Water & Air – Filter Systems News

Thinking of going camping this fall season? Across the country the leaves have changed and there are a multitude of beautiful colors to be seen.  The cool, crisp air means less bugs and clear night skies full of stars. If you, like me, are not THRILLED at the prospect of sleeping outside and not having clean fresh water to drink, the following products will save the day.

Katadyn MyBottle Water Purifier- Blue Splash

This sleek and stylish Katadyn water bottle does more than simply hold water. This water bottle features a personal filtration system directly inside the bottle. The built in virustat and cyst filter will remove bacteria, viruses, cysts and other impurities from virtually all fresh water sources. In addition, the carbon cartridge removes chemicals, making your water taste better. The MyBottle is even registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its efficiency at removing impurities.

Use the Katadyn MyBottle to filter the following water sources:

1)      Lakes

2)      Ponds

3)      Rivers

4)      Streams

Katadyn Mini Ultralight Series Microfilter- Black

                The Katadyn Mini Ultralight Microfilter is ideal for camping and hiking. This filter removes protozoa, cysts, sediment, dirt, viruses, spores dirt and bacteria down to 0.2 microns in size. This microfilter has a 2,000 gallon capacity before needing a filter replacement. Weighing less than a pound, this easy to carry filtration system is great when you do not have a readily available fresh water source.

Klean Kanteen 18 oz Bottle & Loop Cap- Red

    The Kleen Kanteen 18 oz Bottle is BPA free and is manufactured out of the highest quality stainless steel. This is an eco friendly alternative to bringing a 24 pack of bottled water to your next camping trip. The convenient loop cap makes it easy to attach to backpacks and camping equipment.  This water bottle comes in a variety of colors.

 Nite Ize Carbiner, Klean Kanteen S-Biner # 3

         The Kleen Kanteen Carbiner will make it easy for you and your family to attach your Kleen Kanteen water bottle to belts, backpacks and camping equipment. Manufactured out of the same stainless steel as your Kleen Kanteen water bottle, two snaps is all it takes to bring your bottle everywhere you need it to go.

Vapur Anti Bottle Water Bottle- Pink 16 oz.

Perfect for the little campers in your party,  this reusable water bottle  features a space saving design. They are extremely flexible and almost completely collapsible, making this water bottle ideal when you are tight on space. The matching clip on the water bottle makes it easy to clip onto hiking bags and camping equipment. This water bottle is made out of BPA free plastic and holds 16 ounces.

With these easy to use products, you can be sure that your next camping and hiking trip will be a great success!

“Many civilizations have been crippled or destroyed by an inability to understand water or manage it. We have a huge advantage over the generations of people who have come before us, because we can understand water and we can use it smartly.”

– Charles Fishman, The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water

Charles Fishman, bestselling author of The Wal-Mart Effect has most recently turned his attention to water. The leap from discounted mega-giant to Earth’s most essential resource may seem like a big one, but Fishman is interested in relationships-whether it’s to Wal-Mart or water.  Fishman first began his flirtation with water in a 2007 article entitled, “Message in a Bottle”, published in Fast Company magazine. In this piece Fishman lamented, “Thirty years ago, bottled water barely existed as a business in the United States. Last year, we spent more on Poland Spring, Fiji Water, Evian, Aquafina, and Dasani than we spent on iPods or movie tickets– $15 billion. It will be $16 billion this year” (Fishman, 2007).

Fast forward to 2011, and Fishman tackles both the history and future of water in our world. The Big Thirst seeks to open people’s eyes to the reality of water in the twenty-first century. Similar to what the book and film, Fast Food Nation did for revealing the atrocities of the United States fast food industry, Thirst delves into people’s water consciousness. For example, do you know where your water goes when it swirls down the drain, flushes down the toilet or leaves your washing machine? A majority of Americans have no idea.

Also consider that most Americans don’t know where the majority of their daily water usage comes from. Do you? In 1999, a group of researchers used electronic water-flow sensors in 1,888 homes for four weeks. The results showed that the primary way American’s use water daily is by flushing the toilet. About five times a day per person if you want to put a figure on it. We literally flush 5.7 billion gallons of water down the toilet a day (Fishman, 2011).

The Big Thirst’s strength stems from Fishman’s ability to storytell. He connects you to your relationship with water in a multitude of ways. Take for example, this excerpt, “Like so much of modern life, safe, reliable water and sewer service is both essential and a complete mystery. We have no idea where our water comes from, we have no idea what happens to it when the dishwasher is done with it. We have no idea what effort is required to get the water to us, and no idea what’s required to get rid of it. That ignorance doesn’t matter, until things start to go wrong.”

Water is an essential resource in our daily lives- and most of us do not understand how much we rely on it, how much goes into getting it to our faucet, and what we would do if it were to stop flowing freely. Charles Fishman explores these questions through fascinating stories intertwining his personal travels to the water bottling plants of San Pellegrino, Italy and Poland Spring, Maine.  The main question being, why don’t we value our most essential resource the way we should?

Is Australian chef Mark Best justified in charging for tap water at Marque Restaurant, his restaurant in Syndey, Australia?

Best stopped selling “boutique bottled water” and instead offered customers treated tap water for about half the price of the bottled water he previously sold, according to a Reuters article. He did so because he considers these bottled waters to be wasteful and wanted to provide an eco-friendly alternative.

Best installed a water filter system that filters, chills and carbonates the Marque Restaurant‘s tap water. And while he could have raised his pricing across his menu to make up the cost, he wanted everyone to know they were being charged for tap water. He charges the equivalent of $5.31 in US dollars for all the tap water a patron cares to drink. The 500 ml bottles of boutique bottled water that he sold in the past cost twice that much.

“I’m not highly political but I want to make people aware and this is just one initiative,” Best said.

While many patrons were unhappy about it, charging for tap water is not illegal if it has been treated — and Best’s $6,000 Italian-made water filtration system certainly does that.

If Best’s main goal in charging for tap water was to make a statement and “raise awareness of the need for restaurants to be socially responsible and reduce plastic waste,” we would say he succeeded. What do you think: is Best justified in charging for tap water or not?

Sun Tzu once wrote that “It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.” Thankfully the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (known as SIGIR) is in the middle of a sweeping investigation of the use, and misuse, of money spent on the wars overseas in an attempt to put an end to such personal profits.

SIGIR, created in 2004, oversees Iraq reconstruction programs and operations, and ensures that taxpayer money is spent appropriately. The organization is also prosecuting soldiers and civilians that have pocketed the funds since 2003, including Derrick Shoemake.

Lt. Col. Shoemake entered a guilty plea to charges of bribery stemming from bottled water contracts in Kuwait. Shoemake, a native of Ohio, also ran Entune Entertainment, a hip-hop music label that encouraged soldiers to record songs about their war experiences. The Justice Department uncovered that in the mid-2000s, while Shoemake was in Arifjan, Kuwait, “he conspired first with a Saudi Arabia-based contractor, then with a contractor from India, to fix bottled-water contracts worth millions of dollars. Prosecutors allege Shoemake received $215,000 in cash payments from the Saudi contractor, some of which were delivered by hand to the officer’s wife in Los Angeles.” The Justice Department alleges that another $40,000 was paid to Shoemake from an Indian contractor for bottled water contracts in Afghanistan.

The money from these contracts is no paltry sum. George H. Lee, a contractor charged with bribery, is said to have accumulated almost $20 million in bribes and kickbacks. Lee, however, pleaded not guilty and insists that the accusations against him are a result of a poorly executed Army investigation, racial bias, and a conspiracy.

According to the Wall Street Journal, SIGIR “has funding through December 2012, when files from more than 100 current investigations will be farmed out to agencies, including the Pentagon’s Criminal Investigation Command, the inspectors general for the State Department and the Agency for International Development and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Already SIGIR has estimated that it has saved over $1.1 billion through investigations and seized more than $150 million worth of assets. And with only 18 more months of funding, there is plenty more work to be done.

Pure Delight recently announced the release of their new product – Aqua Delight – a bottled water that is free from the metallic, acidic, bitter, or otherwise bad taste associated with chemotherapy treatments. Metallic taste in the mouth is a common side effect of chemotherapy drugs, often making it difficult for cancer patients to eat or drink, leading to dehydration ranging from mild to life-threatening. Aqua Delight provides relief from this, making it easy for patients to drink water, thus optimizing their recovery.

So, how does it work? We don’t know. It’s a secret. The company has signed non-disclosure agreements that keep the technology behind this water confidential. However, there is a 100 percent money-back guarantee, and several testimonials on Pure Delight’s website indicate that most people are happy with the results this water provides.

The bottles are made from PETE 1 plastic, which exceeds FDA standards for safety, and there are no known issues with chemicals leaching into the water. However, it seems ironic that the company would choose to manufacture bottled water, rather than a specialized water filter that improves metallic taste instead. In general, bottled water is not sustainable, even though the plastic is recyclable. Non-sustainable living may contribute to the growth of disease – such as cancer. In the interest of sustaining life, you’d think Pure Delight would opt for a more sustainable product that lines up, thematically, with the company’s ultimate goal.

Metallic taste has also been reported as a side effect of pregnancy, allergies, dental disease and kidney disease, making the market for Aqua Delight even wider. What about you? Would you try it?

When you attend an exercise class, workout at the gym or if you are the consummate outdoor enthusiast, don’t forget your unisex, eco-friendly fashion accessory that serves as a source of refreshment simultaneously. Am I talking about a dazzling resistance band? No. Rhinestone studded hand weights? Nope. Could it be the latest leggings, hoodies, shorts, footwear or racerback tank tops? Nah. The fashion accessory that’s in vogue and gaining popularity during workout routines and in athletic wear are eco-friendly, colorful reusable water bottles. Water bottles? Yes, reusable, environmentally friendly water bottles.

Since there is so much controversy surrounding the hazards of plastic water bottles affecting wildlife and the environment, investing in a reusable water bottle is an economical, safe, durable and fashionable alternative. Upon arriving on my first day of Zumba, I noticed that most of the people in my class had the same fashion “must-have” in mind. The splash of multi-colored reusable water bottles that everyone clutched in their hands like a glass of fine wine looked like fragments from a rainbow.

Several attendees had cute little collapsible water bottles that you could easily fit in your pocket, handbag or backpack once they were empty. Many had sports bottles that were BPA free and made from food-grade stainless steel. A few of the really serious minded people carried personal water bottle purifiers that contain a carbon pre-filter to remove waterborne contaminants from your drinking water. Surprisingly, my new workout buddies are insightful advocates for eco-friendly water bottle solutions.

What hot fashion statement is your reusable water bottle sporting? Ocean blue? Red Hot Red? Emerald green? Vivacious purple? Brushed steel? Tell us about your eco-friendly, recyclable, water bottle fashion statement. When and where do you use yours the most? How do you feel about revolutionizing alternative solutions for protecting the environment from plastic water bottles, while quenching your thirst? We’d love to hear from you. Remember, reusable water bottles are a workout accessory that’s definitely in vogue!

Fans of Vitamin Water may be disappointed to learn that vitamins may lose potency if stored in water for extended periods of time.

Enter Activate – the only brand of bottled water on the market that has vitamins, antioxidants and other supplements in powder form hidden in the cap, which are released with just one twist, just before drinking. How did this concept come to be?

“Friends Anders Eisner and Burke Eiteljorg were sitting in the Denver airport four years ago. Anders was trying to pour Airborne, a supposed cold-fighting dietary supplement, into a bottle of water. Burke was doing the same with Emergen-C, another vitamin drink mix. Both were making a mess. There had to be a tidier way, they decided.”

Activate comes in eight flavors. Some emphasize health and immunity boosters, while others are workout drinks with electrolytes. The drinks contain Stevia, a much healthier alternative to the sugar used in Vitamin Water and other similar beverages. While we applaud the company’s innovation and drive to be healthier than most, we still have the problem of plastic bottle waste on our hands. Perhaps Eisner and Eiteljorg wouldn’t have made such a mess if they had a wide-mouthed reusable bottle like this Klean Kanteen instead. Moreover, the beverage sells for $1.79 to $2.29 per bottle:

“Some balk at the price, but Holland [the company's president] says, ‘If you bought a bottle of water and Emergen-C it would cost you $2.’”

Precisely why we shouldn’t be buying bottles of water in the first place! We’ve said it many times and we’ll say it again. Save money with your own supplement packets and/or pills, and fill up your reusable water bottle with filtered tap water instead.

The Australian Standard for organic products says that natural products like water cannot be labeled “organic.” But what if that label is part of the brand or company name?

Australian brands, Organic Springs, Active Organic, and Organic Falls sell purified tap water under the Active Organic Spring name, though the water is not organic and is not sourced from a spring. Legitimate organic producers are annoyed at companies that use the term in their brand names, as it can mislead consumers. “Organic” is a term that is typically used to describe agricultural produce, and not natural substances like water or air.

The company, in its defense, states that it is not actually claiming that the water is organic, though the term is used in the brand name. Still – the word can be misleading to consumers, no matter the context. The bottled water industry caught on to the power of this kind of advertising long ago when they began marketing their product with pictures of glaciers, mountains and freshwater springs on the bottles. These days, many consumers will blindly purchase a product labeled “organic”, simply because the word has such a powerful, positive connotation, even if they don’t know what the term itself really means. And some products labeled “organic” are not any healthier or better-tasting than their non-organic versions.

What do you think? If given the choice between a bottle simply labeled “purified tap water” and a bottle labeled “purified tap water” with “organic” in the brand name, which would you be more likely to choose?

Have you ever had a headache so bad, you’d rob a store for the cure? The Augusta Chronicle reported today that police are searching for a man who robbed a Dollar General this morning. The man entered the store with a towel over his face, and asked the clerk for a bottled water and some Goody’s headache powder. He then put a gun on the counter and asked for money.

At this point it’s unclear whether the man actually obtained anything before he left, as he told the clerk to go to the rear of the building while he fled. But it is clear that he was in desperate need of something.

This is not the first bottled water robbery to take place, and it probably won’t be the last. Last year, we wrote about a man who stole bottled water from a 13-year-old kid who had set up a water stand to make a few extra bucks on a hot summer day. There is one lesson to be learned from all this: stay away from bottled water. As we’ve demonstrated before, it is highly addictive (especially if it contains nicotine), and we all know that bottled water addiction can make people do crazy things…

Want to quit smoking, but can’t? NicLite is here to help. This specially formulated, organic, non-addictive nicotine bottled water offers you an alternative to smoking. Whether you’re a heavy smoker, moderate smoker, or social smoker, you can drink NicLite to curb your craving for cigarettes.

The makers of this product claim that it is much safer than cigarettes, because it is carcinogen-free. Consumers testify that NicLite has helped them reduce or quit their smoking habit after only a few weeks of drinking the water. The convenient plastic bottle packaging lets you sip whenever you feel the urge to smoke, whether you’re in your car, on an airplane, at work, or in a restaurant where smoking indoors has been banned – nonsmokers around you will no longer have to suffer the fate of secondhand smoke because of your bad habit.

At first glance, NicLite seems like a great solution to anyone’s nicotine addiction. However, upon closer examination, it seems that in the long run, you’re simply replacing one bad habit with another. Before you know it, your smoking addiction becomes a bottled water addiction that can be just as dangerous to you and your peers as secondhand smoke. I can’t help but wonder how many of those who have used NicLite have actually been able to kick the bottled water habit once they quit smoking. Do you have to continue to drink NicLite water to avoid your cigarette cravings?

As a nonsmoker, it’s difficult for me to take an authoritative stance on this issue, so I’d like to hear the point of view of others who have struggled with quitting. Do you think nicotine bottled water is a viable solution to the problem of nicotine addiction? If not, what alternatives could you suggest?