PLEASE Break The Bottled Water Habit!

[Bobbieo]

Did you know that: - bottled water contributes to global warming?
1- bottled water is less safe than our tap water?
2- bottled water creates mountains of waste?

Do something simple to help save the Earth. Ask 10 friends to Break the Habit. The bottled water habit, that is. Join us as we break the bottled water habit.

P.S. Upscale restaurants like the famous Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California are making the switch to tap water3--you can too!

<1> It takes more than 47 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles for Americans every year. Eliminating those bottles would be like taking 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
"The Real Cost of Bottled Water" San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/02/18/EDG56N6OA41.DTL<[br />
2] The Environmental Protection Agency requires rigorous testing of tap water to ensure quality. Both regulation and enforcement of bottled water safety is weaker than that of tap water safety. Olson, Erik D. et al.
"Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?" Natural Resources Defense Council<3> "Upscale Restaurants Shun Bottled Water" ABC News, March 29, 2007
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2990824

[Dr.Phool]

1. Sorry, but I keep 10 cases of Zephyrhills in my garage.

It's called hurricane supplies.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I understand that

Personally, I store water in recycled gallon jugs.

[BOSSHOG]

10. Roger that teammate

bottle water stocked for the next big one, MRE's, batteries, flashlights, everything automatic and close at hand. I "hear" the original poster but I wanna us to live if and when the power goes out next time (for weeks and weeks) because of some katrina like bitch.

[kestrel91316]

16. I have a 30 gallon blue barrel of tap water in MY garage. It's called

earthquake supplies. I have the plastic pumper thingie to pump it out with, too.

[robinlynne]

21. Hurricane supplies dont count in my book. you are not throwing the bottles away.

[IronLionZion]

40. Keep a water purifier too just in case

or maybe a filter and some way of boiling it that doesn't require electricity. There are UV pens you can stick in some clear (not muddy) water to kill the germs in under a minute.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I use Brita filtered water, keep the glass Snapple bottles, and

fill them up every day. I don't buy bottled water at all.

[Rick Myers]

4. Same here... Brita filter and reuse the bottles from soda

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. Please check out the leaching effect in reusing plastic bottles

http://www.deliciousorganics.com/Controversies/plastic.htm

and


http://thenakedtruthproject.org/product.list.php?product_cat_master=For%20Your%20Home&cat=11

[many a good man]

29. Snopes says that claim is false

Your first link links to a statement by Dr. Weil that references the debunked study.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/petbottles.asp

[TalkingDog]

39. I agree, BUT more importantly, these studies prove something MUCH more HORRIFYING...

Estrogenic effects of plastics
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Monomers/BPA-Prostate-Cancer3jan05.htm

Estrogen mimic (plastic) provokes insulin resistance
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060121/fob4.asp

Endocrine disruption of the ocean's food chains
http://www.algalita.org/videos.html

Estrogenic compounds (theoretically) cause fetal deformitites in humans.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0502544102v1


I'll have to admit to liking to freeze water in my few plastic bottles and using them as ice packs for food, then drinking the water as it melts (and then reusing the bottle (I've had some of them for up to a year at a time). But we store EVERYTHING in enamel storage containers or in glass. When we HAVE to use plastic "tupperware" (recycled Thai soup containers)for "dry" stuff we line it with good old waxed paper then store in the fridge.



My favorite Future Famous Dead Artist: KarenParker

[northofdenali]

24. Another Brita fan here.

Our tap water is so awful, I don't even give it to the kitties. Hey, folks, DON'T store in plastic! We are also in earthquake country, and given a power outage in mid-winter at 40 or so below can kill you, I always have stored water on hand. But I use glass (recycled from iced tea etc.).

I learned to conserve water years ago when we lived way out and the only available water was from a tank - it had to be trucked in. Fastest showers in the north, here!

[IronLionZion]

42. One more Brita fan, but I wouldn't reuse those glass bottles

I've noticed that glass bottles get mold under the cap. So I use a plastic bottle like this one:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I filter my water at home,

then put it through an oxygenizer/magnetiser. It tastes great and is very different from regular filtered water. Even my cat prefers it to regular filtered water. Anyway, I have a liter water jug I carry around with me everywhere with this water in it. No need for buying bottled water that way.

[tammywammy]

5. This is something people need to cut back on

I used a refillable water bottle (like those for cyclists) at work. I fill it up at the water fountain. At home I use a Brita water filter and it makes tap water good.

The only place where I do drink bottled water is when I'm visiting my grandfather. The water down there tastes horrible. Even if it's filtered it's still really nasty.

[truedelphi]

20. That describes the water goings on at our house too. n/t

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Where I live the arsenic levels are extremely high

not to mention the fact that the water table has suffered from herbicides and pesticides for many, many decades. The water is yellow to brown, contains large amounts of sulfur, giving it a nasty rotten egg smell

The San Joaquin Valley is an agricultural area so large it feeds the world. There have been days in places past where I have lived here that I had to leave due to the overwhelming mount of poison in the air from spraying.

Even my grandchildren are not allowed to drink the water here. My dog has bottled water, too.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. You might wish to look into a high quality filter

there are many on the market, and they pay for themselves very quickly.

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. sure..as soon as I have more money than living hand-to-mouth

with staying on the Internet also a life connecting priority :hi:

[Maraya1969]

34. I think this may be a beter alternative.

http://www.water.com/olm.asp?SOURCE=GAW&c1=GAW_SE_NW&kw=delivered_water

[benld74]

9. Bottled water Joke

I have to drink bottler water because my home town's water table is polluted by the plastic bottle manufacturer. Hey, it brought jobs into the town, now 55% of the population works in the new Cancer Research facility built by the plastic bottle manufacturer as part of the settlement monies!

[Bluzmann57]

11. I work outdoors

and as such, drink bottled water. Sometimes, it is just not possible to drink tap. At work, it's either bottled water or pop. Water generally wins out. Now at home, I never drink bottled. Mississippi highballs are just fine. But as stated, at work, where it can get hot, it has to be bottled water, although there is a company which delivers the five gallon jugs of water, and presumably reuses the jugs. Sometimes, we just fill pop cans or old water bottles and use them.

[TahitiNut]

14. Would YOU like to get my 87-year-old mother to drink up to 64 oz of ANYTHING but Propel???

Anything alcoholic is prohibited. Caffeine (including colas) is strongly discouraged. Water. Water. Water.

Yes, I even got her a Brita pitcher. :shrug:

Personally, I'd NEVER buy bottled water ... except occasionally a bottle of Evian in France.

[phantom power]

15. My habits involve bottled water, but only in combination with barley, hops and yeast.

[kansasblue]

17. Help me understand why bottled water is the enemy and.....

Help me understand why bottled water is the enemy and.....and bottled soda is not.


This is all friendly and I'm ready to learn with an open mind BUT....

They are both water. One is flavored. Both drinkable.

Why is water getting beat up on? Why not: "When you are at a restaurant please don't order a coke." No sodas! Switch to tap water!

When someone can explain this discrimination against those of us who drink water instead of Coke then I'll consider joining the fight.

thanks!

[jberryhill]

22. At restaurants...

Soda comes from the tap water run through the fountain, carbonated, and mixed with the syrup, so there is no bottle involved.

[RedEarth]

28. Think tap water ....

and then think bottled water. Where do you get tap water....and what do you put it in? Are you able to get a soda out of the faucet at home...no. But you can get tap water out of the faucet...and when you do, you can put it in a reusable container....a glass or something like this........

[IronLionZion]

41. you can get soda at home

carbonaters are not that expensive. You can just mix the carbonated water with the syrup like every soda fountain already does.

In India, most middle class houses have electric water filters (for the germs) and carbonaters (to make club soda).

[RedEarth]

44. I fully understand that...... I have seen them...

I said in my post............."Are you able to get a soda out of the faucet at home...no."......... I'm not aware of any normal faucet that dispenses soda. Perhaps there are some, but I'm not aware of any.

The point of the OP and my post is people are able to use tap water or filtered tap water without using bottled water...and in turn, helping the environment. Needless to say, if a person's tap water is not safe, then obviously it goes without question they shouldn't drink it.

[zehnkatzen]

35. No discrimination really here...

Its just that bottled water is a huge habit here in America, and one which, more than bottled soda (which your average joe cannot manufacture at home) is so completely unnecessary.

Just because folks are concerned about bottled water doesn't mean they aren't also concerned about soda. I myself am trying to cut down on my own consumption (I prefer diet Dr Pepper, for what its worth...sweetened with that yummy, aspartamey, Rumsfeldy goodness) and drink simply water and coffee. Long time habits are so very hard to break though.

We're picking our battles, is what some of us are doing here. Try not to take it so personally. And don't drink so much damn' bottled water (except of course what you store back for emergencies)!

[DeSwiss]

18. Been drinking from the tap all my life....

...and I'm not about to drink plastic-flavored water!!!

K&R

[IronLionZion]

43. my parents' well water is the greatest water I've ever had in my life

I drank it all my life. City water sucks so I've been using Brita pitchers to filter out the crud from the dirty pipes for the last 6 years. I don't like pipe-flavored water, but I definitely don't want to buy something in a bottle if it comes out of my tap for much less.

[DinahMoeHum]

19. The only bottled water I keep around (several cases) is for emergencies

in the wake of a possible natural disaster. I also keep a portable stove around in case I have to boil the tap water first.

Otherwise, I use tap water at home. Where I live, in the NYC metro area, the tap water is considered some of the safest and best-tasting in the country (sourced from the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains).

:shrug:

[stevedeshazer]

23. I bought one last year. I just fill it a couple of times a day with Bull Run!

http://www.portlandonline.com/water/index.cfm?c=cjhie

[zehnkatzen]

36. Ahh, yes, Cool, Sweet Portland water

We Portlanders are more fortunate than most, that's for certain.

The only thing added to Bull Run water is something the gummint tells Portland to put in there to cut down the acidity a little bit.

Just as long as Mount Hood doesn't erupt, we'll be okay... :D

[Maat]

25. What do you mean by bottled water?

I will NOT drink the local tap water - it is disgusting. I drink bottled water brought to my house in the extra HUGE water bottles (5 gallon); then I fill my stainless steel cup repeatedly. And, I drink distilled water for health reasons.

My distributor states that those huge bottles are used again and again.

I've taken major steps in the past year. We drive Priuses, when we drive at all. We have fixed it so that we both work out of the home. Not only do we recycle, we have minimized our use of paper plates (etc.), with the exception of paper products made by the "Stalk Market" (guaranteed to decompose quickly, composed of recycled materials).

BUT - I will NOT drink the local tap water. We've actually been warned not to.

Are you talking about the smaller water bottles, that do not sit atop a dispenser?

[zehnkatzen]

47. Evian, Dasani, Aquafina, and suchlike

The smaller water bottles is what I think we mean...the "branded" bottled waters, things like Dasani, Poland Spring, Fiji...stuff like that.

I don't think anyone expects anyone to give up drinking bottled water where that's the only practical alternative to safe, drinkable water, just where you have perfectly fine and healthful tap water (and people would be surprised how available that is...even in places like New York City).

[diane in sf]

26. I filter the chlorine, etc. out of my tap water and use stainless steel

bottles in my car and beach bag to avoid the xeno-estrogens from plastic bottles.

[RedEarth]

27. I also use stainless steel and so does the rest of my family

....something like this.....



http://www.reusablebags.com/store/klean-kanteen-27oz-stainless-steel-reusable-bottle-p-324.html

[populistdriven]

31. how difficult are those to clean, are they good for every day ? (to office etc)

[RedEarth]

32. I just put water in them so it's not difficult at all....

I normally just put it in the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes, or just rinse it out. I've had it for quite a while and never had a problem.

[Help me help Earth]

30. This is a great tip!

I have an organic, cruelty free wine skin I store my water in!

[roseBudd]

33. I fill my water bottle from a Brita pitcher & a drinking fountain

[Pooka Fey]

37. Done 2 months ago. We got a Brita pitcher.

I just need to find the info for recycling the cartridges (on my to-do list) :-)

[Dragonbreathp9d]

38. Not to mention:

Privatization of water (especially water springs) is a potentially dangerous thing. Look at what Pepsi and Coca-Cola did to India.

[madmom]

45. sorry no can do..I'm a water drinker to the nth degree and our city

water is absolutely disgusting! I can not afford the brita filters (tried them, had to change them so often it was not cost effective)I get my water from a company that recycles their bottles.:dilemma:

[zehnkatzen]

46. You have to do this, in some places

I think everybody must know this, but it does have to be said...in some places (Phoenix comes to mind) the tap water is simply horrible and so hard that you can bounce a rock off it...loaded with minerals, unhealthful, and just plain appallingly bad.

There are some areas of even our country where bottled water is a necessity, not a luxury.

My hope is that people in areas that don't have to drink bottled water except as a luxury treat that thing as a luxury, and not a foregone conclusion for daily life.

[Ready4Change]

48. I never got the bottled water habit in the first place.

I'm amazed at how many people swear tap water = death.

If so, I'd have died a million times over by now.