Looking for drinking water containers? A drinking water container might seem like a simple thing, with little cause for concern or caution. It might seem like just a matter of "taste". But, there are some facts that you should know.
I'm going to assume that you have a good home purification system that removes contaminants such as lead, chlorine, THMs, VOCs, cysts, herbicides, pesticides, medications and other traces that are unsafe and unhealthy for consumption. So, you have the purest water that there is.
You even have a shower head filter, because you know that chemical contaminants can be absorbed through the skin. But, when you go to buy drinking water containers, you might just be looking for a nice color, something that matches your jogging outfit. You should be more concerned about what materials are used to make your new drinking water container.
For many reasons, glass is the best material for drinking water containers. But, in some cases, like for hiking or jogging, it is just more practical to have plastic or polycarbonate. Drop a glass drinking water container down a mountainside and not only will you have no fresh water, but you'll end up polluting the hillside with shattered glass.
So, when you are shopping for unbreakable drinking water containers, be sure to look for a label that says "BPA-Free."
As a liquid sits in a drinking water container, compounds used to make that container seep into the liquid. That's why there is a different "taste" to waters stored in plastic. If it's flavored, then you may not recognize the taste, but the compounds are in there, just the same.
The chemical composition of glass is different. Plastics break down over time, particularly with repeated washings. Glass will pretty much last forever.
You can actually "see" this happening as you reuse plastic drinking water containers. The outer surface becomes less smooth. The same thing is going on inside the bottle.
The heat from the dishwasher and caustic dish washing detergents cause further breakdown of the polymers, so if you typically use a drinking water container for a long period of time, there will be some chemicals absorption any time your purified water is put into the drinking water container.
Now, you are probably wondering what BPA is and why you should be worried about it.
As far back as the 1930s when they first began the mass production of polymers, BPA was suspected of being hazardous to humans. Scientific studies were conducted over a period of ten years beginning in 1997.
Researchers learned that, in the body, BPA acts like the hormone estrogen and disrupts the function and production of the body's own hormones. The compound also disrupts the function of the endocrine system, including the thyroid and other glands. It also causes changes in breast and prostate tissue that predispose the cells to cancer.
Manufacturers have found acceptable safer replacements for BPA and some of them are using them, as a health precaution. So, when you are shopping for drinking water containers, the best choices are glass, but when an unbreakable choice is needed, look for BPA-free.
