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Read this if: You drink bottled water and never thought about how much you spend or if you are just a good environmental spirit searching for zen

Save: as much as $1,825 (depending on how much, and what type, of bottled water you drink) and the environment

Gain: pure, clean, filtered water on the go, without the hefty price tag

Cost: around $10, then around $6 for replacement filters

It’s not a new concept that drinking plenty of water is essential for good health – in fact, according to the Mayo Clinic, your body is made up of around 60% water (more in babies). The generally accepted view is adults should aim to drink around eight glasses of water a day for optimum health benefits – which equates to around 2 litres, or half a gallon. So far so easy.

Ok, so where do you get your daily water allowance from? Clearly the cheapest way is drinking tap water, but it might not be the cleanest option – in the US, testing by the Environmental Working Group conducted between 2004 and 2009 showed over 300 pollutants present in their tap water. Nice.

Statistics in the UK seem to show a better picture, with their tap water considered one of the cleanest and safest in the world according to Water UK.  But it still contains chemicals, most notably chlorine and fluoride, which often impact the taste of the water – what’s more, there is still some debate as to whether these chemicals pose longer term health threats

An obvious alternative is bottled water – which is fine until you consider the environmental impact.  According to the recycling group Recoup, people in the UK alone throw away 13 billion plastic bottles a year.  When you consider that only 1 in 5 are recycled on average, and it could take 1,000 years for each of the other bottles to decompose, you start to realise the extent of the problem.

Then you factor in the cost – according to the website Drop the Prop, Americans spend $15 billion a year on bottled water, which can cost as much as $10 a gallon.  So if you were regularly paying $5 for your daily half gallon, you could spend as much as $1,825 a year on bottled water- scary! [1]

Of course, in the home a lot of us are now used to a new happy medium that solves the problem – the water filter (the most well-known of these is probably the Brita water filter).  I have one of these in my fridge and they are certainly fantastic for home use – you can even fill a reusable bottle with the filtered water before you leave the house.  Perfect – but there’s just one problem.  What do you do when you’re on the move or away from home?

Enter the Water Bobble (See all Sports Water Bobbles)
a fantastic innovation from American designer Karim Rashid.  This smart little bottle has a carbon filter built into the lid – so it filters your water as you drink it, removing all of those nasty chemicals and bacteria that are found in your tap water.   What’s more, it’s made from 100% recycled polymer, and each filter is good for up to 300 refills, so you’re being ultra-friendly to the environment too.  And seeing as you can fill it up using plain old tap water, the costs are a fraction of bottled water – genius!

The light, sleek design means you can literally take the Water Bobble (See all Sports Water Bobbles)
anywhere – in the car, to the gym, on holiday.  Even hot Hollywood celebrity Kristen Bell uses one – and if it’s good enough for Kristen, it’s good enough for me!

If you liked this article you may also enjoy our article on water conservation: Every Step Counts: Water Saving Shower heads

Buy a Brita Water Filter at Amazon:

Brita Water Filter

Hear from the Water Bobble designer, Karim Rashid:

Water Bobble

Listen to the interview with Kristen Bell talking about Water Bobble:

How to Drink More Water

[1] Calculation assumes a half gallon costs $5 and you buy one every day of the year