Bottled Water - environmental insanity?

[welshTerrier2]

for years we drank bottled Poland Springs water (from Maine)... my local tap water tasted terrible and looked worse; it was yellow ... one time the town wells got contaminated with e coli bacteria ... i was sick for two weeks ...

but lately things have improved ... i kept asking mrs. wt2 to take "blind taste tests" with tap and bottled water ... i never fooled her once ... she picked out the Poland Springs every single time ... finally, with a little more filtration, i've convinced her to go back to tap ...

the following article from the UK suggests that bottled water has been something of an environmental disaster ... maybe it's worth rethinking what you're drinking ...

source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0629-01.htm

Green groups said that the statistics served to highlight the damaging ecological impact of bottled water. The energy cost of producing a billion plastic bottles from by-products of crude oil, transporting the water over hundreds or thousands of miles and then disposing of the containers in landfill sites or incinerators made bottled water one of Britain's most wasteful luxuries, they said.

Vicky Hird, senior food campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "People are being sold an incredibly seductive image with bottled water - that it is the key to health and well being. But what is not recognised is the huge cost in wasted resources that bottled water represents compared to the very high-quality water that is sitting in our taps at an fraction of the price to the planet and to our wallets." <skip>

One recent study calculated that the bottled water industry in the UK generated annually about 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions through transport - equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 6,000 homes. According to industry figures, Britons consume about 1.5 billion litres of water each year from bottles made out of polyethylene terephthalate or PET - a plastic made out of crude oil extracts. <skip>

"Transporting water around the globe involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels and thus emitting greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere. This contrasts starkly with tap water, which is distributed through an energy efficient infrastructure."

[Debau2005]

1. Also

people don't realize that bottled water can also contain bacteria and that it does have a shelf life! I have a filter on my tap, and fill up my own containers.

But this article makes a good point, I had not thought about the effects of having to transport water and the fuels used to do it!

Excellent article.

[Cassandra]

2. I read somewhere that for what the whole world...

spends on bottled water, we could pay to give everyone on the planet clean water. But there's no profit in that, is there?
I live in NYC and am grateful to have good tap water. I buy a bottle of water to carry around about once every two weeks and refill it from the tap but I'm thinking of going back to the reusable bottles I used to use and fill with tap water.

[bleedingheart]

3. Unless your water is contaminated, I think drinking bottled water

regularly is pretty stupid.

My tap water has been sufficient all these years.

The only time I have purchased bottled water was for taking along on trips and typically once I found a good tap source I reused the water bottles and filled them with tap.

[Totally Committed]

4. I agree with you, largely...

but there are some people with chronic auto-immune/immune system illnesses for whom drinking from a tap is like a game of Russian Roulette. For those with weakened or compromised immune/auto-immune systems, a bout of E-Coli like you just described would be a death sentence. The irony is, I grew up in a city where the well water was contaminated with chemicals used in the tanneries and the large fertilizer plant in the town, so I know what contaminated water can do to a body.

Things are not always as cut-and-dry as they seem, unfortunately. And, there are people whose lives depend on bottled water, and/or a heavy-duty water purification system. In an instance where a major purification system is not possible, bottled water is all we have.

TC

[welshTerrier2]

5. just raising the issue, TC ...

i'm not telling anyone they shouldn't drink bottled water ... not all tap water is good and individual circumstances vary widely ...

my main goal in posting this was to raise awareness; not dictate behavior ...

[Totally Committed]

6. I understand that -- especially of you!

My post was more to educate than to criticize. Often, when I am out and about -- especially at an event or place with other Liberals and Progressives -- I get "the look" when I take out my bottle and drink. Some have even approached me and complained about it right to my face. WHen I explain what I just used my post to explain to them, they see that not ALL people's health is equal to theirs, and they understand. Hopefully, that awareness will save another person who isn't as assertive as I am from feeling shamed or lectured by people who are ignorant of such things.

That's all. I know where your heart is.

TC

[welshTerrier2]

7. you get "the look" and some even complain?

i had no idea drinking bottled water was such a faux pas ... some are just a wee bit too PC for my tastes ...

maybe you should get one of those squirt bottles so you can "share" your water with them ...

btw, thanks for your kind words ... i know you understand ...

[Totally Committed]

10. This is usually from the really "Liberal" and "Progressive" peeps

in places where I volunteer or at the Sunday morning lecture series at the UU Church -- you know, places like that. Since not too many conservatives volunteer -- as a matter of fact, none do -- at the Food Bank or the Homeless Shelter where I do, those who are new or don't know me DEFINITELY give me the fish-eye or say something.

Too PC? Maybe. But, most are good people who feel their need to make a difference goes beyond their community service to criticizing people they think are not as "informed" or "committed" as they are, and back off after I talk to them. I just wish I didn't have to do that as often as I do.

In a way, though, it does show more people are bcomeing aware of this. I just wish they'd concentrate on people who drive around this town in their HUGE SUVs. I never see any of them getting confronted or "fish-eyed". LOL!

TC

[Solon]

23. Problem is, you still play Russian Roulette with bottled water too...

Best bet for people with Auto-Immune deficiencies is to boil their OWN water, and use a carbon filter. I believe there have been studies done on bottled water from big brands that show that many of them are contaiminated at GREATER rates than tap water in many cases.

[Crayson]

8. 1 bottle of water... worth several bottles of fuel

Giant tankers full of mineral water crossing a whole ocean full of water using tons of fuel...

It can't get much more insane...


Reminds me of Mel Brooks "Perry Air" bottled air on that planet that had bad air pollution.
(word play with "Perrier" bottled water")

[Lowell]

9. Bottled water is very expensive

I've had problems creating stones for years and have to drink distilled water. I never buy it at the store. I have a small still I got from Sears and simply run a couple gallons a day through it. You would be horrified at all the crap it removes from tap water. It is obvious when you go to clean the still that this stuff left behind in the still would have been filtered out by your body. Digusting.

[welshTerrier2]

11. bottled water is often just tap water ...

i wonder what kind of impurities you would find if you ran the same test on bottled water ...

[MaineDem]

15. Poland Spring water is usually the same water communities use

It's ostensibly from springs but they extract it via wells.

It's very contentious in many communities in Maine right now because Poland Spring is buying land and sucking up water all over the state. And the towns get nothing for it.

[dipsydoodle]

12. Water abstraction here in the UK

is sometimes almost farcical. The worked out gravel pits in which I fish for carp etc are in the Colne Valley strip which runs from St Albans to Heathrow - old glacier path I guess. The water level is constantly reducing because the local water authority licensed a company to abstract water from just across the road to our club waters. The water is taken by tanker to a site some miles away and then delivered in plastic bottles to the local supermarkets labelled "Chiltern Spring". If I see anyone buying it I tell them I was fishing in that water quite recently and I can guarantee that fish f*ck in it.

[Vidar]

13. Most of it is tap water.

[soothsayer]

14. You can't filter out that stuff that substitutes for chlorine. You can't

even DISTILL it out. The stuff that will kill your fish if you put it in their tank. Not drinking it!

[bunkerbuster1]

16. I try to use it sparingly.

My family tends to re-use small bottled water containers a few times prior to putting them in the recycle bins. Our filtered tap water is fine for home use, and that's what goes in the bottles after first use.

Having said that, now I realize an investment in a few good quality, easily washable bottles would make more sense than even an occasional bottled water purchase, in our household anyway.

[BOSSHOG]

17. When you live in a Hurricane Zone

bottled water becomes incredibly important. We have it stacked high in the garage. We had it stacked high last year as well, thank God. It is on the top of my priorities list for hurricane preparedness. I know this is not totally on topic but just offering a different perspective on bottled water.

[pansypoo53219]

18. even tho milwaukee had cryptosporidium

i m not BUYING water. but lucky to be here where water tastes fine. some towns the water tastes like crap.
now i just hope we canm prevent the county from selling our water to waukesha.

the whole water selling biz is detrimental when they do tap into natural areas.

[orwell]

19. Use a...

...3 stage solid carbon block filter on your tap water and only store your water for transport in glass bottles. It will taste great, as good or better than the pricey bottled water you consume and at a fraction of the cost. Their are plenty of companies that make them. We use one by Culligan both because it was cheap and the cartridges are available for low cost on E-bay.

Don't drink water out of plastic. Plastic bottles leach some pretty nasty things into your "pure water" such as BPA.

Linkie: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Bottled-WaterTap-Water.htm

[Soloflecks]

22. I heard Costco carries these:

http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/ro-45-detail.htm

I don't want the chlorine or the flouride or anything else TPTB might decide to put in our drinking water.

[lindisfarne]

25. Both Brita and Pur water filters filter out both chlorine and fluoride.n/t

[otohara]

20. Pur Water Filter Works Great

100 gallons per month is what you get from one of the 3 stage filters

[RebelOne]

21. If you had the water that comes out of my tap,

you would definitely be drinking bottled water. There is some black scum that builds up in my toilet and I have to scrub it every couple of days, so I know that is in the drinking water.

[lindisfarne]

26. Does the black scum build up if you leave the water in a glass on the

counter for days? I wonder if the black scum is bacteria or mildew.

If you have municipal water, and if the black scum, builds up in a glass on the counter, I'd call the proper authorities.

[Javaman]

24. You want free clean water, check this out...

http://www.airwater.com.au/

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. It's messing with our water tables too