BOTTLED WATER
Bottled water has a definite purpose in today's on the go society because it is a convenient source of clean water to take with you on trips or when jogging, biking, etc. Most of the name brands are high quality and utilize Reverse Osmosis to treat plain old municipal water. Municipal waters can vary in quality and may only marginally pass EPA Drinking Water Standards. These companies are profiting from the further refinement of water and after bottling and shipping it, deserve to make a reasonable profit. Personally, we like "Aquafina" although there are many others that compare with very low Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of 20 PPM or less. The problem of plastic waste not being recycled is due to humans, not the plastic itself. Recycling education should be taught using PSAs and in schools.
There are other brands of "Spring Water" like Arrowhead which are only using UV and carbon filtering prior to bottling. Such waters can be fairly high in TDS at around 250 PPM and are not near as palatable as say, Aquafina. Evian has a TDS of 357 PPM and a total hardness of 291 PPM in addition to 3.8 PPM Nitrates! So be careful about paying good money for these high mineral content waters because it's really not much better than tap water in some cases.
ALKALINE WATER IS A SCAM
"Smart Water" and many others like it consist of ultrapure water that has a very small amount of alkaline chemicals added to achieve a high pH of say 9.5 to 10. Deceptive advertisements claim this water is better hydration for our bodies and even helps raise our blood pH levels thus helping to ward off cancers. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence that suggests these claims are true. Anything that tends to neutralize the natural acids in our digestive tract may actually harm us in the long run. Remember this; Substantial claims require substantial evidence of which there is none! Don't fall for this marketing ploy. Your food intake would logically have the most effect on bodily pH levels due to the overwhelming ionic content compared with water.
For REAL Blood pH elevation try Wim Hof's Breathing Technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWgLkoqTM88
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFj6TOYpQG8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cvhwquPqJ0
CAUTION
We don't recommend letting bottled water (or other beverage) sit in a hot car because the water may take on harmful chemicals from the plastic. If you can taste the "plastic" from any container, don't drink it!
Because of sanitary reasons, we don't recommend refilling your "used water bottles" with RO water from your home unit unless you sanitize with a weak bleach solution and rinse them thoroughly. Once your mouth has touched the bottle, bacteria is introduced no matter how careful or clean you are.
Let's all do our part and recycle that plastic!
