Seriously... the idea of paying for something you should be able to get for free is completely wrong. The idea that a natural resource that is so essential to life is monopolized, slapped with a fancy label and sold (and actually bought) is kinda sad. Plus all that plastic can't be good for the environment, and I heard somewhere that there are toxic hormone disrupters in the plastic as well.
I agree with you that it's stupid that it's a natural resource that is necessary for survival but if your like me the water that you get from a faucet has a metallic taste and gets discolored. I think it's kind of nice to get a nice cool crisp bottle of water. But yea i see where ur coming from.
Same, the tap water where i live is terrible and being able to occasionaly have bottled water is really good for me. To the OP, even though i see where you are coming from i am interested where you got your info regarding the "hormone disrupters" in plastic from.
Research the origins of your tap water. You won't drink it. In the Washington DC area: 80% from the Potomac (a river so polluted that the fish in it are not edible) 20% "recycled material" (this means purified sewage from the Blue Plains treatment facility). Pre disinfected with clorine dioxide (ClO2) which creates carcinogenic byproducts. Disinfected with cholrine (Cl) another halogenic (which is partially responsible for the destruction of the ozone layer) Clarified with aluminum sulfate (which research shows may be a significant contributor to Alzheimers dementia) Then it's piped to us through a 100+ year old system of lead pipes. Lead. Do I need to explain that one? Yeah, I'm drinking my tap water...
The idea that water, one of the most abundant life sources on earth, something everyone needs, costs money...? thats just stupid. I don't buy water... yes, I drink tap. I haven't seen too many people die from it, and I think if it was such a problem it would be noticed. I figure that our body filters and cleans things out anyway, and we do have immune systems so... I don't buy bottled water. Also, at work, my boss is a tightass as far as giving out water. Only from the tiny plastic cups.... so when I'm in Drive Through and someone wants a lot of water, I give them the biggest cup we have. Share the love!
Where I live, the tap water tastes truly terrible. Nearly undrinkable. It actually makes me thirstier. So, I'm really excited that for my b-day in 2 days, I'm getting a reverse osmosis unit for my house. Now I'll be able to make my own yummy drinking water instead of buying it in bottles that had to be shipped here using lots of petroleum.
I'm in a group called peacejam, and our main focus right now is actually this subject. Were boycotting bottled water, because companies such as ice mountain, nestle and others actually take water from other countries who barley have good water to begin with, and shipping it to the wealthier countries who have plenty of water. And most of that water isn't being refiltered like it should be. And on top of that, the plastic is terrible for the earth, and most of it isn't getting recycled. But even without getting into all the facts, it really is stupid when you think about...yea let's pay for something that we could get for free. I mean like some of you were saying your tap water isn't that good, well, there's other places you could get it. i'm just saying..think about it. Look it up even and read into it. I'm actually going to a conference in April to talk to hundreds of people about this matter. It is pretty serious, and not enough people are taking it seriously.
i wasnt aware about bottled water untill a few months ago, after reading this article. http://www.rd.com/special-reports/the-environment/rethink-what-you-drink/article.html i can see how it is a major problem in more ways than one, and dont drink so much bottled these days...
the reality is that much of the bottled water distributed now is nothing more than filtered tap water. for the people on public water supply's i would recommend a good in home water filtering system. we have a spring on the property here as well as a community spring at the park in town so we dont buy bottled water. its amazing though, people come from as far as 100 miles away to get water at the community spring.
I definately take this seriously, and am interested in what you have to say and what you're doing. I mean, its confusing; I don't want to buy bottled water; water should be free, and besides, I don't know where its from... but tap... eeeww.....
Water is a natural, life giving resource. It should be free. Its is one of the most abundant things on the planet, and we're stupid enough to buy the bottled stuff... or maybe we have no other choice besides nasty tap?
Even tap water isnt' free. but yeah it is compromised in diferent ways in diferent locales. Here in The Pines the water is full of iron and rust. Beyond the drink ability factor, the white laundry can catch a faint yellow tinge. The bathtub can get an orange ring, and the toilet,....... well guests might be forgiven for thinking that its unsanitary. We got a whole house filter, it makes for less work scrubbing the porcelan fixtures. The laundry is noticability cleaner. There is a new under-the kitchen sink filter for drinking water. We change the filters quarterly its $15 for the basement filter, $50 for the under-sink. If clean water is available you will drink more of it which is healthy.
Plus, it helps commodify water. Once a "commodity" is being sold across the border under NAFTA, we can't withhold any domestic supply for ourselves.
The quality of tap water has higher standards than bottled water. I read this in a activist newspaper for children.
thats pretty sweet! i miss being in the mountains where i could fill up my 5 gallon jug every few days at the spring.
hormone disruptors are from bisophenol A, which off-gases in Lexan (plastic 7, Nalegene, GSI). Our tap is ok once filtered, and preferably cold. I use a Sigg bottle (lined aluminum: it was a trade off: 500+ toss away bottles or one aluminum bottle). I have nalgenes, but they are getting repurposed to dry storage. The Bisophenol A off gases early in the plastic's lifecycle, and then again late in it. links: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1280330 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/02/bisphenol/ and just use your Google-fu.
this is kinda trippy.... http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22343/43692 Artist and activist, Chris Jordan creates amazing images that portray America’s consumption. Chris’ hope is that his images will have a different effect than raw numbers alone. Since simple numbers no matter how large can be rather abstract it can be difficult to connect with ones impact. Whereas a visual representation of vast quantities can help make meaning of 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds or two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.