bottled water ... bad for the earth?

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Irvine511

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with apologies in advance to Dread due to it's Drudge-ian origins ... but i thought this was worthy of a thread ...

[q]Bottled water, a natural resource taxing the world's ecosystem
Feb 10 10:10 AM US/Eastern
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Bottled water consumption, which has more than doubled globally in the last six years, is a natural resource that is heavily taxing the world's ecosystem, according to a new US study.

"Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing, producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy," according to Emily Arnold, author of the study published by the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.



Arnold said although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can end up costing 10,000 times more.

"At as much as 2.50 dollars per liter (10 dollars per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline," the study says.

It added that the United States was the largest consumer of bottled water, with Americans drinking 26 billion liters in 2004, or about one eight-ounce (25 cl) glass per person every day.


Mexico was the second largest consumer at 18 billion liters followed by China and Brazil at 12 billion liters each.

In terms of consumption per person, Italians came first at nearly 184 liters, or more than two glasses a day, followed by Mexico and the United Arab Emirates with 169 and 164 liters per person respectively.

Belgium and France follow close behind and Spain ranks sixth.

The study said that demand for bottled water soared in developing countries between 1999 and 2004 with consumption tripling in India and more than doubling in China during that period.

That has translated into massive costs in packaging the water, usually in plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which is derived from crude oil, and then transporting it by boat, train or on land.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/10/060210151009.9nrba2js.html

[/q]
 
yeah those aquafina commercials where everyone in the beer hall is drinking water just makes me want a beer, and to punch their ad people in the throat.

i also loved in colorado when we were going through our drought, all the local bars and liquor stores had signs that said "save water, drink more beer"
 
despite all their claims to being natural or from springs, many commercial bottled water brands are actually from tap anyway......especially if it's bottled in your own state---in-state bottled water doesn't have to meet as high of standards. :|
 
nbcrusader said:


even though all our tap water is safe to drink


Marketing campaigns using subtle fear of impurities in tap water have been very successful.



hmmm ... in general, i think this is true, however it's widely reported that the tap water in the DC area, especially in poor areas with heavy minority populations, have very bad tap water with unsafe levels of lead in them. i know teachers who work in inner-city schools and she says that many of her students appear to show some signs of lead poisoning.

is this true? :shrug: dunno. but i there have been well documented cases of unsafe tap water everywhere for decades (Woburn, MA, for starters).

this is why i love my Brita water filter. yes, i'm sure it's not as safe as they say, but it does seem better than nothing.

(waits for Anitram to give us a reality check on Brita filters and such)
 
Until I moved in September I always just drank tap water as it was rain water and tasted good. But here UGH! The tap water is awful!

But I hate buying bottled water...so I bought a Brita filtration pitcher and all the water I use for drinking, cooking, or to give to my dogs and cats, goes through that filter. The water tastes great. It's cheap. And I don't create near the amount of waste I would if I used bottled water.

I do occasionally buy one or two bottles of water, but then I save the bottles and refill them with my filtered tap water. Works great for when I go somewhere and want to bring a bottle or two of water.
 
Irvine511 said:
hmmm ... in general, i think this is true, however it's widely reported that the tap water in the DC area, especially in poor areas with heavy minority populations, have very bad tap water with unsafe levels of lead in them.

Remember about 2 years ago when we in DC apparently had high levels of bacteria in our water?!? :yuck: The hospital I work in (Georgetown) actually shut off all the water fountains & taps for a while!
 
Utoo said:


Remember about 2 years ago when we in DC apparently had high levels of bacteria in our water?!? :yuck: The hospital I work in (Georgetown) actually shut off all the water fountains & taps for a while!



there are so many weird, fucked-up health scares in DC, and i do remember that one. i keep waiting for the announcement that says, like, "THERE IS CHYLAMYDIA IN THE WATER!!!"
 
Irvine511 said:




there are so many weird, fucked-up health scares in DC, and i do remember that one. i keep waiting for the announcement that says, like, "THERE IS CHYLAMYDIA IN THE WATER!!!"

Oh, it's on the way! :lmao:
 
I buy diet cokes and diet root beers or diet dr peppers when they are $1.50 a six pack
that is 25 cents for a 12 ounce aluminum can.



a $2.00 bottle of *special* water is most likely a better value
and I am in strong support of their manufacture? and sales.
 
deep said:
I buy diet cokes and diet root beers or diet dr peppers when they are $1.50 a six pack
that is 25 cents for a 12 ounce aluminum can.

I get a case of 35 bottles of water at Costco for about 12 cents a bottle. Our local tap water tastes nasty; it's hard water, plus they dump a bunch of chemicals (chlorine, ammonia, heaven knows what else) in it to "clean" it. Oh, and don't forget the "fluoride". I wish I didn't have to buy bottled water, but until I move someplace where the tap water is actually drinkable, I have no choice.
 
My sister just got back from spending three weeks in India. She drank bottled water the whole time she was there. She didn't want to drink the tap water.
 
reply

financeguy said:
Drink beer:D

Yeah, one could buy it in a wooden barrel, put a spigot and drink away.....then when it's empty turn it into an end table..................of course, after a while there would be many end tables around......but then one could start a new business venture.......barrels-to-go..........:hmm:


Sorry....wizard got carried away by the wooden barrels in The Hobbit..:|
 
verte76 said:
My sister just got back from spending three weeks in India. She drank bottled water the whole time she was there. She didn't want to drink the tap water.

That makes sense for any traveler. Fresh drinking water in India is a huge challenge for the people of India, especially the 250 million dalits.
 
Heh, Irvine, I know very little about Brita filters, although I did own one at one point.

I wonder how much of this bottled water mania coincided with the "you MUST drink 8 glasses of water a day or face certain death!!!" mentality. (BTW, it's bullshit) In the last decade or so, suddenly everyone started bringing bottled water with them to work, to college lectures, school, etc.
 
nbcrusader said:


even though all our tap water is safe to drink


Marketing campaigns using subtle fear of impurities in tap water have been very successful.
Well, i got a upset stomach of the tapwater in Dallas and it smells like a public swimmingpool,.....so i was happy with my bottled water.
 
I shudder to think how much I spend on bottled water. Frankly, it's convinent for me. It's not that I fear impurities. I'm thirsty, there's a machine, in goes my dollar. The big trend here is to carry around a hiking bottle, but I just know I will spill it or leave it somewhere...I have no interest in lugging around this massive, icy plastic jug. I vastly prefer the Vitamin Water, but it's such a pain to get.

I do make a point of recycling the bottles, even if I have to bring them home.

I think the weirdest water story I have was when I was in New Orleans (pre-flood, obviously) on route to and from Florida in a motorhome. We had drank bottled water the entire trip because we couldn't stand the water anywhere. We get to Louisiana and wow, the water was great! Tasted just like home! We filled the water tank and kept on going. When we got home and drained it, it was full of swampy silt and god knows what else. :| None of us got sick, but it makes me wonder what the heck is in Colorado water that they tasted so wonderfully similar...
 
We´re getting our water directly from the Alps and its fresh :)

Not as fresh as on top of the mountain.

Oh luxury!
 
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