For those of us living in the desert, a reusable water bottle is a must-have. With prolonged triple digit temperature days, hydration is vital to our lives. The advice to “drink 8 glasses of water a day” doesn’t always hold; you often need more. The Mayo Clinic says to prevent dehydration you should drink a glass of water:
• With each meal and between meals
• Before, during and after exercise
• If you feel thirsty Reusable water bottles are a convenient and easy way to stay hydrated. “So are plastic bottles you grab off the shelf at a grocery store,” you might think.
Here are reasons to consider changing that purchasing habit.
1. Reusable water bottles are an eco-friendly alternative to single use plastic water bottles, which are a major contributor to plastic waste and often end up in landfills. (Approximately 91% of plastic is not recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.) Americans buy 50 billion water bottles per year, according to Earthday.org. By using a reusable water bottle, you could save an average of 156 plastic bottles annually.
2. Reusable bottles save money. Tap water is 3,000% less expensive per gallon. Tap water averages $0.02 per gallon while bottled water averages $0.64 per gallon, a 2022 Harvard study found.
3. Bottled water tastes no better than tap water provided by Coachella Valley Water District. (Most bottled water comes from municipal taps.) CVWD’s customers enjoy groundwater pumped from the aquifer that is nearly pristine and requires no or minimal treatment to meet state and federal water quality standards.
Throughout most of the Coachella Valley, only a small amount of chlorine is added as a precautionary measure to ensure compliance with drinking water regulations. In addition, CVWD staff annually collect more than 18,000 water samples. Most samples are tested every day at the District’s state-certified water quality laboratory. For more information about water, go to CVWD.org or call 760-398-2651
