Take a plastic water bottle to your own peril; the pressure of public view is going on you. From big rating documentaries, to books and campaigns, the hottest debate in town is the menace that is bottled water and the waste of resources that the industry demonstrates.

The producing, transporting and disposal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles consumes large quantities of water along with energy, and produces ridiculous quantities of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the hot new documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig states “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The crew behind Tapped are promoting the show with their across-America roadshow, asking donations from citizens to lower their water bottle waste and taking their old plastic water bottle for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

A similar film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. From the pen of Annie Leonard of the famous ‘The Story of Stuff’, this animated film displays the process that is used to conning Americans into purchasing around five hundred million bottles of water each week, despite the option of a few cents cost for a drink from the tap. Find her film on You Tube.

In her book ‘Bottlemania’, investigator Elizabeth Royte demonstrates one of the greatest marketing takeovers of the last century and demands a sudden environmental alarm. She explores the questions we must come to understand. Who has ownership of the water? What can happen when a bottled-water factory possesses your town’s water source? Is the water coming out of your tap wholly safe? What really is the environmental factor of producing, transportation and disposal of a single plastic water bottle?

Politicians around the globe are beginning to understand that they have to start the campaign – markedly when the buildings where they collate are major consumers of bottled water. How often do we witness a politician at a debate drinking from a water bottle. They might be able to drink from a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, held that “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”

In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first group from Australia to prevent the retail of bottled water. At least 60 towns in the United States and a handful of towns in Canada and the UK have lately banned the expenditure of taxpayer dollars on bottled water.

It is doubtless that this issue will be brought to the table during World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the globe’s most time-sensitive water-related dilemmas.

Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.

You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.

Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.

Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.

Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.

Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.

Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.

With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.

While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.

Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.

Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.