Pajiba

I am surprised to see people buying bottled water. Really. With all the research available at your fingertips, this seems really dumb to me.

A coworker laughed in my face about my $20 BPA-free SIGG bottle I purchased a couple of years ago. Yeah. Until I told him to add up the cost of the Aquafina bottled water he drinks ($1.50 a pop, twice a day is $21 a week). To the money wasted, add the fact that it's just tap water, the evil plastic that ends up in the landfill and the yumminess of Bisphenol A, and who looks like a jackass now? He went out and bought a SIGG the next day.

Common people! Get with it. Researching shit like this is the best use of the Google.

So, so, so - wait. The public sector does this better than the private sector? Alert the teabaggers immediately.

Sincerely,
A proud NYC tap water imbiber

And yet - I have a hard time even brushing my teeth with tap water; it's so vile tasting it makes me gag. And no amount of filtering does anything does anything about that.

Intellectualy, I know that bottled water shouldn't be better, but Evian tastes the way I remember tap water tasting back when I was a kid. The cheaper bottled water I use to make coffee with.

But tap water is simply no longer an option. If I have to give up Evian, it will never be for tap water (regardless of how filtered it might be), it'll be for vodka.

(the lime also makes it undrinkable. And don't even ask me how many tea kettles I've gone through.)

so is it just the little water bottles that are bad? because i get those big ass jugs delivered to my door. it's very sexy and (i thought) conservationist.

but perhaps i'm just another hapless asshole.

new york city has the best tasting tap water in the history of the world. that's what makes their bagels so good. or so i read on the internet, which means it must be true.

anyway, i'm going to go recycle something right now and then turn my lights off for an hour.

I used bottled water when I lived in Belgium. They were big 1.5 liter bottles. A bitch to carry home from the store, but the tap water in Brussels is undrinkable. Other than that and the occassional bottle of water when I am on the road and want something to drink in my car, I don't buy it.

It always depresses me to see those people in Costco with those giant boxes of dozens and dozens of small bottles of water in their carts. The tap water in Michigan is fine. We're a god damned pennisula surrounded by fresh water. (TWO, if you count the U.P.).

So so glad this documentary is out. I'm not a super eco-maniac but I HATE bottled water. Unless you are in the 3rd world just drink the tap water. (I'm looking at you Greg- Evian for toothbrushing? Holy crap dude!)

In DC we have super old water mains circa 1890-1920 (I know this b/c one exploded in my neighborhood in February), so everyone uses Brita water filtered pitchers to get the 'minerals' and lead out.

At work we switched to bottle-less water coolers that are hooked directly to the water line. They still filter the water but it cuts down on our carbon footprint b/c the delivery man doesn't have to drive here and we don't have to store the bottles.

Don't even get me started on fluoride and water...

Hey Dustin, Nalgene's are made from plastic, dude. They're better, but not perfect. May I suggest a kleen kanteen? They're not heavy, but they are unlined stainless steel. That's what I use.

I started carting nalgenes (and later, kleen kanteens) around with me years ago. I drink a LOT of water, and when it becomes such a strong habit, not having water with you is problematic.

The city water where I live is alright. It's a little overly chlorinated, but it's fine so I drink it. At my house, however, I'm on a well. It's been tested and I trust it, but I filter it because the house I live in is old and there's probably lead in the pipes. It's actually really tasty water, too.

The only time I truly refuse to drink city water is when I go to Butte, MT. Nobody in their right mind would drink the city water there. Lots of people do. They are crazy!

Scully:

I swim in Lake Michigan (Cook County) almost every day during the summer and I've never had a water-borne disease. It's one of the cleanest water sources around. Try it. It's lovely.

Stopthemadness:

Everyone from New York will tell you that it has the best water in the world for bagels and pizza dough. Everyone in Chicago will tell you IT has the best water in the world for pizza dough and boiling hot dogs. I still think the water I grew up with in Ireland was the best. I think it's all related to what our palates became accustomed to as children and that's what we decided was the best.

I still don't know though when we all started thinking we need to drink water every day as if we're on a constant hike through Death Valley

Even without the bottled water market, those corporations are still going to use those water reserves. You do know that water is the main ingredient for soda, right?

And if people don't get bottled water, they are more likely to replace it with some kind of soft drink than with tap water, which uses as much water and wastes as much plastic (or metal) as bottled water.

To be honest though, I bought the water because I had people over and thought the bottled water would be easier than making people use glasses that could be easily spilled.

bananapanda - No, no, no. I didn't mean to imply that I used Evian to brush my teeth with. Evian's only for drinking straight out of the bottle whne I'm thirsty. And the cheaper brands are for cooking and making coffee.

But if I have another moment when I come close to throwing up just from trying to rinse my mouth at bedtime with the tap water (that'd be Toronto tap water, by the way) I may consider getting into the habit of at least boiling it first.

I find it ironic that when I read this article an ad for Hinkley Springs water cooler ran in the header and along the right margin.

Oh, interweb. You're so clever.

Mrs. Julien:

Last year I attended a client meeting on corporate social responsibility. The topic over lunch was "making the day-to-day office greener". The execs all made their very worthy suggestions while sipping from the plastic bottles of water provided, then as they left the room to go back into the break-out sessions, they dumped their empty plastic bottles into the trash can.....two feet away from the plastic recycling bin provided for them.

Paddydog - I laughed out loud at your orange slice story. Very, very true. I had two kids and my mother is OBSESSED with their always having a water bottle. I finally snapped and said "Mom, when did I EVER carry water around as a kid?" She actually started laughing and realized she was being ridiculous.

While I only drink tap at home and in most of the country tap IS safer than bottled that really isn't true everywhere, so it's smart to do a quick google. I was on a national theater tour at one point and the Tour Book that listed all the stops included a line that said if the tap water was good to drink or not. There were at least four that said DO NOT DRINK. Also, a friend who was an environmental lawyer told me to never, ever drink the water in Willits, CA. Apparently there was a huge suit against a corporation who was dumping waste upstream of the town's water supply. As far as I know it's still pending (though it may have been resolved).

So yeah, as with everything knowledge is power. But I'm cheap and SF water is tasty so tap it is.

Well, this ignorant fool likes to take bottled water camping, rather than boiling water and waiting for it to cool, or using a water purification system that takes ages because you can only purify so much at a time. On shorter day hkes, though, I'll just bring a refillable water bottle.

Regarding hydration, it is important, especially for heart health. When you're dehydrated, blood is thick and harder to pump through your heart, making it work harder. Of course, pop (sorry, soda) and juice do have water in them. But both have sugars in them, which isn't the healthiest way to get water, and even diet pops may contain caffeine, which can act as a diuretic.

Yeah I know that the body needs hydration, but honestly we all act as if it's leaking out of our pores by the gallon every second. There's just no need to be sipping liquids out of a big gulp cup 24 hours a day.

Samantha t:

You're so right. We've started making our children believe this stuff. They think they need sippy cups everywhere they go as if without them they will just collapse and die. And it's so unnecessary because if there's one thing I know with absolute certainty it's that if children are thirsty or hungry they will let you know in very loud nagging voices.

They tried to release Dasani in the UK, until the news got out they were just flogging us over-priced tap water and all hell broke loose.

This was followed by the news that the bromate carcinogen had been found in the product and Dasani was dead in the water (if you'll excuse the pun).

There is still an unbelievable amount of bottled spring water sold here, even though tap water has to be maintained to incredibly high standards. Who would have thought it, in a country soaked in so much rain...

PaddyDog my aversion to swimming in Lake Michigan has more to do with the yucky, slimy underwater “monsters” than the quality of water. Yes, I revert back into a child.

Mrs. Julien my office also tried a “Going Green Initiative”; it failed miserably. As the foremost tree hugging hippy in my office I made various suggestions:
1. Stop ordering styrafoam and plastic cups (I brought in mugs and glasses).
2. Since we have recycling bins next to all of our garbage cans and it’s apparently too much work for people to throw something into a recycling bin 1 inch away from the trash, let’s remove most garbage bins. That way, people get used to throwing things in the recycle. Garbage bins are still available, there are just fewer of them.
3. Let’s turn off lights in the “common areas” when not in use (kitchen, storage, resource rooms).

Enthusiasm was great. But did any of it take? Nope. People are too lazy to change. It takes a fucking catastrophe for people to take notice. So when the water crisis hits (and it’s very likely that it will happen in our lifetime) change will be swift.

hard water is relatively harmless to people.

Yeah, but it dries out one's mouth, which sort of defeats the purpose of drinking water to begin with, no? Also, my skin and hair are fairly a mess. And I'm so used to it, I can't even bathe in softened water. I break out in massive acne. Still, I cook with it, I bathe in it, I wash dishes and laundry in it, but I'm drinking bottled.

To be fair, I purchase one 20-oz. bottle every few days, which I refill from my office's bottle-less water cooler for a few days before my next purchase (and before the plastic starts to break down too much).

I've been drinking tap water for the last five years. I'm healthy and have a few extra bucks in my pocket. No complaints here. If I need water on the go, I fill a stainless steel water bottle with tap water. Problem solved.

Yeah, it's already been said, but:

Six-eyed infants aren’t cool, people.

According to WHOM???

I am unqualified to comment on bottled water constructively, as I am a gotdamn dirty treehuggin' hippie communist (who lives in a city with excellent tap water). Unconstructively: bottled water = bad. Story over.

I'm with calling out Greg. I moved to Toronto 7 years ago. While the tap water isn't my favourite in the world, I certainly find it palatable and have no problems drinking it. I use a Brita because my pipes are old, but that's it.

Kitchener-Waterloo water... now that shit makes me gag.

Everyone's just a frickin' expert on water all of a sudden.

I wouldn't, but it's the easiest way to deal with water on the subway. I'm tired of buying fancy water bottles and losing them or not being able to find a water fountain or sink to fill them up. Now I buy non-fancy water bottles with water already in them and it's not a big deal if I lose them.

Perhaps a more immediate concern than simply letting everyone use their own common sense, more importantly their own choice about whether or not they drink bottled water, the use of plastic in packing this water should be outlawed, as it serves no ecological purpose other than to disintegrate into tiny, toxic pieces that poison our oceans, lakes, and may water sources in our own cities.

Beer & soda cans can be recycled. Cokes and Pepsis used to only come in glass bottles, another easily recyclable source, not to mention the sodas never tasted the same after plastic took over.

The fucking CONTAINER is the problem, not the type of water you want to drink.

I live in Adelaide in the driest continent on earth and our water arrives through a straw stuck in the muddiest part of the nearest large river bed -- gotta wait for the rice paddies upstream to get their bit -- and our tap water is dire. So we all buy water filter jugs for the fridge and get filtered taps installed on the sink for drinking. It ain't that hard people, and as superasente notes, that plastic island in the pacific should chill us all to the bottom of our empty, shrink-wrapped souls.

I was in Connecticut last fall when the state added water and juice bottles to its bottle bill. Now theoretically and in practice, I'm all in favor of recycling. But it turns out, Connecticut was COUNTING on millions of residents to not bother with turning in their bottles for the nickle deposit, in order to help fill the gaping hole in the state budget. This information was in roughly paragraph 42 of a 44-paragraph story in the Hartford Courant about the law taking effect.

So while I don't object to a bottle bill on environmental grounds, I DO object to being lied to when a tax increase is disguised an an environmental measure.

Also, ,daughter and I spent an hour in a self-recycling operation in a Hartford area grocery store and it was one of the most dismal experiences of my life.

And don't forget, when your state starts trying to push a bottle bill and insists the price of that six-pack will ONLY go up a nickle a bottle: SOMEbody has to pay for the counting, refunding, storage and transport of all those bottles, and I promise you it isn't going to be the manufacturer or the store. Tell me up front that my beer is going to cost another 50 cents a bottle, you lying fuckers, and MAYbe I'll forgive you. I do loves me my beer.

There is a whole other factor to buying bottled water that not many think about. About 40% of the world's population lacks reliable access to safe drinking water. If we spent 1/4 of what consumers spend on bottled water, we could fix this. Also, the fuel used to transport and deliver bottled water is ridiculous.

@nigeltde, I'm with you on Adelaide water! I've only been there once, but I hated the water there-apart from when I've been in New Zealand, I've never drunk so much bottled water in my life.

I live in Melbourne which has really good water, but I hardly ever drink it. I'm addicted to soda water, and am going to buy a Sodastream sometime soon. I always recycle my bottles, but I'd prefer to be able to reuse them instead.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I DRANK TAP WATER.

MORONS! is right.

Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face. Do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake! Children's ice cream!

Then you'd love me in Dr. Strangelove.