The true cost of bottled water

RolandTD20Kdrummer

http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/121/bottle

"From childhood, we're told to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. Unfortunately more and more Americans drink those eight glasses out of plastic bottles—a convenience that stuffs landfills, clogs waterways and guzzles valuable fossil fuels.

Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, the more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year. "

polaris

i've been griping about this for years!!!!! ... bugs me it does ...

RolandTD20Kdrummer

I don't know whats worse...the environmental or health impacts....


"Water aside, the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. According to the January 2006 Journal of Environmental Monitoring, some PET bottled-water containers were found to leach antimony, an elemental metal that is an eye, skin, and lung irritant at high doses. Also, because the plastic is porous you'll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles.

While single-use water bottles should never be used more than once, some reusable water bottles simply shouldn't be used. The debate continues over the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical known to leach out of the #7 polycarbonate plastic used to make a variety of products, including popular Nalgene Lexan water bottles. New studies keep cropping up that don't bode well for BPA, demonstrating that even extremely low doses of the chemical can be damaging. Recent research has linked the chemical to a variety of disorders, including obesity and breast cancer, and one chilling 2007 study, published in the journal PLoS Genetics, found that BPA exposure can cross generations. Pregnant mice exposed to low levels of BPA led to chromosomal abnormalities, which possibly cause birth defects and miscarriages, in grandchildren. "

polaris

i use a stainless steel one ...

tybird

I keep a filter/pitcher in the fridge......clean, cold tap water always ready for use.

deadnothingbetter

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/121/bottle

"From childhood, we're told to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. Unfortunately more and more Americans drink those eight glasses out of plastic bottles—a convenience that stuffs landfills, clogs waterways and guzzles valuable fossil fuels.

Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, the more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year. "

there's no way around it.... we're going to screw this world one way or the other.

Derrick

So what you're saying is this eight month old Gatorade bottle I keep refilling with water is not good for me?

decides2dream

that is just SO sad. :(
seriously.


we have a built in water filter/dispenser in our fridge, os it is very rare indeed if we buy bottled water...and if we do...the bottle gets recycled! i am a BIG proponent of recycling, such an easy thing to do...and just hold onto your bottles if you must get them, until you can get them recycled!

damn, every day at work i bring in a can of soda...and evry day i bring it back home to recycle. thankfully at work we have a filter ice/water dispenser...so i just refill my own bottle to use. really sad thing is tho...actually makes me a bit angry :mad: is the firm provides styrofoam cups for water and coffee! :mad: yikes! so avoid the bottle issue....but then present material that will outlast us all! and for those who buy sodas in the vending machines....just toss em...no recycling. :( it makes me so sad.

sourdough

The whole bottled water thing bugs the hell out of me. It shocks me how many people buy bottled water when it is completely unnecessary. Granted, I live in Vancouver where we have some of the best tasting tap water, but still the amount of garbage that I see from water bottles just boggles the mind. The same people who gripe about the cost of gas are paying more per litre for WATER. Dasani and Aquafina is TAP WATER. it is just filtered.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Derrick wrote:

So what you're saying is this eight month old Gatorade bottle I keep refilling with water is not good for me?

It's probably good exercise for your liver and kidneys....probably approaching olympic level...

Plastic in general is bad. I believe the harder the plastic the better for leeching out chemicals into food,water, etc... Glass is best though.

So many things come wrapped in plastic....actually it's almost what doesn't?

Bu2

and we pour filtered water into a reusable jug and keep it in the fridge. If we drink flavored bottled water, we wash and rinse the containers afterwards and put them in our recycle bin for the once-a-week recycling pick-up (along with the washed and rinsed beer cans, heh heh).

In my opinion, there's no excuse for a village/town/city to not have a recycling program. And standard faucets should come with filters. Those two things would at least be a start in the right direction.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Get a 3 stage reverse osmosis under the sink. $300...been using it for 4 years now for drinking cooking pasta, vegetables, etc... and still have not had to replace the RO filter yet. changed the pre-filter a few times though due to rust and mineral deposits.

Tastes better than any bottled water I've had. Spent maybe $150 max over 4 years which is incredibly cheap considering I drink a lot daily and cook all the time with it.

Heineken Helen

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

I don't know whats worse...the environmental or health impacts....


"Water aside, the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. According to the January 2006 Journal of Environmental Monitoring, some PET bottled-water containers were found to leach antimony, an elemental metal that is an eye, skin, and lung irritant at high doses. Also, because the plastic is porous you'll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles.

While single-use water bottles should never be used more than once, some reusable water bottles simply shouldn't be used. The debate continues over the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical known to leach out of the #7 polycarbonate plastic used to make a variety of products, including popular Nalgene Lexan water bottles. New studies keep cropping up that don't bode well for BPA, demonstrating that even extremely low doses of the chemical can be damaging. Recent research has linked the chemical to a variety of disorders, including obesity and breast cancer, and one chilling 2007 study, published in the journal PLoS Genetics, found that BPA exposure can cross generations. Pregnant mice exposed to low levels of BPA led to chromosomal abnormalities, which possibly cause birth defects and miscarriages, in grandchildren. "

:eek: wow, I didn't know any of that... I reuse bottles all the time

Hartydog

most municipal water supplies in the US are unbelievably clean. which just highlights the lunacy. granted some people are concerned about the last segment of the trip for the water as they may live in an older dwelling. but that's what a brita is for.