store, the savings could be greater.

Installing the Natura Water system in restaurants makes for a strong argument. It saves on delivery charges and space rental while delivering an environmental message to patrons one glass of water at a time. Perhaps that’s why restaurants such as Le Bernardin, Le Cirque, the Palace Hotel and Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel all have joined this water revolution.

–
Michael Martin is the managing editor of JetSetReport.com — a luxury travel and lifestyle guide based in Los Angeles and London. His work has appeared in In Style, Blackbook, Elle, U.K.’s Red magazine, ITV and BBC.