Bottled Water: Don't Buy It!

[Michaelo]

With Americans spending around $20 billion a year on bottled water, this industry has undoubtedly succeeded in creating a false sense of superiority for its product. Not only is bottled water 100s to 1000s of times more expensive than equivalent quantities of tap water, but it’s also not necessarily safer to drink. The EPA has much tougher regulations for tap water than the FDA has for bottled–the NRDC found that the FDA allows some contamination of E. coli and doesn’t require testing for parasites such as cryptosporidium or giardia. The EPA, unlike the FDA, also requires annual public reports identifying the contaminants in tap water. About 45% of bottled water simply comes from a municipal water source, yet you obviously pay significantly more for it. Finally, bottled water production consumes more than 47 millions gallons of oil each year (equivalent to 100,000 cars’ use) and discarded plastic bottles require 1,000 years to biodegrade.

So protect your wallet, health, and the planet by not purchasing bottled water!

webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20081107/bottled-water-faq-on-safety-and-purity
commondreams.org/views07/0218-05.htm

 

[Drawmack]

With Americans spending around $20 billion a year on bottled water, this industry has undoubtedly succeeded in creating a false sense of superiority for its product. Not only is bottled water 100s to 1000s of times more expensive than equivalent quantities of tap water, but it’s also not necessarily safer to drink. The EPA has much tougher regulations for tap water than the FDA has for bottled–the NRDC found that the FDA allows some contamination of E. coli and doesn’t require testing for parasites such as cryptosporidium or giardia. The EPA, unlike the FDA, also requires annual public reports identifying the contaminants in tap water. About 45% of bottled water simply comes from a municipal water source, yet you obviously pay significantly more for it. Finally, bottled water production consumes more than 47 millions gallons of oil each year (equivalent to 100,000 cars’ use) and discarded plastic bottles require 1,000 years to biodegrade.

So protect your wallet, health, and the planet by not purchasing bottled water!

webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20081107/bottled-water-faq-on-safety-and-purity
commondreams.org/views07/0218-05.htm

Well, Pocono Springs water is natural spring water from a naturally occurring spring in the Pocono mtns. As such this water is high in certain mineral which give the water a distinctive taste; a taste that I enjoy. Are you saying I shouldn’t buy a product with a flavor I enjoy?

 

[Michaelo]

Are you saying I shouldn’t buy a product with a flavor I enjoy?

Yes, bottled water consumption is highly extravagant IMO. I’m not saying you can’t, just that you shouldn’t–considering the environmental impact and ridiculous price.

 

[Drawmack]

Yes, bottled water consumption is highly extravagant IMO. I’m not saying you can’t, just that you shouldn’t–considering the environmental impact and ridiculous price.

What is the environment impact of Pocono Springs water? Ummm, the price is extremely negligible as I get it for free.

 

[Michaelo]

What is the environment impact of Pocono Springs water? Ummm, the price is extremely negligible as I get it for free.

Wait, is this bottled water?

 

[Drawmack]

Wait, is this bottled water?

Yup, it’s bottled spring water.

 

[Michaelo]

Yup, it’s bottled spring water.

Well, reusing the plastic bottles that the water comes in would be great

 

[grandfather]

Well, reusing the plastic bottles that the water comes in would be great

I am in the water business, not bottled water, but water treatment. There are probably more than 20 billion plastic bottles made every year and disposed of in landfills. The plastic itself leaches carcinogenic material into the water, including the water bottles people buy to carry their elixir arond. The shelf life is six months due to the plastic leaching. Tap water in general is not only more economical than bottled water, but it is safer. The mineral content in bottled water is negligible. You get more minerals from eating a single apple than you would from drinking spring water all week. The emergence of the bottled water industry is marketing genius. Convince dumb rich Americans to spend $20 billion a year on what is free. My sister spends almost $2,000 per year on bottled water. She has cases of it stacked in her garage. It is now part of our decadent culture. $2,000 would provide water for an entire orphanage in Haiti. I know. That is what I do.

 

[firemadeflesh]

grandfather, is there is anything that can be done in order to stop the bottle water craze, except by individually stopping buying the water? And possibly get the water to those people in Haiti?

I personally have a Nalgene that I use all the time, and if I drink two full glasses of it, I drink my daily requirements of water. It keeps me hydrated. Another good reason to use non-disposable plastic bottles.

 

[Michaelo]

I am in the water business, not bottled water, but water treatment. There are probably more than 20 billion plastic bottles made every year and disposed of in landfills. The plastic itself leaches carcinogenic material into the water, including the water bottles people buy to carry their elixir arond. The shelf life is six months due to the plastic leaching. Tap water in general is not only more economical than bottled water, but it is safer. The mineral content in bottled water is negligible. You get more minerals from eating a single apple than you would from drinking spring water all week. The emergence of the bottled water industry is marketing genius. Convince dumb rich Americans to spend $20 billion a year on what is free. My sister spends almost $2,000 per year on bottled water. She has cases of it stacked in her garage. It is now part of our decadent culture. $2,000 would provide water for an entire orphanage in Haiti. I know. That is what I do.

Exactly! Thank you for sharing your expertise. I think many people are simply unaware of what a scam the bottled water industry is.

I personally have a Nalgene that I use all the time, and if I drink two full glasses of it, I drink my daily requirements of water. It keeps me hydrated. Another good reason to use non-disposable plastic bottles.

Yep, non-disposable plastic bottles are definitely the ideal

 

[grandfather]

grandfather, is there is anything that can be done in order to stop the bottle water craze, except by individually stopping buying the water? And possibly get the water to those people in Haiti?

I personally have a Nalgene that I use all the time, and if I drink two full glasses of it, I drink my daily requirements of water. It keeps me hydrated. Another good reason to use non-disposable plastic bottles.

Crazes usually come to an end. In this case it might be by economic necessity. Over 2 billion people do not have safe potable water, a third of the population. In this country people do not understand the magnitude of the problem. Americans don’t know anyone who has died of dysentry. Half the hospital beds in the world are occupied by people with water borne disease.

Many of the nondisposables leach carcinogens. I don’t know if the nalgene is safe or not. If I recall the bottles have numbers on the bottom. The number 7 is the safe plastic unless I have it backwards. I’ll check and get back on that.

 

[aspawloski4th]

With Americans spending around $20 billion a year on bottled water, this industry has undoubtedly succeeded in creating a false sense of superiority for its product. Not only is bottled water 100s to 1000s of times more expensive than equivalent quantities of tap water, but it’s also not necessarily safer to drink. The EPA has much tougher regulations for tap water than the FDA has for bottled–the NRDC found that the FDA allows some contamination of E. coli and doesn’t require testing for parasites such as cryptosporidium or giardia. The EPA, unlike the FDA, also requires annual public reports identifying the contaminants in tap water. About 45% of bottled water simply comes from a municipal water source, yet you obviously pay significantly more for it. Finally, bottled water production consumes more than 47 millions gallons of oil each year (equivalent to 100,000 cars’ use) and discarded plastic bottles require 1,000 years to biodegrade.

So protect your wallet, health, and the planet by not purchasing bottled water!

webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20081107/bottled-water-faq-on-safety-and-purity
commondreams.org/views07/0218-05.htm

Tisk tisk tisk. In all honesty Thats no more than blubbering to me. While most of the time I don’t buy bottled water at this point, there were times I have. Here are 2. When I go on a vacation. When I vacation the only work I do is put up and take down the tent. Otherwise it’s convenience mania for me.I’ll buy eenough so that there are 2 to 3 bottles per person on the trip perday. The other is when I lived up at Mtpleasant Michigan when going to Central Michigan University. Moutpleasant’s water is metallic to an extreme. I happen to be a bit allergic to that type of water and have gotten sick to my stomach before over it… At the Dominos Pizza store I work at the plumbing is so old and water tastes so wierd none of us trust it, so we drink bottled water if water is what we want… While I don’t buy much water myself, I find this vandetta against bottled water silly and petty. Someone who is worred over something like that has a bit too much time on their hands, and needs something else to keep them busy.

 

[Michaelo]

While I don’t buy much water myself, I find this vandetta against bottled water silly and petty. Someone who is worred over something like that has a bit too much time on their hands, and needs something else to keep them busy.

Considering that most tap water is as safe or safer to drink than bottled, is significantly cheaper, and doesn’t generate tons of waste, I see no reason to be apathetic on this.

 

[grandfather]

Tisk tisk tisk. In all honesty Thats no more than blubbering to me. While most of the time I don’t buy bottled water at this point, there were times I have. Here are 2. When I go on a vacation. When I vacation the only work I do is put up and take down the tent. Otherwise it’s convenience mania for me.I’ll buy eenough so that there are 2 to 3 bottles per person on the trip perday. The other is when I lived up at Mtpleasant Michigan when going to Central Michigan University. Moutpleasant’s water is metallic to an extreme. I happen to be a bit allergic to that type of water and have gotten sick to my stomach before over it… At the Dominos Pizza store I work at the plumbing is so old and water tastes so wierd none of us trust it, so we drink bottled water if water is what we want… While I don’t buy much water myself, I find this vandetta against bottled water silly and petty. Someone who is worred over something like that has a bit too much time on their hands, and needs something else to keep them busy.

Think about the cost. When we spend a couple of dollars per day on something we do not realize the cumulative cost. I was at the airport an a pint of water was $2. When I check in a hotel they want the same price, or at a 7-11 it is also spendy. There are small simple purification systems easy to install at home that over their lifetimes the cost is about a half a cent per gallon. That would work out to less than $2 per year instead of per pint.

It is kind of like going to Starbucks every day. If people had to pay all at once for a year’s worth of Starbucks visits or one or two percent of that to make coffee at home many would stop the extravagance. Our culture is extravagant in many ways like this, because we are so wealthy. Bottled water is one of them and it is ridiculous.

Here is some perspective. There will be over 750,000 babies in Africa this year who will get HIV from breat feeding. 48% of babies who nurse from HIV positive mother will get the disease and be dead by the time they are 2. There is plenty of powdered formula, but no safe water. For a few cents per day per child we could save all those babies, every one of them. The technology is there to do it. While they get sick and die a horrible death for lack of clean water we are spending a hundred times that on what is totally unnecessary.

“I was thirsty and you…”

 

[Corki]

I agree with everything you have said but I just don’t see a lot of alternatives. Here in our part of Texas we have had almost two months of near 100 degree days. When I am out running errands or going places with the kids, we need to get something to drink. If I brought water in the car, it would be too hot to drink after our first stop. I can buy soda, juice or water. The juice and water come in the same plastic bottles and while the soda comes in a cup usually, who needs that much soda?

At home, I have a filter on the refrigerator for the water since without it, it is too chlorine tasting/smelling.

 

[grandfather]

I agree with everything you have said but I just don’t see a lot of alternatives. Here in our part of Texas we have had almost two months of near 100 degree days. When I am out running errands or going places with the kids, we need to get something to drink. If I brought water in the car, it would be too hot to drink after our first stop. I can buy soda, juice or water. The juice and water come in the same plastic bottles and while the soda comes in a cup usually, who needs that much soda?

At home, I have a filter on the refrigerator for the water since without it, it is too chlorine tasting/smelling.

I checked on the plastic nalgene bottles. If your bottles have a 5 on the bottom get rid of them. If they have a 7 they are ok, until proven otherwise. The thin plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water that are carcinogenic. The longer the water is in them on the shelf the more chemical gets in the water. As they age you can actually taste the chemical. The hotter the storage temperature the faster they leach. If I lived in TX I would carry a small cooler in my car and use blue ice.

 

[JamesRottnek]

In at least one city in my home state of Arizona, about two or so years ago, it was found that large amounts of prescription drugs were in the public water supply. That is safe, how, exactly?

 

[grandfather]

In at least one city in my home state of Arizona, about two or so years ago, it was found that large amounts of prescription drugs were in the public water supply. That is safe, how, exactly?

There are drugs in sewage and sewage treatment effluent that goes into rivers, specifically from birth control pills, estrogen. This is causing male fish to grow female organs.

It would be very rare for this to be a problem in an American city. The FDA has much more stringent regulations on what is acceptable in municipal water than in bottled water.

A household under the sink reverse osmosis filter will block any pathogen or pollutant including pharmaceuticals. They come with pre and post treatment carbon filters. The output of an under the sink system will be in the range of 50 gallons per day, although they vary. They can last for years with no maintenance and run on household water pressure. Cost varies. They are very reliable.

Bottled water is not automatically “safe”. The chemicals that are used to clean the purification equipment are highly toxic. It is uncommon, but it happens that there will be residual chemicals in bottled water. The plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water. This is certain.

The safest, least cost, most reliable approach is a household system. In general municipal water is very safe.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Considering that most tap water is as safe or safer to drink than bottled, is significantly cheaper, and doesn’t generate tons of waste, I see no reason to be apathetic on this.

My tap water comes from Lake Michigan. When it comes out of the faucet the odor of chlorine is very strong, when I store it in the refrigerator the taste of chlorine is so strong that I cannot bear to drink it. I buy Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water. And by the way, I work for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 in Chicago. I wouldn’t believe ANYTHING the Agency tells you. If the truth is not in keeping with the Administrations views the Agency just keeps its mouth shut. Example: for eight years EPA did not believe in global warming. Obama gets elected and the Agency is now a believer – go figure.

 

[Corki]

Reverse osmosis water filters do not remove phamaceuticals from the water. In order to remove some of the pharmeceuticals you need reverse osmosis, carbon filters AND ion/sub micron filters.

The DO remove trace minerals that humans need.

I am not saying that using a home filter is bad. It is just important to know that if that is your main source of drinking water, you will probably want to take a good mineral supplement.

Another point to remember, if you are worried about pharmeceuticals in the water, the regular water report that you get from your municipal water agency probably does not list them. IF they test for them at all, you will probably have to request that information directly.

If I lived in TX I would carry a small cooler in my car and use blue ice.

LOL, I’ve done that too. The cooler usually has bottles of water in it.

Sorry to be flip. I do think this is an important thing to consider. It just isn’t as easy as saying - “don’t buy bottled water”.

For many people, the better alternative might be to buy water in big containers (5 gal +) and then use refillable bottles for convenience. The environmental impact would be less; the large bottles are refillable or recyclable. The cost is much less.