Tap It Talk: Water & Style Archives

WaterGeeks Filtered Stainless Steel Bottles, Now Benefiting Haiti Earthquake Victims

By Julie Knapp on January 27, 2010 4:05 PM | No Comments

If you're an avid tap water drinker, but like it filtered so you know your H2O is pure, the WaterGeeks have a great solution for water on-the-go. Their Filtered Stainless Steel Bottles are made from unlined, food grade stainless steel and come with a filtering cap. You can choose between two different filter types that last for up to 800 refills. One removes chlorine, bad taste, smells and lead, while the other works even harder to also filter out any bacteria or ground water contaminants.

Even better than their innovative water bottle designs, the WaterGeeks give back to important water organizations. Now through February 4 they'll donate $5 to Hope for Haiti from every filtered stainless steel bottle purchased online. They already sent 500 Bio-Filtered Bottles to the charity, which will provide Haiti earthquake victims with over 40,000 gallons of clean water.

In the past, WaterGeeks supported the Tap Project, and from November 2008 through June 2009 they donated at least 20% of the price of their premium water products, including the filtered sport water bottles, to the US Fund for UNICEF. Plus, they also donated $9 from every sale of the FLOW DVD.

Olympic US Ski and Snowboard Teams to Use New Wave Enviro Water Bottles in Vancouver

By Julie Knapp on January 25, 2010 9:44 AM | No Comments

As the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboard Team gear up for 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, they'll have a brand new water bottle. New Wave Enviro will provide stainless steel reusable water bottles to the athletes so they can fill up with tap water and stay hydrated during the Games.

Skiers and snowboarders like Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, Marco Sullivan, Ted Ligety and Gretchen Bleiler will receive the bottles. They're made from New Wave Enviro's #304 Food Grade Seriously Safe Stainless Steel, without any type of liner or coating inside.

If you're a fan of the games or plan to cheer on the team at the Olympics in Vancouver, you can get a bottle for yourself. They're available in either a 600 ml size with a carabiner clip to attach to your ski jacket or bag, or a 40 oz size that comes with a stainless steel loop cap.

How Your Bargain Fashion Habit Hurts Our Water Supply

By Julie Knapp on December 31, 2009 5:59 PM | No Comments

The next time you spot a must-have bargain fashion knockoff, you might want to consider more than its price tag before you pull out your credit card. Fast fashion pieces at budget-friendly, trend-driven stores like H&M, Zara, Topshop and Forever 21, are far from eco-friendly and can even impact drinking water.

Much of the cheap trendy clothing at these stores is shipped to the US from all around the world. Often, clothes is and produced from conventional cotton grown with pesticides on irrigation-based farms that can strain water supplies. Even the dyes used can lead to water pollution.

Take a simple cotton graphic t-shirt made in China, for example. In an article in Miller-McCune magazine, Chris Wood writes: "Only about 10 percent of dye wastes are recycled, and about a third of the rest flows directly to the environment. In provinces like Xinjiang, this waste is a major contributor to industrial and municipal pollution so severe that nearly 1 in 4 of China's 1.3 billion people drink contaminated water every day."

Not all foreign cotton producers are quite so bad. For example, cotton farmers in sub-Saharan Africa use six times less pesticides and fertilizers than those in China. But that hardly means the environmental impact is zero.

Now that $19.99 price tag has a higher cost, right? Are cheap fashion trends really worth ruining another countries water supply over? Not to mention the fact that the poorly made clothing often only lasts a season--or as long as the trend continues--before getting thrown away to spend the rest of its life in a landfill. So, next time you're in the mood for shopping, consider where your clothing comes from, what it's made out of and how long it'll stay in your wardrobe's rotation to determine its real cost.

Photo by jamesmellor on flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Jackson Browne Tour Bans Bottled Water

By William Schwartz on December 4, 2009 10:35 AM | No Comments

Last month, musician and occasional activist Jackson Browne, came out strongly against bottled water in an interview with FakePlasticFish.com that we reported here.

This month Jackson Browne has taken the next step: His whole tour has quit using bottled water. His 6 city US tour and 6 city Japanese tour will now be bottle-less. Browne is requiring everyone involved in the tour, including the roadies to carry their own refillable water bottles.

As Browne said in his interview last month, he will never buy bottled water, even at the airport. He empties his bottle before security and refills it again afterward.

We do want to let the Jackson Browne tour know, TapIt is now in 10 states. If you happen to be in Des Moines', Portland, San Francisco or elsewhere, the TapIt network has got you covered. Perfect for the traveling musician.

For Hydrated and Stylish Commute, Refill at Grand Central's Water Fountain

By Kylie Harper on November 17, 2009 9:44 AM | 9 Comments

The NY Times reported this morning on Grand Central Terminal's beautiful drinking water fountain. The fountain has been there since the terminal opened in 1913 - although most people don't notice it, preferring instead to pay $2 for water in a plastic bottle.

Rivaling any fountain in Europe, the bubbler sports carvings of oak leaves and acorns -- a Vanderbilt family symbol - and is set into a marble wall. Stylish!

Upon testing, the NY Times found the water to be lead free, and after a phone call to Metro North, discovered that Grand Central's two fountains are cleaned twice a day - no safety concerns there!

So next time you're in Grand Central - don't reach for your wallet, go looking for this beautiful fountain instead. You'll save yourself some cash and reduce plastic waste that ends up in landfills!

Photo: Josh Haner, The NY Times

Atlanta Brewery Debuts First Beer From Harvested Rainwater

By Kylie Harper on October 30, 2009 1:16 PM | No Comments

Atlanta's 5 seasons brewing recently debuted its first beer made from harvested rainwater. Working with Rain Harvest Systems, who installed a 6 stage filtration system followed by a dual-beam ultraviolet sterilization, 5 seasons brewing has created high quality water that they believe tastes better than municipal tap water and results in a smoother, better tasting beer.

So, if you're in the Atlanta area, pay them a visit in Prado, Alpharetta, or at their new restaurant on the Westside.

What is Net Zero Water and Is It Possible?

By Kylie Harper on October 28, 2009 10:27 AM | 1 Comment

While searching around the 100K house website this morning, I came across the concept of Net Zero Water. Now you all know what Net Zero Energy is - building with zero net energy consumption, zero carbon emissions annually and being 'off the grid.' Well, Net Zero Water is a similar concept.

In order to be considered 'water independent' a building needs to capture all precipitation, manage its storm water runoff and re-use all household wastewater.

Wastewater can be considered either greywater or blackwater (water that has come into contact with human waste or other organic matter) and different types of water require different types of treatment. Rainwater can be captured, stored, and treated with a relatively small amount of energy. Rainwater is fairly clean - it just requires ultra-violet sterilization to be used for drinking purposes. Greywater can be naturally filtered in a constructed wetlands system, or living machine.

Now you have to admit, the concept of Net Zero Water is a tough call, even for those of us who live in areas that get a lot of rain. For people living in Arid regions of the U.S. its basically impossible. But if you're building and you want to build green, you can opt for a greywater system. This one is a nice little streamlined stand alone system designed to serve a typical household of 4 - 6 people. It captures water from your bath and shower, cleans it and channels it to your toilets. After all, why flush clean drinking water!

Find Free Tap Water in Rome

By Kylie Harper on October 27, 2009 1:48 PM | No Comments

Summer holidays are over I know, but I wanted to give you this little travel tip anyway because I know there are a lot of people out there who, like me, prefer Europe in the Fall (no waiting in line, it's cooler, it's cheaper and residents are back from their own summer vacations.)

So here's the tip, if you're going to Rome, take your reusable water bottle with you. Rome has about 2500 drinking water fountains (or "nasoni"), with good clean water spouting forth. There are maps that you can download to help you find them - although I sometimes prefer to wander aimlessly hoping to strike it lucky, you never know what else you'll find. Globespotters has more about the fountains and how to get free Rome fountain maps.

If you're used to using TapIt, and this map printing business seems a little 'dial-up' for you, have no fear. The Director of one of the maps, Watermap, hopes to release an iphone application in the near future that will show you all the locations and even provide users with information on the water they're about to drink. Bravo!

Photo: Une fontaine dans Borghese from Flickr under Creative Commons License

Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas Made By Recycling Plastic Water Bottles

By Julie Knapp on October 20, 2009 3:00 PM | 1 Comment

Looking for a homemade Halloween costume idea? Why not put old plastic water bottles to good use? We found five amazing DIY costume ideas for Halloween that will save bottles from the landfill -- later, you can recycle them. Since we bet you're not buying bottled water anymore, look for old ones lurking around in the back of your cupboards, ask friends and family or be on the watch in your neighborhood. If you come up short, sign up for Freecycle.org and use the site to round up some nearby.

Plastic Queen: Use old plastic water bottles or soda bottles to make accessories for a girly, modern costume. You'll use two bottle bottoms, a zipper and some sewing skills to make the bubble clutch. Then cut plastic water bottles into strips and color with permanent markers to make beads for a colorful bracelet. Photo and idea via Greenupgrader, inset via Threadbanger.

The Paparazzi: Don't bother dressing up as one paparazzi photographer, dress up as the entire paparazzi with lots of flashes. Collect as many water bottles as you can in different sizes to create the backdrop of camera flashes. Then go through your (and your friends') past Halloween costumes for a bunch of masks to include as your subjects. Bring your real camera on Halloween to catch anyone in a celebrity costume who reaches for a bottle of water. Photo and idea via Mental Floss.

Scuba Diver: Dress up as a scientist ready to explore the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in DIY scuba gear. Here, the costume is shown on a child, but we think it's okay for adults, too. Dress up in a wet suit or a rash guard and swim suit. Get a big pair of goggles and attach pictures of fish or create underwater shapes using craft foam. Unless you want to walk around in real flippers, make flipper shaped covers out of blue craft foam and attach them to your shoes. Finally, your air tank is made from two plastic bottles, the bigger the better. Fill them with blue tissue paper, attach plastic tubing for your breathing tube and some duct tape and craft foam add the finishing touches. Photo and idea via Parents magazine.

Suit of Armor: Plastic bottles are designed to last for centuries. Because of their abundance and durability, designer Kosuke Tsumura thought they'd be the perfect material for a suit of armor. We think so too, though this costume gets a difficulty rating that's off-the-charts-hard! If you want to give it a try, you'll need to slice up lots and lots of PET bottles and sew the pieces together. If you can pull this off, we bet you'll win the costume contest. Then again, maybe you should just start with a plastic water bottle sword? Photo and idea via Pink Tentacle.

Recycled Robot: For this robot costume, which is fun for kids and adults alike, you can use lots of recycled items. The biggest part of the costume comes from cardboard boxes -- find one that your body can fit into and another smaller one the size of your head. Use plastic bottle tops to create buttons on the front of the box. The bottles, use 20-ounce or bigger, become your robotic hands. You'll cut the tops and bottoms off of the soda bottles and cut the remaining part in half length-wise to make them. If the costume is for kids, the bottles can even work as hard plastic robot arms. Photo and idea via How Did I Do It?

TapIt Listed in Treehugger's 100 iPhone Apps for Green Shopping, Eating, Travel and Fun

By Kylie Harper on October 12, 2009 7:05 PM | No Comments

TapIt is proud to be listed in Treehugger's 100 iPhone Apps for 'green' shopping, eating, travel and fun. If you haven't downloaded any 'green' Apps yet, take a look at this list - it'll whip you into eco-shape in about a second. From calculating your carbon footprint to finding the best vegan restaurants to finding water (hehe), you'll be in eco-heaven.

Picture: treehugger.com

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