Change Habits, Refill - Not Landfill

Study: US Needs Billions for Water, Sewers

2011-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is why home filtration and self-serve retail water vending will continue to be growth industries.

Study: US Needs Billions for Water, Sewers

Grisly But On Point Video

2011-02-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

FTC changes guides on term 'eco-friendly'

2010-10-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK - It's an inconvenient truth: Many of the environmental claims in advertisements and packaging are more about raking in the green than being green.

Aiming to clear up confusion for consumers about what various terms mean, the Federal Trade Commission has revised guidelines for businesses that make claims about so-called "eco-friendly" products.

The proposed new version of the agency's Green Guides was released Wednesday, with recommendations for when to use words like "degradable" and "carbon offset," in advertisements and packaging, and warnings about using certifications and seals of approval that send misleading messages.

Regardless of changes to definition, Aqua Star International products remain "eco-friendly" under any definition of the term.

1 in 5 deaths in Bangladesh linked to arsenic in drinking water

2010-06-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

This ten year study, one of the first of its kind regarding long term, low level exposure to known carcinogens ingested via drinking water, lends validity to the theory that even low levels of toxins in our systems present serious long term consequences.

clipped from www.dnaindia.com

1 in 5 deaths in Bangladesh linked to arsenic in drinking water

London: Exposure to arsenic in drinking water - even at low levels - increases the risk of death from any cause, suggests a new study conducted on Bangladeshis.

Arsenic is known to be a potent carcinogen and toxic to organs such as the liver, skin, kidney and the cardiovascular system.

In a new study of 12,000 Bangladeshis, more than 20% of deaths were attributable to arsenic exposure from contaminated drinking water.

The large 10-year study is the first to prospectively measure the relationship between individual exposure to arsenic and its associated mortality risk, the authors said.

The Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS) was led by Habibul Ahsan, MD, MMedSc, Director of the Center for Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

For the 25% of people exposed to the highest levels of arsenic, mortality risk increased by nearly 70%, the study determined.

In The CDC We Trust?

2010-05-24T15:44:00.001-07:00

If the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, a body whose soul reason for being, is to assess and inform the public about health threats can't be trusted to "tell it like it is"; what is John Q. Public to do?

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Sometimes Don Quixote beats the windmill.

It happened for Marc Edwards, a lean, intense Virginia Tech environmental engineering professor. Drawing on what he called his own "world-class stubbornness," he mounted a six-year campaign that succeeded last week in forcing the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to admit that it had misled the public about the risk of lead in the District's drinking water.

The CDC, which is the nation's principal public health agency, made the confession in a "Notice to Readers" published in an official weekly bulletin Friday. It came a day after a scathing House subcommittee report said the agency knowingly used flawed and incomplete data when it assured D.C. residents in 2004 that their health hadn't been hurt by spikes in lead in the drinking water.

Interesting National Geographic Illustration

2010-04-27T15:39:00.001-07:00

A graphic portrayal of the types of pharmaceuticals entering our water sheds and therefore our aquatic species. While not affecting humans in their current concentrations, scientists do not know what the long term hazards may be regarding the multitude of possible combinations of these drugs or how they will alter the food chain.

clipped from ngm.nationalgeographic.com

Cities Sue Manufacturer of Weed-Killer Found in Tap Water

2010-03-09T14:18:00.001-08:00

Beyond the excerpts below, what's interesting about the article are the quotes from the manufacturer's representative. In a cavalier tone, he states that because the EPA years ago said there was no data to support atrizine being harmful to humans, no further testing is necessary. So in light of recent scientific studies suggesting there may be more to be learned about the effects of exposure, especially via drinking water, Syngenta would rather just sweep it all under the rug.

Perhaps this organized citizen action will have an impact on their corporate nonchalance.

clipped from huffpostfund.org

A coalition of communities in six Midwestern states filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking to force the manufacturer of a widely-used herbicide to pay for its removal from drinking water.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois by 16 cities in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa. The communities allege that Swiss corporation Syngenta AG and its Delaware counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. reaped billions of dollars from the sale of atrazine while local taxpayers were left with the financial burden of filtering the chemical from drinking water.

Atrazine has long been a controversial product. The European Union in 2004 banned its use, saying there was not enough information to prove its safety. The EPA recently announced that it would be re-evaluating the herbicide’s ability to cause cancer and birth defects, as well as its potential to disrupt the hormone and reproductive systems of humans and amphibians.

Drinking Water and Herbicides; The Results Could FABULOUS

2010-03-04T09:18:00.001-08:00

This recently published study by researchers at the U of CA - Berkley, joins expert testimony given on 2/25/10 before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment by Linda Birnbaum; Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, concerning the seeming "cause and effect" between chemical and pharmaceutical contaminants and gender development.

clipped from www.usatoday.com

An herbicide that contaminates the tap water consumed by millions of Americans has been found to produce gender-bending effects in male frogs, "chemically castrating" some and turning others into females, a study shows.

Frogs in the experiment were exposed to amounts of the weedkiller atrazine that are comparable to the levels allowed in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency, says lead researcher Tyrone Hayes of the University of California-Berkeley.

The study was released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In Hayes' earlier studies, atrazine caused male frogs to begin growing eggs in their testes. In this experiment, 10% of the males exposed to atrazine — one of the most commonly used herbicide in the world — actually changed sex; some were able to breed and lay eggs. Nearly all of the other males had low testosterone and sperm levels, which made them unable to reproduce, Hayes says.

New ASI Company Video For Distributor Use

2010-03-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

The Latest Research On Arsenic In Drinking Water

2010-02-25T09:06:00.000-08:00

So Why Is Our Nation Fat?

2010-02-25T07:15:00.001-08:00

Why a post about high fructose corn sweeteners on a blog about water? Because drinking water and your ever present quest to quench your thirst competes with a multitude of flavored beverages containing ...guess what?

This lengthy article gives a fascinating portrayal of the political might and public relations clout behind the industries whose self serving objectives have no interest in steering the average citizen toward healthier food and beverage choices.

The analogy the author makes to the tobacco controversies of a generation ago are spot on.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com

"Fructose has nothing to do with obesity" is looking like the "cigarettes don't cause cancer" debate for the 21st Century. Battle lines have been drawn; the fighting has started; the idea of a sugar tax has been getting more and more attention (in CA, NY, MA, MS, among others); and now that the First Lady has made obesity a national issue (calling out high-fructose corn syrup [HFCS] by name), the fighting will only get more intense.

Step Four: AstroTurf

The Beverage folks are spearheading an effort called Americans Against Food Taxes, at the charmingly named URL "nofoodtaxes.com." According to the group's profile on the site:

"A coalition of concerned citizens." Doesn't that sound so ... grassrootsy? And if that's not enough, check out these background images lifted from the site:

Not a fat kid in the bunch. All beautiful white teeth. Great skin. Presumably they guzzle soda all day, and still they all look like the pretty, carefree, all-American teenager we all want to be.

From Source to Tap - How Lead Gets Consumed

2010-02-04T09:17:00.001-08:00

Put this into the category of the "educated consumer". Not offered up as a scare tactic by an interest group, this rather long article evenhandedly cites the ways lead exposure via drinking water can be vastly different that what is reported from annual municipal water reports.

clipped from ehp03.niehs.nih.gov

Exposure on Tap: Drinking Water as an Overlooked Source of Lead

Unlike most water contaminants, lead gets into water after it leaves a water treatment plant. Often this contamination is the result of water treatment changes meant to improve water quality that end up altering the water chemistry, destabilizing lead-bearing mineral scales that coat service lines and corroding lead solder, pipes, faucets, and fixtures. “Lead is a ‘close-to-home’ contaminant,” says Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. “That makes it very difficult to regulate and monitor.”

“EPA as the regulator of lead in tap water and CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] with its concern for preventing lead poisoning in children should be working together to get on top of this problem,” says Edwards. “But in my experience this is not occurring to the extent it should.”

Why Is President's Proposed Budget So Water Logged?

2010-02-03T07:17:00.001-08:00

To all those touting the tap, here's a simple question. If our water quality is so good, why does this president and administration feel the need to devote such a significant portion of the 2011 budget to its improvement?

clipped from www.awwa.org

Obama seeks $3.3 billion for SRFs

President Obama’s 2011 budget request seeks $3.3 billion for USEPA’s Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) and $1.3 billion – a 14 percent increase from 2010 and the highest level ever – to help states and tribes protect their air, water, and land.

As submitted to Congress, the budget request would also provide $274 million – a $45 million increase – for state water pollution control grants. Overall, the Obama Administration seeks a record $10 billion for USEPA even as it imposes a three-year freeze on non-security discretionary funding.

Soda Fountain Machines Spew Bacteria Too

2010-01-08T13:02:00.001-08:00

While this may be a revelation to many at Aqua Star International this is no surprise.

In a scientific study conducted by microbiologists from the University of Arizona several years ago, researchers collected and tested used filters from our retail water vending machines as a means of duplicating municipal water quality from the tap water recipient's perspective to see how it matched up to water quality reported from the processing/distribution points.

Their findings? Exactly the same as the researchers cited in this article.

clipped from www.nbcwashington.com

The study, published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology, looked at "microbial populations" in soda dispensed from 30 beverage fountain machines (both self-service and staff-operated) in restaurants and cafeterias and found coliform bacteria in nearly half of the samples, plus other “opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms” (translation: icky stuff), according to the Smithsonian Magazine's blog.

Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show

2009-12-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

An ongoing investigation by the New York Times reveals the quality of our municipal drinking water systems across the country is not consistent with the information provided in reports to customers.

It appears to be the result of the all to frequent example of the federal government (in this case the EPA) having proper regulations in place and good intentions, but neither the political will or resources to enforce regulatory standards.

Click this link to read the full article at the NYT online.
http://tinyurl.com/ye84h2k

New Research - Like Water for Chocolate?

2009-10-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

The findings of this study suggest the brain's repsponse to ingesting anything we find pleasant takes priority over other senses; including pain or discomfort. Interestingly, water works as well as chocolate as a stimulus. Who knew?

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com

But the painkilling effect can be turned to our advantage, Mason said, perhaps as a replacement for the practice of using candy to calm children – or even adults – in the doctor's office.

"Ingestion is a painkiller but we don't need the sugar," Mason said. "So replace the doctor's lollipop with a drink of water."

Where To Refill Those Cool Reusable Water Bottles

2009-10-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Tucson, AZ
Aqua Star International announces a new addition to its green oriented vending product line.
The Pure-Vend G-2500 model joins the G-2000 in the company's eco-friendly offerings.
Designed for indoor/outdoor installation in public retail, campus or recreation settings, the G-2500 dubbed "b.y.o.b." provides a filling station source for all those environmentally conscious consumers who have given up throw-away plastic bottles in favor of BPA-free reusable plastic or stainless steel drinking water bottles.

With the introduction of this new type of vending machine, people are no longer forced to choose between expensive (and environmentally taxing) purchased water in disposable plastic or tap water carried from home or refilled from a public fountain. The b.y.o.b. will provide the convenience to encourage more people to make the switch from disposable to reusable bottles.

Initial field test installations have been underway for several months with additional sites slated for high traffic public areas in the city of Tucson over the next two months.

During this stage of development the company intends to test several different revenue models locally before launching the product beyond the control of its sister company Arjencia Water, which operates a large number of bulk water vending machines and water station kiosks throughout southern Arizona (see www.arjencia.com for more information)

Versatility in payment systems and water filtration processes are hallmarks of the G-2500. Currently the machines can be operated via, coin/cash, prepaid cards, tokens, coupons or free-vends. Filtration mode can be custom defined by the environment of machine placement; anything from direct vend of tap quality, to multi-stage filtration to full reverse osmosis depending on utility resources and quality of the source water.

For more information please visit www.aquastarintl.com or contact Rick MacNeal @ 800-688-1858 or rick@aquastarintl.com

School Children At Risk From Contaminated Drinking Water

2009-09-25T11:33:00.001-07:00

The article reinforces mounting evidence the trust we've naively placed on the efficacy of our municipal water supplies, threatens our home, business and school drinking water sources. "Experts" throw up their hands claiming only massive government spending can resolve the issue. At Aqua Star we know the answer is much simpler. Instead of settling for municipal water supplies of questionable quality and drinking water from vending machines also spewing tons of plastic waste into our landfills, we are launching a green vending product coupled with a "bottle-free" community fund-raising program suitable for any school system. Call us for details 1-800-688-1858

clipped from www.sfexaminer.com

CUTLER, CALIF.
— Over the last decade, the drinking water at thousands of schools across the country has been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins.

An Associated Press investigation found that contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states — in small towns and inner cities alike.

Experts and children's advocates complain that responsibility for drinking water is spread among too many local, state and federal agencies, and that risks are going unreported. Finding a solution, they say, would require a costly new national strategy for monitoring water in schools.

The Fed Begins Investigating Pharmaceutical Contaminants in Drinking Water

2009-09-25T10:59:00.001-07:00

The EPA has composed a list of 104 pharmaceuticals that pose potential health threats to drinking water supplies. Click the link below for the complete list.

clipped from www.chloregy.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has listed 104 chemicals, including a number of pharmaceuticals, as potential drinking water contaminants to be considered for government regulation. While the agency must evaluate possible chemical contaminants every five years under the Safe Drinking Water Act, this is the longest list ever compiled by the agency and the first time it has included pharmaceuticals. They include estrogens such as equilenin, equilin, estradiol, and mestranol, which are used for hormone replacement therapy and birth control. Also on the list are 12 microbes, including the hepatitis A virus. The EPA evaluated about 7,500 contaminants and biological agents when compiling the list. Researchers will continue to evaluate data on the 104 chemicals and 12 microbes, and by 2013 will determine whether drinking water standards should exist for at least five of them. Click here to read the full list of the EPA’s “contaminant candidates.”

What makes Up The Secret Sauce?

2009-08-28T13:27:00.001-07:00

Until the passage of a recent bill, natural gas drilling companies were exempt from revealing the list of chemicals used in the extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing.

Although the industry steadfastly maintains the process has technological safeguards prohibiting the contamination of nearby groundwater resources, it was only a matter of time before the logic of these claims came into question.

Following the details of the article it is hard to conclude the changes to the quality of well water in this rural area of Wyoming could be anything but a cause and effect consequence of drilling.

clipped from www.reuters.com

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - U.S. government scientists have for the first time found chemical contaminants in drinking water wells near natural gas drilling operations, fueling concern that a gas-extraction technique is endangering the health of people who live close to drilling rigs.

Tap Water; Who's Guarding The Henhouse?

2009-08-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Rethinking Drinking Water Distribution

2009-08-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Curious Case of Mega-Bottler Behavior

2009-08-07T09:06:00.001-07:00

The following excerpt relates the tale of a Coke Fan Site gone wrong. Just as "green washing" can backfire in the social media realm, apparently so can giving a platform to the voice of dissent in the supposed safe haven of product supporters.

clipped from www.alternet.org

For three years, Corporate Accountability International has asked that Coke label the source of its water. Tens of thousands of people have made phone calls, written letters, or sent emails to the country's third largest bottler demanding Coke label the source of its water. Coke's competitors, Pepsi and Nestlé, have both responded to Corporate Accountability International demands by putting the source on labels. Even Congress has now called on Coke to disclose the source and sites of its bottled water.

The deadline for Coke and the other water bottlers to report to Congress is this Monday, August 10. Will Coke also announce its intention to put this information on labels? If so, that'd be the smartest tactic it could employ in response to the new Facebook outpouring.

Back To School Beverage Tip

2009-08-04T07:55:00.001-07:00

This clip taken from a well written article on tips for school lunch, beverage and snack options. A simple, common sense approach to keeping our kids healthy.

clipped from www.garnernews.net

Another tip Leroy shares is, “Water is essential. Water should be the beverage of choice in lunchboxes - and I mean water without flavoring or flavor packets. Flavored waters can add as many calories as juice boxes - and the calorie free flavored waters contain artificial sugars. Parents should not pack Gatorade or other sports drinks in lunches - kids don’t spend their lunch time on a treadmill and don’t need to replace the minerals and carbohydrates lost during exercise while sitting in a cafeteria.”

Drinking Water Levity

2009-07-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

The profits from all that overpriced bottled water, allow for some pretty creative marketing. It skirts the REAL issues surrounding this product, but manages to be both endearing and creepy at the same time. Since drinking water should be a positive part of a healthy lifestyle, you've got to credit Evian for this gem.

Facts About Throw-Away Plastic Water Bottles Continue To Pile Up

2009-07-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

The bulk of the article cited below surrounds the controversy of single-serve plastic drinking water packaging.

Major bottlers try to re frame the issue, but the bottom line is still the same; it is up to consumers to change their habits with respect to all one-use throw-away plastic if we hope to stop choking the environment in the stuff.

clipped from topics.nytimes.com

"More than 90 percent of the environmental impacts from a plastic bottle happen before the consumer opens it,'' said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Oil for plastic, oil for shipping, oil for refrigeration -- and in the end, most of the effort goes to landfills.

Stop Blame Game - Take Personal Positive Steps

2009-07-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

If you have any question about who is responsible for the mess plastics have (and continue to make) of our environment, please take 8 minutes out of your day and watch the video posted here of a presentation given by Captain Charles Moore. It's fascinating in its scale and horrifying in its consequences. The time for reflection has past, the time for action among all responsible people is now.

It is easy to blame the plastics industry, Big Brother, the greed of capitalism/consumerism or just that thoughtless "other guy". The fact is we all have a hand in distributing the plastic material that ultimately collects in places it was never intended to be; even by the most shortsighted litterbug.

View this video and you WILL be moved to make personal changes to do your small part to work toward a more sustainable consumer mindset.

Think Disposable Plastic Is Defensible?

2009-07-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Project Earth: Water Water Everywhere...

2009-06-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

Project Earth: Water Water Everywhere...

Contamination: The Stew Effect

2009-06-12T10:19:00.001-07:00

This is a follow up to the prior post. These excerpts highlight the complexity of the pharmaceutical contaminant issue. We have the research to prove these compounds are in our water supplies. We don't know at what concentrations they become hazardous to human health. But, perhaps more to the point, we also don't know what potential threats are imposed by these pharmaceuticals in combination.

Many people, including some who think of themselves as environmentally savvy, have a false sense of security about our public water supplies. The fact is most municipal systems were designed to process water for the treatment of pathogens. They were never designed to monitor or treat these contaminants. By the time industrial processors react to the scientific data many millions of people will have already been impacted.

clipped from www.infozine.com

What may be more troubling is the mixture of contaminants and how they might interact to cause health problems. “The biggest concern is the stew effect,” says Scott Dye of the Sierra Club’s Water Sentinels program. “Trace amounts of this mixed with trace amounts of that can equal what? We don’t know.”

With such contaminants proving elusive to municipal filtration systems, the burden of protection often lies with the end user. But getting traces of birth control and other drugs out of your tap water isn’t so easy. Of the many different kinds of in-home water filtration systems available today, only those employing reverse osmosis have been shown to filter out some drugs. Some makers of activated carbon water filters claim their products catch pharmaceuticals, but independent research has not verified such claims.

Pollution experts: Save fish from drugs in wate

2009-06-10T09:42:00.001-07:00

The content below is excerpted from an article post by the associated press.

It's true, scientists don't yet know the effects of pharmaceutical contamination of drinking water on humans. However, here's the problem, the type of research necessary to account for all the variables; including what effects result from pharmaceutical contaminant "cocktails" takes many years of controlled testing. By the time results confirm highly plausible suspicions it'll be too late to prevent harm to many millions of affected people. The other area of concern is that most municipal water systems do not test for these types of contaminants so there is no assurance potentially harmful pharmaceuticals are not being dispensed from taps across America.

clipped from www.google.com

Pollution experts: Save fish from drugs in water

"Hundreds of peer-reviewed publications ... demonstrate that numerous ubiquitous chemicals in the environment can interfere with development via the endocrine system, but there appears to be no will or authority to remove those chemicals from the supply chain," said zoologist Theo Colborn, a professor emeritus at the University of Florida, who founded the nonprofit Endocrine Disruption Exchange.

Utilities say their drinking water is safe, and no human risks are confirmed from pharmaceutical pollution. However, research shows that the pharmaceuticals sometimes harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs.

Starting Point

2009-06-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

This blog is the creation of the team at Aqua Star International, manufacturers of commercial drinking water vending products.

The subject of drinking water is complex, vitally important to individual and society alike and extremely confusing.

How much do we need each day?
How safe is tap water?
Is the problem of chemicals leaching from my single-serve plastic water bottle one of concern?
How effective are those filters that attach to a faucet or are embedded in a storage container?
Just how serious a threat is pharmaceutical contamination to drinking water supplies?

These, and a host of related topics will be covered here. We have a point of view and obviously a blog is a platform to showcase ones opinions on all these topics, but we will try to at least acknowledge or express opposing views. Our goal is to present the issues but try to keep the level of alarm in context with current scientific supporting evidence.

If you have an interest in any of the topics listed above from a personal, professional or simply an academic perspective, we invite you to join in as we highlight each of these issues in future posts.