Tapped Out: The Perils of Bottled Water

Bluesman Howlin’ Wolf moaned in 1956, “I asked her for water, she brought me gasoline.”

Sly and the Family Stone warned in 1969, “Don’t let the plastic bring you down.”

In 2007, you ask a waitress for a bottle of water, she still brings you gasoline. When we finish the bottle, the plastic brings us down.

In the chronicles of chasing our tail, the pursuit of purity gives us putrid environs. Americans more than doubled their purchases of personal-sized bottled water between 2002 and 2005, according to the Container Recycling Institute, from 13 billion bottles to nearly 28 billion bottles. The United States, only 5 percent of the world’s population, accounts for 17 percent of global bottled water consumption, according to the Worldwatch Institute. As we take water itself for granted, so too do we ignore its waste and, as they say these days, its ecological footprint.

Nearly all such water comes in bottles derived from oil, commonly called PET for polyethylene terephthalate. Nationally only 14.5 percent of PET bottles for non-carbonated drinks were recycled, creating 2 million tons of trash that will not degrade for hundreds of years in landfills. The Container Recycling Institute says overall beverage container recycling has dropped from 53.5 percent in 1992 to 33.5 percent in 2004.

The institute calculates that if we were to go on a national campaign to increase beverage container recycling to 80 percent, the savings in greenhouse gas production would be the equivalent of taking 2.4 million cars off the road for a year. It says if the recycling content of plastic beverage bottles was 25 percent, that would save enough crude oil to electrify 680,000 American homes for a year.

“Beverage bottles and cans are not only a large portion of packaging, but are also some of the most easily recycled and most economically valuable materials in our waste stream,” the institute said last year. “Replacing these cans and bottles with new containers made from virgin materials consumes substantive amounts of energy, water, and, increases dependence on foreign oil.”

The ironies of bottled water are an iconic insult to our intelligence. Many companies imply their water is better than tap water even though bottled water is often tap water. Many companies imply that bottled “spring water” is healthier even though there is no evidence that such water is any better or worse than municipal supplies. Despite that, Americans are willing to pay far more for bottled water.

Even more ridiculous, we are howlin’ wolves about $3-a-gallon gasoline. But those little bottles of water add up to as much as $10 a gallon, according to the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington environmental think tank. Some mayors are catching on. San Francisco just banned bottled water at city offices. New York is crusading to lure residents back to the tap. Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham reports that Boston City Hall employees last year quaffed $100,000 of bottled water.

The US Conference of Mayors, noting how Americans spend $11 billion on bottled water despite the $43 billion that local governments spend to deliver some of the best water in the world, last month passed a resolution calling for the “compilation of information regarding the importance of municipal water and the impact of bottled water on municipal waste.”

These stirrings have the bottled water lobby gurgling in protest. The International Bottled Water Association said the San Francisco ban by Mayor Gavin Newsom was riddled with “misinformed statements.” It claimed neither their bottles nor the production or transport of the bottles are environmental problems. The association cried that Newsom was depriving city employees of a healthy drink that “does not contain calories, caffeine, sugar, artificial flavors or colors, alcohol and other ingredients.”

Talk about crying and howling wolf. By far, the two fastest-growing individual “liquid refreshment” brands in the United States, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, are Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s Dasani. Both are bottled waters. Both are municipal water!

When Sly and the Family Stone sang about plastic, it was about fake people. There is nothing more fake than people who repackage tap water, then jack you up, calling it “liquid refreshment.”

The next time you ask the waitress for bottled water, remember it costs more than gasoline.

Derrick Z. Jackson’s e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.

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29 Comments so far

ezeflyer July 25th, 2007 12:33 pm

Somebody ought to come up with a canteen.

Paranoid Pessimist July 25th, 2007 1:24 pm

Bottled bullshit, if you’ll pardon the expletive.

skst July 25th, 2007 1:49 pm

Seriously! I nearly choked when my wife paid $3 for a bottle of water at the theater this weekend. (Honey, I’ll be happy to sneak in a Thermos for you next time.) These places should be required to accept the bottles for recycling.

allblue July 25th, 2007 2:09 pm

Nearly all of the water I drink now is bottled, which I buy at a local supermarket at a cost of €0.38 ($0.50) for a 5 litre bottle. I am aware of the environmental cost of producing the bottles, but I am also aware of the quality of tap water with all of it’s toxic additives. As regards disposal, within 100 metres either up or down my road is a micro-recycling centre. The containers are underground, leaving just discreet and fairly elegant pieces of street furniture visible. There are three such, plastic/metal; glass and paper/card, and I would say they take about three-quarters of what would otherwise be landfill. This is in a small town in Portugal, so it is not a question of resources, it is a question of will.

sweeve July 25th, 2007 3:29 pm

I’m with you allblue, and I live in the US.

I’ve seen too many studies of waterways and ground water that turn up pesticides, fertilizer runoff, residues of pharmaceutical drugs (antibiotics, ritalin, etc), detergent chemicals and so on. A lot of these are only found in the parts per billion range, an analysis that isn’t frequently done. So I’ll continue to lug my gallon bottles of spring water to my kitchen. Even if it really is tap water, i have to assume that whatever filtration system they have is better than what I can muster at home (and the bottled water certainly tastes a lot better than my tap water).

I agree that plastic bottles have a negative environmental impact, and I try to avoid buying the small “portion-sized” ones. But let’s face it, with all the crap dumped into the waterways due to lax regulations and slap on the wrist fines, and the strained water processing/sewage infrastructure (after a couple of decades of unbridled suburban growth) tap water in the US is not safe.

Auberon July 25th, 2007 3:42 pm

Sweeve:
Actually, you DON’T “have to assume” anything. You CHOOSE to, because it’s convenient for you. You have chosen a known evil over a theoretical result. Stop giving into fear.
Do you at least recycle those plastic gallon bottles of tap….I mean, spring…..water?

sweeve July 25th, 2007 3:53 pm

Auberon:
The pollution is well documented. See for example:

http://toxics.usgs.gov/regional/emc/antibiotics.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060303114824.htm

As for recycling, ha. There are no facilities that I know of around here - nor any curbside pickup. For the record, recycling was one of the 1st things I inquired about when I moved to the US from Europe, but people looked at me like I was from Mars or something.

allblue July 25th, 2007 5:14 pm

I have heard this many times - ‘there is no difference between tap and bottled water’ but this is demonstrably not the case here. If you make a cup of tea with bottled water it remains translucent, you can see the bottom of the cup. With tap water the tea immediately goes opaque. This may be just the calcium carbonate, but if you’ve ever met someone who has had a kidney stone removed (ouch!) that in itself is quite a motivation! But it is also the taste - make tea or coffee with tap water and you can ‘taste’ the water, with bottled water you cannot (and yes I have done a blind test to prove the point to a sceptical friend!)

Is there fluoride (highly toxic effluent from power stations) added to your water auberon? If there is I would suggest you find an alternative supply. Google what the Nazis used fluoridated water for…

Thomas Albright July 25th, 2007 5:22 pm

Here in Oregon many cities use surface water, (rivers). We have possibly the best water in the world. In portland the only chemicals aded is chlorine and some chemical to raise the Ph. Evergreen forests are slightly acidic. Chlorine prevents waterborne disease. By and large, city water is just as “safe” as bottled. I can’t believe how many people are bullshitted about water. Sheesh.

allblue July 25th, 2007 5:54 pm

@Thomas Albright

I’ll assume you posted before seeing my post immediately above, because there I point out that there is a difference in this instance, it is definitely not my imagination. Even if it is only the question of taste then it is just an indulgence, but whatever makes the tea opaque is not going through my system as a result. You are indeed fortunate to have such clean surface water, presumably there is not much human activity upriver of you, most people are not that fortunate. Water drawn from an aquifer has taken decades to filter through rock strata, so is free of nitrate fertiliser organo-phosphate pesticide run-off, not to mention the oestrogen that has passed through women taking the contraceptive pill, unlike most of our rivers.

Galdamaz July 25th, 2007 6:11 pm

For those people fear tap water and are giving Coke and Pepsi billions of dollars, why not purchase a water filter for your faucet? Another added benefit is that plastic will not end up in a landfill.

Personally, I would much rather trust my municipal water because it at least is regulated and subjected to quality standards. In addition it is a public agency.

There are no regulatory agencies for bottle water. In the case of Coke and Pepsi the bottom line is making money at whatever costs. We are very well aware of how private companies are run: Profit, Profit, and more Profit…ohh and cost cutting.

So, I will continue to filter my tap water, rather than buying bottle water. For convenience, I buy a small water container fill it up at home and take it with me

RSJ July 25th, 2007 6:42 pm

I agree, Galdadmaz, filtering tap water is much cheaper and more environmentally safe than buying water in plastic bottles.

To allblue: I have had a similar experience with my coffee maker. When using unfiltered tap water, a whitish scum collects in the water reservoir after foru or five cycles that doesn’t build up using filtered tap water, and the coffee tastes better.

I’m surprised some company hasn’t begun selling bottled water in recturnable glass bottles. Even if they aren’t returned for refilling, the glass is more easily degradable or reusable than plastic.

allblue July 25th, 2007 6:45 pm

@Galdamaz

Good option. May I ask what type of filter you use? I did that for a while in the UK, but the filters were ridiculously expensive, and of course they in turn had to be disposed of, little plastic containers and all.

PS Here in Portugal the water companies are municipally owned (as of course they should be) but in the UK I think all of them have been stolen, er, privatised now.

tnewman July 25th, 2007 6:53 pm

In response to the concerns raised about drinking tap water: keep in mind that many brands of bottled water are actually just filled with municipal tap water! Additionally, bottled water quality is very unregulated and is often found to contain MORE chemicals that tap water (which is much more highly regulated — although there are certainly issues with the regulations). Why not use an extra filter, which you can find in many stores, if you are concerned about the quality of your tap water and use one container for it instead of buying bottled water, which you know is bad for the environment because of the plastic and gas.

Most importantly: multiply your individual purchasing power by taking collective action — both to stop bottled water AND to implement stronger regulation of tap water.

Check out: http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/ and http://foodandwaterwatch.org/water

NMBill July 25th, 2007 7:25 pm

I refill a 5gal. Water jug from a Reverse Osmosis store for 25 to 35 cents a gallon.

I will drink well water in many of the western states and I find it to taste BETTER than bottled water. However, I avoid doing this near any major cities or when it goes through old pipes.

There is a spring in the Wilderness Area where I dump my water and fill up with ice-cold delicious natural spring water. It’s a spring that someone buried a pipe into and it flows year-round!

allblue July 25th, 2007 7:56 pm

Thanks NMBill, Reverse Osmosis - I hadn’t heard of it but just did a search and it looks interesting, might pursue that. Water coming directly out of the rock is the best option of course, although I’d have to say that the best water I ever tasted was creek water in the South American rainforest, known locally as ‘black water’ or ’sweet water’. It was almost the colour of weak tea, as result of it passing over and through the constantly replenishing layer of leaf on the bed, enriching it with minerals, and apparently filtering it, so that unless something had recently died in it upstream it was perfectly safe to drink (and I never got sick from it).

re the branding thing. There was that great running joke in Robert Altman’s minor classic “The Player”, where the main character (Tim Robbins) was a Hollywood executive who spent a lot of time ‘lunching’. When the waiter came to take his order, he would look thoughtful for a moment or two, as if selecting a wine, before choosing the right brand of water for the occasion!

frank1569 July 25th, 2007 8:45 pm

A real lifestyle paradigm shift would entail not just recycling, but adding a low cost filter to your tap if you feel it’s not filtered enough, then dumping bottled water altogether by switching to some sort of reusable container, of which the selection is mind boggling at this point. Businesses should bring back the water cooler, and supply employees with mugs or whatnot.

“Bling” bottled water at $90 per liter. Of tap water. Enough already.

Siouxrose July 25th, 2007 10:13 pm

NMBILL: I do the same thing, take 2 gallon containers with me and outside PUBLIX and at many health food stores there are machines that do the reverse osmosis, so you keep your container and refill the cleaner water for 35-40 cents. I also take 2 cloth “bags” with me instead of using paper or plastic. And I am doing a little experiment with my lawn… my neigbhors, anal retentive retirees seem to have a fetish with mowing that leaves their lawns equivalent to a soldier’s crew cut. My propery has a lot of old trees and the raking is quite an exercise. One neighbor saw me and suggested I cut down the tree! Her lot has NOTHING, it’s naked and UGLY. Anyway, I bought a machete and find that there are only patches of high grass that grow when it’s not routinely cut. So I go out around sundown and trim one patch one day, another another day and I have not had to mow once this year. I love it. For one thing, I despise the noise of those sit-upon lawn warrior machines. IF lots of Americans got some exercise gas and CO2 would be saved. Add this to the awful tour buses that stay ON all day, especially at Disney themeparks. I mean their engines are going all the time the tourists are inside the parks just so the insides of these mega-vehicles will be cool when the overweight tourists return. I have seen people actually drive from one side of a shopping center to another.
I’d like to see a TAX or fine imposed for this kind of behavior. It’s wasteful. Sometimes I feel like going up to some idiot sitting in a huge truck that’s idling in a shopping center parking lot and knocking on the window and saying, “Quit using up the atmosphere!” Dreaming on…

Antidote July 26th, 2007 1:26 am

With the Chloramine (no longer chlorine, but both are bad news) and fluoridating compounds, not to speak of the fertilizer run-off and pesticide drift from the agriculture in the san-joaquin valley, and finally the lead pipes that are _still_ in use in many US cities, including parts of SF, and the lead solder used in most homes (do you think that contractor _actually_ used the more expensive antimony?), I would not even consider tap water.

As for filters, you simply can not get the fluoridating compounds out of the water. Period. The only alternative is Alumina Acetate which, like the silico-fluorides, is a toxic byproduct of the fertilizer industry. Also, Reverse Osmosis wastes some 80% of the water, which just goes down the drain, and some of those RO membranes are made with toxic materials. Even carbon blocks are usually made from petrochemicals - though some are made from burnt coconut husk, a much better alternative. So, filtration will improve things, but not solve the problem. Still, a coconut char carbon block would be a good idea as the EPA estimates that 40% of our exposure to water borne pollutants comes through the skin - showers/baths and impregnation of our cloths during washing.

For drinking, I suggest: (1) Find an independent spring water bottler. (So, for instance, Nestle has bought most of the water in Northern CA.) (2) Call them and ask if they have any third party water analysis available and have them send you a copy. (3) Go and visit the spring.

Your body is 70% water. It’s even more important than food.

berserker1 July 26th, 2007 3:21 am

Try berkeylite.com. These are the best filtration systems period. Go to their site and read the specs on these fine purifiers that can sit right on the counter and work by gravity. These can be taken anywhere!

Samski July 26th, 2007 7:38 am

For those that fear fluoridation of water causes cancer, diminishment of one’s will, oseoporosis, or any other unsubstantiated negative impact on health or freedom, I have to ask - what kind of toothpaste do you use?

Marvin The Depressed Robot July 26th, 2007 12:16 pm

Bottled Water? F*%K that Sh*t! PABST BLUE RIBBON!!!

PJD July 26th, 2007 3:33 pm

Congratulations! Those who are buying bottled water because you (usually irrationally) distrust public water are doing exactly what the capitalist privatizers want you to do!

They look forward to the day when tap water will once again be typhoid and dysentery laden, and bottled water will be mandatory - for those who can afford it. The poor? better they all die of typhoid anyway.

Instead of bottled water, you should be fighting privatization and insisting on strong enforcement of water quality standards. Sorry, but a little chlorine in water beats dysentery epidemics anytime.

PJD July 26th, 2007 3:46 pm

I will drink well water in many of the western states and I find it to taste BETTER than bottled water. However, I avoid doing this near any major cities or when it goes through old pipes.

There is plenty of clean water in eastern states as well. New York City water is excellent quality - gravity fed down long bedrock tunnels from the Catskills, it has (until recently), not required filtration at all.

Antidote July 26th, 2007 6:35 pm

>For those that fear fluoridation of water causes cancer,
>diminishment of one’s will, oseoporosis, or any other
>unsubstantiated negative impact on health or freedom,

This is sheer ignorance. Have you looked into it?

No, you just listened to the propaganda that you’ve been fed and made a reflex judgement.

Well I’ve looked into it, and I’m certain that every one of of the “four horsemen” of public health, chlorination, fluoridation, pasteurization and vaccination, have been unmitigated disasters. Each was meant to deal with a pressing problem, but each problem necessitated structural change, rather than a stop-gap measure. Each worked or didn’t work, to some degree, and led to further problems down the line. Is this a surprise?

>I have to ask - what kind of toothpaste do you use?

Have you read the warning on your toothpaste tube? Do you know that the FDA got sick of kids coming into the emergency room with fluoride poisoning?

I use what my dentist told me to use: 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt (the former is to neutralize the acids that the bacteria create, the latter is the abrasive, which also acts as a disinfectant). I put my toothbrush in some hydrogen peroxide (or water, if none is available), get some of the baking soda/salt mixture on my tooth brush, and brush for 4 minutes 2x/day. And to top it off, my mouth feels substantially better than it ever felt with that saccharine laden crap that I was fed since I was a kid.

And by the way, what kind of dentist do you use? Mine is a member of the American Academy of Biologic Dentists, the latter, along with the American Academy of Holistic Dentists and the

Samski July 27th, 2007 6:11 am

Antidote: Not quite ’sheer ignorance.’ I’ve glanced enough at equivocal statistics to conclude there is a hell of lot more research needed before one goes and makes ‘reflex judgements’ concerning fluoridation of public water. However, i was a little relexive after reading the CD/Truthdig article ‘Children’s Healthcare Is a No-Brainer’ in which recently a 12 year old died of tooth-decay(!!) after being denied $80 dental healthcare.

As for propaganda, if my old school was still standing I’d print out your post, roll it up and repeatedly beat my biology tutor over the head until she admitted she was an organ of the shadow government, that she stops force feeding students corporate misinformation and demand that the curiculum be reverted to pre-enlightenment standards.

Toothpaste: Your answer was appreciated. I am quite tired of manufacturers/advertisers with their ‘best ever formula’ shite, and their $5 toothbrushes which leave your gob as pristine as Archangel Gabriel’s arse after heavenly shower day.

Antidote July 28th, 2007 1:02 am

Not quite ’sheer ignorance.’ I’ve glanced enough at equivocal statistics to conclude there is a hell of lot more research needed before one goes and makes ‘reflex judgements’ concerning fluoridation of public water. However, i was a little relexive after reading the CD/Truthdig article ‘Children’s Healthcare Is a No-Brainer’ in which recently a 12 year old died of tooth-decay(!!) after being denied $80 dental healthcare.

Samski- If you are suggesting that fluoride would have saved that kid from death, then you have been seduced. I know that fluoridation proponents use these kinds of anecdotes to scare us into grabbing the little 1ppm that’s going to save our kids from such a dire fate, but these are old tired tactics of manipulation. If you’d like to take more than a cursory look at the data, you can find it collected at Second Look.

As for propaganda, if my old school was still standing I’d print out your post, roll it up and repeatedly beat my biology tutor over the head until she admitted she was an organ of the shadow government, that she stops force feeding students corporate misinformation and demand that the curiculum be reverted to pre-enlightenment standards.

Hm. Do you really believe that the manipulation of scientific data for corporate purposes is an unknown? If you’re reading commondreams, then I doubt it. The term “junk science” was invented to describe the statistical fog created by the tobacco companies to hide the truth of the connection of lung cancer and tobacco; and today we are finding similar tactics of manipulation by Exxon and other global warming deniers. In medicine, manipulation of research results is long-standing and rife. There is, of course, outright fraud, but usually that’s not the form it takes. Experiments can be designed and manipulated to give pre-ordained results; and who is going to fund the researcher who doesn’t go along with the program of getting the results his/her funders want?

So, this is neither about conspiracy theories - Chomsky would call this an institutional analysis - nor is it about the denial of rationality. One may agree with the ideals of the Enlightenment and recognize that finding the truth necessitates a great deal of digging.

Toothpaste: Your answer was appreciated. I am quite tired of manufacturers/advertisers with their ‘best ever formula’ shite, and their $5 toothbrushes which leave your gob as pristine as Archangel Gabriel’s arse after heavenly shower day.

As are most of us, but since the Indians fought off the patenting of neem for cleaning teeth, you won’t find it on your shelves here. You can find neem oil though, in health food stores. You could google “home made toothpaste”, if you like that form rather than a powder, and add some neem oil to it. Or, like the Burmese, you could just use straight salt to brush your teeth. I find that a little much, myself.

Samski December 9th, 2007 7:59 pm

Antidote: Thanks for the tolerant education.

xseannax January 4th, 2008 8:58 pm

For the past year, after moving to a new city, I have had severe symptoms, to the point where I thought I was going crazy. Trips to the ER, dangerously low body temperatures, and living in constant fear that something was wrong with me and I was dying. The cause–fluoride in the water. It was worsening my hypo-thyroid condition. Fluoride was once used as a medication to slow the function of overactive thyroids, so for people with low functioning thyroids it can be really really dangerous. Especially for those of us who do the “healthy” thing and drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Thank goodness for a family vacation where the water wasn’t fluorinated and a very good doctor who knew the effects it could cause. The diagnosis–avoid fluoride. Which means bottled water for drinking, cooking, coffee, or investing in an expensive filtration system to take the fluoride out–PUR, Brita, etc. won’t!

“For those that fear fluoridation of water causes cancer, diminishment of one’s will, oseoporosis, or any other unsubstantiated negative impact on health or freedom, I have to ask - what kind of toothpaste do you use?”

Using a fluorinated toothpaste where you spit out the fluoride is a LOT different from drinking it. To me that’s like saying “wow this lotion makes my skin look better so I think I’ll drink it.” But I do use a fluoride free toothpaste or baking soda.

For those who make the whole strong teeth argument–I did not have fluorinated water growing up. I did not use fluorinated toothpaste probably 75% of the time. I refused to take those fluoride treatments the public school system was cramming down our throats at that time. And I was lucky enough to have a relative at the denist’s office that I went to, so I was able to forgo all fluoride treatments. NO CAVITIES. NONE. I really have my doubts on the positive effects of fluorinating (medicating) public water supplies.

ezeflyer July 25th, 2007 12:33 pm

Somebody ought to come up with a canteen.
Paranoid Pessimist July 25th, 2007 1:24 pm

Bottled bullshit, if you’ll pardon the expletive.
skst July 25th, 2007 1:49 pm

Seriously! I nearly choked when my wife paid $3 for a bottle of water at the theater this weekend. (Honey, I’ll be happy to sneak in a Thermos for you next time.) These places should be required to accept the bottles for recycling.
allblue July 25th, 2007 2:09 pm

Nearly all of the water I drink now is bottled, which I buy at a local supermarket at a cost of €0.38 ($0.50) for a 5 litre bottle. I am aware of the environmental cost of producing the bottles, but I am also aware of the quality of tap water with all of it’s toxic additives. As regards disposal, within 100 metres either up or down my road is a micro-recycling centre. The containers are underground, leaving just discreet and fairly elegant pieces of street furniture visible. There are three such, plastic/metal; glass and paper/card, and I would say they take about three-quarters of what would otherwise be landfill. This is in a small town in Portugal, so it is not a question of resources, it is a question of will.
sweeve July 25th, 2007 3:29 pm

I’m with you allblue, and I live in the US.

I’ve seen too many studies of waterways and ground water that turn up pesticides, fertilizer runoff, residues of pharmaceutical drugs (antibiotics, ritalin, etc), detergent chemicals and so on. A lot of these are only found in the parts per billion range, an analysis that isn’t frequently done. So I’ll continue to lug my gallon bottles of spring water to my kitchen. Even if it really is tap water, i have to assume that whatever filtration system they have is better than what I can muster at home (and the bottled water certainly tastes a lot better than my tap water).

I agree that plastic bottles have a negative environmental impact, and I try to avoid buying the small “portion-sized” ones. But let’s face it, with all the crap dumped into the waterways due to lax regulations and slap on the wrist fines, and the strained water processing/sewage infrastructure (after a couple of decades of unbridled suburban growth) tap water in the US is not safe.
Auberon July 25th, 2007 3:42 pm

Sweeve:
Actually, you DON’T “have to assume” anything. You CHOOSE to, because it’s convenient for you. You have chosen a known evil over a theoretical result. Stop giving into fear.
Do you at least recycle those plastic gallon bottles of tap….I mean, spring…..water?
sweeve July 25th, 2007 3:53 pm

Auberon:
The pollution is well documented. See for example:

http://toxics.usgs.gov/regional/emc/antibiotics.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060303114824.htm

As for recycling, ha. There are no facilities that I know of around here - nor any curbside pickup. For the record, recycling was one of the 1st things I inquired about when I moved to the US from Europe, but people looked at me like I was from Mars or something.
allblue July 25th, 2007 5:14 pm

I have heard this many times - ‘there is no difference between tap and bottled water’ but this is demonstrably not the case here. If you make a cup of tea with bottled water it remains translucent, you can see the bottom of the cup. With tap water the tea immediately goes opaque. This may be just the calcium carbonate, but if you’ve ever met someone who has had a kidney stone removed (ouch!) that in itself is quite a motivation! But it is also the taste - make tea or coffee with tap water and you can ‘taste’ the water, with bottled water you cannot (and yes I have done a blind test to prove the point to a sceptical friend!)

Is there fluoride (highly toxic effluent from power stations) added to your water auberon? If there is I would suggest you find an alternative supply. Google what the Nazis used fluoridated water for…
Thomas Albright July 25th, 2007 5:22 pm

Here in Oregon many cities use surface water, (rivers). We have possibly the best water in the world. In portland the only chemicals aded is chlorine and some chemical to raise the Ph. Evergreen forests are slightly acidic. Chlorine prevents waterborne disease. By and large, city water is just as “safe” as bottled. I can’t believe how many people are bullshitted about water. Sheesh.
allblue July 25th, 2007 5:54 pm

@Thomas Albright

I’ll assume you posted before seeing my post immediately above, because there I point out that there is a difference in this instance, it is definitely not my imagination. Even if it is only the question of taste then it is just an indulgence, but whatever makes the tea opaque is not going through my system as a result. You are indeed fortunate to have such clean surface water, presumably there is not much human activity upriver of you, most people are not that fortunate. Water drawn from an aquifer has taken decades to filter through rock strata, so is free of nitrate fertiliser organo-phosphate pesticide run-off, not to mention the oestrogen that has passed through women taking the contraceptive pill, unlike most of our rivers.
Galdamaz July 25th, 2007 6:11 pm

For those people fear tap water and are giving Coke and Pepsi billions of dollars, why not purchase a water filter for your faucet? Another added benefit is that plastic will not end up in a landfill.

Personally, I would much rather trust my municipal water because it at least is regulated and subjected to quality standards. In addition it is a public agency.

There are no regulatory agencies for bottle water. In the case of Coke and Pepsi the bottom line is making money at whatever costs. We are very well aware of how private companies are run: Profit, Profit, and more Profit…ohh and cost cutting.

So, I will continue to filter my tap water, rather than buying bottle water. For convenience, I buy a small water container fill it up at home and take it with me
RSJ July 25th, 2007 6:42 pm

I agree, Galdadmaz, filtering tap water is much cheaper and more environmentally safe than buying water in plastic bottles.

To allblue: I have had a similar experience with my coffee maker. When using unfiltered tap water, a whitish scum collects in the water reservoir after foru or five cycles that doesn’t build up using filtered tap water, and the coffee tastes better.

I’m surprised some company hasn’t begun selling bottled water in recturnable glass bottles. Even if they aren’t returned for refilling, the glass is more easily degradable or reusable than plastic.
allblue July 25th, 2007 6:45 pm

@Galdamaz

Good option. May I ask what type of filter you use? I did that for a while in the UK, but the filters were ridiculously expensive, and of course they in turn had to be disposed of, little plastic containers and all.

PS Here in Portugal the water companies are municipally owned (as of course they should be) but in the UK I think all of them have been stolen, er, privatised now.
tnewman July 25th, 2007 6:53 pm

In response to the concerns raised about drinking tap water: keep in mind that many brands of bottled water are actually just filled with municipal tap water! Additionally, bottled water quality is very unregulated and is often found to contain MORE chemicals that tap water (which is much more highly regulated — although there are certainly issues with the regulations). Why not use an extra filter, which you can find in many stores, if you are concerned about the quality of your tap water and use one container for it instead of buying bottled water, which you know is bad for the environment because of the plastic and gas.

Most importantly: multiply your individual purchasing power by taking collective action — both to stop bottled water AND to implement stronger regulation of tap water.

Check out: http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/ and http://foodandwaterwatch.org/water
NMBill July 25th, 2007 7:25 pm

I refill a 5gal. Water jug from a Reverse Osmosis store for 25 to 35 cents a gallon.

I will drink well water in many of the western states and I find it to taste BETTER than bottled water. However, I avoid doing this near any major cities or when it goes through old pipes.

There is a spring in the Wilderness Area where I dump my water and fill up with ice-cold delicious natural spring water. It’s a spring that someone buried a pipe into and it flows year-round!
allblue July 25th, 2007 7:56 pm

Thanks NMBill, Reverse Osmosis - I hadn’t heard of it but just did a search and it looks interesting, might pursue that. Water coming directly out of the rock is the best option of course, although I’d have to say that the best water I ever tasted was creek water in the South American rainforest, known locally as ‘black water’ or ’sweet water’. It was almost the colour of weak tea, as result of it passing over and through the constantly replenishing layer of leaf on the bed, enriching it with minerals, and apparently filtering it, so that unless something had recently died in it upstream it was perfectly safe to drink (and I never got sick from it).

re the branding thing. There was that great running joke in Robert Altman’s minor classic “The Player”, where the main character (Tim Robbins) was a Hollywood executive who spent a lot of time ‘lunching’. When the waiter came to take his order, he would look thoughtful for a moment or two, as if selecting a wine, before choosing the right brand of water for the occasion!
frank1569 July 25th, 2007 8:45 pm

A real lifestyle paradigm shift would entail not just recycling, but adding a low cost filter to your tap if you feel it’s not filtered enough, then dumping bottled water altogether by switching to some sort of reusable container, of which the selection is mind boggling at this point. Businesses should bring back the water cooler, and supply employees with mugs or whatnot.

“Bling” bottled water at $90 per liter. Of tap water. Enough already.
Siouxrose July 25th, 2007 10:13 pm

NMBILL: I do the same thing, take 2 gallon containers with me and outside PUBLIX and at many health food stores there are machines that do the reverse osmosis, so you keep your container and refill the cleaner water for 35-40 cents. I also take 2 cloth “bags” with me instead of using paper or plastic. And I am doing a little experiment with my lawn… my neigbhors, anal retentive retirees seem to have a fetish with mowing that leaves their lawns equivalent to a soldier’s crew cut. My propery has a lot of old trees and the raking is quite an exercise. One neighbor saw me and suggested I cut down the tree! Her lot has NOTHING, it’s naked and UGLY. Anyway, I bought a machete and find that there are only patches of high grass that grow when it’s not routinely cut. So I go out around sundown and trim one patch one day, another another day and I have not had to mow once this year. I love it. For one thing, I despise the noise of those sit-upon lawn warrior machines. IF lots of Americans got some exercise gas and CO2 would be saved. Add this to the awful tour buses that stay ON all day, especially at Disney themeparks. I mean their engines are going all the time the tourists are inside the parks just so the insides of these mega-vehicles will be cool when the overweight tourists return. I have seen people actually drive from one side of a shopping center to another.
I’d like to see a TAX or fine imposed for this kind of behavior. It’s wasteful. Sometimes I feel like going up to some idiot sitting in a huge truck that’s idling in a shopping center parking lot and knocking on the window and saying, “Quit using up the atmosphere!” Dreaming on…
Antidote July 26th, 2007 1:26 am

With the Chloramine (no longer chlorine, but both are bad news) and fluoridating compounds, not to speak of the fertilizer run-off and pesticide drift from the agriculture in the san-joaquin valley, and finally the lead pipes that are _still_ in use in many US cities, including parts of SF, and the lead solder used in most homes (do you think that contractor _actually_ used the more expensive antimony?), I would not even consider tap water.

As for filters, you simply can not get the fluoridating compounds out of the water. Period. The only alternative is Alumina Acetate which, like the silico-fluorides, is a toxic byproduct of the fertilizer industry. Also, Reverse Osmosis wastes some 80% of the water, which just goes down the drain, and some of those RO membranes are made with toxic materials. Even carbon blocks are usually made from petrochemicals - though some are made from burnt coconut husk, a much better alternative. So, filtration will improve things, but not solve the problem. Still, a coconut char carbon block would be a good idea as the EPA estimates that 40% of our exposure to water borne pollutants comes through the skin - showers/baths and impregnation of our cloths during washing.

For drinking, I suggest: (1) Find an independent spring water bottler. (So, for instance, Nestle has bought most of the water in Northern CA.) (2) Call them and ask if they have any third party water analysis available and have them send you a copy. (3) Go and visit the spring.

Your body is 70% water. It’s even more important than food.
berserker1 July 26th, 2007 3:21 am

Try berkeylite.com. These are the best filtration systems period. Go to their site and read the specs on these fine purifiers that can sit right on the counter and work by gravity. These can be taken anywhere!
Samski July 26th, 2007 7:38 am

For those that fear fluoridation of water causes cancer, diminishment of one’s will, oseoporosis, or any other unsubstantiated negative impact on health or freedom, I have to ask - what kind of toothpaste do you use?
Marvin The Depressed Robot July 26th, 2007 12:16 pm

Bottled Water? F*%K that Sh*t! PABST BLUE RIBBON!!!
PJD July 26th, 2007 3:33 pm

Congratulations! Those who are buying bottled water because you (usually irrationally) distrust public water are doing exactly what the capitalist privatizers want you to do!

They look forward to the day when tap water will once again be typhoid and dysentery laden, and bottled water will be mandatory - for those who can afford it. The poor? better they all die of typhoid anyway.

Instead of bottled water, you should be fighting privatization and insisting on strong enforcement of water quality standards. Sorry, but a little chlorine in water beats dysentery epidemics anytime.
PJD July 26th, 2007 3:46 pm

I will drink well water in many of the western states and I find it to taste BETTER than bottled water. However, I avoid doing this near any major cities or when it goes through old pipes.

There is plenty of clean water in eastern states as well. New York City water is excellent quality - gravity fed down long bedrock tunnels from the Catskills, it has (until recently), not required filtration at all.
Antidote July 26th, 2007 6:35 pm

>For those that fear fluoridation of water causes cancer,
>diminishment of one’s will, oseoporosis, or any other
>unsubstantiated negative impact on health or freedom,

This is sheer ignorance. Have you looked into it?

No, you just listened to the propaganda that you’ve been fed and made a reflex judgement.

Well I’ve looked into it, and I’m certain that every one of of the “four horsemen” of public health, chlorination, fluoridation, pasteurization and vaccination, have been unmitigated disasters. Each was meant to deal with a pressing problem, but each problem necessitated structural change, rather than a stop-gap measure. Each worked or didn’t work, to some degree, and led to further problems down the line. Is this a surprise?

>I have to ask - what kind of toothpaste do you use?

Have you read the warning on your toothpaste tube? Do you know that the FDA got sick of kids coming into the emergency room with fluoride poisoning?

I use what my dentist told me to use: 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt (the former is to neutralize the acids that the bacteria create, the latter is the abrasive, which also acts as a disinfectant). I put my toothbrush in some hydrogen peroxide (or water, if none is available), get some of the baking soda/salt mixture on my tooth brush, and brush for 4 minutes 2x/day. And to top it off, my mouth feels substantially better than it ever felt with that saccharine laden crap that I was fed since I was a kid.

And by the way, what kind of dentist do you use? Mine is a member of the American Academy of Biologic Dentists, the latter, along with the American Academy of Holistic Dentists and the
Samski July 27th, 2007 6:11 am

Antidote: Not quite ’sheer ignorance.’ I’ve glanced enough at equivocal statistics to conclude there is a hell of lot more research needed before one goes and makes ‘reflex judgements’ concerning fluoridation of public water. However, i was a little relexive after reading the CD/Truthdig article ‘Children’s Healthcare Is a No-Brainer’ in which recently a 12 year old died of tooth-decay(!!) after being denied $80 dental healthcare.

As for propaganda, if my old school was still standing I’d print out your post, roll it up and repeatedly beat my biology tutor over the head until she admitted she was an organ of the shadow government, that she stops force feeding students corporate misinformation and demand that the curiculum be reverted to pre-enlightenment standards.

Toothpaste: Your answer was appreciated. I am quite tired of manufacturers/advertisers with their ‘best ever formula’ shite, and their $5 toothbrushes which leave your gob as pristine as Archangel Gabriel’s arse after heavenly shower day.

Antidote July 28th, 2007 1:02 am

Not quite ’sheer ignorance.’ I’ve glanced enough at equivocal statistics to conclude there is a hell of lot more research needed before one goes and makes ‘reflex judgements’ concerning fluoridation of public water. However, i was a little relexive after reading the CD/Truthdig article ‘Children’s Healthcare Is a No-Brainer’ in which recently a 12 year old died of tooth-decay(!!) after being denied $80 dental healthcare.

Samski- If you are suggesting that fluoride would have saved that kid from death, then you have been seduced. I know that fluoridation proponents use these kinds of anecdotes to scare us into grabbing the little 1ppm that’s going to save our kids from such a dire fate, but these are old tired tactics of manipulation. If you’d like to take more than a cursory look at the data, you can find it collected at Second Look.

As for propaganda, if my old school was still standing I’d print out your post, roll it up and repeatedly beat my biology tutor over the head until she admitted she was an organ of the shadow government, that she stops force feeding students corporate misinformation and demand that the curiculum be reverted to pre-enlightenment standards.

Hm. Do you really believe that the manipulation of scientific data for corporate purposes is an unknown? If you’re reading commondreams, then I doubt it. The term “junk science” was invented to describe the statistical fog created by the tobacco companies to hide the truth of the connection of lung cancer and tobacco; and today we are finding similar tactics of manipulation by Exxon and other global warming deniers. In medicine, manipulation of research results is long-standing and rife. There is, of course, outright fraud, but usually that’s not the form it takes. Experiments can be designed and manipulated to give pre-ordained results; and who is going to fund the researcher who doesn’t go along with the program of getting the results his/her funders want?

So, this is neither about conspiracy theories - Chomsky would call this an institutional analysis - nor is it about the denial of rationality. One may agree with the ideals of the Enlightenment and recognize that finding the truth necessitates a great deal of digging.

Toothpaste: Your answer was appreciated. I am quite tired of manufacturers/advertisers with their ‘best ever formula’ shite, and their $5 toothbrushes which leave your gob as pristine as Archangel Gabriel’s arse after heavenly shower day.

As are most of us, but since the Indians fought off the patenting of neem for cleaning teeth, you won’t find it on your shelves here. You can find neem oil though, in health food stores. You could google “home made toothpaste”, if you like that form rather than a powder, and add some neem oil to it. Or, like the Burmese, you could just use straight salt to brush your teeth. I find that a little much, myself.
Samski December 9th, 2007 7:59 pm

Antidote: Thanks for the tolerant education.
xseannax January 4th, 2008 8:58 pm

For the past year, after moving to a new city, I have had severe symptoms, to the point where I thought I was going crazy. Trips to the ER, dangerously low body temperatures, and living in constant fear that something was wrong with me and I was dying. The cause–fluoride in the water. It was worsening my hypo-thyroid condition. Fluoride was once used as a medication to slow the function of overactive thyroids, so for people with low functioning thyroids it can be really really dangerous. Especially for those of us who do the “healthy” thing and drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Thank goodness for a family vacation where the water wasn’t fluorinated and a very good doctor who knew the effects it could cause. The diagnosis–avoid fluoride. Which means bottled water for drinking, cooking, coffee, or investing in an expensive filtration system to take the fluoride out–PUR, Brita, etc. won’t!

“For those that fear fluoridation of water causes cancer, diminishment of one’s will, oseoporosis, or any other unsubstantiated negative impact on health or freedom, I have to ask - what kind of toothpaste do you use?”

Using a fluorinated toothpaste where you spit out the fluoride is a LOT different from drinking it. To me that’s like saying “wow this lotion makes my skin look better so I think I’ll drink it.” But I do use a fluoride free toothpaste or baking soda.

For those who make the whole strong teeth argument–I did not have fluorinated water growing up. I did not use fluorinated toothpaste probably 75% of the time. I refused to take those fluoride treatments the public school system was cramming down our throats at that time. And I was lucky enough to have a relative at the denist’s office that I went to, so I was able to forgo all fluoride treatments. NO CAVITIES. NONE. I really have my doubts on the positive effects of fluorinating (medicating) public water supplies.

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