Friday, March 29, 2024

For health, expense, environment

Quad City water better and cheaper than bottled alternatives

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QUAD CITIES – As unrealistic as it may be in practical terms, many people nonetheless resolve to make changes or improvements in their lives and behaviors every time the new year rolls around. Most of those well-intended attempts are abandoned shortly into the new year because, let’s face it, established habits are hard to break.

There is one practice that is not that hard to modify because it’s the very foundation of individual survival and must be done regularly: water consumption.

The modification part is in deciding what kind of water to drink.

The choice is between commercially bottled water or that provided by your local municipality.

The challenge is to choose the best of the two for your health, your pocketbook, and the environment.

There are dozens of brands of commercially bottled water offered by food markets, mini-marts, restaurants, fast food vendors and other local outlets. Their mass availability is a relatively new phenomenon in that a mere two generations ago it was practically unheard of to pay for a bottle of water.  

According to figures published on Statista (www.statista.com) the U.S. is the worlds largest consumer of bottled water, a volume that amounted to some 13.7 billion gallons or an all-time high of 42.1 gallons per person in 2017.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) on its website, www.cdc.gov, lists the four processing methods effective against Cryptosporidium, the leading cause of water borne disease among humans in the U.S. It also lists the 14 methods that may not be effective in removing Crypto and cautions bottled water users to read the bottle labels.

Recent tests on bottled water quality including the largest that examined more than 250 bottles from 11 of the most popular brands across nine countries found microplastic particles in more than 90 percent of the samples. As a result of those findings the World Health Organization (WHO) is initiating a review of potential risks of plastic particles in drinking water.

As the crisis in plastics pollution continues to increase in our landfills, waterways, and oceans, the choice to forego disposable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) water bottles becomes more consequential.

Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org) lists a glossary of seven different types of bottled water including artesian, distilled, mineral, PWS (public water source), purified, sparkling, and spring. CR notes that nearly 50 percent of bottled water sold in the U.S. comes from purified tap water. That last sentence noted, the four municipalities in the Quad City coverage area supply rigorously monitored water that is tested daily in compliance with regulations enforced by the state’s Department of Health (DOH).

PATEROS
Last December the city debuted its first major water system upgrade including new well and reservoir since the city was relocated in the early 1960s to make way for Wells Dam. Pateros has made a substantial investment in the quality of water its residents enjoy.

City Administrator Jord Wilson said per state Department of Health regulations the city conducts the same regimen of tests with the new system as it did with the old. The city chlorinates its water supply using a new tablet-based process and strives to maintain a level of 0.3 milligrams per liter (mg/L), beyond the DOH requirement of 0.2 mg/L.

An annual Consumer Confidence Report is published every July on the city’s website, www.pateros.org, under the sub-head Resources. The report lists in detail the type and frequency of all water tests performed and notes that the city had no monitoring or reporting violations in 2017.

BREWSTER
The city of Brewster has recently invested multiple millions in its water system and public works director Lee Webster said that the product is simply “easier, cheaper, and better” than the bottled alternatives.

The city recently switched out its lead wells and is “pulling water from the cleanest source we have,” Webster said.

Brewster chlorinates it water and Webster said the other actions required by DOH are based on historical data that determines the type and frequency of tests. The official city website, www.cityofbrewsterwashington.org includes among its menu options an annual Consumer Confidence Report that itemizes in detail the water test results.

The Brewster School District is one of the biggest boosters of city water. Eight years ago, the elementary school installed four water fountains fitted with bottle filler attachments and since then two more were added in the high school. When the new middle school is complete later this year one or two of the fountains will be in place there as well, principal Linda Dezellem said.

The filler attachment has a counter that tracks the number of bottles saved by the refills but since the device must be reset every time a filter is changed the school has lost count as to the total number logged.

“I spoke to one of the maintenance staff and he estimated ‘perhaps a million bottles’ saved over the years,” Dezellem said.

BRIDGEPORT
Public works superintendent Stuart Dezellem said the practice that generates the most feedback from Bridgeport residents is chlorination. He said the city runs a couple of points over the state requirement as an added safety precaution and advises users to purchase household filters that remove the residual chlorine from their water at the tap.

“We are testing every single day except Saturday and Sunday,” Dezellem said.

The Bridgeport schools do not have the water bottle filler because students are not allowed to have water bottles during school hours.

MANSFIELD
Jesse Shafer has been the public works superintendent for the town of Mansfield for the past 12 years. He said Mansfield chlorinates its drinking water and tests for contaminates in compliance with DOH guidelines. An annual water quality report, also required by DOH, publishes current test results along with those of previous years.

Shafer also serves on the school board and said the school installed a combination fountain/bottle filler in mid-2017 to serve its near 100-member K-12 student body. One of the fountain’s most faithful users is school principal Shane Bird who said he refills his water bottle several times daily.

Shafer estimates that the fountain has saved 5,000 plastic bottles in its one-and-a-half years of service.

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