Bottled water debate hits a boiling point

Bottled water debate hits a boiling point

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A debate over water is boiling over in the United States and elsewhere amid growing environmental concerns about bottled water and questions about safety of tap water.

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The US Conference of Mayors in June passed a resolution calling for a phasing out of bottled water by municipalities and promotion of the importance of public water supplies.

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If they really want people to drink their crummy water they should not put flouride in water and they should stop recycling waste water. No one wants to be dumbed down or take the drugs their neighbors use via recyled water. Of course that is the point of forcing people to drink tap water elites want the lower classes to become dumbed down balloonagrams.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It is kind contradictory that in australia they're trying to ban plastic bags.. even though they sell bottled water right next to the registers as well. Getting rid of the bags could have actually made a difference except for this yuppy fad.. plastic companies aren't complaining though.

edit. At hime I drink filtered water as I don't want to drink fluroide and chlorine. Maybe if they encouraged people to bring it from home [and sell more reusable bottles that are easy to clean] this wouldn't be so much of an issue.

[edit on 30-6-2008 by riley]

It would be hard to keep water flowing for the masses without the use of retreated waste water, but that is one of the perks of a huge population.

I am sure bottled water is very much the same stuff, despite their "natural sources". The days of fresh, pure water can be obtained going "Into the Wild" status and away from the masses.

reply to post by astronomine
I'm sure that is true of some brands ,but Nestle has bought most of the springwaters in this country. I'm sure they are putting spring water into their bottles. Besides which gold fish do much better in Nestle's spring water than tap water. Not only that but I can tell the difference in the taste of tap water and springwater.

I'd guess that most "springwater" IS tapwater from some place. I''m sure there are exceptions, and perhaps some designer waters are actually spring-ish. Lets look at it from a financial perspective. You buy bottled water. This goes on for years, not trusting (rightfully so) nasty-tasting tap water. You could also buy for a couple hundred USD a decent, portable, attractive water filter, or an r/o unit for a few more duckets, and make your own "spring water". Look into it. Even with shipping costs, I bet it pays for itself in less than six months, and keeps on giving. If you get a Big Berkey, you can tell your friends it's an alien artifact.

No, no affiliation with B. Berkey, just love the shiny stainless-steeliness and safety of it.

You bottled water-drinkers are aware that for every litre of water produced, up to seven litres of normal water and one litre of crude oil are used, right? On top of that, worldwide 90% of the plastic involved is dumped into landfills, and the plants the produce the stuff commonly drill into aquifers, prompting salt intrusion and effecting the sediment in nearby streams and rivers.
And if they don't do that, then most likely they are re-processing tap water, something you can do with a $20 filter yourself. Aquafina and Dasani use re-processed tap water.
In Australia studies have shown that tap water has 1% the environmental impact of bottled water.

What does 'Evian' spell backwards?

Im drinking bottled water right now. My tap water is heavily chlorinated. After we have heavy rain, the tap water is turbid and brown and contains organisms I don't want to know about. Why would anyone drink this crap? Alot of times we get notices not to drink it.

EDIT: Unfortunately our water system isn't that good. Other areas close to me have decent water. I did have a fridge that filtered the water, but it broke and until it's fixed I'm using bottled. The filters cost $120 a year, for replacements. It still makes ice thankfully. During the turbid cycles it completely plugged the filter and the replacements needed to be done again.

[edit on 30-6-2008 by violet]

simple solution... GLASS
sorry for the one liner

years ago Prince Edward Island banned plastic bottles.
only glass there...very cool

reply to post by watch_the_rocks


I could care less. If someone wants to drink bottled water and a business wants to provide that bottled water at a price both parties agree to, no amount of eco-facism should stop the transaction from occurring. It is not your duty to dictate how someone else lives - you don't like it, don't buy bottled water.

The problem with environmental fascist arguments against everything is that they have yet to prove the externality to the event they oppose is some magnitude greater than the externality of the alternative event. In this case, as someone who worked for local government, I can assure you the processes that go into establishing and running municipal water would make most environment fascists cringe.

[edit on 30-6-2008 by ALightinDarkness]

Originally posted by ALightinDarkness

I could care less. If someone wants to drink bottled water and a business wants to provide that bottled water at a price both parties agree to, no amount of eco-facism should stop the transaction from occurring. It is not your duty to dictate how someone else lives - you don't like it, don't buy bottled water.

I happen to not be dictating how people should live I'm just a lowly purveyor of love charms and facts.
Come to your own conclusions as you see fit.

reply to post by watch_the_rocks
Nestle will still be able to sell spring water in glass. I suspect this attack by the mayors has more to do with certain powerful people wanting everyone but themselves drinking flouride than it does with environmental concerns. Yes, I do think it likely some bozo will arrange for bottled water to be contaminated ,but if spring water is outlawed I will drink and store rainwater. I have relatives who drink nothing but tap water. They are not in good health. The finding of trace psychiatric drugs in the tap water of a neighboring city has me thinking seriously about buying land with a well. I see this in your face attempt at controling what I drink as a threat to my freedom. Notice how people who are supplying the public with cornsyrup sweetened softdrinks in plastic containers are not being attacked.

Watch the rocks: Sorry, I didn't mean "you" as in you, I was using the more editorial "you." Didn't mean to say you were.

But just wanted to point out that the problem is that all the alternative externalities to resource use like drinking water harm the environment, and I am not wholly convinced the magnitude to which that harm occurs is enough to justify trying to stop normal transactions occurring in the market.

[edit on 30-6-2008 by ALightinDarkness]

reply to post by eradown


Most of the tap water in first-world nations is perfectly fit to drink - so fit, in fact, that the contents of that bottle you're drinking out of almost certainly came directly out of a tap. Pepsi and Coke actually use lower-quality water in their bottled water than they do in their sodas (mineral and trace element contents can mess up the flavor of the syrup they add, see?)

You have doubts about your water? Buy a brita or some similar filter, and use your tap water. Saves a hell of a lot of money, reduced waste, and probably improves the water quality over what you get out of a bottle.

My dear old dead ma drank tap water in her coffee. My dear old dead sister drank tap water in her coffee, my dear old dog drinks the tap water. All three have/had cancers. I told my sis and ma not to drink the tap water. Also, my son was poisoned by sewage over flow into big city municipal water. He lived, but was very sick.

I drink bottled water from nestle.

Those of you who think you are avoiding fluoride by drinking bottled water, check the ingredients. Some bottled water has fluoride, though not usually as much as fluoridated municipal water. For example, Nestle Pure Life has .3 mg/L.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox
I want something which removes flouride and I hate recycled tap water. I know that many countries have good tap water; America is not one of them. I think flouride is one of the reasons Americans do not look as healthy as Europeans and they do not perform as well on standardized tests as Europeans. I do not think the people in the ruling class of America drink tap water.

This is part of the reason I think the water in my area is not fit for human consumption. I am walking around Walmart, yesterday, suddenly a man with an extremely Northern accent says " what the ,explecitive, is wrong with these people". He is looking at my fellow Walmart shoppers. The majority of them are thirty pounds over weight not a few of them are clinically obese. Most of the fat people looked dazed and confused. The few people who are thin are not confused looking at all. I would not recommend anyone drink the tap in my area.

Here's a thread I made back on 12/26/2007 about bottled water issues. Please take a look.

Where'd the water go?

Thanks.

Edit to add:

Here's THE MAN Dean Kamen's invention that does away with disposable, expensive filters if you are concerned about drinking water straight from the tap. It is $1000 and uses a very small amount of electricity to operate. Bottling of water in ANY form is BAD for the environment, whether it is pure water or in the form of soda, it removes it from its natural cycle and the Earth isn't made for such cash driven enterprises..

gizmodo.com...

www.time.com...


[edit on 6/30/2008 by Spoodily]

reply to post by Spoodily

I read your thread I do not think this is an environmental issue this is a control issue. People drink bottled spring water because they know what is coming from their tap is poison. Strangely enough it is not the makers of fattening unhealthy sodas that are being attacked ;it is the sellers of bottled water that are being attacked. In other words someone wants to deny people who live in areas with bad tap the ability to buy descent water. No one is trying to make the tap water better. By simply not adding flouride, the tap water could be improved and more people would drink tap.