Reusing Personal Water Bottles

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=82 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#33CCFF" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><B>Seven  Creeks  Roadside  Spring Water</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Seven Creeks Roadside Spring Water"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id427.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Health "><B><IMG SRC="0720e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A><B>  </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>    </B><A HREF="id438.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wine and Bier"><B><IMG SRC="0710e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id441.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Office Water Coolers"><B><IMG SRC="0730e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <I>Reusing Personal Water Bottles</I></div> <div> WPVI-TV</div> <div> 4100 City Line Avenue</div> <div> Philadelphia PA 19131</div> <bR> <div> Saturday, January 25, 2003</div> <bR> <div> Re-using Water Bottles An Action News Special Report </div> <bR> <div> If you've ever re-used a water bottle for the sake of convenience, you're not alone. </div> <div> But an Action News test has found that bottle may contain some things you don't want to drink. </div> <bR> <div> We started at the Sporting Club in Center City, where nearly everyone on the fitness floor had a water bottle close by. Many of those bottles were once sealed at a factory with special spring or filtered water very long ago. Debbie Maser/Center City: "I don't know how many times I've re-filled this particular one, but I will refill them until I throw them away." Judy Kasson/Center City: "I have other bottles but, I just, you get attached to it...and I guess, out of cheapness, too." You'd think refilling a water bottle with more clean water would be okay, right? Art Brown/Media, PA.: "I've thought about it, but I guess I just didn't think it would affect me." </div> <bR> <div> We asked admitted re-fillers to trade. We gave them sports bottles that are made to be re-used and took six of their "old reliables" for a bacteria test at QC Laboratories in Bucks County. One of the bottles had been re-used about forty times; another, only twice. Chemist John Pscolar did two tests; one for all bacteria, another for coliforms -- serious, disease-causing bacteria. Bottled water is only supposed to have 1 bacterium per milliliter when it leaves the factory. <I>All SIX of our refilled, reused bottles exceeded that. Our counts ranged from only 5 to more than 5,000.</I> One of the bottles with the highest counts had only been re-filled twice. </div> <bR> <div> None of our bottles had dangerous coliforms, but we found plenty of the germs that can cause bad breath or cavities. Our test demonstrated that anyone with a cold could be exposed to that cold all over again if they keep reusing a bottle. John Pcsolar/QC Laboratories: "What you have here is just background organisms; what could be present in your saliva, that just stayed on as a residual in the bottle." </div> <bR> <div> Sometimes, if you look on the label of your bottled water you'll even find the words "Do Not Refill." </div> <div> The International Bottled Water Association says these bottles were just not designed to be reused or even washed repeatedly -- as some sports bottles are. Even though the bacteria we found are not medically dangerous, they're high on the yuck factor. </div> <bR> <div> I'll have to change my habits, too! The bottled water association says don't throw your water bottles in the trash -- recycle them. </div> <bR> <div> We at Seven Creeks Spring feel that reusing personal water bottles is acceptable provided you rinse them with some chlorinated tap water after they are empty and check the under the cap for black mold. See our <A HREF="id437.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water Jug Information">water bottle section</A> for more cleaning instructions.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>