The end of Bottled Water sales in the U.S.?

[bigbadbrody]

^use a water purification system

 

[gunslingingbird]

^ The problem with that is that my landlord wouldn't spend the money to install one, and my roommates are too cheap, and stupid if you think about the long term effects, to get a water purifier.

 

[bigbadbrody]

^have you ever heard of Brita?

 

[gunslingingbird]

Is that the one that's a pitcher with a purifier built in? I hadn't thought of getting one of those. When I was a kid my parents installed a Culligan water system in the house. I think my dad paid close to $3,000 dollars for it, and, if I remember right, it was a pain in the ass because we had to replace the salt tablets every few months.

 

[bigbadbrody]

Brita water purification pitcher is the best way, or you could get one of the water purifiers that connects to the faucet

 

[Petra]

When I lived in south centeral florida I bought bottled water on a regular basis because the water at work had a big excess of sulfur. We had a filter on the water tank but after 2 weeks it went back to being really horrid stuff.

Water in the city was ok though.

I rarely buy bottled water now...usually only when I need a new bottle to carry around.

 

[Facetious]

Where and when did it become fashionable for people to become beholden to carrying water wherever they go ? (The aforementioned is a question, not a commentary remark)
For me, if I open a 20ozer, that sucker is down and done with in short order !

Those family and friends who practice the water carry habit tend to leave all of these 3/4 full, abandoned bottles of water all around, wherever they frequent . . I point it out and they scowl at me.

As for the chlorine content in our tap water . . it will out gas itself if left open to the atmosphere because it's introduced into the potable aquafer as a gas and not a solid.
I'm not sure how solid chlorine variants actually dissipate in water.

Sodium Fluoride really has no business in our drinking supply, in any ppm content, and the only way to remove it that I know of is through distillation and reverse osmosis process.

Finally - I have two 9' indoor palm trees that hate the city water ! All of the fraun ends used to brown and look like shit ! Since I learned about this four years ago, I water with either collected rain runoff, which I store, or store bought reverse osmosis water. All green now !! FWIW

 

[yaheem]

Brita is awesome, I remember my aunt had it on her faucet as well as the pitcher with the filter. Now I hear the filters come with flavors so you get raspberry flavored water right out of the tap.

 

[Philbert]

I live in a large city, where, like most mucinipal areas the water is loaded with odor causing chemicals...I have to use water conditioner in my aquariums to keep the fish from dying in tap water. Chlorimine doesn't evaporate, chlorine does after a while; I make coffee with tap water and it tastes ok, but when I use bottled water to drink or make coffee the flavor is much better. I can really taste the nasty if I drink tap water, so I buy gallons of $.90 water at WalMart and use the empties for mini aquariums when I transport my giveaway fish to friends or fish club auctions. Those plastic containers get used over and over.
Do all you who think bottled water is such a dumb or bad thing use Britta pitchers, or are you stating a philosophy not based on personal experience? Water filtration is an expensive and partially succesful drinking water solution, I have tried a pitcher filter and the water still had some chemical taste.
I use maybe 1 1/2-2 gallons a week of bottled water, me and my kid, so I don't see the need to spend $30 for a filtration system. Maybe a houseful of people would save some money, but not us.
Thanks to all those who use eco-friendly lifestyles; you offset my basic cigarette smoking plastic using gasoline burning old style American life. I wish I had a Harley to burn even more fossil fuel...

 

[General Warcock]

I have a filter that fits right onto the faucet and I can still taste a difference between the filtered water and spring water. I make coffee with tap water and cook with it, but that's it as far as consuming it.

 

[Facetious]

If you're like me and like to "warehouse" or stockpile 1 or 2.5 gallon water jugs (in the event of a SHTF scenario), I read the labels very closely.
Water labeled as "Spring Water" doesn't necessarily mean that 100 % of the contents contained is in fact "Spring Water", it may only be required by local law that a small percentage of the water in those jugs is, in fact what the label reads.
Even if the water contained is from a municipal source, you can't go wrong with a reverse osmosis process. This rids all of the undesirable (and desirable "shit" minerals) out of the water.


The question is . . What percentage of the water contained is actually reverse osmosis processed ? :o Dammit ! Can't Win !

 

[nealdrox]

I drink ALOT of tap water. I wouldnt be sad to see the bottles go.Most of the time when I do have a bottled water,I drink that then fill it back up with tap water.

 

[Jagger69]

I work in the water industry so here is the TRUTH....

"Spring" water is indeed 100% spring water....BUT....

....no matter the source and just like any food product, all bottled water is subject to EPA and FDA/USDA standards for purity and sanitation. That means that even "spring" water undergoes a purification process that typically includes ozonation, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection. The only real difference between commercial "spring" water and "purified" water is the originating source of the water. "Spring" water is drawn from a natural spring and "purified" water is drawn from either a well or a municipal water source. The sales spin for "spring" water is that it contains the natural minerals that were in it when it was drawn as opposed to "purified" water that has had the minerals added to it.

Other than marketing glitz, there isn't any other difference between the two. You can easily make the same quality drinking water in your home for literally pennies a day.

 

[Jagger69]

As for the chlorine content in our tap water . . it will out gas itself if left open to the atmosphere because it's introduced into the potable aquafer as a gas and not a solid. I'm not sure how solid chlorine variants actually dissipate in water.

Chlorine only exists in a gaseous state at temperatures above -30F so it is unlikely that one would ever be exposed to anything other than chlorine gas under normal conditions. However, because of its molecular structure, chlorine easily combines with other elements to make new compounds. You'll therefore see it in a liquid phase (liquid bleach) as a compound (sodium hypochlorite) and in a solid phase (chlorine tablets) as a compound (tri-chloro-s-triazinetrione). Diluted in water, chlorine undergoes a reaction to form hypochlorous acid and that is the active sanitizer that purifies water. Subsequently, it typically will either be dissipated into the atmosphere by exposure to ultraviolet radiation or by oxidation of chloramines and/or other chlorine compounds.

 

[Facial_King]

I've noticed a real decline in the ready availability of drinking fountains that has corresponded to the increase in the availability of bottled water for sale. I don't like it one bit. Sure, using a drinking fountain is a bit of dice roll as far as germs and catching something from a previous user, but it was a dice roll that I think I nearly always won (how to tell for sure WHERE you picked up the flu or a cold? Door handles and shopping carts and such are at least as likely to have been the culprits!), plus the standards for bottled water purity are typically lower than those for actual tap water.

So, I use a Brita-type filtration pitcher system for my home water, and it works well. But one problem that I've noticed with those is that the damn filters appear to be made of non-recyclable plastic. So, whenever I change the filter in the thing, I picture a couple billion people doing the same, and the massive quantities of (oil-based) plastic filters, which are also probably filled with contaminants that came out of my water, packing a landfill somewhere. Doesn't exactly give me a nice, green feeling.

 

[member979979]

The end of NASCAR...I would sign that bill immediately!! I would miss the Indy500. That's the only race I vaguely monitor....

I think Golf Courses are going to become a thing of the past too. They require too much water to maintain.

Amen. "Watching golf is like watching flys have sex" - George Carlin.

 

[Facial_King]

The end of NASCAR...I would sign that bill immediately!! I would miss the Indy500. That's the only race I vaguely monitor....

I think Golf Courses are going to become a thing of the past too. They require too much water to maintain.

Yes, auto-racing (and motorsports in general that gobble up oil & gas that could easily be put to better use) is something that I think should be reconsidered and probably phased out. On a gut level that would be unfortunate in many ways - sure, I hate NASCAR too, but there's always IMSA, Le Mans, and world rally championships and such, which are cool and fun - but it might be a necessary part of humanity growing up a bit.

Good riddance to golf courses (esp. the non-public ones!), yes!

:glugglug:

 

[titsrock]

I believe the Wall St. Journal recently did a feature on Golf courses and they showed a pic of a course in GA last summer...completely brown fairways. The golf courses in certain districts were ordered "dry" due to the extreme drought that state/area faced last year. Only the greens were watered. A typical golf course requires 350,000 gallons of water a day, more in the summer, and golf courses in AZ and Palm Springs, CA, require 900,000 gallons a day in summer!!

It is going to be something our nation has to look into in high population areas (So Cal, Florida) that experience droughts.

I haven't noticed if there's been a decline in the availability of water fountains...I'll have to start taking notice of that...

 

[Purple†Pain]

Here's an article from Yahoo News...indicating that Bottled Water sales may be a thing of the past in the U.S. (and Europe) due to the environmental impact--namely oil and water usage, plus the landfill issue with plastic bottles. We've sort of talked about this issue here before. Is this actually the sign of more legislative movements to comb the marketplace of "environmentally inefficient" products from the marketplace...like SUVs (is it time to remove the new and used from the sales lots?), golf course construction and management?

There's a lot of products and services that are environmental resource HOGS which may find their way out of the marketplace soon...


Bottled water debate hits a boiling point

by Rob LeverSun Jun 29, 1:02 PM ET

A debate over water is boiling over in the United States and elsewhere amid growing environmental concerns about bottled water and questions about safety of tap water.

The US Conference of Mayors in June passed a resolution calling for a phasing out of bottled water by municipalities and promotion of the importance of public water supplies.

While largely symbolic, the vote highlighted a growing movement opposing regular use of bottled water because of its plastic waste and energy costs to transport drinking supplies.

Janet Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute, cites a "backlash against bottled water as more people are realizing what they get out of the bottles is not any better than what they get out of the faucet."

The Pacific Institute, a California think thank on sustainability issues, contends that producing bottles for US water consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil in 2006, not including the energy for transportation.

The group says bottling water for Americans produces more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide and consumes three liters of water for each liter of bottled water produced.

For the rest of the article...click here

Good thread:thumbsup:

 

[devlinvelez]

Bottled water doesn't do anything for me....but New York water makes the best pizza in the free world.