Bottled water banned to save environment

[Trousersnake]

ABOUT 4000 NSW public servants have been told to stop drinking bottled water - because it is bad for the environment.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) has sent a memo to staff saying bottled water will no longer be provided at its 120 offices - and encouraging staff to avoid buying their own.

"Staff are asked to consider refilling water bottles from the tap. All major centres in NSW have a clean, reliable water supply," a DECC spokesman said.

"Staff can buy their own bottled water but we would hope they consider the environment."

The decision to scrap bottled water was made on environmental grounds and extends to communal chilled water dispensers.

"The environmental costs of bottled water, producing, transporting, refrigerating and disposing of the bottles, have led DECC to eliminate all non-essential bottled water purchases from the department," the spokesman said.

A small number of the bottles will still be bought for occupational health and safety reasons, like fire-fighting operations or for field work.

The department's decision could trigger a domino effect and hurt Australia's bottled water market - $385 million last year for 250 million litres.

Manly Council will next month vote on a mayoral motion to eradicate all bottled water from council buildings and functions.

Mayor Peter Macdonald is teaming up with environmental campaigner Jon Dee to write to every council in Australia encouraging them to do the same - in line with a similar move by San Francisco earlier this year.

The aim of the campaign is to reduce bottled water usage by 25 per cent across the country in two years.

"It's an environmentally disastrous product, quite frankly, because we've got very good tap water," Manly Councillor Barbara Aird said.

"The consumption of bottled water is apparently increasing by about 10 per cent per annum."

The Local Government Association last month passed a motion supporting the launch of a campaign to alert people to the environmental impact of water bottles.

Then there is the impact on the hip pocket. According to the most recent research, tap water costs about $1.20 per tonne, while one tonne of the pre-bottled variety costs as much as $3000.

DECC estimated about 200ml of oil is used to produce each litre bottle of water, including in the plastic, transportation and refrigeration.

Australians' bottled water use last year was responsible for more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the same amount 13,000 cars generate in 12 months.

Global consumption of bottled water is now estimated at around 180 billion litres a year.


Source:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22799953-5001021,00.html


Thoughts? Comments?

I personally never drink bottled water, the spokesperson is right, the tap water is good quality. 200ml of oil goes into making 1 litre of water, although you can't taste it really :p

[MasterPython]

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where the water does not taste or look funny straight out of the tap that's great.

[deus-redux]

Tapwater never seems to taste awesome, but it's good to drink. Quite what's in it varies by area, though.

-deus-

[groovitude]

I rarely drink bottled water if ever at all. I live in the country, so my family has our own well, which supplies great quality water. Even town water tastes fine, but I'm in a small mountainous town. Everytime I go to the city, the water isn't the greatest, but it's still drinkable.

[Rolloffle]

Although I rarely drink bottled water, I don't think people should be deprived of their liberty in the name of environmental faggotry.

[Prometheus]

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where the water does not taste or look funny straight out of the tap that's great.

When I lived in Fenton, MI, the tap water was virtually undrinkable. It still tasted funny after being run through a filter too. I drank much bottled water, but more often used the tap water in coffee or strong tea to hide the nastiness.

Where I live now I'm on the Detroit water system, which has been rated as second best tap water in the country, after New York. I wouldn't be caught dead with bottled water here. It's a waste of money, resources, and plastic.

[ArgonPlasma2000]

Although I rarely drink bottled water, I don't think people should be deprived of their liberty in the name of environmental faggotry.

Nothing is stopping them from buying a filter which is many orders of magnitude more economical in the long run than bottled water.

[Mantikore]

heh, i dont drink bottled water myself, though people are falling for it, and not exploiting that niche seems like a waste

[Anarky]

200ml of oil goes into making 1 litre of water

care to detail?

[gforce]

i just typed in 'oil bottled water' into google and came up with this good article talking about some of the resource implications from bottled water.

http://earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htm

says 'Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually'

thats staggering!

[Anarky]

yeah. but it's not like the necessary for the bottle is used just for that. They refine the oil and amongst the substances that result is PET. IT IS JUST A BY-PRODUCT NOT THE MAIN PRODUCT.

I really hate it when enviromentalists use this argument.

Personally i don't buy bottled water because i am not willing to pay for something i have on my tap for free.

[gforce]

yeah. but it's not like the necessary for the bottle is used just for that. They refine the oil and amongst the substances that result is PET. IT IS JUST A BY-PRODUCT NOT THE MAIN PRODUCT.

I really hate it when enviromentalists use this argument.

Personally i don't buy bottled water because i am not willing to pay for something i have on my tap for free.

1. You still have to use energy to process the plastic

2. The refineries/chemical processing plants will purposely turn out certain chemicals from oil depending on what is in demand. Ever heard of cracking or polymerisation? Example, actual oil contains not much gasoline grade fuels but using cracking we can split the longer and less useful chains into shorter ones more useful to us.

[Prometheus]

yeah. but it's not like the necessary for the bottle is used just for that. They refine the oil and amongst the substances that result is PET. IT IS JUST A BY-PRODUCT NOT THE MAIN PRODUCT.

Can I get a source for that? I'm not planing on giving you a hard time, but about 6 months ago I scoured the net specifically looking for how PET was produced, and never ran across that nugget of information. (It's the precursor to high quality carbon fiber, thus the research.)

[Anarky]

Can I get a source for that? I'm not planing on giving you a hard time, but about 6 months ago I scoured the net specifically looking for how PET was produced, and never ran across that nugget of information. (It's the precursor to high quality carbon fiber, thus the research.)

Well it's mostly what i learned in chemistry in high school but there is this i found on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_refinery#Operation.

the oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, detergents, solvents, elastomers, and fibers such as nylon and polyesters.


i know wiki is not a reliable source but there are a lot of references down the page if you are really interested.

[gforce]

Well it's mostly what i learned in chemistry in high school but there is this i found on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_refinery#Operation.

the oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, detergents, solvents, elastomers, and fibers such as nylon and polyesters.


i know wiki is not a reliable source but there are a lot of references down the page if you are really interested.

Still takes up a certain % of the barrel because the chemicals used to make the Plastic for the bottle could be used in other operations easily hence reducing demand.

[Real.PUA]

17mil annually is nothing. Plastic is cheap.

[Dark_Magneto]

I'd wager that even more goes into canned beverages since they use metal containers and metal is energy intensive to mine.

I wonder what the impact of other plastic bottled drinks are as well.

[anon99989]

Don't forget that many bottled waters are filtered tap water (on the bottle it says "water from public source.") and that you can pay more for a gallon of bottled water than a gallon of gasoline.

You're buying bottled water at over 1000X what it costs you from the tap

[Dark_Magneto]

Don't forget that many bottled waters are filtered tap water (on the bottle it says "water from public source.") and that you can pay more for a gallon of bottled water than a gallon of gasoline.

You're buying bottled water at over 1000X what it costs you from the tap

Yeah, I drink spring water, not municipal water. The shit we have here tastes awful, and from reading the local water report and all the contaminants and deposits that are in the stuff, it's no wonder why.

And yes, I have tried using a filter. Didn't really do anything.

Also I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist subversion, and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids with fluoridation.

[Prometheus]

Hahaha. Nice quote.

[WASR]

Why not just change from bottles to Aluminum cans. I mean Aluminum cans are 100% reuseable. Plastic bottle aren't a terrible thing though you just have to reuse them, i mean if your water is that terrible, to the point where your buying bottled water in bulk then why not invest in a reverse osmosis filter?

[Dark_Magneto]

Aluminum cans are probably worse than plastic since they take way more energy to create from raw materials.

It would be better to recycle aluminum rather than plastic though for this very reason. Every pound of aluminum recycled is that much less that needs to be mined from the earth at the expense of all that energy.

[weedman1234]

"Aluminum Packaging Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Facts:

Generated:

1,970,000 tons or 0.9% of MSW by weight.
1,620,000 tons of cans per year.
350,000 tons of foil per year.
14.86 pounds of packaging per person per year.
12.22 pounds of cans and 2.64 pounds of foil per person per year.
99 billion aluminum or 374 cans per person were used in 1995.
A single aluminum can weighs approximately ½ ounce.

Recycled:

1.02 million tons for a 51.8% aluminum packaging recycling rate.
990,000 tons for a 62.7% can recycling rate.
Industry data shows a 63.5% beverage can recycling rate in 1996.
30,000 tons for an 8.6% foil recycling rate.

Recycled Content:

51.6% for cans in 1996 according to industry data.
Incinerated or Landfilled:

950,000 tons or 0.6% of discarded MSW by weight.
630,000 tons of cans and 320,000 tons of foil.
Landfill Volume:

6.1 million cubic yards or 1.4% of landfilled MSW (1992 EPA estimates).
5 million cubic yards of cans and 1.1 million cubic yards of foil.
Density:

Landfilled aluminum cans weigh 250 pounds per cubic yard.
Landfilled foil weighs 550 pounds per cubic yard.
Loose aluminum cans have a density of 50 to 74 pounds per cubic yard.
Flattened cans have a density of 250 pounds per cubic yard.
Source Reduction In 1974, 22.92 cans weighed one pound.
In 1996, 31.92 cans weighed a pound.


Source:
Aluminum Association (Washinton, D.C.)
Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States

Measurements Standards and Reporting Guidelines,
National Recycling Coalition (Alexandria, Va.)

Scrap Specifications Circular 1997,
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (Washington, D.C.)

Waste Age's Recycling Times

Waste Recyclers Council"


And this is only aluminum cans. Imagine all the other individually wrapped products which go to waste.

[WASR]

Compared to how many people recycle plastic bottles and the effeciency of the process of recycling Plastic Aluminum is the better choice.

When you think about it almost any common metal of trade is alot more environmentaly friendly the plastic. Plus plastic is a huge waste of petroleum.

[The_Savage]

I drink bottled water a bit since where i'm living the water isn't very consistent. One week it will be fine and crystal clear the next it will be dirtier that the mei kong delta.

[Flannery]

i think mcdonalds, bottled water, soda, oreos, little debbies snack cakes should all obviously be banned. they're a scourge on society. they destroy peoples health, the environment, and take hard earned money that could be put to legitimate endeavors at the same time

[Dark_Magneto]

The same arguments against bottled water apply in an even greater fashion to other bottled beverages like juice and soda and even moreso to canned ones since every can that ends up in a landfill has a greater impact than plastic.

The entire system is unsustainable, so singling out bottled water is disingenuous. Especially since it's better for you than other drinks on top of being less environmentally destructive than discarded canned beverages.

[33% God]

I drink bottled water all the time.

And by bottled water I mean the crate filled with plastic jugs I take into the woods to the spring and fill up.

It's free,crystal clear,and has 0 taste.

[Trousersnake]

The same arguments against bottled water apply in an even greater fashion to other bottled beverages like juice and soda and even moreso to canned ones since every can that ends up in a landfill has a greater impact than plastic.

The entire system is unsustainable, so singling out bottled water is disingenuous. Especially since it's better for you than other drinks on top of being less environmentally destructive than discarded canned beverages.

That's exactly what I thought, expected more people to point it out actually.

[Rolloffle]

Nothing is stopping them from buying a filter which is many orders of magnitude more economical in the long run than bottled water.

That wasn't my point you communist piece of trash.

People shouldn't be deprived of their right to purchase what they please in the name of saving "mother Earth".

[Prometheus]

Let's not overlook this much forgotten fact about plastic recycling. Food grade plastics (like plastic bottles) are NOT recycled back into more plastic bottles. Rather, they are recycled into other plastic products, like carpet fibers.

[WASR]

alot of it is an argument of free will, but tell me would you rather buy the 30 dollar water filter right now or the 1 dollar bottle of water? I know the long term the filter saves you money but alot of people really don't care about that when purchasing food at the super market.

[deus-redux]

People shouldn't be deprived of their right to purchase what they please in the name of saving "mother Earth".

I wasn't aware the "right" to purchase was a basic human right.

-deus-

[Slave of the Beast]

I wasn't aware the "right" to purchase was a basic human right.

-deus-

I guess the word "basic" doesn't translate too well into American.

[Rocko]

I love my city's water, we have our own reservoir and everything. Tastes just fine right out of the tap, I don't even bother with our refrigerator's dispenser/filter. If you town's water sucks, IMO it's better just to install your own filter than to waste money on bottled water.

The concept of paying $1.50 for something that FALLS FROM THE SKY is stupid to me.

[Prometheus]

Uck, the stuff that falls from the sky? Are you an animal? That acid rain will rot your insides.

[Generic Box Of Cookies]

I had some bottled water that really sucked one time. I think I got it in Montana, up by the Canadian border. It was nasty. Tasted like lake water.

[Chemical Eudaemonia]

I try to avoid drinking tap water because of all the fluoride they spike it with. i don't care if it tastes like chlorine or its been reclaimed from shit water, if only they removed the damn fluoride then i would drink it

[Thought Riot]

My family buys like 18 of the bottled water thingies and replaces it every 4 monthes or so.

[extermin8tor]

Tapwater never seems to taste awesome, but it's good to drink. Quite what's in it varies by area, though.

-deus-

yeah I live in adelaide, and in my suburb water tastes alright (it used to be the best tasting in the state IMO :), the suburb near my school has simply disgusting water, it has white powder residue and it causes PET plastic water bottles to disintegrate and shrink.

I rarely buy bottled water, and always refill one bottle that Ive been using for ages.

[Real.PUA]

The entire system is unsustainable, so singling out bottled water is disingenuous. Especially since it's better for you than other drinks on top of being less environmentally destructive than discarded canned beverages.

Since when is the beverage industry unsustainable?

[EssJay]

I personally never drink bottled water, the spokesperson is right, the tap water is good quality. 200ml of oil goes into making 1 litre of water, although you can't taste it really :p

Damn straight. And how the fuck are you going to build up an immune system if you're drinking the shit that comes in bottles?

Edit: I believe this is my first post in this section.

[Slave of the Beast]

Damn straight. And how the fuck are you going to build up an immune system if you're drinking the shit that comes in bottles?

In answer to your question, dependent on the brand, quite well it would seem:

"Bacterial counts in the four tap water samples varied only slightly, from 0.2 to 2.7 bacterial colonies per milliliter. In the bottled water, bacterial counts ranged from less than 0.01 to 4,900 colonies per milliliter. Six bottled waters had bacteria counts of 1,500 to 4,900 colonies per milliliter.

"One of the reasons people choose to drink bottled water instead of tap water is because of the perceived purity of bottled water," the researchers observe, and indeed, 39 samples of bottled water were found to be purer than the tap water. However, 15 samples of bottled water had significantly higher bacteria levels than the tap water. Of these 15, the bacteria counts were more than twice as high as the most contaminated tap water sample and almost 2,000 times higher than the purest tap water sample."

Source. (http://www.case.edu/pubaff/univcomm/water.htm)

[supperrfreek]

honestly if it's that random and doesn't name brand names, it seems safer to just avoid bottled water. also, you have to make those plastic bottles, and transport the water (tap water is done by gravity, bottled water is trucked), refrigerate the water (wastes electricity and refrigerator space), and finally you have to process and recycle the plastic bottles (more wasted resources).

[Slave of the Beast]

(tap water is done by gravity, bottled water is trucked)

Tap water is generally pumped to the surface.

[supperrfreek]

but is is acquired at higher altitudes and the force of gravity and the weight of more water on the other end force the water to the surface.

[gforce]

but is is acquired at higher altitudes and the force of gravity and the weight of more water on the other end force the water to the surface.

What about aquifers most require pumping and provide a huge portion of our water?

[glutamate antagonist]

We have among the best tap water in the world around here. I still drink bottled though, because I like the taste. I don't care if it's a waste of energy. What if I preferred Cola instead? Are you going to discriminate based on people's drinks preference?

Nothing is stopping them from buying a filter which is many orders of magnitude more economical in the long run than bottled water.

So? If I prefer the taste of Evian to filtered tap water, why should anyone have the right to take away such a privilege?

I hate this nanny state bullshittery. Blah the planet blah blah. Why don't you fuck off and make changes at the national, international, corporate and government levels, rather than imposing the burden upon the citizen?

[gforce]

why should anyone have the right to take away such a privilege?

read what you have just said. You do not have the 'right' to buy evian, you are only allowed to buy it which as you said is a privilege not a right.

[KING G]

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where the water does not taste or look funny straight out of the tap that's great.

Alberta for the lose.


Calgary?

[wolfy_9005]

They dont care about the environment, they just want to save oil for their cars

[never]

I'm from New Jersey and we are the most toxic state. I never drink the tap water here, it tastes god awful and filled with lead and other nasty shit. Fuck you hippies, let me drink my non-aids water. k thx

[Dark_Magneto]

Damn straight.

You could either be drinking some of ther crap beverage, or you could drink some clean water, which is much better for you.

[StreetThug]

Bottled water is all I drink, our city water tastes like ass. They put all sorts of shit in it to "purify" it to the point it's undrinkable. Bottled water tastes so much better. Yeah it comes from someone else's sink, but their sink has much tastier water than mine :) Fuck the environment.

[APguy]

I used to load up my car with 24 packs of the city's bottled water from police stations and ward yards every week, now they stopped stocking bottled water due to people bitching about the envinronment. The city is trying to pass an ordinance taxing each water bottle sold too, what assholes.

[Mutant Funk Drink]

I'd say unless you live somewhere like Atlanta (where DaSani gets their water from) where the tap water tastes good, I don't think most people will switch to tap water any time soon. That is unless everyone gets better water filters.

Plus, I think we should get more water from sewage. Apparently it's actually healthier for you than water that just comes up from the ground.

[sum42dood]

We have among the best tap water in the world around here. I still drink bottled though, because I like the taste. I don't care if it's a waste of energy. What if I preferred Cola instead? Are you going to discriminate based on people's drinks preference?



So? If I prefer the taste of Evian to filtered tap water, why should anyone have the right to take away such a privilege?

I hate this nanny state bullshittery. Blah the planet blah blah. Why don't you fuck off and make changes at the national, international, corporate and government levels, rather than imposing the burden upon the citizen?

...because the government is filled with bureaucratic assholes who cant get anything done within 5-8 years if at all

besides your paying 1.50 more because you "prefer the taste"
suck it up...

[genericwittyusername]

I'm for it. Water should not be worth more by volume than oil.

[gforce]

^I read in a book once (can't remember which one) that during the 30's in parts of the US you could get a gallon of petrol cheaper than a gallon of normal tap water.

[glutamate antagonist]

read what you have just said. You do not have the 'right' to buy evian, you are only allowed to buy it which as you said is a privilege not a right.

Read what I have said.

I never stated I should have the right to buy it.

You're putting words in my mouth.

Evian should have the right to sell me water. I have the right to buy things. If they stopped selling water, I wouldn't be able to claim my rights are being violated. If someone, however, stopped Evian from selling it to me, they are the violator.

[glutamate antagonist]

...because the government is filled with bureaucratic assholes who cant get anything done within 5-8 years if at all

And that should be taken out on me, the water-buyer?

If that's the problem, do something about that.

besides your paying 1.50 more because you "prefer the taste"
suck it up...

I don't care. If I were so poor as to not be able to afford it, I'd stop. Until then, it's a luxury.

[Dark_Magneto]

With the exception of WMD, anybody should be able to sell anything to anyone.

[yoda_me07]

how about putting in the filters for tap water?
when i was a shelver at a libary, the water was tap water, but it was filtered and came out of filter cold.

[Mellow_Fellow]

I don't think that's unreasonable at all....

It's just a fact that people buying plastic bottles of water daily is.... a total waste. This isn't "communist oppression of rights" or any of that shite some of you idiots spill, tbh....

If you want your own little arty-farty bottle of water, get a filter and clean your tap water so it's drinkable. Shit, there are millions of people who have to survive off fucking crap infected water, it's a bit rich if you live in a developed nation to be moaning about it! Yeh, fair enough, it doesn't always taste that nice if it's hard, straight from the tap and full of chlorine...

So get off your lazy ass and filter it yourself; shit, even leaving water in a bottle in the fridge for a few hours makes is MUCH more drinkable, in my opinion. I guess actually fully banning plastic bottles is a bit harsh - say if you forget ya drink one day.... but there are ways 'round this, and other drinks. Shit, just refill empty mineral-water bottles, if it's that big of an issue! I know when I travel in Asia i'm not gona be able to drink the local water at allll, so i'll be trying to purify my own with iodine and reuse the bottles, not just waste tons of resources on making new ones and getting them to tourists...

[Dark_Magneto]

It's just a fact that people buying plastic bottles of water daily is.... a total waste.

Same with canned soda.

I could run a small country off the energy used due to the soda industry alone.

[Trousersnake]

With the exception of WMD, anybody should be able to sell anything to anyone.

Child Prostitutes?

[Dark_Magneto]

I wasn't considering people as objects. That would be forcing someone to engage in a transaction that they don't want to participate in, which is slavery.

You can't have a free market without personal liberty.

[Slave of the Beast]

With the exception of WMD, anybody should be able to sell anything to anyone.

If you can tolerate society descending into an unworkable mess, then sure.

[Dark_Magneto]

Since the market is supposed to allocate resources better than any government or central planning, how would free trade result in society turning into an "unworkable mess"?

[Real.PUA]

You still have to protect property rights, the environment, etc.

[Dark_Magneto]

Those are accounted for in the market as well.

If people really cared enough about the environment to do something about it, then those companies that have environmentally destructive practices in the production of their commodities would see the disdain for their activities reflected in the market. People would buy from a more environmentally friendly organization, the other company would lose to the competition, and the market will have sorted everything out.

As it is, enough people don't care enough about the environment to take those actions. Value and utility are subjective. Nobody engages in a transaction in which they don't believe they will gain more than they're paying. That being said, the subjective utility of cheap hydrocarbon energy has more utility to people than some arctic ice sheets or frozen clauthrates in the ocean. When people start caring more about not triggering a methane-hydrate gun than they do about being able to commute 100 miles a day with cheap and abundant energy, then the market will take into account these new expectations of what the people want and adjust accordingly. Until then, it will continue to supply people with what they demand as well as the natural consequences that follow, which the people are able and willing to bear as evidenced by the fact that they keep purchasing such commodities.

As far as security goes, every individual has the right to protect their own property. If they feel they need additional protection, they can employ the services of various private security firms in accordance to their needs.

[rodrat16]

i buy bottled water cause the water in my area tastes like nasty toilet water

[glutamate antagonist]

Child Prostitutes?

Thailand?

Myspace?

[telecomnerd]

If people really cared enough about the environment to do something about it, then those companies that have environmentally destructive practices in the production of their commodities would see the disdain for their activities reflected in the market.

I totally agree. If one feels a certain way about bottled water, the way to affect change is to practice what you preach. Don't look to government to impose regulations to protect the environment, protect it yourself.

[glutamate antagonist]

Don't look to government to impose regulations to protect the environment, protect it yourself.

Now you see, I favour the other way, where people do force the government to legislate what companies can do, rather than leaving it to the people themselves.

Otherwise you get the whole green campaign being directed at people [i.e. me] to stop buying X because it hurts the environment, or Y because it's made in sweatshops.

I'd rather go around buying things, knowing that the onus is upon the government for whatever moral implications buying something has.

[TrueBudSmoker]

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where the water does not taste or look funny straight out of the tap that's great.

LOL you little bitch I live in Alberta and I drink tap water.

[midnight rider]

I dont drink tap.

I used to drink my fridge water but that got fucked up too, and now we have black ice! :)....not really :(

So now I only drink tap.

[moss2455]

Bottled water is fucking retarded. If you don't like tap water, buy a fucking water filter, it will save money for you in the long run. There is no need to walk around at all times with a bottle of water on you like you are somehow going to be fucking stranded in the desert without any hope of finding an oasis. I hope they ban bottled water outright, and anyone who spends more than a dollar for a bottle of water should be flat out shot. The only exception I can see to this is large outdoor gatherings in which water is scarce, and dehydration is easily possible.

[moss2455]

I dont drink tap.

I used to drink my fridge water but that got fucked up too, and now we have black ice! :)....not really :(

So now I only drink tap.

Wait what?

[glutamate antagonist]

Bottled water is fucking retarded. snip

And who the fuck do you think will make you the one who should destroy the public's economic freedom?

Is it your job to prevent people wasting their money?

Fuck you and your ecofascist ideas.

[Tarchi]

Bottled water is fucking retarded. If you don't like tap water, buy a fucking water filter, it will save money for you in the long run. There is no need to walk around at all times with a bottle of water on you like you are somehow going to be fucking stranded in the desert without any hope of finding an oasis. I hope they ban bottled water outright, and anyone who spends more than a dollar for a bottle of water should be flat out shot. The only exception I can see to this is large outdoor gatherings in which water is scarce, and dehydration is easily possible.

Actually, I live in the desert. Bottled water is the only water we can drink here because tap smells and tastes like it just came out of my dogs ass. Some people use the filter way, but it doesn't make it very much better.

[Dark_Magneto]

I totally agree. If one feels a certain way about bottled water, the way to affect change is to practice what you preach. Don't look to government to impose regulations to protect the environment, protect it yourself.

Amen.

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7008/eotwprofitku1.gif

[Runaway_Stapler]

Although I rarely drink bottled water, I don't think people should be deprived of their liberty in the name of environmental faggotry.

Read the article, retard. It says the DECC of Austrailia will no longer supply it's employees with bottled water, and they have encouraged the employees not to buy it themselves. Nobody is deprived of buying anything.

[glutamate antagonist]

Read the article, retard. It says the DECC of Austrailia will no longer supply it's employees with bottled water, and they have encouraged the employees not to buy it themselves. Nobody is deprived of buying anything.

Maybe he was just stating his opinion. As you can see, there are people who have the audacity to impose their ideals on people's purchasing power.

[citrus-cobra]

this shit is such a fucking no brainer.

just filter your own fucking water.
jesus.
Instead of buying like cases of bottled water, just use a fucking brita filter. it gets rid of most of the nasty shit they put in the water, plus it tastes good. and if you're still not happy, just nigger saturate it with kool aid and get diabetes.

[Dark_Magneto]

The hundred miles of filters that are used to filter the sewer water and reform it before it gets to your tap work much better than a Brita filter, and even they can't filter out the hormones and chemicals that people are pissing into the water supply through antidepressants/birth control/other meds (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/12/water_hormones_everywhere/).

If your water comes from some mountain spring, you don't have that problem.

[Twisted_Ferret]

Yeah, even filtered water here tastes fucking nasty. I buy bottled water in bulk, in giant jugs; it's all I can do unless I want to drink nothing but cola. Which is even worse for the environment.

[yoyobek]

I cant really taste the difference. I allways thought people just bought bottled water for emergencies, or if they were out and about and there wasnt a handy tap nearby.


It might work. But so many people drink bottled water saying that their tap water tastes like shit.. so untill that's rectified one way or another, I guess people will continue to buy bottled water?

I wonder how hard/easy it would be to make a plastic bottle that wasnt bad for the environment. Probably very hard.

[SilentMind]

Where the fuck does it say anything about them being banned? It just means the company isn't supplying it for free anymore. Boo hoo.

[Runaway_Stapler]

The same arguments against bottled water apply in an even greater fashion to other bottled beverages like juice and soda and even moreso to canned ones since every can that ends up in a landfill has a greater impact than plastic.

The entire system is unsustainable, so singling out bottled water is disingenuous. Especially since it's better for you than other drinks on top of being less environmentally destructive than discarded canned beverages.

No; plastic has far more impact than aluminum. All metals can disintegrate in time and cycle back through the earth. While plastic will disintegrate down into tiny particles we can't see, those hydrocarbons are so new to the environment that there aren't any types of bacteria evolved to break them down. Therefore as all of our plastic breaks down, trillions of invincible particles will flood the environment. Scary thing is we really don't know what effect they'll have on life at the molecular level, and plastic sure isn't leaving our life, or world for that matter, any time soon, so it's a waiting game now.

[Dark_Magneto]

I meant in terms of energy.

It takes a lot more energy to mine, refine, and forge an aluminum can than it does for a plastic bottle and that energy is more than likely coming from fossil fuels, which makes metal cans more polluting in their production.

It's in the disposal that plastic is more destructive.

[Splam]

People drink bottled water because they've got some fucked up belief that tap water is dirty. It really isn't. But they think, subconciously, why do they sell bottle water if tap water isn't dirty?

[Dark_Magneto]

People drink bottled water because they've got some fucked up belief that tap water is dirty. It really isn't.

Lol. Keep telling yourself that. (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/03/13/water_hormones_everywhere/)

Meanwhile we have buildup of female hormones in the city water supplies causing sex changes in fish and male breast development.

[WASR]

lol there we go everyone grow breasts and that would elminate to need for water bottles. lol

[Trousersnake]

I wonder how hard/easy it would be to make a plastic bottle that wasnt bad for the environment. Probably very hard.

Reuse what we already have...

[Prometheus]

New study shows that a significant portion of the US is getting things like antidepressants and antibiotics in their tap water. The levels are pretty low, but they're there. Incidentally, it's low level contamination of antibiotics that are ideal for producing resistant germs.

[Dark_Magneto]

New study shows that a significant portion of the US is getting things like antidepressants and antibiotics in their tap water. The levels are pretty low, but they're there.

The "It's a small amount" argument is the justification for killing people over time with gradual bioaccumulations of toxins and carcinogens.

Yeah, sure it's a small amount. Howver when everything you come in contact with has some degree of toxic and carconogeic substances, it's going to have an effect.

If a product was killing people in an immediate sense, it would be noticed right away and pulled form the market. Nobody would use it. However, if it were to take, say, 20 - 30 years before it caused any noticeable impacts on human health, people wouldn't develop any causal link to the product and everybody would keep going on, entirely oblivious.

[KING G]

Why won't this thread die?

it's been sitting in my subscribed threads for ages...

[Splam]

I still don't get it. Never in human evolutionary history have we been drinking pure water. It was a bad idea, evolutionary speaking because nowadays we can't even drink most stream water. It led to a population boost we can no longer handle. What I'm getting at is we're not going to die from drinking tap water, and there is no evidence to support it either. We don't need the socalled pure bottled water.

[Dark_Magneto]

I still don't get it. Never in human evolutionary history have we been drinking pure water.

We were never getting a whole galaxy of pharmacuetical drugs/hormones in what water was available.

We weren't taking penicillin or vitamins either.

...there is no evidence to support it either...

Hormones in water blamed as more men seek breast reduction (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article549956.ece)

That's just one aspect of the many wonderous things in our recycled sewer water supply.

[Real.PUA]

That's the most inconclusive data you could find. You are looking at the number or surgeries which may not even directly correlate with the number of people with man boobs. Plus, fatties produce more estrogen on their own, they don't need it in the tap water to grow boobs. Show a rise in skinny people with man boobs and you may have a point. Right now you have nothing.

[Dark_Magneto]

The hormones that exist in the water supply probably aren't the only contributing factor and possibly may not even be a dominant one, but they're there nontheless, along with anti-psychotic meds and all that other good stuff that they can't filter out.

[Real.PUA]

Lot's of shit is in water...it doesn't mean those things make men grow boobs.

[Dark_Magneto]

Lot's of shit is in water...

Are you familiar with the term "bioaccumulation"?

[Real.PUA]

Are you familiar with the term "bioaccumulation"? What's the biological half life of estrogen in humans?

[johnplywd]

Lot's of shit is in water...it doesn't mean those things make men grow boobs.

I bet you like man boobs don't you?

[33% God]

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where the water does not taste or look funny straight out of the tap that's great.

Stop being such pussified women.

Goddamnit.

[Dark_Magneto]

Stop being such pussified women.

Kind of hard for some people not to when they're getting female hormones in their water supply in high enough concentrations to cause sex changes in local fish populations.

So by avoiding tap water, he's avoiding being a pussified woman.

[plank00000]

i don't give a fuck it tastes better.

[Splam]

i don't give a fuck it tastes better.

Thats your imagination. Just bring a couple drops of lemon or something and put it in your glass of healthy tap water.

[glutamate antagonist]

Why don't all of you who don't mind tap water go suck my dick. I prefer bottled. If I wasn't drinking bottled water, I'd be drinking some form of soft drink, probably Coke. While it tastes drinkable, tap water still has a funny taste to me, to an extent which I'll avoid drinking it unless necessary.


Kind of hard for some people not to when they're getting female hormones in their water supply in high enough concentrations to cause sex changes in local fish populations.

So by avoiding tap water, he's avoiding being a pussified woman.

Gold medal. I think this post wins the thread.

[Slave of the Beast]

Gold medal. I think this post wins the thread.

Are the fish by you developing vaginas?

[Flannery]

Tapwater never seems to taste awesome, but it's good to drink. Quite what's in it varies by area, though.

-deus-

if you're into brainwashing chemicals such as fluoride then yes tapwater is just dandy.

[Flannery]

Why don't all of you who don't mind tap water go suck my dick. I prefer bottled. If I wasn't drinking bottled water, I'd be drinking some form of soft drink, probably Coke. While it tastes drinkable, tap water still has a funny taste to me, to an extent which I'll avoid drinking it unless necessary.




Gold medal. I think this post wins the thread.

why don't you get a fucking water purifier or refill gallons of culligan you greedy piece of shit.

[Slave of the Beast]

if you're into brainwashing chemicals such as fluoride then yes tapwater is just dandy.

Thankfully the bulk of Britain chlorinates, it doesn't fluoridate.

At least not yet.

[glutamate antagonist]

why don't you get a fucking water purifier or refill gallons of culligan you greedy piece of shit.

Why am I greedy?

You fucking reprobate.

[the bamph]

tap water is great.

I've been drinking 2 liters of it every day for the past 2 years and nothing bad happened to me. I live in a shit country from Eastern Europe by the way. You'd think the worst filtering job would be here, in an almost third world country.

I drank tap water that "tasted funny" and absolutely nothing bad happened, so all you fucking pansy cockmongers who choose not drink it are just a bunch of pussies.

So don't forget to put a flower petal in your bottled water and savor every drop while your manginas bleed, you faggots.

[Dark_Magneto]

I drank tap water that "tasted funny" and absolutely nothing bad happened,..

..every day for the past 2 years...

2 years is nothing.

So don't forget to put a flower petal in your bottled water and savor every drop while your manginas bleed, you faggots.

Says the guy drinking female hormones.

[Mr.Alex]

i blame the jews

[-SpectraL]

Not many people are aware that over 90% of bottled-water is just plain tap water, only subjected to the barest of treatments, in order to "qualify" as "treated" water. The governments have been allowing this scam for about 10 years now. People are so gullible it's sickening.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/water121003.cfm

[Dark_Magneto]

Not many people are aware that over 90% of bottled-water is just plain tap water, only subjected to the barest of treatments, in order to "qualify" as "treated" water.

Yeah, most "bottled" water, i.e. water that comes in a bottle, is merely tap water. It even lists the local municipal utility which it came from right on the thing.

However if you're not a tap water drinker, then you're not buying that. Why the hell would anyone pay money for that? You can just take an empty milk jug and get it right from house, hormones/mineral deposits/industrial runoff/unfiltered medications and all.

[-SpectraL]

Yeah, most "bottled" water, i.e. water that comes in a bottle, is merely tap water. It even lists the local municipal utility which it came from right on the thing.

However if you're not a tap water drinker, then you're not buying that. Why the hell would anyone pay money for that? You can just take an empty milk jug and get it right from house, hormones/mineral deposits/industrial runoff/unfiltered medications and all.People are basically just a pack of sheep. They'll buy into anything that looks good. Most people don't know that bottled water is completely unregulated, and is only subject to FDA approval if it crosses the border, which it doesn't. All the idiots have to do is run it through a plain kitchen-strainer and they can then declare it filtered and charge you $3-5 dollars for the very same water out of your tap. Not only that, the governments get to charge the crooks for how much water they take from the public water systems, so it's all buddy-buddy... the crooks take everybody for suckers and the white-collars score a few more easy bucks... meanwhile the sheep keep on grinning and munching their cuds.

[Dark_Magneto]

Yeah, I know about the lack of regulations concerning bottled water. What's interesting is how regulated the local municipality is, yet the list of crap in the water is a mile long. The main reason I started drinking bottled water was due to the taste factor. Some bottled waters do cross the border since they come from places like the Swiss alps. As far as FDA regulations go, I don't place much faith in the FDA since they practically rubber stamp anything that comes from big corporations and approve shit like Aspartame and Posilac which have proven negative impacts on health and shut down distribution cheap, safe food additives like Stevia at the request of Nutra-Sweet (which is causing brain cancer, yet still remains approved).

Our local tap water tastes like complete ass. A bottle of Ozarka has a minimal amount of taste, which is actually a trace amount of added benign minerals like sodium.

Evian tastes like absolutely nothing. It's the cleanest, purest water you'll probably ever drink, but it's expensive as hell. That's the whole reason I started drinking bottled water is because the local supply tasted awful due to all the garbage in it, and after reading the annual water report, it was no wonder why. I wasn't getting enough water as it was because it was pretty hard to choke the stuff down. I don't have any problems with Ozarka. It's about a dollar a gallon and I drink maybe 2 or 3 gallons a week.

It was only later that I came to find out all the health implications of all the things in the local water supply, like neurotoxic fluoride additives and such.

Spending 8 - 12 bucks a month on clean water is well worth it, IMO.

[Prometheus]

Found this relevent article just by accident.

What's Colorless and Tasteless And Smells Like . . . Money? (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/29/AR2008062901872.html)

My favorite part is the distilled "concentrated" hawiian seawater that sells for $33.50 for a 2 oz bottle. That's not straight drinking water, it's concentrated. You're supposed to dilute it with water before drinking.

[Dark_Magneto]

EPA Scientists Admit They Are Poisoning/Medicating Tap Water (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAasMtT411E)

[-SpectraL]

EPA Scientists Admit They Are Poisoning/Medicating Tap Water (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAasMtT411E)Yup. Poison from the bottled water AND poison from the tap, and yet we continue to have persons get rich selling it to the public. Great world we live in, I tell ya.

[-SpectraL]

Found this relevent article just by accident.

What's Colorless and Tasteless And Smells Like . . . Money? (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/29/AR2008062901872.html)

My favorite part is the distilled "concentrated" hawiian seawater that sells for $33.50 for a 2 oz bottle. That's not straight drinking water, it's concentrated. You're supposed to dilute it with water before drinking.Good find man. Can you imagine the profit of selling practically free water for $30+ a bottle? I wonder what the markup profit-percentage is on that cool scam? 2990%? Sounds about right. Government approved and all!

[Dark_Magneto]

Yup. Poison from the bottled water AND poison from the tap, and yet we continue to have persons get rich selling it to the public. Great world we live in, I tell ya.

Only way to get around it is to buy expensive activated alumina defluoridation filters or buy bottled spring water and not be stupid by getting municipal water in a bottle.