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What Is The Real Cost Of Bottled Water?

environmentalgraffiti.com — Three gallons of the wet stuff is required to produce one gallon of what you will happily pay a dollar for, largely because of the length and complexity of the various "purification" processes and the evaporation loss that takes place while the water is in the plant. This is quite an ugly statistic, when juxtaposed to the fact that less than one ..

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  • Rotzooi, on 05/05/2008, -21/+7I enjoy http://www.fijiwater.com/
    • sexualwasabi, on 05/05/2008, -8/+3fiji water rocks!
    • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -0/+21From page 6-7 of http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-m ...

      "The label on a bottle of Fiji Water says "from the islands of Fiji." Journey to the source of that water, and you realize just how extraordinary that promise is. From New York, for instance, it is an 18-hour plane ride west and south (via Los Angeles) almost to Australia, and then a four-hour drive along Fiji's two-lane King's Highway.

      Every bottle of Fiji Water goes on its own version of this trip, in reverse, although by truck and ship. In fact, since the plastic for the bottles is shipped to Fiji first, the bottles' journey is even longer. Half the wholesale cost of Fiji Water is transportation--which is to say, it costs as much to ship Fiji Water across the oceans and truck it to warehouses in the United States than it does to extract the water and bottle it.

      That is not the only environmental cost embedded in each bottle of Fiji Water. The Fiji Water plant is a state-of-the-art facility that runs 24 hours a day. That means it requires an uninterrupted supply of electricity--something the local utility structure cannot support. So the factory supplies its own electricity, with three big generators running on diesel fuel. The water may come from "one of the last pristine ecosystems on earth," as some of the labels say, but out back of the bottling plant is a less pristine ecosystem veiled with a diesel haze."
    • shoc, on 05/05/2008, -1/+2From http://www.fijiwater.com/ :

      "The very livelihood of our company relies on the health and well-being of our source aquifer and its surrounding environment. That's why FIJI Water has undertaken a major initiative in partnership with Conservation International (CI), a leading conservation organization, for the protection and preservation of the Sovi Basin rainforest in Fiji."
      • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1***** the gutless loser who buried your attempt to share information.
  • skewl, on 05/05/2008, -6/+19just drink the water and shut up....if you're really that worried about the environmental aspects of the fiji water, you wouldn't be drinking it in the first place...
  • DeviantDragon, on 05/05/2008, -2/+75"evaporation loss that takes place"

    That isn't really loss of water as it's still in the water cycle and it isn't being contaminated in this process.
    • keshavkhera, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Yeah, thats true
    • 8ight, on 05/05/2008, -0/+9Yep, I read that and thought this is some idiot on a soap box pulling facts out of his ass. I do agree bottled water is a big waste though.
    • Harabeck, on 05/05/2008, -1/+3Well, it had to be shipped to the plant and made it through part of the filtering but isnt coming out as product.
    • modularsky, on 05/05/2008, -0/+5The world isn't one ecosystem and watershed though. For example in India people are rioting against coca-cola right now because they are taking their groundwater for use in coca-cola manufacturing; this water is sent to the furthest corners of the Asian subcontinent; it's not as if the water returns to the same place it came from (this is the case with tap water).
    • MrFattyPants, on 05/05/2008, -2/+1Good point. I'm also frustrated with the misleading use of statistics here. For instance, the U.S. uses over 20 million barrels of oil per DAY. When taken in that context, the 17 million per YEAR that gets used for bottled water is basically irrelevant.
    • cambob76, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1The funny thing is, since most water is not consumed from bottles, that escaped water will likely end up being drunk for free... even though oil was used to process/transport it.
    • heystoopid, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1Forgotten much about the atmospheric air pollution and many other farm pesticides run offs in the environment I see along with extensive contanimination of water catchment areas too !
  • brjohnson789, on 05/05/2008, -9/+71I'm really sick of hearing about the bottled water backlash, because I always then have to read 'just drink tap'. I'm NOT going to drink tap when my city and multiple other cities warn pregnant women not to drink the tap water. If its bad enough for them, why is it pefectly ok for me? This should be mentioned in all these anti-bottled water articles. Get a water filter, best of both worlds.
    • theStig, on 05/05/2008, -10/+3ditto. I wouldn't feed my dog tap water.
    • Ryan166, on 05/05/2008, -8/+5You will boil your water, and stop being an elitist.
      • elint6, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2Boiling will do what, exactly?
        Most water problems occur from uneven chemical concentrations, not microbial infections. Chlorination has pretty much eliminated tap water as a pathogenic reservoir.
      • RogerStrong, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1That won't remove the bad taste of an algae bloom, or lead.
        • dsmx, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1Which can all occur in bottled water as well, infact you can get aluminum contamination from PET bottles due to an aluminum catalyst used in the manufacture of PET.
          • RogerStrong, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Get real.

            We've never had an algae bloom in our reverse-osmosis purified water, nor is it at all likely. Our tap water on the other hand gets it every summer.

            The water we get is only in the (reusable) 5-gallon bottles for a week or two. It's going to pick up far less contaminants than what comes in through 200 miles of leaky cement and lead pipes.
          • kurtu5, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1Lead pipes? Nice hyperbole, lead water pipes went out with the romans.

            You has time machine?
          • theWrkncacnter, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1@kurtu5 are you saying that lead is never a problem in tap water? Have you heard of lead solder, which was still used into the 80s? Google it
    • thespudmall, on 05/05/2008, -2/+16Where the hell do you live? Mexico?
      • ayalaV, on 05/06/2008, -2/+0Water from USA and Mexico is the same, don't be a ignorant
    • Julik, on 05/05/2008, -1/+19They suggest that some pregnant women not drink Caffeine too.. That doesn't mean it is going to poison people... The reason they are so cautious when it comes to pregnancy is that they are unsure of how some chemicals will react to an undeveloped fetus. If you are a fully grown adult your body is used to disposing of all kinds of stuff that is far worse than what is in your tap water.
    • Harabeck, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/health/14real.ht ...
      • brjohnson789, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1That study sounds kinda shady. It mentions just bacterial growth; there would be a better chance for bacteria to live in bottled water since the bottled water has virtually no crazy chemicals like chlorine and other drugs we flush down the toilet to poison the bacteria. And the study mentions nothing about how much in the way of chemicals found in bottled water; probably because the gov't does not chose to recognize the levels these poisons show up as 'bad'. In my mind, some poison is still poison.
    • ralphodog, on 05/05/2008, -0/+14Can somebody post one of these warnings for pregnant women? It's been mentioned twice so far in these comments, but I've never heard of such an instance before.
      • Rotzooi, on 05/05/2008, -7/+2It's elitist BS, spread by conservatives to scare you into buying bottled water.
      • cespee, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2" Pregnant Women Warned Of Chlorinated Tap Water"
        http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ...
        • Grok22, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1but isn't bottled water also chlorinated also?
        • isaactwito, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2No, bottled water is usually filtered or some kind of glacier water bs, I think futurama explains it at some point.
        • kurtu5, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1FTA:
          Health officials said they are taking the results seriously, but stressed that the findings are not definitive and need to be confirmed by further research.
          ``We're still cautious at this point,'' said Dr. Kirsten Waller, the lead author of the study, who is now a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ``It's a new finding. It needs to be corroborated . . . before we can make sweeping public health recommendations.''
    • nycmac247, on 05/05/2008, -0/+8get a water filter?
    • tschau, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Seriously, it was asked before, but could someone post one of these warnings for pregnant women? I assume it would be somewhere on the city's website.

      From everything I see online, old research suggesting dangers to fetuses has since been repudiated and proven incorrect.
    • DailyWail, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4I thought American was a 1st world country?
      You guys don't even have drinkable tap water?!
      • Grok22, on 05/05/2008, -0/+6we do contrary to popular belief.
      • maddikp, on 05/05/2008, -0/+5drinkable tap water and over active imaginations...
        • norman619, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2That's what happens when you don't have any REAL problems to worry about.
      • smoger, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1my tap water comes out cloudy/milky. i live in a major city which should have top of the line filtering facilities. i only drink it in absolute emergencies. otherwise, bottled spring water(not "filtered water" or "drinking water" or "ice water" like Aquafina. THAT is a waste of money.) i spend $3 on average for 24 bottles of spring water.
        i'd be open to using a filter but the bottles are way easier for me to drink at home or at work
        • Metis2be, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2It's so much easier to go to the store and haul around a 24 pack of water than it is to use a filter at home and just refill a glass? I can understand some people saying it's inconvenient to use a filter at work, but don't ***** me about that home crap, you're just trying to make excuses for yourself.
    • norman619, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Did you ever try to find out why?
  • xDynaBlade, on 05/05/2008, -5/+15Solution: buy a liter-sized water bottle and fill it up in the sink every morning and drink out of it throughout the day. That's what I do.
    • trollick, on 05/05/2008, -2/+13A bottle of tap water - 0 dollars
      Still being able to communicate that you're a douchebag - priceless.
      • xDynaBlade, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Ancient meme is ancient.
        • kurtu5, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1Its no longer a meme, but has graduated to cliché. I like cliché and so do you. Doooon't deny it.

          In soviet russia.... See now you are smiling inside.
    • ncc74656m, on 05/05/2008, -3/+12Better, Nalgene or similar bottles. They don't have that plastic-y taste to them, and they're durable enough to last longer.
      • spacecheese, on 05/05/2008, -3/+4Nalgene was Sued For Selling Toxic Sports Bottles.
        • Soave, on 05/05/2008, -5/+3Do you Have A Source For This Or Did You Just Feel Like Doing Awkward Capitalization?
        • pjf00, on 05/05/2008, -3/+6and that problem has been corrected, so it is a moot point
        • kurtu5, on 05/07/2008, -1/+1gOOD gOD pEOPLE. iT tAKES wORK tO tYPE lIKE tHIS wHEN yOU rEMAPPED yOUR cAPS lOCK tO tHE cONTROL kEY.
    • BabaRamDass, on 05/05/2008, -2/+4What, are you a gerbil?
    • Ericular, on 05/05/2008, -1/+3Best, a metallic bottle like Sigg or Klean Kanteen. Won't leech any chemicals, and the water just tastes like water. Which shouldn't have a taste, I guess...
      http://mysigg.com
      http://kleankanteen.com
  • Ganja420, on 05/05/2008, -10/+18I enjoy my water out of styrofoam only... if its plastic or glass i pour it into a styrofoam and throw away the bottle
    • XHashmeerX, on 05/05/2008, -2/+7wat?
    • GlassAgate, on 05/05/2008, -1/+5Styrofoam? WTF?
      What's wrong with glass?
    • Smallwhitedoor, on 05/05/2008, -2/+6I agree, styrofoam. Glass is a problem because you can't bite it like you can styrofoam. I get all my styrofoam from Australia. They have good trade laws, and it's lightweight, so the carbon footprint is smaller.
  • demigod, on 05/05/2008, -1/+16Wait so it evaportates and goes back into the water stream and this is an issue? It's not like its totally lost here people.
    • Fragger06, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0Yeah those damned bottled water companies are stealing more water than they can bottle and somehow thats a problem? Either don't take more than you can handle or put a lid on it so it cant get away from you...
  • WCL23, on 05/05/2008, -9/+6The real cost of Bottled Water is your intelligence. On the whole its actually less pure and more expensive than tap water.
    That's the OGC official guidence btw.
    • RogerStrong, on 05/05/2008, -2/+8False.
      • WCL23, on 05/05/2008, -2/+0What? Of course the OGC bit is false. I was joking about that part. Are you kidding me?
        The rest of the post stands unless you live in a poor country. Most of Europe and the USA have far better tap water than bottled, and in most cases there's more stringent guidelines that tap water has to adhere to.
        • RogerStrong, on 05/05/2008, -2/+1In no way is the average city tap water, taken from a lake/resevoir with a bit of chlorine and flouride added and run through decades-old cement and lead pipes, more pure than the average bottled water, purified through reverse osmosis.
          • WCL23, on 05/05/2008, -2/+1Average bottled water is not purified. It's bottled from some natural source. In fact, they deliberately advertise it as being purified by various natural methods like passing through volcanic rock etc..
            Tap water is far more closely regulated and more purified than that.
          • RogerStrong, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1The expensive, trendy ones are like that.

            The stuff most people drink - in 5-gallon bottles at home or office, or a smaller bottles from a vending machine or bulk food store - is purified through reverse osmosis.

            I can't drink soft drinks, so often I'm stuck with the bottled water at whatever venue. It's always the bulk reverse-osmosis stuff.
          • kurtu5, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1There is that lead hyperbole again. Lead is not used for water pipes!
    • balthisar, on 05/05/2008, -1/+0Yeah, but tap water doesn't have carbonic acid and dissolved CO2 in it. Perrier does, and it's only a few cents more expensive than Canada Dry soda water. Mostly, I just make my own out of filtered tap water and my CO2 bottle that I otherwise use for beer dispensing.
  • p51d007, on 05/05/2008, -1/+16I'm not a lib or tree hugger by any means, but this whole bottled water thing is something I never understood.
    When Perier/Evi an started the whole "bottled water" thing, I never understood why someone would BUY something
    you can get for free from a tap or water fountain.
    • bonjourmiette, on 05/05/2008, -2/+1Well you can't just get Perrier out of your tap as it's a fizzy mineral water. I'd be over the moon if they started pumped that into my apartment as it's about the only help for my addiction to carbonation. .
  • santaliqueur, on 05/05/2008, -7/+42Can humans do ANYTHING without being considered bad? Maybe we should all commit suicide, it would be better for the earth.
    • ncc74656m, on 05/05/2008, -4/+21You're such an idiot. Do you even COMPREHEND the amount of CO2 that would release into the atmosphere?
      • santaliqueur, on 05/05/2008, -0/+16Whoops, you're right. We need to find an environmentally clean way to kill ourselves. WHY ISNT THE GOVERNMENT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THIS
    • comradeTJH, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Misanthropy is the new hip.
    • CrackWilding, on 05/05/2008, -5/+2"Maybe we should all commit suicide"
      Fine. You go first.
      • santaliqueur, on 05/05/2008, -2/+1Oh man, we didin't see that one coming. Taking sarcasm literally? Brilliant!
    • thedrue, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1that would be terrible imagine how many cows would go unslaughtered. The cows would become the dominant species and they would end up crapping the world to death! The entire food chain and environment would be thrown off. How would the trees stay green with out all of the CO2 to breathe? Im pretty sure anything we do will be bad, so suck it up environmentalists and enjoy life.
    • cespee, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2'Next - "Kill-Yourself-For-The-Earth Day"'
      http://www.savethemales.ca/next_kill_yourself_for_ ...
    • Twenty, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Voluntary Human Extinction
  • aserer511, on 05/05/2008, -11/+10this is why i hate it when trendocrats (trendy dems) gulp fiji by the gallon, but are too ***** stupid to realize how they're contributing so much to global warming
    • imaxami, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1yeah! 'cause the trendocans (trendy repubs) gulp fiji by the gallon, but are too ***** stupid to realize how they're contributing so much to global warming, its different!!! c'mon dude, take the glasses off and see this for what it really is: an article that makes me thirsty.
      • aserer511, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1so teh difference is most republicans aren't trendy enough to fall for the marketing trap that is fiji. we drink poland spring.
    • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Pshaw. Republicans don't drink bottled water. They just get tax breaks for a company to bottle water, ship it to their mansions, and dump it in the fountains out front and put a little in the poodle's bowl. Then they burn the plastic bottles in front of a public school.

      Any more strawmen you want to erect today?
  • lolinyerface, on 05/05/2008, -2/+4Oh! This tastes more watery then water....its got a water kick to it....
    But seriously....1.29$ for a smart water....2~3 weeks of tap refills make the containers a great buy...I'd use them longer if the bottle didn't get stanky...even after a washing.
  • doommachine, on 05/05/2008, -2/+9Proof? There's none in the article.
    • santaliqueur, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4No proof is necessary. These articles use a flashy headline, and everyone goes into the article believing whatever they are told. If you are looking for REAL proof, don't bother.
    • NonLeftistDiggr, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1What the hell do you need proof of? You need a picture showing water in a bottle? Do you need a picture of water bottles on a transport? Do you need pictures of a plant that fills those bottles? Do you need a picture of bottled water in a store?

      Use your head, whatever the figures are it requires energy to produce bottled water, and plenty of energy is already being used to provide perfectly fine water at the tap in 99.9% of the places, and I'll leave it at that since I don't have proof it's actually probably 99.99999% of places (in the states)
  • TheUngod, on 05/05/2008, -1/+24It may take 3 gallons of water to make 1, but it's not like water is actually "lost." Unless you're breaking apart the molecule, the water still exists in some way. Still, if you don't like it, get a damn Brita filter or something.
  • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -0/+29"In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35. Put another way, if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000."

    From page 5 of http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-m ...
    • santaliqueur, on 05/05/2008, -4/+4$9,000? Certainly they are talking about bathing as well, which nobody does with bottled water, so that comparison is silly.

      I didn't know that about SF's water supply, very cool. I bet they still sells tons of bottled water!
  • thespudmall, on 05/05/2008, -5/+2The only time I drink spring water is when I am backpacking and actually go to the spring and fill my water bottle up.
    • Defuser, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Aren't you special. Let me know how those intestinal parasites work out for you.
    • Gardimus, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2ewww, I heard bugs pee in that water. Better off going with bottled water just incase.
    • mike17032, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2When I go camping, I piss in your ***** springs.
  • lnxfi, on 05/05/2008, -12/+0At home, I put my water through a filter. When I'm out, I drink from a bottle. I just prefer not to drink out of water fountains that have been nagger lipped.

    Also, this article is full of poo. It's almost half accurate.
  • zadadka, on 05/05/2008, -0/+6Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink......free.
  • tranklan, on 05/05/2008, -9/+6Approximately 65% of bottled water is produced and sold in the same state, so the federal government has no control over the local industry. The bottled water the FDA can control is barely even regulated; bottled water only needs to be tested once per week for contamination (public water is tested hundreds of time per month), once per year for synthetic organic chemicals (public water is tested quarterly), and the FDA doesn't outlaw the presence of E-coli/fecal material in bottled water (but it does for tap water- rock on!). Estimates say oil used to produce and transport bottled water is enough to power one million cars for an entire year. 75% of bottled water bottles end up in landfills, where they take thousands of years to biodegrade. Bottled water is expensive- bottled water produced by any name brand manufacturers costs a minimum of $1, or five cents per ounce. Gas (even at $4 per gallon) costs consumers just over 3 cents per ounce. Tap water costs consumers one cent per gallon, or 1/128th of cent per ounce.

    So basically, the purchase and consumption of bottled water is...
    devastating to the environment
    economically infeasible
    and harmful to your health.

    so... think outside the bottle
    http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org/
    • bigmac7669, on 05/05/2008, -1/+4Everything that we consume is bad for the environment, costs too much, or gives us cancer.
      I prefer the taste of bottled water and I physically feel "cleaner" without tap water in my system.
      • tranklan, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1Blindfold taste tests have proved that people only identify bottled water and tap water correctly 50% of the time.. proving that the taste difference between bottled water and tap water is virtually nonexistent. Your chance of correctly identifying a water source by taste alone is no better than had you randomly selected one.
        • bigmac7669, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2Your little "blindfold taste test" has nothing to do with my comment. I know how MY tap water tastes and I could tell you 100% of the time whether it was my tap water or bottled water.

          But then again, there's no point in having a discussion with an 18 year old girl who just copies information off of websites to sound inteligent
        • IllBeBack, on 05/05/2008, -0/+3Yeah, I can tell 100% of the time how my tap water tastes as opposed to clean reverse-osmosis filtered water. My tap water tastes like it is full of chlorine, because IT IS!
        • BabaRamDass, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2@tranklan,

          If I can taste the difference between Dasani and Sam's Choice bottled water, then I can definitely taste the difference between any bottled water and my overly-chlorinated tap water.

          Of course, I homebrew and as a result have developed an acute sense of taste so maybe I don't fit so nicely in your prepackaged generalization.
    • pjf00, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2elaborate on how it is economically infeasible. expensive? sure. but how is it infeasible?
    • kelmaster1, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1hmm you're one of the few people that knows about FDA regulations. Most people think that bottled water is safer, a common misconception. The EPA has far more regulations on tap water than bottled water does. That's why bottled water companies use tap water and just filter it through some carbon filters and maybe a membrane filter such as reverse osmosis.
  • dynelol, on 05/05/2008, -4/+8Loss of water? Since when did the fact that matter CAN'T be destroyed get changed? Besides..those Dasani flavored waters are pretty ***** awesome. Try the strawberry ones.
    • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -2/+1You can mix feces or manufacturing waste with water. It didn't change or destroy the water in the slightest. Is that as awesome a flavor as strawberry?
      • dynelol, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2There are treatment plants that separate it again.
  • Scottievm, on 05/05/2008, -14/+23Buried for being hippie environmentalist *****. Seriously, just leave me alone. If I want to waste my money on bottled water, then I will. It's none of your business.
    • lukemann, on 05/05/2008, -10/+6Unfortunately the the oil required to produce and transport that pointless water effects the rest of us. That makes it our business. If you're going to buy bottled water at least buy 5 gallon jugs and get a refillable bottle to drink if from. Then you won't be a total ass.
      • Soave, on 05/05/2008, -6/+6affects*

        And no, it really isn't your business.
      • nicko68, on 05/05/2008, -0/+6Do you yell at anyone who drives SUVs or minivans as well?
      • mike17032, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Well the garbage you post to the internet pisses me off, let me know when I get a say in it.
      • NonLeftistDiggr, on 05/05/2008, -1/+2Can you stop buying food? It affects me, when there are perfectly legitimate sources of vitamins and fiber growing in your yard.

        As much as bottled water is retarded, your comment is even more retarded. You use ***** of energy to live, just like the rest of us, whether you drink bottled water or not.
        • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -3/+1Is being wasteful somehow a virtue to be praised?
          • NonLeftistDiggr, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2No, but here's the environmental/recycling crowd waving their fingers at using bottle water, where as I guarantee every person does something that uses energy that is technically unnecessary.
        • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1No, seriously. "Conservatives" often make a big deal about morality and virtue. Is inefficiency now virtuous and praise-worthy? Should I congratulate someone on burning more fuel than the average person or admire them for behavior that uses more things up?

          And note I've said nothing about legislating behavior. I'm just looking at the response that this behavior seems to be getting. A lot of the moralists somehow see, say, homosexuality as somehow more damaging than an entire segment of society consuming something that doesn't appear to serve any purpose other than to consume more extravagantly.
          • NonLeftistDiggr, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2Like I said, everybody including yourself, does something unncecessary that uses energy..... such as digging
    • CrackWilding, on 05/05/2008, -2/+0I think there's a qualitative difference between "if you're going to drink water, drink it in a non-wasteful way," and "if you're going to drink Coke, drink water."
  • jordanmerle, on 05/05/2008, -2/+10Who the ***** really cares. Why are people so self-righteous that they get all upset about bottled water hurting their mother earth? I think its stupid to pay for a commodity that is practically free on a regular basis, but there are instances where the convenience of buying bottled water can be justified i.e. when on a road trip or in a country with a poor filtration systems.
  • eliteblast, on 05/05/2008, -7/+24I find it funny how all these "anti-bottled water" people only refer to water. What about coca-cola, and other beverages? Don't they use water? Stop crying over nothing. I'd rather people be paying for bottled water, than drinking soda by the gallon.

    Guess what? I buy bottled water, because I do not like fluoride in my water, fluoride is a posion used to kill rats.
    • aolson1, on 05/05/2008, -0/+9You have a point. I'm sure the environmental cost of a bottle of coke is far higher than a bottle of water. Yet nobody seems to slam Coke or Pepsi for harming the environment.
      • psion01, on 05/05/2008, -0/+7Give 'em time. I promise if they have any success at all with this anti-bottled-water agenda, bottled sodas and juices are next.
      • kinseyincanada, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4because you cant get coke out of your tap for free.
        • aolson1, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1So you are saying that the additional emotional enjoyment of buying a bottle of soda over a bottle of water is worth the increased harm to the environment?
    • endlessoul, on 05/05/2008, -3/+13Fluoride strengthens your teeth.

      A poison to one being is not a poison to another.
    • SubjectiveC, on 05/05/2008, -1/+4Exactly what I came here to say. It seems to me more people buy coke than bottled water and, yes, Coca-Cola uses water to make its products.
      • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1its 99% water, this NObate is for freaks who think they found a cause to make the whole.
    • aidave, on 05/05/2008, -1/+2I couldn't agree more. Its so annoying when people rail against bottled water while sipping a coke. The stupidity is mind boggling. What if I'm driving a long distance and need something to drink? Do I have to only drink pop because "bottled water is evil"? Why can't I have some water instead of pop? Argh!
    • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1why cant i digg you up 110000000000 times. i cant quite you eliteblast.
    • ArkRaider1936, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1"Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?"
    • Whadabala, on 05/06/2008, -3/+1Because coca-cola doesn't flow out of the faucet, genius.
      • psion01, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1You haven't seen what comes out of my tap, then.
  • Siliticx, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1I gotta admit that taking water from the fountain is part of the solution. But the water quality is part of the problem. Unfortunetly if cities had to make water cleaner they would be still part of the problem, because of the cost it implies. A water filter could potentially be part of the solution, yet it most likely to turn into another capitalism debate.
  • Larlei, on 05/05/2008, -3/+2"17 million barrels of oil every year"
    any other plans to produce water with other natural resources. Nope.
  • slen7, on 05/05/2008, -4/+5Aqua Colbert is the best.
  • warlax27, on 05/05/2008, -4/+1About a buck 'o five?
  • nirvanix, on 05/05/2008, -6/+7In other words, I should be a good, obedient, serf and drink the chlorinated, fluoridated, and now drugged tap water to save the earth. Go f$#$ yourself.
    • lukemann, on 05/05/2008, -3/+1Well there is hardly any regulation on what you're drinking so no one really knows what problems it has. Have fun drinking the fecal matter contamination that is allowed!
      • cespee, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2You can buy the water labeled "filtered by reverse osmosis" which gets rid of all the bacteria, drugs, flouride, etc. Just because it's not "regulated" doesn't mean you can't generally trust the label. You can go to the company's website and see its water testing. If reverse osmosis water wasn't really filtered by reverse osmosis, would that story not get out when so many bottled water drinkers have their water tested independently? Why should I trust the government more than private companies? The government's EPA only tests for 6 substances in the water anyway. They're not testing for estrogen from birth control pills recycled in the water system 10 times over as that's not in their simple and cheap litmus paper kit.
    • Dumbledorito, on 05/05/2008, -2/+2Yes, because the taste of polymers without anything in the water to control bacteria load is MIGHTY tasty, indeed.
  • ggnictee, on 05/05/2008, -3/+4Water is a universal solvent (yay 9th grade chem.) That means it will disolve anything.
    Plastic (when dissolved by some solvent and consumed) causes lots of problems in your body (like impotency)
    iron and carbon are harmless to you if consumed. so a steel canteen/bottle is the best.

    so if you forget the fact that it requires 10,000 times the resources on the planet and costs 1,000 as much using tap with a water filter: Drinking from plastic is a bad idea for your health. Really the whole debate ended for me.

    http://discovermagazine.com/2008/may/18-the-dirty- ...
    http://www.emaxhealth.com/75/20455.html
    (that's just what I found on a quick google search. Please investigate further)

  • Defuser, on 05/05/2008, -9/+4If you're wasting even one moment of your life worrying about how other people drink water, you seriously need to re-evaluate your entire existence. It seriously takes a very special kind of jackass to act smug and superior over bottled water, and yet that's exactly what some people in this thread are doing. I'm looking at YOU, "bigfrank06".
    Believe it or not, there are plenty of valid reasons for drinking bottled water that DON'T revolve around a desire to piss off grunting redneck retards. Bottled water is, for instance, much easier to take jogging or hiking than a garden hose. And despite the constant cries of "it's no better than tap water", the fact is that it actually is better than tap water in many places. But really, the bottom line is: why the hell would you care? If your life is so empty that you have to fill it with hostility over trivial issues, you probably need a girlfriend or a new hobby.
    • sremick, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1If you're wasting even one moment of your life thinking that we all live in our own isolated microcosms and our actions don't affect others and contribute to the overall "whole", you seriously need to re-evaluate your existence.

      Your behavior, good or bad, affects me too. Whether your arrogance allows you to realize it or not.
      • BabaRamDass, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Everything affects everyone, indirectly. But you have to be practical. Is it practical to get smug over bottled water versus, say, gas guzzling SUVs? Learn to pick your battles; bottled water isn't one of mine.
  • RogerStrong, on 05/05/2008, -1/+8This article is mostly BS. They take extreme cases and call them the norm.

    We pick up the occasional five-gallon bottle of water on the way home from work. The water is purified on site. There's no "transportation costs" - no effect on global warming.

    Reverse osmosis may have evaporation loss, but so what? You haven't wasted or destroyed the "lost" water, it's still in the water cycle, available for reuse. The electricity needed (here in Winnipeg) is hydro-generated, so again no effect on global warming.

    The 5-gallon bottles are returned for reuse.

    And there is a need for it. We get algae blooms during summer months. We also live in an older area, still serviced by lead pipes.
    • rolf, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Well, for home systems, Reverse Osmosis usually puts out 1/4 of input water as drinking water and the other 3/4 as effluent (waste water) even though its perfectly good. If you live on city water, then the effluent probably goes down the drain. If you have your own well, it's conceivable to cycle it back toward the well but piping would have to be constructed ahead of time for that purpose. Of course, on city system and on large commercial systems I expect/hope that they cycle that water right back to the good supply but don't know.

      Your transport costs would be minimal but do exist since it's added weight, but then pumping water from anywhere takes energy too.

      Anyway, not judging your situation, just saying. I wonder how Dean Kamen's water invention works. Would be interested in how much energy and effluent vs. Reverse Osmosis.
  • foxtrot74, on 05/05/2008, -4/+3What's the difference. I buy a bottle of pop or buy a bottle of water. I know it's a scam either way. I'm just thirsty and don't have a fountain nearby. Let me spend my money how I want.
  • garywilliams, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1The municipal water in Richmond, BC is so loaded with sediment that it tastes horrible and even leaves a bad aftertaste. That's why I switched to buying water from the store, ~4 gallons for $3. The local water clogs filters relatively quickly.
  • edebolt, on 05/05/2008, -2/+4yeah people are whining about water. Look people water is much better for the environment to drink than anything else like soda or beer. Secondly if people drank more water then health care costs would go down. The govt should be subsidizing water and taxing soft drinks. Lets start living like people who can think for change.
    • jerrycurley, on 05/05/2008, -1/+0YEAH! More GOVERNMENT! We should have the GOVERNMENT tell us what we should drink! (And no..don't try comparing this to government banning leaded gasoline or lead paint. It is not the same thing at all. Soda is not inherently bad for you.)
      • edebolt, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis. It's all good.
        • jerrycurley, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1Hey, dumb *****...if you can't control your intake, that is not the fault of hte food or drink.

          I have drank soda all my life. Far more than I should. I am 6 foot 8 inches tall and weight 175. With 11% body fat. I am not diabetic. My bones are quite strong. And I have had just one cavity in the last 15 years.

          By your ***** stupid logic, I should be 300 pounds...since soda is INHERENTLY bad for you in your malformed brain.

          Or..it could be that since soda is NOT inherently bad for you, taken in moderations, along with an otherwise healthy lifestyle is fine. And won't hurt you.
  • Emperial, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1How lame is this article??? In Portugal a 1 litre bottle of water costs an amazing €0.11 or around $0.16!!!! That's because most companies are privately owned (no greedy shareholders) , we get the water from natural springs and finally, we lover to recycle.....
    • jerrycurley, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0I get a gallon for 60 cents. That is about the same as Portugal.
  • eddy23170, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2everyone should look into the possibly harmful chemicals that can leach into the container, expecailly during the hot summer months while the water bottles are being transported by truck. There was a book written by a doctor addressing this issue exactly. "Boys adrift" http://www.boysadrift.com/ and how these chemicals can be really harmful....
    • jerrycurley, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0Yup..there was a book...that was thoroughly debunked as the FUD that it was intended to be. Nothing is going to leech into the water unless you keep the bottle for a few years. And even then you would have to drink A LOT of it to hurt you at all.
    • smoger, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1the day i'm scared to drink from a clear plastic bottle is the day i just give up on life and move into a bubble.
  • jarjarjanks, on 05/05/2008, -2/+14OMG 17 million barrels of oil per YEAR! Im sure that has a really significant effect on the price of oil, especially when you consider that in 2005 the US was consuming 21 million barrels of oil per DAY. For that mathematically challenged, that's 0.2%
    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world ...
    Lay off bottled water, people like it and it makes you look stupid
    • Shadow120, on 05/05/2008, -0/+5Finally, someone who has their head on straight.
  • tranklan, on 05/05/2008, -7/+2The UN warns that by 2025 2/3 the world population (more than 5 billion people) will lack access to drinkable water.
    Currently, huge corporations are buying out our natural public resources. Eventually, the corporation in control of the water supply will also control man, with the ability to charge excessive amounts for drinkable water. Corporations are making a HUGE profit of something that should be and remain a human right.

    Paying for water is like paying for air.
    • Shadow120, on 05/05/2008, -0/+4Human rights.. Like the human right to BUY BOTTLED WATER, IF WE WANT TO?
      • tranklan, on 05/05/2008, -3/+0Sure, if you're determined to bring on the demise of us all!
        I never said that we shouldn't have the right to buy it, it's just that doing so is self-destructive.
        • bigmac7669, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2Bottled water will end the world!! AAHHHHHH!!! lol
    • coit, on 05/05/2008, -0/+3"Paying for water is like paying for air."

      So, where do you get your water for free? I have to pay for mine, they send a bill each month.
      • tranklan, on 05/05/2008, -1/+0Yeah, a whopping cent per gallon!
        All your paying for are the quality tests, thats it.
  • Smallwhitedoor, on 05/05/2008, -2/+2I sell bottled urine. Let me know if you're interested. The plastic bottles are recycled too! Without the air polluting remelting process. Let me know what brand of bottle you like and I'll be glad to accommodate you... right now actually.
  • chamberlanderic, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1HALLELUIA
  • dickardwa, on 05/05/2008, -1/+2Did you really need an environmental analysis to tell you bottled water is a waste of resources?

    http://dickard.wordpress.com
  • taradisiac, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0Here I pay 1 dollar for 5 litters of purified watter. Is that too much or too little?
  • JakeyG14, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1Evian backwards if naive... *groan*
    • JakeyG14, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1*****, "is" even.
    • AlexanderCurtis, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0I always spelled it naiveté but I guess it can be spelled either way.
  • liquisoft, on 05/05/2008, -1/+1What'll happen when hydrogen cars suck up all the water? huh? huh? right? I'm right, aren't I?
  • binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -3/+8i'm going to just get this off my chest

    FU*K OFF with your save the planet, bottled water is ruining the world, DIGG CARES, MY TAP WATER IS FINE, I USE THE SAME BOTTLE over and over again,

    If someone has the money and wants to waste it on bottled water, and doesn't care beyond that, it's fine.

    There are about 10,000 other issues that make a bigger impact than this.

    Get a life you WATER FREAKS.
  • sonofagun357, on 05/05/2008, -3/+2I made this video for a Tap water awareness contest

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcOU4PTcyck

    is only a min and a half long. comment and rate on it.
    • jerrycurley, on 05/05/2008, -1/+0I'll comment here instead. That was the dumbest video I have ever seen.
      • sonofagun357, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1My professor said it was good and gave me 3 point extra credit for it.
  • pathouston22, on 05/05/2008, -0/+6How is tap water free? Last time I checked, I have a water bill.

    I refuse to drink Houston's tap water. It tastes like crap. Those who have lived here their whole lives probably don't know the difference, but I've lived up north for a couple summers, the tap water up there is GREAT!
    • mike17032, on 05/05/2008, -0/+2Well for the diggiots living at home in their parents basement, it is free.
    • Evildudetx, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Not to mention these eco-thugs seem to forget there are natural disasters. I've got 4 cases of water for myself right now, plus another 8 cases for my dogs and cats. If another cat 5 hurricane rolls through, I'm ready.......
  • x0rcist, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Maybe the government shouldn't have stopped filtering the tap water properly when we had good water coming directly to our homes in the first place.
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=yNGWn-aWn5g
  • BabaRamDass, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Reminds me of electricity production and distribution. From May's edition of Reason Magazine:

    "Under the legacy, top-down broadcast model of energy production and distribution, faraway plants burning coal or natural gas zip electrons out to all of us at the end point of the network, losing nearly 70 percent of the energy in the process through waste heat and line loss."

    Face it folks, humans aren't perfect and neither are our creations. Efficiency is relative, and it keeps getting better, but at the end of the day we have a long way to go. Maybe in a thousand years, if we're still around, we'll be gagging at the thought of people using an entire teaspoon for fuel since we'll have learned to safely tap the immense energy in each and every atom.
  • TomT223, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0This is why I only drink beer.
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