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TechnoratiLast week's decision in York County may be part of a national backlash.
Last week's decision by a York County water board to delay a vote on whether to sell municipal water to Nestle Corp., the owner of Poland Spring, did not happen in a vacuum.
* Last month in McCloud, Calif., after encountering opposition to what would have been the largest water bottling plant in the country, Nestle announced plans to significantly reduce the plant's size.
* Earlier this month in Enumclaw, Wash., the city council rejected a proposal to allow Nestle to build another such plant.
* And last Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors voted to phase out use of bottled water for municipal employees.
Across the country, opposition to bottled water is building, amid growing concerns about the industry's environmental impact and rising fears about private control of public water supplies.
"There's no question that there is a groundswell," said Ruth Caplan, coordinator of Defending Water for Life, a Washington, D.C.-based campaign that opposes the bottled water industry.
There are several reasons for the backlash to bottled water. Some of it is driven by fears about global warming - given the amount of oil needed to bottle and transport the water.
Some stems from concerns about the chemical makeup of plastic water bottles.
Some of the opposition is a byproduct of the huge price disparity between bottled water and the kind of water that comes from the tap for free.
Here in Maine, some of the local opposition to Poland Spring's operations has stemmed from the traffic generated by the trucks that transport the water.
Perhaps the biggest factor, though, is a fear that as bottled water becomes more popular, private corporations are gaining more control over a natural resource that is central to life.
"The fundamental issue is, who owns the water?" said Jim Olson, an attorney for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, which has been engaged in a legal battle with Nestle. "If this company gets to do it, all companies get to do it, and you're not going to be able to say no in the future."
Caplan expressed concern that the bottled water industry is turning water into a commodity, the price of which will be determined by the market.
"What they're trying to do is get us to think that drinking water comes out of their bottles, and water to wash with comes out of the tap," she said.
Tom Brennan, a natural resources manager for Poland Spring, said the company's products are not in competition with tap water. And, he said, there's enough water in the ground for both uses.
Poland Spring hopes to draw as much as 250,000 gallons per day from the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District, which uses up to 7 million gallons per day, and has recently found sources to provide an additional 3 million gallons each day.
"We're not depleting aquifers. That would be absolutely counterproductive," Brennan said.
He and other defenders of the industry note that soda and beer also require water, but they don't provoke the same opposition as bottled water.
Brennan acknowledged that opposition to the industry is growing, but he put it in the context of growth in the popularity of bottled water.
"To be quite honest, I don't pretend to understand it," Brennan said. "I think it's isolated, yet loud."
Poland Spring currrently gets water from more than 20 wells in eight Maine communities, including Fryeburg, Denmark and Dallas Plantation. The company has bottling plants in Hollis and Poland Spring, and - in response to rising demand - plans to open a third plant in Kingfield.
In York County, the water district's recent decision to delay a vote on the Poland Spring deal followed a public meeting where more than 100 people expressed their opposition.
The water district's trustees voted to postpone their decision until after an independent scientific review of the data underlying the proposal.
Emily Posner, the state leader of Defending Water for Life, said she was heartened by the outpouring of opposition to the deal. She said that people from all over Maine came out to stand up against the corporate control of water.
Brennan, of Poland Spring, countered that many of the people protesting the deal are not from the Kennebunk area or even from Maine.
"And that in my mind is somewhat troubling," he said.
© 2003- 2008 Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.
59 Comments so far
Show AllWater is life...it belongs to all creation.
This is for Indijo: I am very saddenned about your circumstances. The people that have screwed this economy to the ground should be the ones that should be homeless. I give you props for standing up and being a survivor. May your fortunes change for the better. As for your choice for bottled water, I respect your choice. I truly think that homo sapiens being the technological advanced apes as they are, would find a way to come up with bottles that are environmentally friendly. The thing that I have against bottled water is that the price is obscene. That aside, I wish you all the best of luck in the world. Be safe. God Bless.
I received a letter from my county, which says that tap water is absolutely safe and clean for drinking.
It further says, tap water costs 1 cent per gallon. Bottle water costs $10 per gallon!!
So, go figure!!
In 2000, in Cochabamba Bolivia, there were riots because the World Bank / IMF & Bechtel decided it was best for Bolivia that their water was privatized. The cost of water skyrocketed, they had to choose between food or water. Supposedly, it was also against the law to collect rain water.
In one way, like Milton Friedman's neo-liberalism experiments with Pinochet in Chile in the 1970s, it was an experiment to see if large multinational corporations can privatize water. Naomi Klein has a better explanation in her book, "Shock Doctrine".
I don't know, Nestle might be just another nice corporation (why do the words "baby formula" and "boycott" come to mind?). But hey, we're just ignorant savages, like Oscar Olivera.
I'm homeless and will still buy Perrier, because it tastes so much better. Egad...
What's so hard about understanding that bottled water is a scam and bad for the environment? Simple as that. If tap water tastes bad, buy a filter for less than 30 bucks and refill your own bottles/glases/cups
"this thread exposes just how naive cd readers are about industrial systems. Ok attack bottled water. what would you rather drink — soda poop, of course!"
Your criticism is misplaced, gotsoda. Although I can see how the consumer masses might be inclined to move in that direction, my understanding of this thread is that most people are are saying that tap water is as good or better than bottled water. Nobody here has advocated replacing water with coke.
Rather than engaging in a circular firing squad why not put our energy to use changing the larger culture.
this thread exposes just how naive cd readers are about industrial systems.
Ok attack bottled water. what would you rather drink -- soda poop, of course! that diet cola you're downing takes twice as much water to make it (per gallon), and amurikans drink three times as much soda as they do bottled water. (and soda takes twice as much plastic packaging per bottle too!) so get rid of the bottled water business, and regress back to soda and buttwiper beer! and don't forget to fix the rabbit ears on 'ur tv while you watch that (Coke's) Vitamin Water commercial -- oh that's water and sugar and colors -- bright colors of course!
Some basic chemistry folx:
The ubiquitous distasteful impurity in municipal tap water is chlorine. In-line filtering does little/nothing to remove chlorine. But staging open tap water for hours/days in the frig allows the worst of the chlorine to flash off.
Several makes of filtering carafes can render this more convenient while, yes, making a modest whack at other impurities.
For total control/purity, get your own water distiller. Good ones cost maybe $200 and provide enough drinking water for the average household.
Over reliance on bottled/marketed "drinking water" is a silly emblem of our hyper-consumerism.
Rich Griffin:
In re: "I drink bottled water, distrust tap water completely, and am not keen on the high price of filtered water."
Griffin : poor :: Bush : work!
Tap water has to meet standards and go through rigorous testing. Bottled water does not. I am no expert, but my husband's degree is in water chemistry with an emphasis in wastewater treatment and he has routinely said that "most" tap water is better for you than bottled water.
We do not have a filter on our tap here, but did buy an inexpensive one when we lived in a different municipality 13 years ago. It cost all of $10 at the time. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with the water, but it's taste is not what folks are used to (our society has become accustomed to bland awful tastes, frankly). It can be enough to put tap water in a large, uncovered pitcher in the fridge for a day and it will taste better than bottled.
"As for homeless troll..."
So, now I'm a troll just because i felt inclined to respond to a few posts and state an opinion which too many people here don't agree with?
Okay, most of the people here have been civil and fair.
Others are simply pathetic.
No need to respond. I just thought I'd pursue a discussion in the CD forum for a day, since experience has taught me that discussions in this forum never extend beyond a single day and usually get lost before the week is over.
So, that makes me a troll. That's what I get for not completely agreeing with the domineering posters in the CD forum. Sigh. :(
I have a different point of view - I think this is an elitist issue, a way for wealthier people to feel good without doing much of anything. I drink bottled water, distrust tap water completely, and am not keen on the high price of filtered water. I have no problem with wealthier people using filtered water systems - great for them! But as a poor person, I'm sticking with bottled water.
If so-called "environmentalist" really wanted to make a difference they would STOP eating animals & animal by-products.
I am opposed to legislative efforts against bottled water. Again, great if you can buy expensive filter systems (and don't lecture me or teach me how easy it is; it's only easy if you have the money), but I will oppose mightily any efforts to harm the bottled water industry.
Water like health care is not a commodity that should be traded on the stock market , period . end of discussion!
Also, jcrumb? You're caps lock key is on. Its a key way over on the left of your keyboard. Just hit it and you'll be all set. Cheers.
chupito said: "Depending on where you live, you must be drinking about 3 liters of water a day, approximately 6 bottles."
indijo said: "Nobody needs that much water to live on. Where'd you get those figures?"
notChupito said: "A daily water intake of 3.7 L for adult men and 2.7 L for adult women meets the needs of the vast majority of persons."
-- Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760-5007, USA.
That said, I'm sorry you've hit on hard times (again). But, I must say I'm as baffled as everyone else that you're finding water hard to come by. I was homeless for the better part of a year in 1989-90, and I never spent a penny on water. Any money I came by went to food, etc. Maybe your location is bad, some places are better to be homeless than others, or maybe times have changed. Its actually a bit alarming if your claims are true. Vaya con Dios, amigo.
Why not a national tax on bottled water. We have a gas tax.
But a good point was made, what is the difference between water used in beer (cans and glass bottles) and sodas (cans and plastic bottles) and water in its pure form (if we can call tap water pure). So if someone is thirsty, they go into a 7-11 and have no choice but to buy diet coke and get poisoned by aspartame.
I get it now, its a conspiracy to kill more of us with aspartame and great for the soda industry profits.
This world is getting more evil every day.
This reminds me. About 10 years ago I remember walking into a gas station in Paris after a day of walking around in the summer heat. They had a shortage of 7-11's there, and I was dying of thirst. The gas station sold bottled water. I paid what they asked, too tired to do the mental math and convert the amount of francs I paid to USD. Some part of my mind rang an alarm but the rest of my mind ignored it. After getting back to my hotel I had recovered enough to do the math, and found I paid 35 dollars for 1/2 liter bottle of water. Ouch. Thats evil.
indijo....nestle would probably pay your rent if you told them how you feel. They are getting you for free. Their water comes from the tap wherever it is bottled. I bought a sixpack of 6oz.glass club soda bottles 10 years ago and pack two of them full of tap water into my backpack every day. I share neighborhood gossip with my homeless friend once or twice a week. He looks for glass bottles in his deposit rounds and uses them for himself and his buddies.You can get good water from many places free, as mentioned above. Climb out of your FOXhole indijo. Or why don't you contact Nestle and tell them what you are willing to do for them,you are amazing.....they would love you to death.
groundswell - ground's well
Have you ever been approached by someone, possibly homeless, in the street? What do they say?
Could you spare the price of a cup of coffee?
I haven't eaten for two days, would you buy me a burger?
Or, the clincher:
It's hot today and I'm thirsty. Could you buy me a bottle of water?
Well, which is it?
I remember when the trend started of drinking several bottles of water every day. I went to Europe with my niece and nephew, and both of them always had to have their water bottles with them at all times, swigging on them every ten minutes or so. But the more water you drink the more you pee. So when you've accustomed your body to drinking and excreting water virtually constantly, then you have to drink it constantly to keep yourself hydrated. The notion of having to flush out impurities from your body continuously is a modern concept.
Many supermarkets, health food stores and coops are installing filtering systems. Bring your own bottle and you can fill up for 25 cents a gallon (at our coop anyway). In-home tap water filtering systems are a way to go also. In municipalities the water is purified, but then they add chlorine and sometimes fluoride but a faucet charcoal filter should remove most of those chemicals.
Let's say an 8oz. bottle cost $1.00 = 16qt. for $2.00 = 1 Gal. for $8.00; and the people who buy this stuff complain at gas costing $4.00 a gallon.
If indijo is not trolling I will actually buy a bottle of water and drink it -- something I have never done.
Perhaps the reason he needs to vacate his apartment is his economic acuity. Buying that is more expensive than gas!
I think if I were to be considering the prospect of life in a tent I would have more to do than be posting on the internet about my inalienable right to buy tap water in a bottle, and be an idiot.
Indijo:
An "E" magazine article three years ago about bottled water said 40% of it was straight out of a tap. Pity the fools who actually pay for the stuff. Furthermore, much bottled water is so filtered it's what some call dead water. It has no trace elements or minerals that one would find in water from a NATURAL aquifer or spring. Google "drinking distilled water": It's a such thorny subject that I'd rather just stick with natural water that my forbears drank since the beginning of time.
Granted, some tap water isn't very tasty but I've visited several water agencies on my job here in San Diego County and I'm always astounded at the cleanliness of their facilities and the fastidiousness of their procedures. Municipalities must constantly monitor water quality because the consequences can be catastrophic. Impurities of 30-60 parts per million is pretty common and works for me.
I make sun-tea from tap water year-round. Bottled water is convenient however and I've filled the same one to take to Padres games (it looks like it's sealed) now for three seasons running. Instead of paying $4.50 for bottled water at Petco, I get garlic fries. MUCH more satisfying!
The water from the garden hose in 1957 tasted better than the tap water today..... I put an in line filter on the cold line to my kitchen sink... change the 5 dollar charcoal filter every 90 days... and use the water for cooking, etc.. My dog won't drink anything else. Tastes as good as any bottled stuff. I still miss the garden hose convenience.
Problem is that we are becoming dependent on bottled water. I don't use any bottled water, beer or pop myself, but it's all around me, even in my frig. My own family insists on it despite all of my objections. I guess environmental consciousness starts at home.
As for homeless troll, he could easily get a good job as the editor of the Daily Oklahoman newsrag. With his writing skills, they could use him. I just wonder where he will get on line to spam us from once he becomes homeless?
The bottled water issue is really about American consumerism gone rampant. The article points out that there is a groundswell on this issue; Americans have finally awakened to the realities of corporate driven marketing that can, for a short while, sell anything to us.
1. This issue points out the faulty reasoning that sways us into relying on the plastic container industry for so much of our lifestyle. Plastic is another petroleum product we can do without.
2. Public tap water is perfectly safe. Restrooms? You wash your hands in there don't you? OK, then its clean enough to drink. And why aren't there more public watering facilities? To bath in, to find respite from the dusty road and to drink; we again, are slaves to the fast food industry, which packages everything and oh, by the way, back there-see in the side hallway-you will find a restroom, sometimes ok and sometimes pretty sleazy. But who allowed the Marketeers of Madison Ave to dictate our lifestyle?
3. Most food service facilities will give a glass of water for free or maybe at most 10 cents. It should always be free everywhere but the culture of American urbanism, where the need of the car rule, leaves behind the needs of the human and we all find ourselves thirsting for something meaningful and useful that will be deeply satisfying to fulfill our personal needs. Again, the dictates of the corporate marketing mind set can only drive at one small fragment of our lives and leaves the big picture high and dry.
Whew! Reams of response. This question has raised its ugly head here in the UK over recent months. I was always baffled by the stupidity - or gullibility of people persuaded to pay for water and actually start discussing water as if it has all the cachet of fine wine. Rest rooms here have long gone in for installing only a hot water tap, (faucet) for hand washing so that filling your portable water bottle is difficult or dubious. A bold request in a restaurant for tap water met with condescending or frosty looks, but I didn't care. Now it is becoming fashionable to drink tap water as it is to buy bargain basement clothes.
The sad fact is that in most citiesfree drinking water for man and beast has disappeared and public conveniences ("bathroomas" are following suit. In the capitalist hell you folks and ours have created, the joke about privatised air may be not so daft after all.
The goldfish incident reminds me. A coworker once told me her husband couldn't drink bottled water. It gave him a serious allergic reaction. The brand didn't seem to mater. They bubble ozone or something through it to improve the shelf life.
The real problem with bottled water is people don't recycle the plastic. Its a waste of oil and a blight.
You'd have to be and idiot to pay for bottled water which is not any cleaner/safer than water from the tap. Wow, talk about a marketing triumph!
Next.............
BOTTLED-AIR from HALLIBURTON, PROTECTED BY BLACKWATER USA.
lobster: "Inijo, you may be homeless because you think it's your right not to have to work too hard."
Please, don't start calling me a lazy bum. I'm almost 50 and I've had more than my share of dead-end hard-labor jobs.
honortheBOR "studies have shown that tap water is as good, if not better, than bottled water in terms of safety,"
Depends on where you live. I think i pointed that out in a prior post. Try Holyoke, Mass. The tap-water there is enough to make a grown adult sick and kill a baby.
hmm, I have to say, this is the very first time in the common dreams forum that I have been given so much attention, and well, I find it interesting. It's quite obvious that many people appear more concerned with my situation because I have mentioned the fact that I will be homeless after July. Thanx to all for their concern. I am touched by your concern and I will not forget it. I would also like to add that, the suspicions of leftk are way off base.
I am going to be homeless (unless leftk has some info I don't know about), but rest assured, it's not like the end of the world for me (I hope). I've been homeless before (83-85, 97-98) and so i know what to expect. Bottled water is a concern for people like me, since after all water is a basic necessity for survival (what's so hard to understand about that?).
Anyho, thanx for the extra attention, I didn't expect it. Perhaps this will lead to an article about the growing homeless situation, which would be a welcome topic. The homeless situation is a real problem which is neglected by the MSM as much as the prison situation. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that most homeless people have no voice in either the MSM or the internet, I dunno.
Btw, did anyone know that the homeless population in Massachusetts has tripled in the past 2 decades since the realtors implemented a rule that all renters are required to make 3x the rent as income? That's one of the reasons why I can't find another apartment and will be living in a tent after July.
Oh for crying out loud, has nobody around here ever heard of a thermos jug. It even has a little spigot so you don't have to unscrew the top to take water out. All parks have hydrants for the picnickers. Even in the desert, I hear, Feds are putting in fountains for illegal immigrants.
Families and groups of kids camped out along the rivers and in the parks for weeks several decades ago. I also remember filling stations as having water hoses for radiators as well as cold water fountains.
Inijo, you may be homeless because you think it's your right not to have to work too hard. Camping is hard work. Drinking water that tastes and looks like sulphur is just one of the pleasures of travel. Think of the pioneers.
Fuck bottled water.
Private corporations should never be able to own and commodify (that a word?) the necessary components for life. End of story. Water -- free for everybody!
Indijo
studies have shown that tap water is as good, if not better, than bottled water in terms of safety, etc. I fill up my glass or container and squirt a little lemon juice in so I enjoy the taste.
indijo,
part of the problem is that we need to insist that tap water be potable. Now, I know that mega-corporations like Nestle would never do anything imoral like install their people in towns as aldermen and etc. in order to make sure that necessary monies for keeping tap water potable got cut from budgets. I know that would never happen.
Sorry about your troubles. But I think you have picked the completely wrong people to lash out at. Maybe you could get a job at Nestle.
Water is essential to life. We can't let the transnational corporate elite own and control it. We must demand clean tap water for everyone.
leftk:
WTF are you saying? You calling me a LIAR?
I was homeless in the 80s for 3 years and homeless again in the 90s for 2 years. I am ready for homelessness becuz I've been there and done that.
U R suggesting that I'm lying just to lead people to think I'm neither serious or trustworthy, is that it?
F__K YOU!
I am ready to do the homeless thing again. I just don't want to be without access to bottled water. Is that so hard to believe?
As for all the other things, I'm working on it a-hole!
I'm fairly sure indijo isn't going to be homeless. Because if he or she was going to lose his/her home he/she would be less concerned about buying bottled water and more concerned about other necessities.
Indijo's argument only underscores the fact that we've got to get big corporations off our backs and stop them from taking what should belong to everyone.
a national backlash based on one or two localities... thats a bit of a stretch..... still if municipalities stopped putting flourides and toxic chemicals in the municipal water system people might reconsider whether it pays to buy bottled water or not.
americans would be better off health wise if more controls were put on those that produce collored water in bottles and sell them under different names and brands. some of the best bottled water is sold by the Whole Foods markets under their brand name.
indijo above makes some very relevant points.
chupito said: "Depending on where you live, you must be drinking about 3 liters of water a day, approximately 6 bottles."
Nobody needs that much water to live on. Where'd you get those figures?
Okay, I'm sorry for referring to anyone as a "phoney" environmentalist. It was uncalled for. Interesting, though, how a word like that can get some people going.
The fact is, I agree with the idea that plastic water bottles are becoming an environmental hazard. That's why i support the idea of reusable water bottles.
I do not support the idea of eliminating all bottled water from our list of options. I think bottled water should always be an option, because of the fact that tap-water in many places is really bad, and also because it makes the homeless and/or camping situation much easier.
So, okay, I don't like the idea that the corporations are profitting off of a resource that should be free. But rather than completely eliminate bottled water, I think it should simply be sold at a flat-rate and not be used to create profit or prevent the renovation of public water utilities and resources. Certainly, public water resources and utilities should be maintained. that's a problem. From where I have been, public water resources and utilities have been neglected. That's why I have a need for bottled water. So, the problem is much more complicated than simply claiming that bottled water is creating an environmental hazard. Methinks its the people who don't have to drink from bad tap-water resources that make this complaint the most. Get my drift?
Furthermore, I know that not all bottled water is okay. I once bought some bottled water from a machine which tasted like dilute machine oil. Dansai, I think it was called. It was put out by the Coca Cola corps. All I could think was, these fast-kaps want us to buy more of their lousy soda. I never bought that crap again. But its not all that bad. Poland Springs is okay. So is the stuff put out by the gallons in the local food mart.
In case anyone wants to check it out, here's the link to that reusable water bottle idea:
http://ts-variant.net/blog/miscl/concept-101.html
Chupito - Water here in the supermarket in CA in the Bay Area is $1.25 for 3.78 liters. We are a family of 4 and we use one bottle every other day more or less. (we are out at work during the days). It comes in a recyclable plastic bottle which we in fact recycle.
Our water in our community is from well water on the side of a mountain that has copper in it from the natural geology and nitrates from farming. We use our tap water for cooking (after a filter) and washing, but it tastes like crap.
Why should we not be able to buy and use the water we want to use?
Indijo. I sympathize with you, but this is about right and wrong and stopping bottled water is right on so many levels. Letting people have the choice to get bottled water just has to be eliminated and since people won't make the decision not to buy it on their own, we have to make it for them. You are going to be better off in the long run.
Someone should tell Brennan that Nestle is not from Maine either.
Depending on where you live, you must be drinking about 3 liters of water a day, approximately 6 bottles. I guess that you buy them from a vending machine at about $1 a pop. So, in one month, you are spending about $180 on water only. If you team up with a couple of bottled-water dependent homeless people, you may rent an apartment, and then bottle your own water. Perhaps you can also sell the water that you bottle in your apartment to other bottled-water junkies who will swear it is better than the one coming out of the rest-room. That's a business plan!
Give me a break. I've been drinking bottled water for years and I'm doing fine. So don't try to sell me on that bottled-water-is-bad-for-you bs. Bottled water makes camping out easier, period. Take it away from me and you make my homeless situation 10x more difficult. I doubt any of the people in this forum know what it is like. There are no computers and online connections out there.
Please don't start demonizing me just because I don't agree with you people. I posted a link in another forum to an article about reusable water-bottles and nobody, absolutely nobody, even bothered to check it out.
btw, just because I'm homeless doesn't mean I don't have money for bottled water. K-rist! There's a big difference between the price of bottled water and the price of an apartment.
How about an amendment to the Constitution making access to fresh water a human right for every U.S. citizen. Are there any water resource organizations considering this?
Indijo. Bummer dude. I was homeless 20-years ago but at a time when we had a more generous and socially reponsible society. Get yourself a water filter pump and a good knife. Hope you live in a good climate. Cheers.
There's nothing like overpriced tap water in a plastic bottle flavored with plastic mold release.
indijo, when I have camped in unlikely places and asked people for tap water they have always said yes. If you're friendly about it, most people will be kind to you.
WELL..INDIJO...IT'S CALLED A......."CANTEEN" IT WAS PERHAPS..THE FIRST.."BOTTLED WATER"..UMM..LEMME SEE..HOW ELSE TO DESCRIBE ANY BASIC WATER CARRYING DEVICE..HMMM...UHHH..WELL..YOU COULD ALWAY'S..UHH.....SAVE A BOTTLE NOW...OR..I DON'T THINK ANYONE IS TALKING ABOUT OUTLAWING OR IN ANY WAY REMOVING..THE ACTUAL "WATER BOTTLE" AS IN BICYCLE WATER BOTTLES..ETC..ETC..ETC...
SO YOUR "POINT" IS..REALLY..UHH..WELL..MAYBE THIS IS WHY YOU WERE UNABLE TO KEEP YOUR HOME...BECAUSE IF YOU CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO CARRY AND TRANSPORT WATER WITHOUT A...GAS STATION FULL OF PRE-PACKAGED BOTTLES...THAT ACTUALLY COST ALLOT MORE THAN JUST FILLING AND CARRYING A CANTEEN...WELL..SIR..I AM SORRY TO SAY...YOU BASICALLY ARE NOT "FIT" ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE IN A GREAT MANY OF THIS NATIONS...."PROCESSES"..
PLEASE..CARRYING WATER IS NOT DEPENDANT ON PRE-PACKAGED WATER BOTTLES WITH THE WATER IN THEM...WOW!
AND..NOT ONLY THAT..INDIJO..BUT..MAYBE NOW YOU CAN USE SOME OF THAT SPARE CHANGE FER SUMTHIN ELSE...AS BOTTLED WATER IS ..WELL..EXPENSIVE FRANKLY...COMPARED TO FILLING A CANTEEN AT THE LIBRARY...
SO..YOU PHONY HOMELESS PEOPLE OUT THERE..LET'S HAVE IT..PHONY? YEAH! THAS RIGHT..PHONY..CAUSE IF YOU DO NOT KNO ENOUGH TO SURVIVE WITHOUT BOTTLED WATER ON TAP AT EVERY CONVENIENCE STORE...YO ARE NOT CAPABLE OF SURVIVNG ON THE STREETS...PERIOD!
LOOKS LIKE YOUR NOT GONNA MAKE IT..INDIJO...SORRY..HOPEFULLY IT WON'T BE A COUPLE OF CHILDREN THAT FIND YOUR CORPSE IN THE PARK..THAT KIND OF THING COULD REALLY SCAR EM FOR LIFE...
I CAN SEE THE HEADLINES NOW..:
" HOMLESS MAN DIES OF DEHYDRATION IN DOWNTOWN AREA...COULD NOT FIND BOTTLED WATER.."
WELL..WHATEVER..THERES' ALWAY'S "THE BRIDGE"...KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN..
SURVIVAL OF THE ...AT VERY LEAST..SEMI-FITTEST..JEEZIS..
"?"
I'm sorry about your circumstances indijo, but there you go, a perfect example of what the corporations have done to us. Making us think that the only thing fit to drink is what they sell us.
I was moving a fish tank to a company office late at night one time. In it were fancy goldfish. I didn't have any dechlorinator, and it was too late to go buy some, so instead of using tap water I used bottled water that I had with me. The fish started dying in about ten minutes. Their mucous covering started sloughing off in great shreds and they were gasping at the surface, their eyes going bloodshot. This took ONLY TEN MINUTES TO HAPPEN. We quickly ran and got tap water and changed their water, not caring if there was chlorine it or not. Luckily we did it in time and the fish survived after taking a week to get over their ten minute poison bath in "pure" bottled water. Can we perhaps consider fish to be the canaries in the coal mine?
Bottled water is likely to be crap, and they've got you believing that it's the only thing you can put in your body, when that instance proved it can be deadly enough to kill fish. I think you need to rethink your priorities, indijo.
indijo: I'm really sorry you're losing your place. Looks like you are part of an unfortunately growing trend.
There were homeless folks long before bottled water, or even plastic. You can buy a canteen at a K-Mart or Walmart or thrift store for not much more than the cost of a couple bottles of water, and there are always rest rooms, garages and kitchens that will fill it for you. Even in the old west, when a cowboy walked into a saloon he had to pay for the liquor but water was free.
God Bless!
"...that in my mind is somewhat troubling" I'll bet it is also troubling TO his dream of being able to hold hostage the most precious essential for life on the planet.
No doubt it is "troubling" to him and others like him that we serfs may not much longer be able to afford being herded into the malls for junk that we do not need and cannot afford. Making us pay for water may be the most ingenious AND the most immoral marketing scheme ever.
I'm losing my apartment and due to camp out and join the homeless crowd in August. Can somebody tell me just exactly how I am going to survive if bottled water production is terminated? Well, you phoney environmentalist brainiacs, let's have it.
indijo-Most parks still have drinking fountains or bathrooms you can fill a cup from. Though if you are going to be homeless, how will you afford bottled water? If you're still employed, you could try filling up at your place of employment with a canteen/water bottle as bbr stated.
Privitization of water is scary stuff. So is teaching the public that to have good tasting water, they need to buy it instead of getting a filter for their faucet, or other ways of combatting mineral tastes.
However, how many folks even drink water as their first choice? I see more soda being consumed than agua.
bbr-001:
water from a restroom? You've got to be kidding. Tap-water everywhere is so bad it makes me sick.
No, I'm afraid you're not really seeing the problem. Not only are free tap-water sources extremely scarce these days, the ones that still exist can make a body ill.
Always remember: Evian is naive spelled backwards.