A new survey from Overland Park, Kansas-based Bluewater,  an innovator of water purifiers for homes and businesses,  shows the majority of Americans (56%) worry their drinking water contains harmful contaminants such as lead, bacteria, carcinogens and plastic. Further, 60% actively take measures to help control what’s in their drinking water, such as using filtering systems and bottled water.^*

“The science shows our water supply contains nasty carcinogens such as lead and plastic, Americans are aware of this and taking action to control their daily intake, but it’s largely the wrong solution,” said Bengt Rittri, environmental entrepreneur and founder of Bluewater. “Our culture has created a vicious cycle, where, rather than addressing water treatment and infrastructure, we’ve normalized the use of single-use plastic bottled water for much of our water intake, while creating a massive waste stream that further pollutes the compromised water supply.”

Corroborating the vicious cycle, the survey shows people who drink bottled water for a semblance of control of their water supply are more worried about contaminants such as lead, carcinogens, bacteria, pharmaceutical residue and microplastics compared to the general population. Those who have had a water issue in the last two years also are more likely to drink more bottled water than the general population.

The Bluewater survey finds nearly 70% of Americans are relying on bottled water in some capacity, with one-third (33%) drinking more than five bottles per week. This not only ignores our water supply issue, Bluewater says, but further compounds it with unfathomable quantities of plastic waste. Only 9% of single-use plastic is recycled globally and a study from Orb Media finds 93% of U.S. tap water contains plastic strands, or micro-plastics.

Additional findings from the Bluewater survey show:

- One-third (33%) of Americans worry about lead and toxic metals in their drinking water;

- 29% worry about bacteria;

- 16% worry about plastic particles; that’s 52 million Americans; and

- One in four (26%) Americans say they personally have or know someone who has had a water issue in the last two years.

For more information, visit: www.bluewatergroup.com.