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Bear a plastic water bottle at your own peril; the tide of popular opinion is going on you. From popular rating documentaries, to the written word and campaigns, the biggest issue on the soapbox is the menace around bottled water and the waste of resources that the industry forces.

The production, moving and disposal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles consumes tremendous waste of water as well as energy, and pumps out tremendous quantities of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the hot new 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 crew behind Tapped are pushing the movie with an across-America roadshow, taking donations from people to lower their water bottle use and changing their used plastic water bottle 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 Annie Leonard of the acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this short animated film explores the method that amounts to conning Americans into buying at least half a billion bottles of water every week, as opposed to a few cents cost for tapwater. Find this new film on You Tube.

In her book ‘Bottlemania’, investigator Elizabeth Royte demonstrates one of the monumental marketing takeovers of this century and gives a sudden environmental wakeup call. She details the red flags we must come to deal with. Who owns our water? What could happen when a bottled-water company possesses your town’s water source? Is the water that comes from the tap entirely safe? What is really the environmental price of making, transporting and disposal of a plastic water bottle?

Politicians from around the nation are beginning to realise that they have to take action – particularly when the meetings in which they debate are large consumers of bottled water. How often do we see a politician in a conference sipping from a water bottle. They must be able to use a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, told “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 place from Australia to prohibited the selling of bottled water. Around 60 places in the American states and a handful of cities in Canada and the United Kingdom have ceased the expenditure of taxpayer money on bottled water.

Surely these dilemmas will be tabled come World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the environment’s most urgent water-related events.

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.