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Posted on Aug 03, 2007 - 1:07am by John P. in Environment, Finance, News
Back in June Ben Popken over at The Consumerist pointed out that while reading the New York City 2006 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report he spotted the following item from the FAQ:
Should I buy bottled water?
You do not need to buy bottled water for health reasons in New York City since our water meets all federal and State health-based drinking water standards. Also, bottled water costs up to 1,000 times more than the City’s drinking water.
A couple of weeks later, Ben pointed out that PepsiCo announced:
Aquafina labels will soon say “Public Water Source”.
So, I guess the moral to the story is that if you just get a few extra bottles and fill them with your refrigerators filtered water, or run them through a Brita or some other tap water filter you can save a LOT of money over the course of a year while also keeping a boat load of plastic out of the landfill.
Frankly I can afford to waste as many bottles of water as I damn well please, and I don’t have any kids to worry about inheriting the planet… but I’m not sure everyone shares that indifferent capitalist pig attitude.
:-)
I’ve not ever found that bottled water is all that superb. I think a big highlight (as long as you’re in an industrialized nation and not somewhere that the tap water can give you the runs) is the refrigeration. The coolness of the bottles is quite attractive when you’re say on the East Coast in the summer time and it’s muggy and hot outside.
Personally I have a reverse osmosis water filter at home that I use to fill up a water bottle. I know it’s good water because it’s good even when it’s tepid. That’s my test.
I have a water filter that I use at home, however I do drink bottled water while I’m out and about, or in the car. And I recycle them. I really don’t see what the big fuss is over Aquafina- while it does originate from a public water source, it then goes through a pretty intense purification process. I’d definitely drink it over the tap water here!
Bottled water is one of the biggest rip-offs in the developed world. Tap water nearly everywhere in any developed nation is perfectly safe to drink. If you prefer a nicer taste, do what the above commenter did and get a filter for your home.
God bless my children, but, I’m not drinking Alabama water – it is so gross! After spending my whole life in Dallas, TX – it is quite a different taste, and one I’m not sure I could ever get used to!
I can understand that because my mom lives in Jasper and I’m plenty familiar with the water there. :-)
Having said that, if you get you a refrigerator that has the water filter built into it, it will make your ice taste better and also the water that gets dispensed through the door. The only bad thing is that the filters cost about $50 each and you have to change them once every 6 months to a year.
Of course, for the price of a new fridge plus water filters you can buy a LOT of bottled water!
John
I have to say it just mystifies me when I see these articles about bottled water vs tap water. I’ve lived all over the US: New England to California, Northwest to Midwest to South, big cities to suburbs to desert. Everywhere, the tap water is bad enough that I would not drink it — and I’m not all that picky! It’s always some unhealthy shade of yellow/brown, often accompanied by an unpleasant odor.
(Well, there was ONE place that had good tap water: Fairbanks Alaska an the 1960s. Don’t think I’ll be able to get back there, though.)
If I don’t have access to a Brita, I buy the bottled stuff and count myself lucky that I’m not forced to drink from the tap.
CPF,
I’m not sure where you’ve lived, but I have traveled to at least half of the states in the US, and I have yet to encounter yellowish / brownish water. I’ve seen water that was not perfectly glacier clear, but nothing that was unhealthy.
So, I don’t think you can make the claim that you are not all that picky. You are definitely picky – but that’s OK. We happen to be fortunate enough to live at a time, in a country, where people can spent a ton of money on things like making sure our water is completely colorless, smell-less and tasteless. As if we were purchasing diamonds or something. :-)
Humans have been existing (and still do in some places) for a long, long time on water far unhealthier than what comes out of the worst tap in the US. But heck, I’m sitting here drinking a bottle of Ozarka right now. :-)
John
When it comes to water. One of the most ignorant things i have ever heard someone say is “Water is water, i have been drinking this water all of my life and it has not killed me yet.” That statement is just not completely accurate!
Water is not all the same! The water that your drinking today is better than tomorrows and yesterdays water was better than today’s. People have died from contaminants (cryptospuridium) in public water supplies in just the last 30 years. Just because it has not killed them yet does not mean that it can’t!
Fifty years ago our water was still fairly pure except for being a little hard but today they allow over 190 billion tons of pollution into our atmosphere every year and it is safe to say that some of that ends up in our drinking water. It is a never ending cycle. Our city and state government has to meet EPA standards but obviously they expect us to either buy a filter or be a filter because the water quality could be much better. Why do you think people are buying all of this bottled water? They Know the water is bad.
Most of the bottled water companies are just bottling tap water! If your bottled water does not say TREATED, PURIFIED or REVERSE OSMOSIS then it is just Tap water or they like to use “NATURAL SPRING WATER.
When i was a child i could eat snow (as long as it was not Yellow..lol) and drink out of most streams but i would not allow my children to do that today because of all of the pollutants. One day in the future we could be fighting over clean water instead of oil but until then you need to fight to protect yourself and your family from the contaminants that are most likely in your water. When you have all the facts you can make educated decisions.
Don’t take my word for it! Do your own research and share the truth with others that you care about. Get a copy of the EPA guidelines that your city has to follow and look at all of the things that they say are safe/ok to put in our drinking water. Did you know the EPA says that 7 million fibers per liter of asbestos is an acceptable amount? I don’t know about you but i personally don’t want any asbestos in my water!
Knowledge is power!