Perhaps you have a water-saver on your list and you’re not sure what to get her. Yes, we know, she probably bores you with facts about how much water is wasted with leaky pipes, how less than one half of one percent of the water on the planet is available for us to use, and how each day more than 4,000 children die each day from water-related disease, but you still love her.

Here are five gift ideas for the water conservationist in your family or circle of friends.

1. colorful, filtering, stainless steel water bottles

No wire hangers plastic water bottles! By now, you know that buying a fresh, virgin-plastic water bottle every time you’re thirsty is bad for the planet in so many ways. Outfit your family with the their own stainless steel water bottle this holiday. Take a look at the line up at Watergeeks. Not only are their stainless steel water bottles BPA-free, but they have a built in filter. The filters, which can actually be used with other water bottles too, remove chlorine, lead, heavy metals and other tap water contaminants. Each filter is good for 400 uses – that’s a lot of plastic water bottles that never have to be used. We love the wide variety of colors and sizes.

2. water barrels from recycled plastic

This is a bit big for under the tree, but…for the ultimate water-saver, how about a water barrel, made from recycled plastic, of course. Perfect for your favorite green gardener.

3. smart shower heads

Smarter shower is a gift that keeps on giving every day. We found a showerhead that’s smart enough to switch to a trickle once the water gets hot. Very handy if you’ve got to wait for hot water to find it’s way to the bathroom. Plus, saving just one minute’s worth of water each day conserves 900 gallons per person in a year.

4. a good read

A good book or two is always a nice gift. We uncovered a few well-reviewed titles out at Amazon that you might like. May we suggest you get the Kindle version, and then it’s a true eco-friendly gift.

• When the Rivers Run Dry by Fred Pearce looks at the looming crisis where water is more valuable than oil;
• Following the Water: A Hydromancer’s Notebook by David M. Carroll shows and tells his annual observations from the first breaks in the ice through its reforming in a New Hampshire wetland;
• and Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. OK, so we’re a bit off topic, but this is a wonderful read and there’s certainly plenty of water in it!

5. a worthy cause

And the final suggestion for the ultimate conservationist: Make a donation in your friend’s name at one of the many worthy water-related charities. Here are a few to chose from: charity:water bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, UNICEF’s Tap Project is gearing up for a 2010 program to provide safe drinking water for people in more than 90 countries, or find a group committed to keeping your local watershed, river, bay or other body of water clean and safe.

We’re sure one of these items is sure to be a hit. Of course, if you can think of others, feel free to leave your suggestion in the comments. Happy shopping!

As we were checking out this morning’s blog posts, we saw this over at Treehugger: The US Consumes 1500 Plastic Water Bottles Every Second, a fact by Watershed.

We knew American’s were a plastic-loving bunch, but this number really struck home. Not only for its excess, but for the opportunity all those plastic bottles represent. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that only about 20 percent of those bottles make their way into the recycling bin.

In this economy, just think of the new jobs could be created if  we focused on this “resource.” Here’s a sample of what we can make by recycling those 47,335,389,000 plastic bottles used each year:

Clearly, we need to significantly reduce our use of plastic bottles. But there are already billions and billions of them in our landfills. Realistically, we’re not going to end our addition cold turkey either. We’d like to see more businesses use recycled plastic, especially for clothing and carpet.

What would you do with all those discarded plastic water bottles?

It’s a common misconception that bottled water is cleaner and healthier for you than tap water. In some cases bottled water is cleaner, in others it’s far worse, and in about a quarter of the cases it’s exactly the same. The non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that a staggering 25 percent of bottled water comes from municipal sources—the very same sources that deliver water to your tap each day. With no information on the bottle itself and vague marketing slogans like bottled at the source (which source would that be?), consumers are left to a lot of guesswork.

In a recent article for SF Gate, water conservation expert Dr. Peter Gleick probed the requirements for bottled water labeling, arguing that the problem starts with how water is categorized.

Bottled water is currently considered a food product and, as such, falls under FDA regulation—meaning bottled water requires the same nutritional label as any other food. The difficulty with this classification, of course, is that we don’t need to know the fat or caloric content of water: It’s always zero, so nutritional data is completely irrelevant.

The facts consumers need about water—the water source, how it’s been treated and cleaned, and which minerals are present and at what levels—aren’t currently required for labeling. The iffy regulation process often leaves consumers confused about the cleanliness of bottled water and misled about the source. Until label requirements change, Gleick advises a buyer beware policy.

If you’re still drinking bottled water, what do you want to see on the label?

More and more broadly available, recycled PET is a growing trend in eco-friendly fabrics. We’re taking a look at the process and advantages of recycled plastic fiber.

Read part 1: how plastic trash becomes fabric

landfill to retail

Once a drink bottle is collected, it is sent off to a processing facility. There, the bottle is cut into small pieces called flake and then washed. PET flake is then melted into a liquid and shaped into a long, thin fiber. These fibers are spun into yarn in the same manner as materials such as cotton, wool, and other natural products. These yarns are now 100 percent recycled polyester.

By using recycled plastic instead of new petroleum, over 60 percent of the energy is saved without any additional harm to the environment. No other fiber is produced with less impact.

Recycled polyester can also help the environment through the use of AirDye® technology. This process uses no water and much less energy to add color and designs to the fabric. Conventional dye and printing methods pollute over 15 gallons of water for a simple t-shirt in addition to introducing a number of hazardous chemicals and by-products into the environment. AirDye technology makes a great looking product without all those problems and the color lasts as long as the garment.

Manufacturers of apparel and other products are beginning to look at recycled polyester as not just the best alternative to natural fibers, but a better choice. This material is available, easy to work with, affordable, and provides consumers with the better environmental product.

Better for the Planet and Better for You

Another area where recycled polyester can help make a positive change is in the use and care of a garment made from it. A cotton shirt holds water. A lot of it. And if you are wearing it during a workout or caught in the rain, you know what we’re talking about. Polyester sheds the water. This is makes it more comfortable to wear. But consider what happens in the wash. A shirt that holds less water is easier to clean and dry. It takes less than half the energy and water to wash a shirt made from polyester as it does one made of cotton.

Polyester is also tougher than cotton. A polyester shirt lasts longer; up to five times longer. A longer life means buying fewer shirts, which means less resources consumed. Not to mention the money you save.

Lastly, what do you do with your shirt when you can no longer use it? The first and most obvious choice is to pass it on to someone who can. So, a shirt that lasts longer is even more important. But, what then? The ability to recycle that same shirt into yet more RPET and recycled polyester and back into a new garment is key. No products going to landfill.

How many times can a product come back again and again? We honestly don’t know–generations, at the very least. This brings new meaning to the term “hand me down.”

Recycled Polyester and You

Each shirt, bedspread, or handbag we make is one less made from the earth’s very limited resources. We know that not everything a person buys can be made from recycled trash. But for those products that can be, and that not only work as well, but even better; it seems obvious to us what to do. And we think that many of you agree with us.

A few weeks ago, we raised the issue of increased plastic bottle waste during summer months. Happily, we’ve since stumbled upon Plant It Water—an alternative water bottle that is made from over sixty percent renewable resources and can be completely recycled after use.

In addition to boasting super green packaging, for every carton of water sold, the company plants a tree and makes a donation to A Single Drop, a non-profit dedicated to providing clean water in developing nations.

Currently, Plant It is only available at fundraisers at events. For a list of events in your city, check out PlantItWater.com.