Bear a plastic water bottle to your own demise; the pressure of public view is forming against you. From big rating documentaries, to books and politics, the red hot topic around is the terror that is bottled water and the waste of resources the industry generates.

The production, transporting and waste of water in petrochemical plastic bottles demands huge quantities of water along with energy, and generates tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the recent documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig claims “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 team of Tapped are pushing the film with their across-America roadshow, taking donations from citizens to take down their water bottle numbers and changing their used plastic water bottle in exchange for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

Another such film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. From the pen of Annie Leonard of the critically acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this new film shows the process that is used to tricking Americans into wasting at least hundreds of millions of bottles of water a week, as opposed to a few cents cost for a drink from the tap. Check out the documentary on You Tube.

Through her book ‘Bottlemania’, author Elizabeth Royte explores one of the greatest marketing heists of the last century and demands a sudden environmental wakeup call. She asks the red flags we must eventually answer to. Who distributes the water supply? What could happen when a bottled-water company seizes your town’s water source? Is the water that comes from your tap absolutely safe? What is the environmental price of production, transporting and disposal of one plastic water bottle?

Politicians all around the world are realising that they are required to start the campaign – markedly when the places in which they work are large consumers of bottled water. How often do we witness a politician at a political debate drinking from a water bottle. It is probable that they might be able to use a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, stated “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 community in Australia to prevent the retail of bottled water. About 60 towns in the American states and a handful in Canada and the United Kingdom have lately prevented spending taxpayer dollars on bottled water.

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

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.