Water : from tap or bottled?
 

Taken from http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm

#20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem

Source:
OneWorld.net, February 5, 2006
Title: ?Bottled Water: Nectar of the Frauds??
Author: Abid Aslam

Faculty Evaluator: Liz Close
Student Researchers: Heidi Miller and Sean Hurley

Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief?often mistaken?that it is better for us than what flows from our taps. Worldwide, bottled water consumption surged to 41 billion gallons in 2004, up 57 percent since 1999.

?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,? reports Earth Policy Institute researcher Emily Arnold. Although in much of the world, including Europe and the U.S., more regulations govern the quality of tap water than bottled water, bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more. At up to $10 per gallon, bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.
?There is no question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to the health of our global community,? Arnold asserts, ?But bottled water is not the answer in the developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1.1 billion people who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existing water treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safe and sustainable sources of water over the long term.? Members of the United Nations have agreed to halve the proportion of people who lack reliable and lasting access to safe drinking water by the year 2015. To meet this goal, they would have to double the $15 billion spent every year on water supply and sanitation. While this amount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100 billion spent each year on bottled water.

Tap water comes to us through an energy-efficient infrastructure whereas bottled water is transported long distances?often across national borders?by boat, train, airplane, and truck. This involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels.

For example, in 2004 alone a Helsinki company shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 2,700 miles to Saudi Arabia. And although 94 percent of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is produced domestically, many Americans import water shipped some 9,000 kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy demand for what Arnold terms ?chic and exotic bottled water.?

More fossil fuels are used in packaging the water. Most water bottles are made with polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic derived from crude oil. ?Making bottles to meet Americans? demand alone requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year,? Arnold notes.

Once it has been emptied, the bottle must be dumped. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals tied to a host of human and animal health problems. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year. Of the bottles deposited for recycling in 2004, the U.S. exported roughly 40 percent to destinations as far away as China, requiring yet more fossil fuel.
Meanwhile, communities where the water originates risk their sources running dry. More than fifty Indian villages have complained of water shortages after bottlers began extracting water for sale under the Coca-Cola Corporation?s Dasani label. Similar problems have been reported in Texas and in the Great Lakes region of North America, where farmers, fishers, and others who depend on water for their livelihoods are suffering from concentrated water extraction as water tables drop quickly.

While Americans consume the most bottled water per capita, some of the fastest collective growth in consumption is in the giant populations of Mexico, India, and China. As a whole, India?s consumption of bottled water increased threefold from 1999 to 2004, while China?s more than doubled.

While private companies? profits rise from selling bottled water of questionable quality at more than $100 billion per year?more efficiently regulated, waste-free municipal systems could be implemented for distribution of safe drinking water for all the peoples of the world?at a small fraction of the price.

http://www.idiotbrain.com/wp-content...ugh_water1.jpg

Brita filter here.

Tap water contains many metallic particulates, chlorine, and other things you're probably better off without

A simple carbon filter (as with Brita filters) removes many of those elements without the environmental nigthmare that bottled water provides.

I use filtered tap water and just put it in (cleaned) plastic bottles for convenience.

bottle for when on the go, tap when at home.

Arrowhead on my doorstep twice a week! Use it for everything; cooking,coffee, and drinking!

It depends on the plumbing and it depends on the bottled water.

Water?? You mean like out of the toliet?



If you haven't seen the movie Idiocracy, its a must see... Cinamax just added to their On Demand...:pimp

In Costa Rica we can only drink bottled water.

Usually bottled water, it's just more convenient to grab out of the fridge and drink, takes too much time to fill a cup with ice and water, yeah I'm lazy.

He have a filter... neither tap or bottled...

psst...

Where does the water that pases through your filter come from?

:winkwink:

Only drink bottled under two circumstances.

1. I am traveling somewhere that the tap tastes like crap, i.e. Vegas and a few other places and plan on staying more than a day.
2. If it is the carbonated variety such as calistoga etc.

the tap water here is so bad that it literally fizzes when you pour yourself a glass, thats one reason i tend to drink the bottled water, theirs high amounts of chlorine and flouride in our water...

going to have to try one of those brita or pur water filters

I only drink bottled water..I don't trust the tap water

Here in Riga you have to drink bottled water. The amount of lead and rust in the tap water would kill you in a week. It comes out of the faucet brown.

always tap water here in NL. Never understood people living across the big pond who dont drink tapwater... then again i never knew that in some places over there its bad quality as some of you say. Didnt expect that from a western country. And to think a small selection of US residents say over here its a 3rd world country... lol

NL is tiny compared to the US. Some parts of the country rely on wells and other assorted water sources. The vast majority of tap water in the countries cities is perfectly normal and highly safe with no unwater like tastes. Unless you have issue with flouride in some areas or have bad plumbing etc.

I have a reverse osmosis system and its about the most pure water you can get

I usually only drink Pepsi Max and that has water in it so I guess in a way I only drink bottled water ;)

water cooler filtered water .. and ...ahhh .. actually just took another great big drink .. refreshing ..

Respect your kidneys man, give it up and drink more... lots more water.

I dont live in a third world country so I drink from the tap at my house. Rarely do I drink from a public fountain only if I really need to.

Same here... We sell these through one of my companies and people love it :)

Those are pretty thorough, especially if equipped with a carbon filter after the water's been pressurized through the membrane.

The problem is that they're kinda wasteful, as, in the typical RO setup, more water will go down the drain in the filtration process than ends up getting filtered. :2 cents:

You should have 2-3 filters before the membrane and a carbon filter after the membrane. If you don't have any filters before the membrane, you need to change the membrane much more often. Plus it's a good idea to have something to energize the water right before the faucet.

As for the wastewater... here quite a few people have systems where they use it to flush the toilet.

i switch it up

brita for me

Cool... good to know there are conservative measures being taken.

i don't drink water, lol
only Coca cola

whatever is cold and close.

I get my water from her tits, actually !! :1orglaugh

My municipal water has fluoride in it. I will not drink it no matter what.

Tap at home, bottled when out

Usually filtered Tap unless I'm out and about.


Just remember folks Evian is naive spelt backwards!

well I live in the Philippines . I wouldnt even give my birds tap water..

used to drink tap all the time in europe

I hate these fucking hippies without a cause bashing on bottled water...

Bottled water allows people to hydrate on the go and with ease. People walk into a mini mart and maybe they'll buy a coke, or maybe a bottled water. I think the bottled water is a better choice.

For a nation full of fat asses the last thing we should be doing is attacking bottled water. I don't like tap water for a lot of reasons. Consumers should be able to choose what they put in their bodies, especially something as vital as water. Ultra liberals are trying to ban it.

The best choice is a natural spring water with high mineral content.

This is another good point. Although the ADA recommends municipal water fluoridation to prevent cavities, it can also cause dental fluorosis and possibly some other serious conditions.

Personally, I like a water without fluoride because I brush my teeth plenty - thats why I choose bottled water.

we actually have bottles from bottled water we bought that we fill up using our pur filter on our kitchen tap

the tap water here is perfectly fine though, we don't even really need the filter, my wife is just weird though