Earth

Today is Earth Day. Celebrated every April 22, events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network. At least 193 countries celebrate each year.

But what does it mean to celebrate Earth Day?

At Castle Rock Water, we prefer not to focus on a specific day to celebrate and treasure our planet. We do so every April 22, but also extend that celebration to each of the remaining 364 days in the year. As a bottled water company, we are determined to show the rest of industry how to bottle responsibly and how to devote resources to protecting our precious Earth.

Here’s how we are addressing some of the problems faced by our planet:

 

Responsible use of resources:

It’s an ironic truth that most bottled water companies do not take action to protect the environment in which they operate.

Unfortunately, nor do they give back to their local communities or pay for the water that they extract from the earth.

One of the largest bottled water companies, in fact, has caused controversy by pumping hundreds of millions of gallons of water out of California with a permit that expired about 30 years ago. That issue has resulted in lawsuits and boycotts of the company’s water products.

Situations like this are why people want change in the bottled water industry.

There are currently no laws saying that any company is required to pay for water that it extracts. Even so, Castle Rock Water, a small family owned business, has chosen to pioneer new ways of bottling water. That’s why our company pays a fair price to its community for the water it uses, and one of the reasons we have earned the coveted “For Life – Social Responsibility” certification from the IMO.

Natural health:

Since we’re all living beings on Earth, it’s important to nourish our bodies with the purest hydration possible. From glacier to bottle, Castle Rock Water goes completely untouched by human hands to ensure a premium quality product. Our water contains naturally occurring minerals and trace elements, no added artificial chemicals or nutrients.

Our water, unlike our competitors, contains naturally structured living water, the way nature intended it to be.

Industry change:

Castle Rock Water is one of very few bottled water companies in the world that is fairly dealing with our natural resources. If every company that takes natural resources from the earth would pay fairly for them, our government could be paid for and we could have a tax-free country.

Castle Rock Water is making a stand to show it’s possible and, as small as we are, we have already paid close to $500,000 to our local communities. The big four bottled water companies in the United States currently pay nothing.

If they paid the same rate that we do, each would give 500 million dollars, for each bottling plant, to the local governments and could bring taxes down substantially.

Charitable donations:

Castle Rock Water Company coexists with its employees, nature, and its community.

The company has donated to many non-profit organizations such as Charity: Water, Living Water International, Walk with MADD, Unlikely Hero’s, and many more local charities.

When you purchase Castle Rock Water, you’re not contributing to a massive corporation’s bottom line. Your purchase of Castle Rock Water supports a small company’s efforts to enlighten peoples knowledge of how important it is to know what we put into our bodies. Your purchase supports local communities and provides jobs and resources to local areas.

You also happen to get the best bottled water in the world.

As a consumer, you can choose to be part of the problem or one of the people working toward a solution. We hope you’ll join us in our commitment to keep our world as pure as our water. 

 

Samples of tainted tap water. Photo courtesy of flintwaterstudy.org

Samples of tainted tap water. Photo courtesy of flintwaterstudy.org

From contaminated water in America’s schools and homes to an epidemic of lead poisoning and chemicals in tap water, the safety of tap water in America has never been discussed quite as openly as it is today.

Fixing the broken water system in our country will cost millions of dollars, most which will fall upon home and business owners who will need to replace old pipes that are leeching lead.

As reliable as tap water is, it often comes from mysterious sources and contains chemicals that people shouldn’t be putting into their bodies. How can the problem be addressed and how can American citizens protect themselves?

This series is a must-read!

The Safety of Tap Water in America, Part 1 

The Safety of Tap Water in America, Part 2: Flint

The Safety of Tap Water in America, Part 3: Lead Poisoning

The Safety of Tap Water in America, Part 4: 2,000 Water Systems, 50 States, and 6 Million People Exposed to Lead

The Safety of Tap Water in America, Part 5: School System Contamination

The Safety of Tap Water in America, Part 6: It’s not Just Lead

CRW falls copy

Reading news that water is good for you won’t shock anyone. Ever since we were kids, we were told to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day to stay properly hydrated.

The official recommendation varies depending on the age and activity level of every person, not to mention the kind of climate they live in.

Since the vast majority of the human body consists of water, one of the best things we can do to keep it healthy is drink plenty of- you guessed it- water. So if the health benefits of water are so obvious, why are we spending time writing about it?

Because there’s another benefit to drinking water, specifically living structured water, that may be slightly less known:

The more water you drink, the younger you’ll look.

ABC News ran a story with this quote from Dr. Richard Besser,

“If you get dehydrated, your body is going to pull water from your tissues, from your skin to maintain the concentration in your blood. When it does that, your eyes are going to look sunken, your skin is going to feel dryer, it’s not going to be as elastic and so you will look a lot older.”

It turns out the secret to youthful, radiant skin that glows could be as simple as drinking upwards of 60 ounces of water every day. When your body is properly hydrated, blood circulation can better transport necessary nutrients to all body cells, making you feel and look better.

Additionally, water helps eliminate toxins from the body and impurities from the skin. Well-hydrated skin will result in a healthy and glowing complexion.

So where does living structured water come in?

Not all water is created equal. Structured water is water in its purest form, straight from nature. A University of Washington doctor studied the benefits of structured water and determined that:

This water has measurably different characteristics including: molecular stability, a negative electrical charge, greater viscosity, molecular alignment, and an enhanced ability to absorb certain spectra of light. But here’s the biggest point:

He and others have provided evidence that the liquid crystalline phase of water is intimately connected with the generation of life.

Basically, this means that structured water has more potential for enhancing hydration and cell-to-cell communication.

If you’re going to drink more water for the purpose of achieving better skin and better overall health, doesn’t it make sense to drink the highest quality water you can find? Living structured water hydrates better and could be exactly what you, and your skin, are looking for.

FrackingWaterGraphic

We’ve spent a lot of time here looking at the quality of drinking water from taps across the country.

From Michigan to Ohio, New Jersey to Washington, across California and more, poisonous tap water is being found all across the United States.

That’s one of the reasons health-conscious people are switching to home delivery of drinking water. Water that comes from a reputable source and is untouched by humans is far more desirable, and trusted, than water that comes from mysterious sources and is treated with harsh chemicals.

Sometimes water is tainted at treatment facilities, sometimes in the pipes that enter your home, and sometimes in the ground before it’s pumped into residential and commercial wells.

That’s becoming the case in the midwest as fracking operations grow.

An investigation by Stanford scientists finds that hydraulic fracturing did indeed pollute an underground source of drinking water used by people who live near Pavillion, Wyoming, according to a paper published this week in Environmental Science and Technology.

One article says,

The new research shows that gas wells were not adequately cemented to prevent contaminants from flowing into the aquifer. It also shows that in some cases, hydraulic fracturing and acid stimulation of gas wells took place at depths similar to private drinking water wells, which is not illegal and is more likely to happen in the West because the formations that hold the gas are closer to the surface.

Not only do we have to worry about lead in our municipal drinking water, now we have to beware of chemical compounds and gas in our well water.

When water is as nature intended, it’s pure, clean, and fresh. That’s the kind of water our bodies thrive on. Drinking the best water leads to better health and overall vitality, while overly-treated water can lose its health benefits and even have negative consequences.

Why take the chance?

Consider having fresh water delivered right to your home for drinking. Just click here for more information.

flint-drinking-water-pipes

One of the scariest things a parent can experience is the exposure of his or her child to danger.

We send our kids to school under the impression that they are safe there. With all of the safety protocols in place at schools, it’s easy to assume that being at school is one of the safest places a child can be.

In some schools though, there’s a silent potential killer lurking where no one can see: Inside the water pipes.

Two stories in the news recently have highlighted two school districts in separate cities serving 43,000 kids that have been found to have lead in the drinking water. 

A story at NJ.com said,

In 2006, 2008, and again in 2012, elevated levels of lead were found in drinking fountains in city schools, but officials did not “chart a a comprehensive attack on lead” until 2013, The New York Times reported yesterday. 

The report comes as lead contamination in urban areas has come under closer scrutiny.

But despite lead levels being elevated up to 60 times the federal threshold at eight schools in 2006, students were not switched to bottled water until two years later, The New York Times reported. 

By 2013, all but six Jersey City schools had lead contamination, with one fountain testing at 853 times the accepted maximum, the report states. 

Lead poisoning is exceptionally dangerous for children and can result in nervous system damage and even death. There is no safe minimum for lead exposure and the fact that it’s showing up in schools is reason to send children to school with bottles of clean water from home.

Lead is showing up in school drinking water all across the country, from Seattle to Ohio to Michigan to New Jersey, and will very likely appear in more cities. The biggest reason is because of lead pipes that are many decades old. Water absorbs chemicals from whatever it travels through, and old lead pipes are notorious for poisoning drinking water.

The best way to avoid lead is to drink bottled water that is regularly tested. Castle Rock Water is pure, fresh mountain spring water loaded with natural electrolytes and healthy minerals. People all across California are having it delivered right to their homes and offices so they can have drinking water that they can feel good about serving to their families.

If you’d like information on home delivery, just contact us and you’ll be on your way to a life without lead in your water. 

Samples of tainted tap water. Photo courtesy of flintwaterstudy.org

Samples of tainted tap water. Photo courtesy of flintwaterstudy.org

When the first reports of extreme levels of lead were found in the tap water in Flint, Michigan, it was easy to write it off as a terrible mistake in a single community.

It was awful but at least Americans still felt confident that it was an isolated incident caused by lazy government officials who made a series of bad choices. As much as we wish that were true, contaminated tap water isn’t limited to one city in Michigan. High levels of lead and other toxic poisons have been found in all 50 states and in 2,000 American water systems.

Yours could be one of them.

A USA Today article said,

The water systems, which reported lead levels exceeding Environmental Protection Agency standards, collectively supply water to 6 million people. About 350 of those systems provide drinking water to schools or day cares. The USA TODAY NETWORK investigation also found at least 180 of the water systems failed to notify consumers about the high lead levels as federal rules require.

Even in small doses, lead poses a health threat. There is no amount deemed safe by the EPA, which means even the slightest trace can be harmful. Pregnant women and young children are most at risk. Lead can damage growing brains and cause reduced IQs, attention disorders and other problem behaviors. Infants fed formula made with contaminated tap water face significant risk. Adults can face kidney problems, high blood pressure and increased risks of cardiovascular deaths.

How did this happen in our country? The USA Today article gives all the details, but it comes down to a lack of proper treatment and testing, in addition to decades-old lead pipes that feed water systems.

One of the reasons Castle Rock Water exists is because tap water can’t be trusted. Water is the most vital element in the survival and vitality of humans and drinking tainted water can hurt us in so many different ways. The water bottled by Castle Rock Water is some of the purest on Earth and is free of lead and other heavy metal poisoning. Our water report is posted online for all to see and contains only natural minerals and electrolytes that contribute to a thriving, healthy body.

Many California residents are opting for home delivery of Castle Rock Water to protect themselves from unknown toxicity in their tap water. If you’re interested in having clean, fresh, bottled water delivered right to your home or office, please contact us

 

Whole_Foods_Market_logo

The best-tasting bottled water in America is now available in more locations throughout the west coast.

Castle Rock Water is now stocked at Whole Foods locations throughout California and Nevada. Why are people so excited about this? Because Castle Rock Water routinely wins awards for being some of the best tasting bottled water in the world, and remains the hands-down winner in all of the Americas.

Hailing from the natural springs of Mt. Shasta, Castle Rock Water is a pure living structured water that is naturally alkaline and rich in electrolytes. 

Castle Rock Water is the first bottled water brand to be awarded the “For Life- Social Responsibility” certification and is proud to uphold values consistent with Fair Trade products. Plus, all Castle Rock Water products are bottled in environmentally friendly and easily reusable or recyclable glass.

People who taste Castle Rock Water for the first time are routinely surprised at the crisp, clean, and refreshing taste of real whole water.

We’re excited to have a growing presence at Whole Foods, and hope you enjoy hydrating the way nature intended; with clean, fresh, refreshing whole water that’s now more easily available than ever.  

flint-drinking-water-pipes

It’s okay to feel deceived.

The vast majority of us in the United States have grown up in houses connected to city water supplies. We turn on the tap, water comes out, and that’s what we use to drink, brush our teeth, wash our dishes, and bathe.

After news of the Flint crisis broke, stories from across the country have people concerned that maybe their tap water isn’t as clean or as healthy as they once believed.

It’s so easy to take for granted something as simple as water, especially when it’s always available and provided at a relatively low cost by your city. But when you discover that the same water you’ve spent your life drinking might be contaminated, how are you supposed to respond?

An article at The Guardian said,

Water utilities in some of the largest cities in the US that collectively serve some 12 million people have used tests that downplay the amount of lead contamination found in drinking water for more than a decade, an analysis of testing protocols reveals.

If that isn’t scary enough, the article goes on to say that an estimated 96 million Americans live with lead service lines – pipes that carry water from mains to meters. Lead lines are one of the most serious risk factors affecting the amount of lead in water that pours from the tap.

Water is naturally a corrosive liquid and takes on the properties of the materials it passes through. Drinking water from lead pipes over a prolonged period of time could lead to disastrous health results.

Lead poisoning is a serious and sometimes fatal condition. It occurs when lead builds up in the body over an extended period of time. Lead is a highly toxic metal and a very strong poison, especially in young children. Since lead poisoning affects the body’s nervous system, symptoms can include poor memory, poor behavior, and falling grades in school. It can also lead to vomiting, kidney disfunction and, ultimately, coma and death.

The best way to protect yourself from lead exposure in tap water is to not drink tap water. All over the country people are turning to bottled water for their cooking and drinking needs, which can be delivered straight to the home on a regular basis.

Castle Rock Water offers this service, and posts its water quality reports online for all to view. The water is pure, fresh, and never modified by humans. The human body thrives on natural untouched water, and it doesn’t get any more pure than the water that flows through the streams of Mt. Shasta.

To inquire about home delivery, email info@castlerockwater.com

poison_toxic_tap_water

Flint, Michigan is experiencing one of the worst, most blatant water emergencies in U.S. history.

Children have experienced lead poisoning, people have ended up in the hospital, and residents have lost trust in their city water supplies.

How did it happen?

It’s a long and convoluted story that only keeps getting more shocking.

In charge of the city’s budget in the midst of a financial emergency, the state of Michigan decided to switch Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. The river had a reputation for nastiness and after the switch in April of 2014, residents began to complain that their water looked, smelled, and tasted funny.

Researchers at Virginia Tech found the water was highly corrosive. A lawsuit alleges the state Department of Environmental Quality didn’t treat the water for corrosion and because so many service lines to Flint are made of lead, the toxic element leached into the water of the city’s homes and was subsequently unknowingly consumed by the city’s residents.

The situation shows a blatant disregard for people’s health in exchange for saving money. Even worse, now there are allegations that the world’s biggest bottler of water may have played a part in the crisis.

In 2001 and 2002, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued permits to the world’s largest water bottler (we have a policy of not directly naming or speaking negatively of competitors) to pump up to 400 gallons of water per minute from aquifers that feed Lake Michigan. This sparked a decade-long legal battle between that company and the residents of Mecosta County, Michigan, where the wells are located.

One of the most surprising things about this story is that, in Mecosta County, this water bottler is not required to pay anything to extract the water, besides a small permitting fee to the state and the cost of leases to a private landowner. In fact, the company received $13 million in tax breaks from the state to locate the plant in Michigan.

But it goes a step further: the company’s spokesperson is married to the chief of staff of Michigan’s governor. In effect, this company gets paid to pump fresh clean water while Flint’s residents are forced to pay some of the highest water rates in the country for toxic water.

That’s not right.

Unfortunately, Flint isn’t the only city in this country to be experiencing problems with its tap water. It’s happening all over the United States, from California to New York, and the Flint crisis seems to have brought them to light.

People who drink tap water are at the mercy of the agencies in charge of treating it.

People who drink water bottled by the world’s largest water bottler are contributing to the bottom line of a huge corporation that gives nothing back the communities in which it operates.

These are just some of the reasons companies like Castle Rock Water, which only bottle fresh spring water in glass bottles and gives back to their communities, are experiencing growth in home water delivery.

People are fed up with corporate giants and want to support family owned business that provide quality water at a fair price.

Setting up regular deliveries of fresh drinking water is the best way to avoid tap water and guarantee that you’re not exposing yourself, and your family, to toxic chemicals.

For more information, or to set up regular home delivery, email info@castlerockwater.com.

 

tap_water_in_america

Clean water in the United States is taken for granted.

We assume that when we turn on the kitchen tap, clean water suitable for drinking is what comes out. We’ve all grown up with instant access to drinkable water anytime we choose and we all assume the water is clean and healthy.

Now, though, we’re starting to hear stories of our tap water not being what we expect.

Cities and municipalities have, for decades, treated water that comes out of our taps. They source the water from lakes, rivers, or underground aquifers and begin a process of de-sludging it, filtering it, and adding chemicals to kill bacteria, make it taste better, and even improve our teeth.

Flouride, as we all know by now, is a neurotoxin that is often added to city water supplies. Tap water can also include:

  • Chlorine
  • Fluorine compounds
  • Trihalomethanes (THMs)
  • Salts of: arsenic, radium, aluminum, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, and barium
  • Hormones
  • Nitrates
  • Pesticides

An article on Dr. Joseph Mercola’s site says even pharmaceutical drugs can be found in drinking water. The article goes on to say,

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), 11 of which were found in this most recent government test, have become so ubiquitous that many of them are now detected in humans—including children. According to the CDC’s “Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals” published in 2009, a dozen different types of perfluorinated compounds were detected in Americans tested.

We also know from recent events that city water supplies across America have actually been poisoned and made people extraordinarily sick. That list seems to expand every day.

Today we start a new series that looks into those recent events, the chemicals that are causing people to get sick, and how you, as a water-consuming human who wants the best for his or her well-being, can put a stop to it and guarantee your health.

Tap water, while conveniently piped directly to your home, can come from mysterious sources and the fluid that comes out when the tap turns on could contain chemicals that will hurt you and your family.

Stay tuned as we explore the safety of tap water in America.