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Today is Blog Action Day, uniting the world's bloggers to post about the same issue on the same day and this year's topic is: WATER.
The commodification of water is the scariest assault on human rights.

Water belongs to the People and not to corporations!
Let's boycott the bottled water companies and show them we are in CONTROL!

Also support the UN's efforts to bring clean, safe water to millions by signing this petition:
http://blogactionday.change.org/sign-petition

Spread The Word, Change THE WORLD!

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

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By Frontline, Courtesy of PBS.org

"In Poisoned Waters, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem.

'The '70s were a lot about, "We're the good guys; we're the environmentalists; we're going to go after the polluters," and it's not really about that anymore,' Jay Manning, director of ecology for Washington state, tells FRONTLINE. 'It's about the way we all live. And unfortunately, we are all polluters. I am; you are; all of us are.'

Through interviews with scientists, environmental activists, corporate executives and average citizens impacted by the burgeoning pollution problem, Smith reveals startling new evidence that today's growing environmental threat comes not from the giant industrial polluters of old, but from chemicals in consumers' face creams, deodorants, prescription medicines and household cleaners that find their way into sewers, storm drains, and eventually into America's waterways and drinking water.

'The environment has slipped off our radar screen because it's not a hot crisis like the financial meltdown, war or terrorism,' Smith says.

'But pollution is a ticking time bomb. It's a chronic cancer that is slowly eating away the natural resources that are vital to our very lives.' "
For more info see: So what's safe to eat&drink?

The sentence that strikes me most about this video is:
"We know, today, precisely what is necessary to save the Chesapeake and now it's very clear, it comes down to the question of political will."

I might add, this is valid for all of the pollution and destruction we bring to ourselves and our planet.

Image from AzRainman

It makes me think and amazes me when I read this:

"The truth is, there is no "New" water on this planet. All water is old water that has been recycled continuously for millions of years. We are actually drinking the same water that the dinosaurs drank, recycled obviously by Mother Nature".
By Nicholas Wise

About tap water:

"Since 2004, testing by water utilities has found 316 pollutants in the tap water Americans drink, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) drinking water quality analysis of almost 20 million records obtained from state water officials.

More than half of the chemicals detected are not subject to health or safety regulations and can legally be present in any amount. The federal government does have health guidelines for others, but 49 of these contaminants have been found in one place or another at levels above those guidelines, polluting the tap water for 53.6 million Americans.

The government has not set a single new drinking water standard since 2001.
Water utilities spend 19 times more on water treatment chemicals every year than the federal government invests in protecting lakes and rivers from pollution in the first place."
www.ewg.org

How clean is your city water? Search at the link above.
Top Ten:
Arlington, TX

Providence, RI
Providence Water

Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Water Department

Charleston, SC
Charleston Water System

Boston, MA
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority

Honolulu, HI
Board of Water Supply 
(Honolulu/Windward/Pearl Harbor)

Austin, TX
Austin Water Utility

Fairfax County, VA
Fairfax Water

St. Louis, MO
City of St. Louis Water Division

Minneapolis, MN
City of Minneapolis Water Department

Check the ten worst too.

I want people to make an informed decision; You don't want to support a "falling apart" water infrastructure and on the other hand you don't want to support the bottled water industry either.

"Aging and inadequate U.S. water pipes and treatment plants result in an astounding 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated water, filth, chemicals and bacteria ending up in our rivers and other water bodies every year, threatening the environment and the public’s health.

The EPA recently estimated that the United States needs $202.5 billion to do the minimum level of maintenance for the infrastructure that supports our homes and businesses and keeps our water safe. Unfortunately, the federal government is providing less support for clean water than ever. 

In 1978, 78 percent of all clean water spending came from the federal government. Today, it is contributing only three percent. "
www.foodandwaterwatch.org


About the bottled water industry: 

Do not let these powerful bottled water companies rob your health and pocket!

"Companies like Nestle are taking communities' water for bottling despite public opposition, in the US and abroad."

"The $60 billion global bottled water industry has grown rapidly in recent years. To keep up with the expanding market, corporations are looking for new water sources. Once they identify good or easy targets, they come into communities, bottle their water, slap a corporate logo on it and sell it to stores across the country. The profits are great and the resource is cheap. The corporations benefit. The communities don’t."

"But public officials should think twice before buying into corporations’ claims of job creation. In reality, bottling water creates relatively few new jobs for community members"

From sustainabletable.org:

Plastic bottle production in the United States annually requires about 17.6 million barrels of oil, enough to fuel more than one million cars. 
About 86 percent of empty plastic water bottles in the United States land in the garbage instead of being recycled. That amounts to about two million tons of plastic bottles piling up in U.S. landfills each year.

To solve this, action must be taken from the federal, state, and local governments must protect the quality and integrity of our water resources. 

Again investing in the maintenance and renewal of municipal water and sewage treatment plants, storage, and distribution. Our water pipes and sewer lines in the United States were built in the late 1800s, the 1920s.

Old, corroded water lines can break are not only wasting water but also opening avenues for contamination. Worn out or overburdened sewage systems can overflow into our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, creating serious health concerns. The National Research Council recently warned of more water-borne disease outbreaks unless we make "substantial investments" in improving our drinking water and sewage storage and distribution systems.

Every year, Congress debates proposals for funding clean drinking water. A 2007 bill provided $14 billion in federal loan guarantees over four years for water and sewer improvements. While the bill passed the House of Representatives, it has not yet passed the Senate. Unfortunately, even if it were to become law, it would still be insufficient in meeting our nation's water infrastructure needs.

Collectively, our communities fall about $22 billion short annually of what they need to maintain and improve public drinking water and sewage systems. Federal dollars are the only way to address this clean water infrastructure funding gap estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Government Accountability Office, and the non-profit Water Infrastructure Network at between $300 and $500 billion over 20 years. Much of the funding gap stems from government cuts to clean water programs."

Appalling, isn't?

Thank you Government! 

They thought: "Who cares if these people will get sick by drinking this water, we don't! And that's all it counts, let them rot just like those pipes"

Thank you for letting these companies take our water to sell it back to us.

The commodification of water is the scariest assault on human rights.

Water belongs to the people and not to corporations!


So, what to choose then, tap or bottled water?

Bottled water is the worst, ultimately is the same as tap water but we are paying for it thousands times more, giving power to these companies and let them rob our human rights. The making of plastic produces toxic chemicals that contaminate our air and water; About 22 billions of plastic bottles are thrown away each year in the United States alone; There is about 46 times more plastic than plankton which is the crucial food for all animals in the ocean; The chemicals that leach into the bottle seriously harm our health. 

The only choice left is tap water and the best filter you can afford.
In the meantime tell the Government to keep our water clean!

Image from: www.tempe.gov

Some people came up with this great idea of rerouting shower and sink water to flush our toilets.

It would save the world an enormous number of gallons each day.
What do you think?
And why this is not becoming a standard in every place?

Would this threaten some people's profit??

"The pipes that keep America’s drinking water circulating and the treatment facilities that keep it clean are falling apart.
Degrading water systems are now causing more than half of all waterborne disease outbreaks in the U.S. A common bacteria associated with leaking water pipes, fecal coliform bacteria, is not a merely unpleasant – it can be deadly for children and the elderly.

Sewage-contaminated water also sickens swimmers and poisons seafood, which when eaten by humans leads to more illnesses – as many as two million per year.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has given our water and wastewater infrastructure systems a D- grade, and the Environmental Protection Agency reports we are falling short on water infrastructure spending by $22 billion per year.
In short, we’re facing a looming crisis of clean water.

Fortunately there is a solution: the Water Protection and Reinvestment Trust Fund, currently before Congress. This bill would create a dedicated source of public funding so that communities across America can keep their water clean, safe and affordable."


Take action and sign the petition.