WATER: Bottled vs tap

[pokey]

If you drink bottled water because you think it's healthier or tastier, you might want to watch one or both of these entertaining videos. Bottled water is no safer than tap, and has failed in taste tests with epicureans and ordinary people alike vs NYC tap water. If you feel you need to remove pollutants or chemicals from your water, a cheap filter does the job better than bottled water.
And bottled water is an environmental abomination: first we use a zillion barrels of oil to make the plastic bottle, then we use another zillion barrels of oil to transport this heavy substance, and then we throw the plastic bottle in a landfill or "recycle" it to India!
This one has more facts:
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/spread-the-word
And the Penn & Teller one is more fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc
I'd love to know what people think of this Meanwhile, drinking water while dieting is important! It takes MANY molecules of water to break down one molecule of fat...and also your brain can mistake thirst for hunger, causing you to eat too much when you're really just thirsty.

[paulawylma]

Sorry, but the environmental argument against bottled water really irritates me. Why? Because they are the same bottles that pop comes in and I don't hear anyone telling people only to buy pop in aluminum cans! Think about it, even if the drinker doesn't recycle the homeless guy who dumpster dives for the cans will see that the aluminum doesn't go to waste. And pop bottles are more plentiful than water bottles. Don't take my word for it-- just count the products inside the nearest vending machine. At the most 2 out of 8 or 10 offerings will be water the others will be some sort of soft drink. And what sells out first? Not the water. . .
BTW I use a filter pitcher at home and refill the bottles that I buy because the size is convenient.
I'll take the argument that water plastic bottles are an earth hazzard when the warning is applied to all plastic bottles.
IMHO the message should be: water is good drink more of it.

[reinhard]

Thanks for the links, pokey. Loved the Penn and Teller video.

I grew up in NYC, and was raised to be very proud of our tap water, so bottled never really appealed to me. Plus I'm cheap, and always inclined to give cheap the benefit of the doubt.

As far as pop goes, I think we're pretty well agreed here that pop, in whatever format, isn't particularly great (especially on N-days!).

Reinhard

[ou812]

Great topic. Enjoyed the Penn and Teller as well.

I just could never break down to buy the expensive bottles of water. At least with the soda, I am paying for some corn syrup and carboninzation. Yeah, it may not be good for me at all, but when I occasionally buy soda, I feel like I paying for something that I can't get out of the tap. I am not endorsing pop drinking. It is terrible for you. I just hate being completely ripped off.

[paulawylma]

I actually wanted to edit my post before anyone read it because I think I was a bit harsh. I'm not saying that people should buy water-- or not for that matter. It's just that I'm hearing this environmental argument against bottled water everywhere these days-- and, well I'm just saying that a plastic bottle is a plastic bottle regardless of what is inside of it.

I understand the whole cost thing about water verses pop. Long after I stopped drinking soft drinks at home, I continued to buy pop rather than water when I was out and about because I didn't want to spend money on water. Especially since some brands are just filtered tap water. Then I remembered my dad calling pop " sugar water" when I was a kid --that made it easier for me to buy water in place of soft drinks.

[wosnes]

I've never purchased bottled water regularly. I do buy it sometimes when I'm away from home and want something to drink and I don't want pop/cola/soda.

[~reneew]

thanks! I posted the first one on facebook. Bottles are so stupid!

[Grammy G]

Let me add my 2cents about the water in bottled water. Here in central FL, where having enough water for the folks who live here is a problem, a bottled water company got their foot-in-the-door by setting up a plant for bottling water (thus hiring local people) and when people were comfortable with that..moving ahead and making a plan to use the local water supply for their plant! The fight was on!! But, the small budgets of the municipalities were no match for the budget of the company and after at least a year of battle, the company won. Here is the "adding salt to the wound" part that was just played out: The company sued the little towns for the company's legal fees!! Luckily, that failed. Now they want the towns to sponsor local events jointly with them so it looks to the world like everything is cozy and nice!!
I will be thinking twice before I support businesses using such tactics!