When we are talking about the Earth’s water, that’s not always a good thing.
The water you may be drinking right now – whether it’s a simple glass of water, as part of your soup, in your soda, tea or coffee, any beverage or food containing or made with water…maybe the same water dinosaurs drank from a lake or a pond, all those millions of years ago!
Earth’s water…OUR water is a FINITE resource…the same water that rained down on the Earth since the beginning of time; that carved out the Grand Canyon, that sits atop the tallest mountains as snow and ice, that flows from every stream and river…is part of one big, continuous cycle, repeating over and again and again, never ending. Without constantly moving around the world, nothing would grow and nothing – no human or other animal – would survive.
This cycle, is also called the hydrologic cycle … hydro coming from the Greek for water and logic, also with a Greek origin, meaning study.
Think back to elementary school where you may have learned about water for the first time. Water comes in several forms…remember?
Solid – ice, glaciers, snow
Liquid – lakes, rivers, oceans
Gas – clouds and our favorite (NOT) – humidity!
Here’s how the cycle works…
Let’s start in the oceans; about 97% of all Earth’s water is in the oceans where the sun heats surface water turning it into a gas. This is called evaporation. Tiny droplets of water rise into the sky. When they cool, they form clouds by a process called condensation.
When those clouds become loaded with a lot of water and the wind begins to push them over land…depending on where those clouds are – whether it’s warm or cold – rain, snow or even ice begin to fall over the land. Some of that liquid water will find its way into fresh waterways – rivers, lakes and streams.
Some will land as snow and remain frozen for quite a while until certain weather conditions will begin to melt it. Despite all that snow and ice we see even during summer months, very little water is trapped in a solid form.
Water which has landed on Earth will also find its way into ground water and aquifers. Some goes to hydrate plants and animals. We humans also tap this source for our drinking, cooking and bathing water and the rest, goes right back into waterways flowing to the ocean to start the cycle all over again.
Now, when the dinosaurs were enjoying a drink of water, that water was clean and pure. Not anymore and that’s the problem. Most contaminants rising into the air WILL become a part of this continuous cycle. That brings us to: Acid Rain
Acid Rain is rain that becomes acidic by a chemical reaction, where toxic mixtures like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. This stuff can rise very high into the atmosphere where it can be carried away by air currents for hundreds of miles. There they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals resulting in more acidic pollutants, known as acid rain, falling back to earth in the form of rain, sleet, hail, snow and dust.
It should not come as any surprise that Acid Rain is caused by us…humans, when we burn fossil fuels. A very small amount is caused by natural causes such as volcanoes or wildfires. The worst offenders, that is the biggest source of acid rain pollutants comes from power plants burning coal to produce electricity, as well as the exhaust from cars, trucks, busses and construction vehicles.
The same toxic pollutants leading to acid rain also create smog and fine particle pollution, both of which harm human health. Because sulfur- and nitrogen-based air pollution travel long distances, they are a problem for everyone - and every living thing - around the world.
In humans, acid rain can lead to respiratory disease and worsen existing lung conditions. Mercury contamination in the food chain is linked to acid rain. Fish, fish-eating birds and fish-eating mammals…that would be us…are effected.
Let’s look at our water supply. Acid Rain water in private wells and city supplies become acidic and therefore corrosive. Remember what happened in Flint, MI and now in Newark, NJ? Acidic, corrosive water is aggressive. It will break down copper and lead pipes causing those metals to contaminate water supplies. High lead levels in drinking water makes people sick. Worst yet, it leads causes irreparable neurological damage, especially in young children.
When acid rain gets into the soil, all wildlife suffers. The nasty stuff seeps into the soil dissolving and eliminating nutrients, namely calcium, necessary for healthy trees and plants. While doing that damage, it also releases aluminum from the soil, which trees absorb. Not good…as aluminum kills roots, making it harder for trees and other plants to get water, weakening the entire structure causing healthy trees to die from extremes of cold, drought or disease where they may otherwise easily survive.
Without the calcium in the ground, insects, snails and other calcium-shelled invertebrates that some birds eat to survive simply don’t make it. Aluminum released from the soil makes its way into waterways destroying adult fish gills, suffocating them. It’s also effects reproduction by making fish egg membranes too tough for hatchlings to break.
But there is one insect that seems to thrive in acidic conditions. Great news, right? NO…it the dreaded Black Fly. Studies out of Canada show the larvae of black flies, the insect making outdoor life miserable during the spring in the Northeast US and southern Canada, seem to thrive in acidic waters. In addition, the toxic rain kills the fish that eat black fly larvae.
Do you think maybe our buildings are safe? Think again! Acidic rain erodes stone, brick and concrete buildings. Cemetery headstones and mausoleums, bronze statues and monuments are not immune. Copper roofs and gutters as well as leaded stained-glass windows can all be damaged. It also errodes plumbing pipes, causing metal contaminants, like Lead, to find their way into our water supply.
Fog and Smog in some areas can become acid clouds that hang around high mountain peaks or at ground level. This certainly is not healthy when it comes to breathing in that vapor.
When Acid rain becomes a part of the Hydrological Cycle…the water cycle…the pollutants within can stay there as a part of our finite resource.
As I said above, water is a FINITE resource. Just in the five minutes it has taken to read this blog, Americans have used approximately 74.5 million gallons of water; an average of 21.5 billion gallons of water per day. With only 2.5% of the Earths water being freshwater, and less than 1% being drinkable (after filtration and sanitization measures are taken), and 25% of humans not having access to basic sanitized water, it makes you wonder why we have taken it so much for granted?
Imagine how much water we are LITERALLY bottling up and then throwing away in capped bottles? The city of Newark brought in 20,000 plastic bottles with precious water inside to distribute to its residents during the Lead water crisis, and realized they were expired. They were taken away to be disposed of out of “an abundance of caution”. The only reason they expire is because of fears of the plastic bottle itself (but that’s another story..), but after the eye roll of wondering how it happened, I thought.. wow… a small amount of our precious finite resource is locked away in a plastic bottle that experts say may take up to 500 years to decompose. We are sure that someone didn’t sit and open every one of them and pour the un-expired water down the drain to go back into our precious water cycle did they?
About PUR2o
We are striving to provide as many people as possible with filtered, purified, naturally alkaline and ionized water for drinking and cooking straight from the tap, for three reasons. We care about the health of YOU, the health of our PLANET and the health of your POCKET!
THE HEALTH OF YOU
Our goal is to provide as many people as possible with pure, crystal clear, safe & healthy water.
PUR2o Alkaline water is shown to benefit: Overall health and energy, weight management, muscle stimulation, brain power, digestive system, mood, body temperature, youthfulness, complexion, lifespan, and boosting your immune system.
THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET
We are also committed to creating a greater awareness of how plastic and plastic bottles are polluting our planet and our bodies by providing the best water out of your tap, eliminating the amount of plastic we dispose of and how much water we consume out of plastic bottles.
THE HEALTH OF YOUR POCKET
Aside from all the health benefits of Alkaline Water, you save a tremendous amount of money with our systems! Did you know?…. If you drink eight glasses of water each day, it will cost approximately $55 per year; vs $1,700 if you were to drink the same amount of bottled water instead. The PUR2o system pays for its self in only one year by one persons water consumption.
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